www.QV500.com - Ferrari 250 GT TdF Berlinetta Part 6: 1959 - Interim Berlinetta's
 

Pininfarina Interim Berlinetta chassis 1509 GT

As mentioned in Part 5, the last competition Berlinetta's to ride Ferrari's 2600mm wheelbase Tipo 508 chassis received all-new coachwork fabricated once again by Scaglietti. Totally different from the entire Tour de France range, this highly advanced design was penned in Turin at the offices of Pininfarina and previewed the short wheelbase Berlinetta that would arrive later in 1959. As it turned out, these two cars (the Interim and SWB) were so similar that the uninitiated will be hard pushed to tell them apart. In fact, the only easy-to-spot difference between them was the presence of a rear three-quarter window behind the door glass on all seven Interim Berlinetta's.
   
Four Interim cars were fitted with Ferrari's familiar Tipo 128 D motors whilst the other three got hot Tipo 128 D/F outside plug engines that with a compression ratio set at around 9.4:1, were capable of producing in excess of 275bhp. These extremely potent new units were the most venerable available (save for a couple of experimental Testa Rossa units) and provided much success throughout 1959. All seven were constructed between June and September and their chassis numbers are listed below:

250 GT Pininfarina ‘Interim’ Berlinetta Chassis Index
 
1377 GT June 1959, sold new to Max Meyer, Venezuela.
1461 GT June 1959, sold new to Luigi Chinetti, USA.
1465 GT September 1959, sold new to Satori, Italy.
1509 GT September 1959, sold new to Jo Schlesser, France.
1519 GT September 1959, sold new to Jean Pierre Schild, Switzerland.
1521 GT September 1959, sold new to Pierre Dumay, France.
1523 GT September 1959, sold new to Olivier Gendebien, Belgium.
 

Pininfarina Interim Berlinetta chassis 1509 GT