The 275 GTB occupies a very rarified space in the pantheon of Ferrari road car history. It sits at an important nexus where Ferrari road cars were evolving, becoming more sophisticated, no longer just racecars turned out for the street. Old techniques were giving way to new adaptations of racing-proven technology. Some called it the end of an era, others the beginning, but as Formula One driver Jean-Pierre Beltoise called it, in his test drive for France’s L’Auto Journal, the 275 GTB was “One of the greatest automobiles created in our times.”
250 is No Longer Enough
By 1960, the 250 line of Ferrari GT coupés had pretty well run its course. When first created in 1954, virtually nothing could touch the dual-purpose 250 in terms of performance on the road or the track. However, by 1960 other manufacturers had caught up and, in the case of cars like the E-Type Jaguar, managed to build at least as good a car for far less money. Clearly, Ferrari would have to raise both the performance and luxury of its road-going Grand Tourers if it was going to stay competitive in the marketplace. Of course, the 250 GTO and SWBs would still enjoy much on-track success for the next few years, but in terms of a more practical road car, Ferrari needed something new and more luxurious.
The solution, at least in the short term, came at the 1962 Paris Salon when Ferrari revealed what would ultimately be the final iteration of the 250 GT line. Based on the proven underpinnings of the 250 SWB, this new coupé featured an elegant, flowing Pininfarina-designed fastback shape and a spacious and luxurious interior that was far better appointed than any other Ferrari offered up to that point. With such an improvement in luxury, it is perhaps no surprise that the new model should be dubbed the 250 GT Lusso (Italian for “Luxury”). While the Lusso may have addressed Ferrari’s lack of creature comforts in its earlier GTs, it didn’t address the technological and performance improvements necessary to keep the line competitive. Those would have to come in a totally new design.
Ferrari Goes Independent
Production of the Lusso would include 350 examples spanning from 1962 until 1964. As early as 1963, Ferrari began work on the prototype of a 250 replacement, but it wasn’t until the 1964 Paris Salon that Ferrari unveiled a pair of totally new GT cars that would usher in a new era at Modena. This new duo was the 275 GTB and GTS, and would mark a pivotal change in Ferrari’s approach to road cars.
The goal from the outset was to build a GT car that was faster, better balanced and more luxurious inside than any of its forebears. With the new 275 GTB, Ferrari started with a 2400-mm wheelbase ladder frame of welded tubular steel. At the front, the chassis would incorporate independent suspension by unequal length A-arms, as in previous Ferrari GT cars. At the rear, however, Ferrari would chart a new course for its road-going GTs, by giving the 275, an independent rear suspension with unequal length A-arms, coil springs and telescopic dampers, as well. This made the 275 GTB and GTS, the first Ferrari road cars with independent suspension on all four wheels.
In the pursuit of a better balanced, and therefore better handling GT, Ferrari opted for another company first on the 275, when it chose to move the gearbox to the rear end of the car, in an integrated 5-speed transaxle unit. Having previously developed transaxles for their sports racers, Ferrari took the lessons learned on the track and applied them to the 275 GTB, as a way of better distributing the car’s weight, fore and aft. As an added bonus, this new setup also yielded more interior space by removing the need for a large transmission cover intruding into the cockpit.
With a new chassis for much-improved handling, the 275 now needed an engine that could deliver more power than its predecessors’ 3.0-liter V12 units. This was achieved by taking the tried and true, Colombo-designed Type 168, single overhead cam, short block V12, and boring it out from 73-mm to 77-mm. This, combined with its regular 58.8-mm stroke, yielded a total displacement of 3,286-cc. When combined with three downdraft Weber 40 DCZ6 carburetors and a 9.2:1 compression ratio, this new Type 213 unit generated 280-hp with more low-end torque, while an FIA-homologated 6-carburettor setup was capable of extracting an additional 20-25-hp. While the six-carb arrangement yielded more horsepower for racing, it only did so over 5,000 rpm, with the engine suffering slightly lower output, compared to the three-carb setup, below 4,000 rpm.
With a new enlarged engine and relocated gearbox in the rear, Ferrari engineers now had the challenge of getting power from the front of the car to the back of the car. Their solution was to mount the clutch, with the engine, and then transfer the motive force rearwards via a driveshaft that was supported by a central bearing, with constant velocity joints at either end. As we’ll see later, this posed some issues that would eventually need to be addressed.
Last of the Coachbuilts
For the body, Pininfarina was brought in to style a new fastback design that was sleeker and more “modern” looking than the 250 GTs, yet still retained some of the styling cues and “heritage” of the 250 GT line. With a longer nose bearing four gill slits for engine compartment ventilation, covered headlights, a small “greenhouse” that featured a large curved windshield, flat rear window bounded by c-pillars with three cabin exhaust vents that matched those on the fenders and a cut-off Kamm tail, the 275 GTB looked like an evolution of the now iconic 250 GTO.
The resulting design was given to Carrozzeria Scaglietti to hand craft, making the 275 GTB the last Ferrari production roadcar to be hand-built using the traditional technique of hammer forming panels over a wood buck. With a nod toward the 275’s potential dual-purpose (road and race) nature this new body was offered either in all-aluminum (for racing) or steel, with aluminum hood, doors and trunk lid. Rounding out the new package was another first for Ferrari road cars, the inclusion of Campagnolo alloy wheels as standard, though venerable Borrani wire wheels could still be ordered as an option.
Drafted into Service
Ferrari’s plan had been that the new 275 GTB would be ostensibly a roadcar that could be raced if one so desired. The task of upholding Ferrari’s GT racing laurels was slated to go to the new 250 LM, which Ferrari attempted to homolgate for the 1964 racing season. However, after complaints from Carroll Shelby that the 250 GTO had never been a true GT car and that, like the GTO, Ferrari had no real intention of building 100 examples of the 250 LM for the road, the FIA rejected Ferrari’s homologation request, relegating the 250 LM to the prototype category. With no other viable options, the 275 GTB was drafted into service as a GT racecar.
Several lessons were learned when the 275 GTB was thrust into competition. The first was that the nose of the car was prone to getting light, or lifting, at high speeds. The second was that the driveshaft arrangement, with its central support bearing, experienced alignment issues under certain conditions, which in turn posed serious handling problems. After having driven the 275 when the driveshaft went out of alignment, Ferrari Formula One driver John Surtees remarked, “…it went down the road as if it had a hinge in the middle.” Within a year a revised Series II 275 GTB was in the works.
The Next Generation
By the 1965 Frankfurt Motor Show, the next generation of 275 GTB was debuted to the public. Between the Frankfurt show and the Paris Salon several months later, Ferrari revised the Series II 275 GTB to include a host of new features and modifications. Perhaps the most significant change was the conversion of the bearing-supported driveshaft into a rigid torque tube arrangement. By adding the torque tube and changing the existing four engine mounts and three transaxle mounts to just two apiece, Ferrari’s engineers were able to remove the unpredictable handling quirks that resulted from driveshaft misalignment and improve the rigidity and smoothness of the drivetrain.
Other notable changes included a lengthening of the nose to improve high-speed stability, a slightly smaller mouth for air intake, a “power bulge” on the hood to create added room for the Weber carburetors, plus revised alloy wheels that featured a simpler 10-hole pattern, rather than the early car’s “starbust” design. More subtle changes included a larger rear window and the relocation of the rear deck hinges to the outside of the car to facilitate more luggage room internally.
The second generation 275 was offered until 1966, when Ferrari upgraded the 275’s power plant with a new 4-cam, V12 engine. All told, 235 examples of the Series I, short-nose model were constructed, while 205 examples of the Series II, longnose were built.
Chassis 08697
The Series II 275 GTB “longnose” seen on these pages (Chassis 08697) was first delivered to authorized Ferrari dealer Autotouring S.r.l. in Modena, Italy on October 28, 1965. The first owner of the 275 was Italian Francesco Breviglieri of Carpaneto, Italy. Mr. Breviglieri was well acquainted with 275 GTB ownership, as he had previously owned a “short-nose” 275 (Chassis 07473). Records show that Breviglieri had the car regularly serviced at the Ferrari Factory Assistenza Clienti up through 1967.
After Breviglieri’s ownership, records for Chassis 08697 go quiet until April, 1976, when it was listed in the U.S. Ferrari Owners Club Newsletter as owned by John Doonan of Rockville, Maryland. Doonan eventually sold the 275 to Neil Moody of Evergreen, Colorado, who in the mid-2000s, sent the car to be restored by Steven Bell’s Classic Investments in Englewood, Colorado. Moody is said to have invested over $400,000 into the restoration. The restored 275 made its grand debut at the Palm Beach Cavallino Classic in January 2007, where it garnered a prestigious Platinum Award, recognizing those cars that are judged 95 points or better by strict Ferrari Club of America judging standards. Chassis 08697 was one of only three cars in that event’s 275/330/400 class to be so recognized. Moody was subsequently invited to show Chassis 08697 at the 2008 Amelia Island Concours.
Moody eventually sold Chassis 08697 to Terry Price of Gazelle, California, in September 2008, who in turn sold the car that same month to its current owner. Since that time, the current owner has driven Chassis 08697 on selected rallies and tours and shown the car at the 2009 Newport Beach Concours d’Elegance, the 2011 Desert Classic Concours in Rancho Mirage, California, and the 2012 Palos Verdes Concours. So meticulously maintained is the 275 that six years after its restoration it still garnered 98.5 points in the Ferrari class at the 2012 Palos Verdes Concours, this past September.
Shark on the Street
Sitting in the owner’s driveway, in the midafternoon Southern California sunshine, the 275 looks remarkably like a shark. Not a leviathan like a Great White. More like a Mako or Tiger shark—lithe, athletic, completely purposeful. Thousands of years of careful evolution culminating in the most efficient and effective of predators. Perhaps it’s the metallic “Argento” silver paint, combined with the obvious “gill slits” on the front fenders and the rear pillars that give the 275 its shark-like appearance. And like the shark, it is simultaneously beautiful and menacing, even at rest.
After popping the door open, with a push of the thumb, I slide into the 275’s black bucket seats. The interior is elegantly refined, fulfilling its design brief of providing a more luxurious driving experience than that found in the preceding 250 GT line of cars. Standing out in a sea of black leather is a sumptuous wood dash that houses a remarkably well-organized collection of gauges and switches for a ’60s Italian sports car. Sighting through the elegant three-spoked, Nardi wood-rimmed steering wheel are a large black-faced speedometer and tachometer. The wheel also frames a small binnacle that houses the all-important water temperature and oil pressure gauges. All other ancillary gauges are housed in a four-gauge binnacle at the center of the dash, located above a simple switch gear panel.
Seating position in the 275 is extremely supportive with ample side and leg bolsters, as one would find in a competition car of the period, but the seats are also quite comfortable. Despite my being 6-foot tall, I’m able to adjust the seat far enough rearward to easily accommodate my long legs. With the bulk of the transmission located in the rear of the car, the center tunnel is much smaller and less intrusive than many sports cars of this period, which gives the 275 a much greater sense of open space in the cockpit, despite the fact that the roof is fairly low and narrow.
Comfortably ensconced, I give the ignition key one degree of turn to switch on the power, which activates what sounds like the mother of all fuel pumps in the left rear of the car. Once the pump subsides from its tribal beating, I give the key another turn to engage the starter, which brings the 3.3-liter V12 instantly to life. Like the interior, even the sound of the 275 is refined. While unmistakably Ferrari in origin, the engine note emanating from the four ANSA exhaust pipes at the rear is neither bombastic, nor staccato. Somehow the sound has a more complex, refined property to it, like the world’s most aggressive sewing machine! Undeniably powerful, but civilized.
After releasing the fly-off handbrake located just ahead of the black bakelite shift nob, I depress the clutch, pull the delicate shifter back and down into its slotted gate, give the accelerator a small amount of push and the 275 docilely pulls away. Driving the 275 down a major thoroughfare in Santa Monica, I’m immediately struck by the civility of the car. Whether maneuvering through traffic or starting and stopping between traffic lights, the 275 is totally composed—no high strung racing temperament, no herky-jerky starts at low rpm—just seamless flow, as the car navigates the same hum-drum driving that any modern road car is required to perform.
But bury one’s foot in the accelerator, and the 275 quickly transcends the driving realm of the hum-drum—very quickly. As the revs rocket towards the 275’s 7500-rpm redline, the engine note transitions from well-oiled sewing machine to Banshee. Upshifts are smooth and positive, helped in part by the iconic Ferrari shift gate and the racing-bred transaxle. While some test drivers in period found the 275’s more convoluted transaxle linkage occasionally balky, I experience no signs of that in this example. Like any early Ferrari, the gearbox needs an appropriate amount of time to warm up (especially when shifting from first to second gear), but once up to temperature it is extremely smooth and confidence inspiring.
As speeds increase, so does the 275’s agility. Despite being a front-engined car, the 275 handles much more like a mid-engined machine. With better fore-aft weight balance due to the repositioning of the gearbox to the rear, the 275 feels much lighter and more nimbler than even later model, front-engine Ferraris and demonstrates very neutral handling properties at turn-in. Regardless of whether you are on the gas, steady throttle or clamping down on the four-wheel disc brakes while turning, the 275 instills both predictability and confidence, something not always found in its forebears, which could be induced to understeer.
Turning back onto the quiet residential street on which it lives, the 275 instantly transitions back from aggressive predator, to docile street machine. With the engine humming along at low rpm again, the 275 seems completely unfussed by its display of aggression just moments ago—Mr. Hyde has again become Dr. Jekyll. It’s no wonder that Formula One driver Jean-Pierre Beltoise was so taken by the 275, as it blended proven Ferrari racing performance, with a level of comfort and luxury never before seen in a Ferrari. This combined with the fact that it is the last production Ferrari to feature coachwork construction and the first to feature a rear transaxle make the 205 examples of the later Series II, or “longnose” 275s, among the most desirable Ferrari roadcars ever produced.
Chassis 08697 will be offered for sale at RM Auction’s Phoenix sale held January 18 at the Arizona Biltmore.
SPECIFICATIONS
Body: Scaglietti-built, in either steel, with aluminum doors, hood and trunk lids, or all-aluminum.
Frame: Welded tubular steel, ladder frame.
Wheelbase: 94.5 inches
Front Track: 54.2 inches
Rear Track: 54.8 inches
Length: 172 inches
Width: 67 inches
Height : 48.5 inches
Weight: 2,912 pounds
Suspension: FRONT & REAR: Independent with unequal length A-arms, coil springs and telescopic shock absorbers.
Engine: Colombo-designed, Type 213, 60-degree V12
Displacement: 3,286-cc
Bore/Stroke: 77-mm x 58.8-mm
Carburetion: Either 3 or 6, Weber twin-choke downdraft carburetors
Compression: 9.2:1
Power: 300-hp @ 7600 rpm
Torque: 217-lbs/ft
Transmission: All-synchromesh 5-speed transaxle
