Long-nose, torque-tube, triple-carburettor
1966 Ferrari 275 GTB
Chassis 08349 GT Engine no. 8349

• Delivered new to Avvocato Dante Straziota, one of 1960s Rome’s most influential figures
• Presented in its original colour of Bleu Ferrari (20-A-185), now with red leather interior
• Matching numbers, Ferrari Classiche certified
• The subject of a ca. three-year US restoration, 2015-2018
• With original tool roll, jack, and owner’s manual
• European registered

“Racing experience is evident everywhere in the design of the GTB. The 5-speed gearbox, combined with the final drive is an impressive piece of engineering, and the whole engine and transmission are combined into a single unit by joining them with a torque tube. A tubular oil radiator of the type used on Le Mans cars is fitted. The vee-12 engine develops 300bhp at 8,000rpm.” Edward Eves of the British magazine Autocar takes an analytical but appreciative look at Ferrari’s final version of the two-cam 275 GTB in early 1967.

Legendary French road tester José Rosinski exhibited more passion when he drove one of the first GTBs for Sport Auto two years earlier: “The 275 GTB is, therefore, a superlatively vigorous, very agile and quick automobile…Its comfort, the quality of its finish, the original lines of its bodywork; all justify its exceptionally high price, for it is an exceptional automobile. It is a thoroughbred, with luxury devoid of excess and a fiery temperament…”

Whether a short-nose, long-nose, three- or six-carburettor model, the Ferrari 275 GTB is often considered one of the greatest Ferraris of all time, the civilised younger brother to the 250 GTO racing car. Having replaced the 250 GT SWB, it offered the same racer-on-the-road character but now came with seriously aerodynamic coachwork and more power (especially torque). The 275 GTB also had a five-speed gearbox and, finally, independent rear suspension. It was to become Ferrari’s flagship 1960s granturismo.

This 275 GTB, delivered new to Italy, is a later car with all the mechanical improvements detailed by Eves in the pre-eminent British motoring magazine.

After many years in long-term ownership in the US, chassis 08349 GT is back in Europe, restored and ready for action.

The Ferrari 275 GTB
Both Ferrari 275s debuted at the 1964 Paris Salon had the 3,286cc single-cam-per-bank Colombo engine – a bored-out version of the 250 GTO’s. Designed and manufactured by Pininfarina, the GTS was comparatively feminine and understated, while the Scaglietti-built GTB looked almost like a fully roadgoing version of the GTO.

With three Weber carburettors the GTS claimed 260bhp, while the GTB boasted 280bhp at 7,600rpm. The 275 had Ferrari’s familiar tubular frame, but now with all-round independent suspension and a five-speed transaxle. It was the first Ferrari offered with alloy wheels, taking their design from those on John Surtees’ World Championship-winning Tipo 156 F1 car.

Some 450 two-cam 275 GTBs were built in two series, from 1964 to 1966. The first 250 cars had the ‘short nose’ similar to the contemporary 250 LM racer, while later cars had a longer nose and smaller air intake, a larger rear window and external boot hinges. Both steel and alloy bodies were offered, as well as a six-carburettor set-up producing an extra 20bhp. All versions were raced.

Also introduced soon after the long nose appeared (and sometimes retrofitted to short nose cars) was the ‘torque tube’, whereby the engine-mounted clutch was joined to the transaxle by a solid tube, with the propeller shaft running at engine speed inside it. This reduced maintenance and made for a quieter, smoother feeling.

The model was superseded in October 1966, once again at the Paris Salon, by the outwardly similar Ferrari 275 GTB/4, of which 330 were built.

This Motor Car

Ferrari 275 GTB chassis 08349 GT was ordered in December 1965 by one of Rome’s most colourful and influential figures, Avvocato (later Cavaliere) Raffaello ‘Dante’ Straziota, in the name of his company Orto di Santa Maria Srl. The supplying dealer was VECAR Srl of Rome. Confirmed by the car’s Ferrari Classiche red book, it was delivered in rare Bleu Ferrari ref. 20-A-185 with an all- leather interior in Connolly Beige VM 3309. The wheels were Campagnolo alloys. The car was registered Roma 930914 on 26 March 1966 with a price of 5,750,000 lire noted on the standard Automobile Club d’Italia (ACI) document.

Avvocato Straziota was a lawyer and financier with interests in real estate (his family owned over 1,200 apartments alone) and a lifestyle worthy of a Roman prince. Over 1,500 of the capital’s ‘Who’s Who’ were invited to his daughter’s 18th birthday at their sprawling estate, which featured a swimming pool with underwater music and even an atomic bunker. His daughter recalls that her father favoured chauffeur-driven Mercedes and Ferraris when driving himself. Heavily involved in Italian politics, he was also a prominent racehorse owner with many famous winners to his credit.

Straziota kept his blue 275 GTB for just over one year (during which his daughter would borrow it to drive around the grounds without a licence or permission) and replaced it with a 275 GTB/4. Records at the ACI note ‘08349’ was sold on 27 June 1967 to John Campbell McCormack in a transaction handled by SAS Motor Bologna. McCormack’s address is listed as Oak Park, a smart suburb of Chicago in the US. McCormack, who died in Santa Barbara in 2015, was a former US Marine whose fascination with motorbikes (and business) led him to be Vice President of American Honda Motor Co, notable for its ‘You meet the nicest people on a Honda’ advertising campaign, one of his creations.

Later, the 275 GTB found a home in Anaheim, California, when it was repainted burgundy. By the mid-1970s, still burgundy, it was in the ownership of well-known collectors and Ferrari restoration experts Charles Betz and Fred Peters of Costa Mesa, Orange County, California.

Betz and Peters restoration shop was close by Briggs Cunningham’s car museum on 250 E. Baker Street. The wealthy sportsman would often commission Ferraris in Cunningham Blue, so when the time came to restore ‘08349’ Betz and Peters chose that shade from a can of paint supplied by Ferrari paired with a matching interior. The work was completed in the early 1980s, and the pair owned the car until 1995 when it was sold to Sidney Allen of Longview, Texas. Allen was prominent in state politics and a keen car enthusiast, his taste also extending to hot rods. While in his ownership the 275 GTB was looked after by respected American Ferrari specialist Bob Smith Coachworks of Gainesville, Texas.

Allen kept the Ferrari, enjoying it on driving events such as the Copperstate 1000 rally, until 2014. After the decision was taken to sell the car, noted Ferrari restorer Patrick Ottis was commissioned to assess its mechanical and cosmetic condition. He found the GTB in largely original condition and that it functioned well following a test drive and compression test, concluding his written report that, “this is a lovely correct and patinated 275 GTB”. In late 2013 ‘08349’, still blue with blue, was submitted to Ferrari Classiche and certification paperwork issued on 4 December that year. Other than the colour change, all numbers and specification matched and were true to original, the sole comment being a small discrepancy in the carburettor air box.

The car was auctioned in January 2014 and its new West Coast US owner commissioned a restoration that would take three years to complete. Work was conducted by Californian firms Empire Restoration (paint and body), Coppa Bella Motors (chassis) and GTO Engineering (engine parts and other components). Milestone Motorcars of Boynton Beach, Florida, carried out much of the assembly work and managed the entire project. The exterior colour was returned to original-specification Bleu Ferrari, while the interior was retrimmed in red by Ferrari specialist Kenneth Michaels. In total, the work cost in excess of $223,000. In January 2019 it was shown at the Cavallino Classic, scoring 97 points out of a possible 100.

The car stayed in America until late 2019 when sold to our European client. At the time, the odometer read 64,663km; it now shows just over 68,000km. In recent years the car has enjoyed a carefully maintained life in the south of France. Today it offers an opportunity to own a ‘proper’ V12 Ferrari in an elegant original colour with a genuine Dolce Vita early history, ready for grand touring or high level events.