The Ferrari 250GT story

About this book

The Ferrari 250GT Berlinetta competition cars have a mystique and charisma that is not hard to explain. As roadgoing vehicles they are eminently suitable, still giving excitement to their drivers today -even when compared with far more modern machinery: as competition vehicles they are legendary, their almost total dominance of the 'Tour de France' races of the 1950s, resulting in that name being adopted, wholly unofficially, to describe the type - the 250GT Tour de France. Within the pages of this book can be found the story of these magnificent machines, told by a present-day owner/driver and arch-enthusiast of the model, John Starkey. The history is told, first of the development of the series, every car built being described and enumerated, chassis-by-chassis. And, of course, the competition history is recounted, linking the individual cars with the legendary drivers such as Olivier Gendebien, Paul Frere and Willy Mairesse. To bring the story to the present, a section restoration is included, giving the author's experience and highlighting typical problems likely to be encountered. The measures taken to restore a concours-winning 250GT Tour de France in the US are also included. The text is accompanied by 125 photos, including 8 pages of colour, which have been culled from collections in Europe and America which show many of the individual cars, not only as they are today, but in their original forms and during their competition heydays.