Ferrari 375 Indy car

[SMS]

Call Donald Davidson at the Speedway, he'll know all kinds of things about the Ferrari Indy cars.
(317) 492-8500

[arttidesco]

http://s1.postimage.org/9ol6ye6ul/10_DSCN1211sc.jpg

Nice to see the Grant Piston Ring Special at Goodwood on Thursday unfortunately the racing cars were only on show for the day.

[mcwidow70]

Moving to the Johnny Mauro's 375Indy during 1952 season, I know that after trying to qualify at Indy 500 miles he entered the car at Pikes Peak hillclimb and at Dever 100 Miles (a dirt raod race).
Finally during Denver trial the car suffered a serious incident. The car, as far as I know, was registered as Pylon Q-X special: my bid is the sponsor was a manufacturer of windshield wiper blades (Pylon). Do any one a clear pictures of the logo painted on the car side at Pikes Peak and Denver on 1952?


http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...ro#post3566616

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...ri#post6221883

[250cal]

Originally Posted by arttidesco

http://s1.postimage.org/9ol6ye6ul/10_DSCN1211sc.jpg

Nice to see the Grant Piston Ring Special at Goodwood on Thursday unfortunately the racing cars were only on show for the day.

Ernie brought the car to several FCA meets. I recetly wrote this about the 1974 meet at Atlanta I was one of the organizers. Heres a short story about the 1st FCA track event:

At one meeting, perhaps a Can-Am race, we had a Ferrari corral at Road Atlanta. A nice guy, Gerry Sutterfield from Florida, one of the instigators of the FCA and a past FCA president stopped by, admired the track and the cars we had, and suggested we put on a National Annual Meeting with a track event. We got volunteers for a committee and the 1974 1st Atlanta AM was in the planning stage. Later we learned that track events were not supported by some early FCA members who were not eager to have these irreplaceable Ferraris subject to harm, however by 1973 at the Detroit meeting there was a “low-pressure driver’s school” and the club had insurance to cover no-competition events. Ernie Beutler, an attorney was President and also chairman of the Legal Committee. His enthusiasm might have been bolstered by the fact that he and Dick Merritt owned the powerful 1951 4.5 liter GP car that was prepped by the Grant Piston Ring Co. for Johnnie Parsons to run the 1952 Indy. Although it had the speed to qualify it didn’t run. So Road Atlanta was beckoning.

Unnfortunately I haven't found any photos in my stash.

250cal

[gpmotorsllc]

Thanks for that excerpt! It is fun to read about and or hear about my grandfather's (Ernie) passion that I get to carry on! And that recent picture of the 375 at Goodwood is great! I'm sure he'd be thrilled to know that the car was restored back to the Grant Piston specs...

[fazzaz 512]

Hallo Jon, just picked up on this subject. To start with: I am a good friend of your grandfather. Judging by your address, you must be Jo(h)n's son. Ernie was not only very generous, but he was also always a bit afraid to drive the Indy car. This is why I ended up in the diver seat on many occasions. I don't remember when Ernie took the attached photo. The track was either Watkins Glen or Road America. Please say hello to your dad, uncle Erno and your two aunts. Please contact me privately. I have many more photos. Best regards, Manfred Lampe

[tritone]

Another Pikes Peak pic... © AutoRacingMemories.com

[Colombo]

I have a book from the 80s that shows the car in green with white lettering? Will get the title when I get home.

[cigarette]

Cavallino magazine did a nice article on the Indy / 375 F1 6 pages by Stanley Nowak and refers to the Indy car No 6, the grant piston ring special chassis N2 engine number 02, Scuderia Ferrari to Lindsey Bothwell to Carl Bross an on to Dick Merrit and Ernie Beutler, in 1988 solely owned by Beutler Michigan now Louwman collection Holland ?
The article speaks about four or five cars being built specifically for the Indy 500 1952. Chinetti pre sold three of these 4,5 liter Howard Keck, the grand piston ring company and Johnny Mauro. An additional two cars were entered by SF. Engines, gearboxes, suspension and steering orignated from the 1951 375 F1 installed in a new strengthned chassis of longer wheelbase ( 2420 mm ), the fifth car did not arrive on time ! The SF car was driven by Ascari see picture in Piloti Che Cente

[kvisser]

DEW Motors brought this lovely car out to the Rockville Antique Car Show this past year.

regards

ken

[cigarette]

last year at le petit grand prix naarden, ex ascari argentina , chico landi

[Marcel Massini]

Originally Posted by cigarette

last year at le petit grand prix naarden, ex ascari argentina , chico landi

#0566.
Since many decades in the Van der Lof Family, The Netherlands.

Marcel Massini

[bigodino]

Originally Posted by tritone

Another Pikes Peak pic... © AutoRacingMemories.com

Wow, rallying with a Grand Prix car! I imagine that was quite a sight (and sound). Amazing pic, thanks.

[tritone]

Originally Posted by bigodino

Wow, rallying with a Grand Prix car! I imagine that was quite a sight (and sound). Amazing pic, thanks.

Pikes Peak Hillclimb, actually....

[rivaaquarama]

http://youtu.be/QQNLQmfM1Mg

Ferrari 375 Indy @ Petit Mille Miglia 2011 Naarde Vesting The Netherlands

[I16]

Is this one of the Ferrari 375 Indy cars?
Here is the link the photo came from
http://www.memaerobilia.com/racecars.asp

[Michael T. Lynch]

Originally Posted by arttidesco

Mystery of the colour of the #6 at Indy in 1952 deepens, on the Grant Piston Ring website are pics of the familiar #6 white Grant Piston Ring Special and a pic of Danny Oakes at the wheel of an apparently red vehicle with a Grant Piston Ring Decal, is it possible the car was painted during the month of May and if so from white to red ?

http://www.grantpistonrings.com/hist...tory_cars.htm#

Also interesting to note is that Danny is not sitting behind a wide screen but a small formula one type such as Ascari used for the 500, where as the white #6 has a much wider perspex screen.

Car Danny is sitting in is the Ascari car. Grant car was already painted cream. Ferrari had made a deal with Grant to provide Johnnie Parsons with Euro single seater rides later that year. As Ferrari was busy trying to qualify, they didn't have time to help any of the customers. The situation was so bad that they had to fly chief engineer Lampredi over with bigger carbs in his luggage.

This inattention led to a rift between Grant and the Ferrari people and the deal was undone. The Grant logo on the red car was probably early in the process and after the pissing match, came off. BTW, the Indy regulars tried to talk the Ferrari people into using mag wheels, but they wouldn't do it. They must have forgotten how Shaw broke a wire wheel while leading in a Maserati in 1941. It's a shame because Ascari could probably have been in the first 5 based on his fuel consumption which would have allowed at least one less pit stop.

Mauro was not serious about qualifying, but was there to show off his new toy to his buddies. He was a Pikes Peak specialist and was saving his car for that event.

Howard Keck's crew had to choose between their new Kurtis roadster and the Ferrari. They chose the latter and would have won the race except for a failed steering box very near the end. Frank Coon, later of Travis & Coon, worked for Keck and went to Italy to pick up the Ferrari and learn how to work on it. The Kurtis was so much faster they had no choice. After Vuky failed, Troy Ruttman won the 52 race, but it was the last win for an upright dirt car. From then on it would be roadsters until Jim Clark won in 1965.

I did a piece on these cars in Forza 24 (August 2000)

[Bertocchi]

Here are two from my collection that I think belong in this discussion. Harry Schell from the Monza/Indianapolis race. The earliest NART decal I have found?

[JazzyO]

Originally Posted by Marcel Massini

#0566.
Since many decades in the Van der Lof Family, The Netherlands.

Marcel Massini

In the invitation for the upcoming Prince Berhard Memorial drive organised by the Ferrari Club Netherlands, it is stated that on the 16th of June 1985, Dries van der Lof drove his 375 F1 at the back of the royal palace in Soestdijk, as part of a parade of 120 Ferraris that came to visit Prince Bernhard. Presumably, that was this car? Must have been quite a sight, and more importantly, sound!! If only I had known, I lived 20kms away at the time.


Onno

[mcwidow70]

Originally Posted by I16

Is this one of the Ferrari 375 Indy cars?
Here is the link the photo came from
http://www.memaerobilia.com/racecars.asp

I have uselessly tried to identify the towed Ferrari showed on one of the previous posts starting from the following assumptions:

-the towing car is a Studebacker 1953/54
-the last edition of mentioned Mexican Road race is the 1954 (quote from memaerobilia site "This is Dad's new Studebaker coupe getting ready to tow an open wheel Ferrari (from The Bronx) "down to Texas for Mexican road race" I guess someone was going to pick it up in Texas and deliver it the rest of the way.")
-the ferrari should be one of the 375 indy entered on 1952 500 miles
-the ascari'375 on November 1953 was officially in Italy and it was rebuild/modified and renamed 0388 (the towed car is completely different)
-it was modified most probably by Raceway Bronx Garage NYC for the Mexican Road Race (carrera Panamerica) according pictures owner'description' even if there is no trace of such a ferrari either in 1953 or 1954 entry list

Do anyone have more information/details?