A collection of 1950s Ferrari racing cars has been unveiled at the Salon Privé Concours.
Spectacular specialist class includes six Ferrari racers from the 1950s
1951 Ferrari 212 Export Berlinetta by Touring leads the Concours Class line-up
One of only four Ferrari 250 Monzas built in 1954 – Scaglietti Spyder 0442M – will be judged
1954 121 LM Scuderia Ferrari team racing car joins the line-up
Salon Privé Concours presented by Aviva Private Clients runs on 27 & 28 August 2025 at Blenheim Palace.
Salon Privé, the UK’s most prestigious luxury automotive event, has announced a specialist Concours Class of Ferrari 1950s Racers, which will take centre stage at Blenheim Palace next week.
The thrilling line-up, which is set to delight guests, features six of the rarest Ferraris ever manufactured, all with an esteemed racing heritage. Ferrari dominated Sports Car racing in the 1950s with multiple wins in the Mille Miglia and Ferrari’s first win at Le Mans.
Drivers, including Ascari, Castellotti and Taruffi, demonstrated the skill required as well as the outstanding design and durability of Ferrari Sports Racing Cars.
A team of international professional judges will adjudicate these six privately-owned Ferrari racers in the grounds of Blenheim Palace on Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th August.
Talking about the exciting Concours Class, Andrew Bagley, Chairman and Co-Founder of Salon Privé, said: “We are excited to add this unique Class of racing Ferraris to our 2025 Concours. It is an honour and privilege to welcome all six Ferraris and their owners to our 20th Anniversary event. The judges and I cannot wait to get up close with each of these historic and stunning specimens. I have no doubt it’s going to be an exceptionally close competition.”
Let’s meet the line-up:
1951 Ferrari 212 Export Berlinetta by Touring
This early Ferrari is the seventh overall 212 constructed. The 212 name related to the Colombo designed V12 engine which had a capacity of 2,562cc, producing 175bhp which gave the car a top speed of 136mph!
The “Export” name was used to signify Enzo’s intent to expand into overseas markets with his fledgling race cars.
Chassis no. 0088 E was clothed in Touring body no. 3473, engine internal no. 16/E and gearbox no. 20/E. The frame was finished on January 26, 1951, with rear axle assembly completed on February 14. It was overseen by famed mechanics Walter Seghedoni and foreman Amos Franchini.
This beautiful Touring Berlinetta was sold new on April 20, 1951, to Augusto Caraceni, a tailor and racing car driver who was the heir to the Caraceni company, one of Italy’s most famous men’s clothiers. He entered the car in the Stella Alpina Hillclimb and finished 2nd in the GT class.
Eventually in 1969 the car was acquired by Charles Betz and Fred Peters of Orange County where it was stored for many years.
In 2008 a full restoration of the car commenced, Steve Beckman’s Metalworks in Costa Mesa was entrusted with the bodywork and finished in the period colour of Amaranto. Bob Wallace carried out all of the Mechanical restoration including engine rebuild and gearbox rebuild to concours standard. Trim was completed by Pete Engel and the whole project was overseen by Mr Betz. The comprehensive nut and bolt restoration took several years to complete and the car finally acquired a new owner, Dennis Nicotra from New Haven USA, on 16th Jan 2014. Now looking better than new he showed the car at Pebble beach in August that year where it attained a very respectable 3rd in class.
The next chapter of 0088/E’s life started when Martin Halusa purchased the car in 2015. Martin is not normally one to show his cars but to drive and, more importantly, race them as they were originally intended. Over the next 10 years this beautiful 212 has competed in Goodwood revival Lavant cup, Modena Cento Ore, Goodwood MM, VSCC Pomeroy, Monaco Historic and the Tour Auto. A wonderful car still raced as it was originally intended but also prepared and maintained in the condition you see it today by SEMA racing and Bob Houghton Ltd, with no expense spared and all the enthusiasm that this prominent part of Ferrari’s history deserves.
1952 Ferrari 225 S Vignale Berlinetta
Ferrari 0178ED left the factory in May 1952, making its competitive debut in the Mille Miglia in the hands of Count Sterzi with the wealthy Olympic bobsleigh athlete Angelo “Nino” Rovelli as co-driver. The pair failed to finish and the car was returned to the Ferrari factory where the rear axle was re-built. In June 1952 the 225 had an outright victory in the gruelling Coppa della Toscana with “Bruno” Sterzi who also raced it to victory in the Bolzano-Mendola hillclimb and the Coppa InterEuropa at Monza for which the opening boot was added and the front and rear bumpers had been removed. Vignale signature side scallops were added, and a two-tone paint scheme was adopted.
This important car was illustrated in the Ferrari yearbook for 1952 and in March of ’54 was sold to fellow Ferrari racing driver Siro Sbraci from Florence who kept the car for a year before selling it on to Scuderia Centro Sud owner Guglielmo ‘Mimmo’ Dei. It eventually made its way to the United Stated where it entered the Carl Bross Ferrari collection.
Having finished its competitive life, the car changed hands a number of times but was then involved in a fire and was dismantled for a restoration which became dormant. The old Ferrari was to remain undriven for the next 50 years.
In 2001 the current owner who bought the car in pieces and commissioned the Ferrari Classiche department to carry out a reconstruction of the interior and a full restoration of the car.
The engine and running gear were fully reconditioned and the coachwork and paint scheme were restored to the combination worn by the car when it won First in Class at the Coppa InterEuropa Monza in September 1952. Because the documentation regarding the original interior had been lost, the Maranello team decided to examine all the Ferraris of this kind built in the early 1950s to ensure the new interior’s specification would be as faithful as possible. A rare competition Ferrari Classiche white book has been issued and on completion it was presented in the Ferrari Competition Cars class at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegence in 2016.
1952 Ferrari 340 Mexico Berlinetta by Vignale
This Ferrari 340 Mexico was raced by the double Formula 1 World Champion and true titan of motorsport history, Aberto Ascari in the 1952 Carrera Panamerican. It is one of just three 340 Mexico Berlinettas purpose-built by the Ferrari factory to win the Carrera Panamericana. It was also raced by Carroll Shelby in the fiercely popular North American SCCA series in 1953.
It retains its matching numbers, chassis, engine and gearbox.
This classic racer was fastidiously restored by the award-winning Wisconsin-based Italian classic automotive restoration specialist Motion Products Inc. It is cloaked in an aggressive, yet strikingly elegant competition-focused Gran Turismo body designed by Giovanni Michelotti under the Vignale banner.
1954 250 Monza Scaglietti Spyder 0442M
The model was born from the combination of the 750 Monza chassis with the 250 MM engine, a 3.0-liter 60° V12, designed by Gioacchino Colombo and later refined by Aurelio Lampredi. The gearbox, located at the rear to optimize weight distribution, together with the adoption of a De Dion rear axle, guaranteed the car excellent road holding for the time.
This car was built to participate in the 1954 Supercortemaggiore Grand Prix of Monza, in which it finished third.
Car 0442M is the only remaining example with the original Scaglietti body, as sister car 0432M was rebodied in 1957 in the Testa Rossa style.
After a colourful racing history across Europe, Mexico and South America, from 2020-2024 the car was entrusted to Ferrari Classiche and subjected to a complete restoration to restore the car to its original condition, as if it had just left Ferrari in 1954.
1954 Ferrari 121 LM by Scaglietti
Developed by Aurelio Lampredi, this racing machine was part of Ferrari’s evolution of sports prototypes and built to challenge the likes of dominant rivals Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, Jaguar D-Type and Maserati 300S. A 4.4 litre straight-six engine was at the heart of the 121 LM. This represented a departure from Ferrari’s signature V12 powerplants. The Ferrari 121 LM generated 360 hp and was among the most potent sports cars of its time. The long-stroke design delivered high torque to render it ideal for endurance racing. The naming convention provided another notable shift away from the Ferrari tradition – instead of the usual nomenclature based on the displacement of each cylinder, ‘121’ referred to the engine’s development code. As a result, the car was also designated ‘735 LM’, representing the capacity of 735 cc per cylinder.
This Scuderia Ferrari team racing car is one of only four ever built. The fearsome racer debuted in 1955, initially competing in the Buenos Aires 1,000 km still powered by the 118 LM engine. Froilán González and Maurice Trintignant were piloting the car to take on the most challenging endurance competition of its time. After returning to Europe, the 121 LM achieved a major victory with Piero Taruffi winning the Giro di Sicilia. Just two weeks later, the team car lined up for the 1955 Mille Miglia with Paolo Marzotto behind the wheel, though sadly it failed to finish this gruelling event. That summer, Ferrari sold the car to construction tycoon Tony Parravano in Los Angeles. He was a famed collector of Maserati and Ferrari race cars.
During Parravano’s ownership, the 121 LM saw action across the US racing scene piloted by some of the legendary drivers of the era, including Umberto Maglioli, Carroll Shelby, Phil Hill, Ken Miles and Tony Bettenhausen. In 1959, the car bade farewell to racing but it was to return to the racetrack later on in its illustrious life. Numerous historic races and concours have been graced by this giant of the racetrack under new stewardship since 1995.
1958 250 Testa Rossa Spyder
The 1958 250 TR Spyder was acquired by Lord Bamford in 1971. Prior to this the Ferrari had owners in Texas and California, USA. In the 70s it had a 250 GT engine rebuilt to TR specs in. It made appearances at Goodwood Revival in 1998, before a complete restoration in 2001. It has been seen previously at Pebble Bech Concours in 2004 and 2014 and more recently Goodwood Festival of Speed in June 2022.
For details about Salon Privé and to book tickets to attend, visit https://www.salonpriveconcours.com/
