WORDS: NATHAN CHADWICK | PHOTOS: BONHAMS/BOTTI & PINCELLI PHOTO AGENCY IN MODENA, VIA THE MASSINI ARCHIVE
A Ferrari 250 GT PF Coupé that was reworked by Piero Drogo’s Carrozzeria Sports Cars in the mid-1960s is to be put up for sale at Bonhams‘ Les Grandes Marques à Monaco sale, held at the Villa la Vigie in Monaco on May 10, 2024.
Details from the auctioneer are light at present, but Magneto has been able to piece together the details of chassis 1717 GT’s life. Originally sold as a Pininfarina Coupé to Swiss racing outfit Garage Montchoisy in Geneva in 1960, it was crashed early in its life. It was sent to Carrozzeria Sports Cars and rebodied by Drogo in 1965-66. As part of the transformation, the chassis was shortened by Vaccari; the resulting body was designed to evoke 250 GTO themes.
After the car was sold to Pierre de Siebenthal in 1973, its nose was further developed to look more like that of a 250 GTO. The Ferrari was displayed at the 1985 Geneva Motor Show, and then made an appearance at the Mont Ventoux Historic hillclimb in June of that year, prior to being sold to Italian Mario Caliceti. He’d enter the car into the 80 Anni di Sport ACI con la Ferrari, Modena, later that year, and also took part in the Ferrari 40th Anniversary celebrations at Imola in 1987. The 250 GT entered the stewardship of Jose Segimon of Madrid in 1991.
In 2000 the car went to UK-based David Morrison, who had it restored in silver colours by DK Engineering. In September 2001, David Clark and former Ferrari F1 driver Stefan Johansson used it at the Goodwood Revival Meeting.
Two years later, Rudolfo Junco de La Vega of Mexico acquired the car, keeping it in California. He’d use the Ferrari for the Monterey Historic Races at Laguna Seca in 2004, before passing the car to an unnamed collector some time after its 2017 appearance at Rétromobile. It would take part in the Dix Mille Tour du Castellet and Imola Classic in 2018, and was later modified further with an original-specification Drogo grille, a new engine from Patella and a general mechanical overhaul from Roelofs.
Bonhams also states that the ‘fast road’ spec 250 GT took part in the Carrera des Dolomites in 1988 and the Ferrari 75 Years exhibition at Autoworld Museum in Belgium in 2022. The Ferrari is estimated at between €2.5m and €3m, and more details can be found here.