www.QV500.com - Ferrari 250 GT TdF Berlinetta Part 1: 1956 - Series I
 

Zagato Berlinetta chassis 0515 GT		 The 1956 to '59 250 GT Berlinetta's acquired their Tour de France status by winning the fabled French event and thereby becoming eligible to use its evocative title. Several variations were made and for 1956, Ferrari built ten cars. Clothed mainly by Scaglietti in a similar fashion to Pinin Farina's 250 and 375 Mille Miglia's, 12 more cars followed in 1957 when Scaglietti further refined the bodywork with creased front wings, 14-lourve sail panels and a smaller rear windscreen. A second batch of 1957 cars then got covered headlights and a three vent sail panel arrangement. 15 were built.
   

For 1958, the sail panel was again changed in favour of a single ventilation duct, 29 of these rolling off the production line. The last versions were manufactured in 1959 when around two thirds of the 11 cars built received bodywork with uncovered headlights, Pininfarina ending the series by fabricating a further seven Interim Berlinetta’s. But although still on the original long wheelbase chassis, these Interim variants carried prototype bodywork for Ferrari's forthcoming 250 GT Short Wheelbase Berlinetta. We begin in 1956, the first year of production. Employing a traditional welded tubular steel chassis designated Tipo 508-513/128, it retained the same 2600mm wheelbase as outgoing 250 GT Europa's. Independent front suspension and a live rear axle were combined with drum brakes, Ferrari's evolutionary development process yielding an extremely reliable machine capable of several years hard use. Once again it was Colombo's 60° V12 that found service in the Tour de France, 1956 cars using Tipo 128 and 128 B motors, both of which had a displacement of 2953cc thanks to a bore and stroke of 73mm x 58.8mm. Compression was usually set at 8.8:1, but could easily be configured according to the desires of a particular customer. Carburettors were similarly interchangeable, three twin choke Weber 36 DCL downdraughts having normally been fitted.

 

Zagato Berlinetta chassis 0515 GT		 As a consequence, power varied from 230 to 241bhp at 7000rpm, every one of these cars being able to reach 145mph and sprint to sixty in under seven seconds. Ferrari's four-speed all-synchromesh gearbox from the 342 America was used in favour of a five-speed crash box. Of the ten 1956 Tour de France Berlinetta's built, Scaglietti fabricated alloy bodywork for eight, all of which were visually quite similar to Pinin Farina's 250 and 375 Mille Miglia's. There were familiar egg-crate grilles and gently rounded wings, these sweeping back from either contoured Plexiglas cowls or uncovered headlights.
   
Wind-up glass and sliding plastic side windows were both used in 1956, the wraparound rear windscreen unique to first series cars having been perfectly integrated with the curvacous tail and bulbous arches. Other nice details on Scaglietti cars were their stylised engine vents located behind each front wheelarch, these normally being divided into eight sections. The two remaining 1956 cars were clothed by Zagato of Milan who fabricated a pair of fairly similar lightweight alloy shells. Chassis 0515 GT was an exceedingly elegant design that looked more modern than the Scaglietti cars, but whilst its beautifully detailed exterior seemed almost too good to race, 0515 went on to compete regularly in Italy. The second Zagato-bodied example was chassis 0537 GT, this car receiving a subtly different grille but retaining that distinctive Zagato ambience. Both featured trademark Double Bubble roofs whilst a number of other stylistic details like the hot air extraction vents and tail sections were also eminently comparable. As you would expect of vehicles intended primarily for competition use, few Tour de France cockpits were especially luxurious but they did provide all the necessary appointments required for extended periods at the wheel.
 

Zagato Berlinetta chassis 0515 GT on the right

A wood rimmed steering wheel normally fronted a crackle black dash (although some early cars had painted dashboards), the bare alloy facia housing a large speedo and tach. Bucket seats were normally trimmed in leather, however, some examples featured vinyl with canvas centres. Passengers were often provided with head restraints, luggage straps typically being fitted behind the seats while a couple got diamond quilting beneath the dash and on the gearbox cowling. By autumn 1956, Ferrari had completed all ten first-series Tour de France Berlinetta's, the chassis numbers of which are listed below.
   
250 GT Berlinetta LWB Tour de France (1956) Chassis Index
 
0503 GT Scaglietti Berlinetta April 1956, sold new to Augusto Caraceni, Italy.
0507 GT Scaglietti Berlinetta April 1956, sold new to Olivier Randaccio, Italy.
0509 GT Scaglietti Berlinetta April 1956, sold new to Giuliano Giovanardi, Italy.
0513 GT Scaglietti Berlinetta March 1956, sold new to Vittorio Collocci, Italy.
0515 GT Zagato Berlinetta June 1956, sold new to Vladimiro Galluzio, Italy.
0537 GT Zagato Berlinetta June 1956, sold new to Cornelia Vassali, Italy.
0539 GT Scaglietti Berlinetta June 1956, sold new to Edouardo Lualdi Gabardi, Italy.
0555 GT Scaglietti Berlinetta September 1956, sold new to Pietro Ferraro, Italy.
0557 GT Scaglietti Berlinetta September 1956, sold new to Alfonso de Portago, Italy.
0563 GT Scaglietti Berlinetta September 1956, sold new to Giacomo Peron, France.