Nart Spyder

[Bob Kontak]

Thanks for the thread. Breathtaking car.

Three high points in my car hobby life:

- Having Eugene Cernan ask me about the point gap on his 68-ish gold astronaut Corvette while having a beer with him and his Son in law (my boss)

- Meeting Jay Leno at Laguna Seca in 95

- Starting a 275 GTB 4 NART coupe a friend of a friend of my Dad's had in Akron. In his garage. I was a very young man and he pretended to mess with the carbs and needed my help to start and apply throttle. My Dad set the whole thing up for me, I am sure. It was silver and the aluminum passenger fender was sagging a touch from the weight of the dry sump tank. Owner pointed this out to me. Little did I know what I was sitting in.

[Ferraripete]

Originally Posted by drcoastline

Seems your first paragraph is more subjective than fact save "the nart spyders nearly all had borannis... save a few." So while they may look "odd" in you opinion they would be correct. Especially for a car that is race prepped like this one. Which would also make the roll bar correct. As TRE proved in his post.

No I did not miss your post "lovely work. almost too pretty to paint!" came after Reveir posted the three photos of the unpainted bodies. It's not difficult to conclude the comment was directed at those two cars, not the nart replicar.

I think all of us car guys would agree if you took a perfectly good donor 400 and destroyed it, that would be unfortunate. However, since we know nothing about the donor car maybe it was to far gone to save? If for no other reason than from a monetary stand point. 400's don't bring much money. Since nart's run in the tens of millions maybe the builder thought a recreation using genuine Ferrari parts would be fun and make good use of a derelict 400, and save himself $20,000,000.00. I bet there are plenty of people that would drop a $1,000,000.00 to buy that car.

I don't think anyone made mention of trying to enter this car in Ferrari owners clubs or Ferrari sanctioned events? Of course I can see why they wouldn't aside from the fact it is not real. It quite possibly could be better than an original since the 400 components have 30 years newer technology.

Perhaps the only fact in your posts is that "Ferrari looks to crush replica's"? I don't know. Maybe they do. I do know they have sued to stop having replicars that are to correct from being built and sold, as was the case with at least one California replicar. Based on your screen name I think this says it all... "owners tend to look down on the replicars"






Oh yes... "Imitation is the highest form of flattery". Keep calm it won't diminish the value of an original.

three of the four nart spyders you posted are conversions done by various shops and NOT to be confused as nart spyders completed by luigi and coco chinetti. two of the cars are actually 2 cam cars as well.

I am only familiar with the campy shod spyder as the one you posted by denise mccluggage. she was a fine lady.

all of the 275 nart spyders that I am aware save for the car DM raced were sold w/ borranis as were all of the 365 gts/4 micholotti spyder conversions that coco commissioned...there was a micholotti coupe that coco raced and it did have alloys.

I grew up in Greenwich. ct. senior was a neighbor on king st. I grew up with nart Ferraris as well as those owned by my father. coco was in cos cob on holly way. I was a fixture in his garage and must have washed his cars more than he did. I think he enjoyed the free labor from a starry eyed kid I have been a multiple ferrari owner for for over 20 years (308 gtb qv, 246 gts, 512 bbi). I am really not trying to joust with you but I know that I don't want to let your "schooling me on Ferrari history go.

I will also post an article regarding Ferrari crushing replicas. it is really quite astounding to see the lengths they have gone...as well as alarming.

[drcoastline]

Pete, I am not interested in jousting with you either. I am sure you can school me on all things Ferrari easily. But quite frankly your original post came off quite crass and down putting and in accurate. This isn't right, that's incorrect, it should have this, etc, etc.

But, to your point. All 275 spyders are coupe to convertible conversions. Ferrari didn't build a 275 convertible. As I recall reading Chinetti approached Enzo to build a 275 convertible and he said no, as they already had a convertible. So Chinetti took it upon himself to convert the cars. So the only thing special about these cars as opposed to any other 275 conversion is the NART designation coined by Chinetti.

In many ways the car posted by Reiver is something more special than even an original nart. Chinetti simply cut the top off a car and fitted a convertible top. The car built by Reivers buddy was built from the ground up. Not just beating panels but I am sure they welded up a frame, had to manufacture some parts to make things work I am sure, and make the 400i parts fit.

[Ferraripete]

Originally Posted by drcoastline

Pete, I am not interested in jousting with you either. I am sure you can school me on all things Ferrari easily. But quite frankly your original post came off quite crass and down putting and in accurate. This isn't right, that's incorrect, it should have this, etc, etc.

But, to your point. All 275 spyders are coupe to convertible conversions. Ferrari didn't build a 275 convertible. As I recall reading Chinetti approached Enzo to build a 275 convertible and he said no, as they already had a convertible. So Chinetti took it upon himself to convert the cars. So the only thing special about these cars as opposed to any other 275 conversion is the NART designation coined by Chinetti.

In many ways the car posted by Reiver is something more special than even an original nart. Chinetti simply cut the top off a car and fitted a convertible top. The car built by Reivers buddy was built from the ground up. Not just beating panels but I am sure they welded up a frame, had to manufacture some parts to make things work I am sure, and make the 400i parts fit.

yes I agree with your post. i truly admire a person that has command of an English wheel and hammers and wood body bucks! it scares me that the art will die too soon. thank you for your post.

pcb

[Steve F]

Check out this guys skills, simply amazing


Ferrari 250 GTO Sofa - Alfa Romeo Bulletin Board & Forums

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Steve F

Check out this guys skills, simply amazing


Ferrari 250 GTO Sofa - Alfa Romeo Bulletin Board & Forums

I am simply in awe of the craftsmanship involved in doing that kind of work but even more interested in the mindset.

[Reiver]

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=larry+wilson+car+collection+in+florida&qpvt=larry+wilson+car+collection+in+florida&view=detail&mid=4B5EF3158F39601622524B5EF3158F3960162252&FORM=VRDGAR

The Scarab is a reconstruction....the Maserati is original

[TRE Cup]

There was a company in Europe that was building 250 GTO's (Favre?) . There was a HUGE to do about it and they eventually were forced out of business. Their cars were not really well done as it takes major surgery on the frames of donor 250 and 330 GTs to get the basics right.
It is possible that some were confiscated and crushed (like the 300SL gullwing replicas you might have seen on You Tube)
Here in the USA, Joe Alphabet was taking fiberglass GTO copies and installing them on 240Z 's. He would put chevy motors in them with wrinkle finished valve covers, installed wire wheels, other details. Ferrari got after him with a law suit and cease/desist became the order of the day.
Fiberglass and opportunity being what it is, there were other molders that made shells and a few cars. But I never heard of any being crushed here in USA

As I understand what was told to me years ago during the Shelby vs Cobra copy wars, If you build it for yourself and not for resale, nothing will come of it (Leno's Cobra is a copy). As an aftermarket manufacturer as long as it is 20% different (say a 400i motor is sure different than GTB motor) than original , then there is nothing Ferrari can do << As long as you don't put a badge on it !

[drcoastline]

Originally Posted by Reiver

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=larry+wilson+car+collection+in+florida&qpvt=larry+wilson+car+collection+in+florida&view=detail&mid=4B5EF3158F39601622524B5EF3158F3960162252&FORM=VRDGAR

The Scarab is a reconstruction....the Maserati is original

Love that a6

[Reiver]

Originally Posted by drcoastline

Love that a6

Damn, me too......they found the original motor in Argentina.
Someone had put a larger Maser lump in place.
The frame had been race modified for larger rubber but was the original frame...they got the factory specs and put it back to original spec.
The last time I visited this car was being 'done'....I usually get a chance to drive something special while there...this will be it for sure.

[drcoastline]

Originally Posted by Reiver

Damn, me too......they found the original motor in Argentina.
Someone had put a larger Maser lump in place.
The frame had been race modified for larger rubber but was the original frame...they got the factory specs and put it back to original spec.
The last time I visited this car was being 'done'....I usually get a chance to drive something special while there...this will be it for sure.

That always amazes me when they find an original motor to a car half way around the world that has been sitting in someone's chicken coupe for sixty years.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by sand_man

WOW! Admiral Obvious says that this is a pretty amazing build. I have always liked this particular model, but my favorite (maybe car of all time) is still the 250 GT SWB Berlinetta...make it a Competizione while you're at it.

Absolutely!

Oh, and congrats on the promotions!

[sand_man]

Originally Posted by masraum

Absolutely!

Oh, and congrats on the promotions!

LOLz! You mean my promotion to "Admiral"??? We are fast and loose with the titles!

[Reiver]

Originally Posted by drcoastline

That always amazes me when they find an original motor to a car half way around the world that has been sitting in someone's chicken coupe for sixty years.

I checked....there is an outfit in Houston Tx that looks for items like this world wide....they were asked to do so.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by Steve F

Check out this guys skills, simply amazing


Ferrari 250 GTO Sofa - Alfa Romeo Bulletin Board & Forums

Wow! That is some monumental talent!

[Reiver]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

Wow! That is some monumental talent!

It is.

Larry got the Scarab body from Poland...the factory, with great skilled labor, that once built Soviet Mig aircraft now does alloy work of all kinds and they produce beautiful alloy auto bodies....all they need are prints/specs.

They are better than the originals actually.....every older Italian original body that Dave mas measured is off side to side...often by a quarter inch or more..part of the charm but each panel must be individually measured if it to be repaired or replaced as doing a mirror image of one will not work on the other side.