I have an old photo the was taken by Marvin Lyons in 1964 (signed).....Can anyone on this site identify the car in the photo?...this in in a large format 19" x 16"....Thanks, Frank Davis.
The features of this car that confuse me are the louvered side panels and the raised windscreen support....or I would have guessed a Jag D type (maybe Duncan Hamilton, Ireland))
Got no idea, but my guess would be Alfa or Alfa-powered given the cloverleaf on the head light cover. Gary
Hate to harsh anybody's need for classic tin; but this looks eerily familiar, and very similar to a first gen fiberglass kit I saw on a website dedicated to early roadster kit cars referenced on the HAMB... I'll see If I can dig anything else up? Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Going by the bulge on the hood and the shape of the tip of the rear fender and opening door and vent on side of front fender it looks a bit like a 1958 skoda racer
I'm pretty sure it's a Ferrari. The body appears almost identical to this one, Tony Parravano's 121LM 4.4 liter six cylinder Ferrari. The headrest, windshield, and exhaust are different, so I don't think it's the same car, but it sure looks like the same body design (by Scaglietti).
50Fraud is close, real close. Tony Parravano was a SoCal real estate developer that had a racing team in the 1950's. He hired the best drivers of the day to race his stable or Ferraris, Maseratis and similar cars. It all came to an end when the IRS seized his assets for tax evasion, the cars were sold at auction. His cars were painted in the "Scuderia Parravano" colors shown in 50Fraud's photo. In the OP's photo there is a duct just to the driver's side of the grill that is not present on the Ferrari 121LM (serial #0484) but is clearly there on Parravano's Ferrari 750 Monza (serial #0538M). The complete history of just about any racing Ferrari can be found at the Barchetta.cc web site. http://www.barchetta.cc/All.Ferraris/ferrari.by.serial.number.summary/index.html Ferrari 750 Monza (serial #0538M) http://www.barchetta.cc/english/All.Ferraris/Detail/0538M.750Monza.htm 121LM (serial #0484 http://www.barchetta.cc/english/All.Ferraris/Detail/0484LM.121LM.htm The two cars look almost identical as they were closely related. Both the 118LM and 121LM cars were actually modified Monzas with the chassis stretched 6" to accommodate the longer 6 cylinder engines. The 118 had a Mondial engine with 2 more cylinders, the 121 had a Monza engine with 2 more cylinders. Back in the 1960's I knew the owner of 121LM #0532, he lived nearby and we both drove Jaguar XK-140s as daily drivers. At the time it was just an old racing car sitting in his garage. I can tell you that sitting in a LeMans pole sitting car is a thrill. It was (and still is) an awesome car. http://www.barchetta.cc/english/All.Ferraris/Detail/0532LM.121LM.htm
Here you go Frank, http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/NagamatsuSlides0003.html http://psychoontyres.blogspot.com/2011/02/millionaire-mystery-team-parravano-pt-1.html http://psychoontyres.blogspot.com/2011_03_04_archive.html
Even before I got to the comments I guessed Ferarri, based on the wheels and side vents. Clover leaf could be for luck, maybe the driver was Irish?
My earlier guess on an Alfa was based on the cloverleaf being part of signature Autodelta stuff. Oh well. Gary Here's another site you might like.... http://www.racingsportscars.com/
Yes it is (as are almost all of the old racing Ferraris), all you need is a spare couple of million and it could be yours. If you are like me and can't quite come up with several million for a hobby car you can still mingle with the wealthy and their cars. Probably the best event is the Cavallino Classic at West Palm Beach, FL every January. Anyone can attend, entrance to the concours on Saturday is a bit pricey but you will rarely see such a collection of Ferraris in one place. IMHO, the better deal is track day (thurs/fri) at the nearby Palm Beach International Raceway. For about $30 you can spend all day up close to multi-million dollar cars, talk to the owners and watch and listen to them run around the track. At the end of the day the owners all go off to the wine & cheese events and leave their cars to be loaded on the transport trucks. There is nothing like walking through a parking lot full of $10-30M cars sitting relatively unattended. Frank,,, #25 is the big brother of the Monza in your photo, a 860 Monza which has a 3.5 liter engine. 335S engine 860 Monza 412MI engine 250 TR engine Maserati, D-type, 250 GTOs 250TR (engine above), 250GTO, 250TR in background View attachment 2741520
Here are pics of 0538 during restoration about 20+ years ago when we restored the chassis and bodywork for the owner. Unique thing about Tony Parravano was that he brought the car back to Scaglietti after acquisition and had it modified further. Typical of mods on Tony's car were for the center of the bodywork to be lowered (thus the engine bump and cowl), extra engine vents and a scoop at the nose feeding air to the drivers cockpit. When restoring the chassis, one could see where they had modified the original structure for the new lowered bodywork itself.
Great photos Superleggera, they really show the how they built them back then. You are right, Parravano had his car modified to his preferences to get that little advantage over the competition. The same happened with my friend Gunther's 121LM (#0532), when Jim Kimberley (of the Kimberley-Clark family) bought the car from Ferrari he had it re-bodied with a slightly longer nose, some vents and most noticeably fin on the headrest. It was in that configuration when I knew the car. It has since been restored to the original bodywork as it was raced at LeMans in 1955. Kimberley's body w/tailfin A few years ago I ran across his car at Cavillino and took these photos of it, restored to as it was built in 1955. A look into the cockpit shows it's direct lineage to the Monza, much is the same as 0538. Sadly I didn't get to talk to the owner, my son (in the yellow shirt) was in a hurry to move on.
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