Maranello Moment of Zen

Ferrari Headquarters looking very much like Santa's Workshop during a freakish cold snap that has swept across Europe. This would be a great photo op for the new 4WD Ferrari FF!  Come on people!

via the Daily Mail.

The Ferrari 512 BB: A Forgotten Manifesto

To say that the 512 BB was a seminal design for Ferrari might meet with raised eyebrows from many people.  After all, it's rather an unsung car compared to its more plentiful V8 siblings and its more flamboyant red-headed Flat-12 progeny of the 80s. Because it replaced the Daytona, and thus closed the era of great front-engined V-12 sports cars for Ferrari (until the 550 Maranello came out in 1996) one might say that certain Ferrari purists look at the 512BB as the regrettable end of an era rather than the start of a new 25 year epoch. Though the 512BB has certainly become a collectible car in its own right, it's still far less sought after than the Daytona.  And yet it broke far more boundaries than that car, and had long-lasting impact on the entire design direction of Ferraris for the next two decades. First of all, the 512 was Ferrari's first flat 12 production car, as well as Ferrari's first mid-engined flagship supercar (unlike the mid-engined 246 Dino, which had a much smaller V6 and never wore the prancing horse.) Aside from these mechanical aspects, the 512's design cues constituted an often-ignored manifesto work that set the tone for all subsequent Ferrari sports cars of the 70s and 80s.

Like many classic designs that today are perceived by the general public as "very 80's looking" the 512 was actually released as far back as 1972, and its design roots go back to the late 1960s.  The thematic elements of the 512 BB can be directly traced to two show cars by Pininfarina: The P6 Berlinetta of 1968, and the 512 Modulo of 1970.

A close look at the P6 shows proportion and massing that is very close to the eventual silhouette of the 512BB. However, the details, such as the creased body side and the flying buttress rear window treatment were already well established Pininfarina styling elements that were seen on many cars such as the 246 Dino. The same is true of the air intake carved out of the door panel, which was on the Dino and several other Ferraris. Yet this particular execution of the scooped out intake would find its way into the later 308 GTB. Other details such as the "venetian blind" detailing were thankfully not found on later production Ferraris (Bertone more successfully executed a similar detail two years later, on the Urraco).

The staggeringly beautiful and utterly unique 512 Modulo concept (above) of 1970 was the other source of inspiration for the 512BB. Although the Modulo is much lower and differently proportioned from the production car, there are many styling elements which saw their way to production. Most notable is the horizontal "reflection line" separating the upper and lower portions of the bodywork with a band of contrasting color (usually black on production Ferraris). The "reflection line" is a central thematic element of the Modulo that makes its first appearance in the 512, and carries through every subsequent Ferrari Berlinetta until the F360 Modena eliminated it entirely.  The other most obvious cues carried over from the Modulo to the 512BB are the artfully flared rear fender bulges.   Looking at these cars next to each other (below) one may say, ok that is where the similarities end. And they might be right...

I personally never associated either of these show cars directly with the 512BB, but I recently came across some fascinating sketches from the Pininfarina archives (in the book Pininfarina:Prestige and Tradition, Edita, 1980) which clearly show the designers grappling with how to translate the themes of the Modulo to a production-based reality. These sketches clearly bear witness to a morphing process in which the Modulo's space age lines gradually were refined and softened into what would become the 512BB. In particular, note how the Modulo's unique window treatment is explored and gradually changes shape through the iterations.

In the end, the 512 comes out looking quite different from the Modulo, but it nontheless set the tone for all mid-engined Ferraris to come for the next 20-plus years.

The aforemorentioned "reflection line" becomes a standard thematic element, as does the 512BB's modernistic execution of the egg crate grille. This grille treatment was recycled and revisited continuously on the 308, the 328, the Mondial, the 288 GTO, and other models throughout the 80s and 90s. The tail light cluster treatment on the 512BB, while hardly the first round tail lights on a Ferrari, are nonetheless archetypal for the designs that followed, and the horizontal grille between them even presages the eventual tail treatment of the Testarossa. When seen from a side view, it's clear that the nose treatment and raked A pillar formed the basis for the 308 GTB, the 328, and the 288 GTO.

Now that we have established both the design foundations of the 512BB as well as its importance in setting the tone for following models, one might ask why the car never achieved cult status, and also one might rightfully question whether Enzo himself even liked it. After all, when it came time for the Dino 308 GT4, which was to be Ferrari's higher volume bread and butter, he gave the job to Bertone (who did a fantastic job, i might add).  And yet by the time the 308 GTB came around a few years after, one must assume Enzo had warmed, to the styling themes first seen on the 512BB. And if sales of the 308 and 328GTB and GTS series were any indication, so had the buying public. I can't guess as to why the car never attained cult status, but to my eye it's a true classic that has been overlooked due to the mythical status attained by its immediate forebears and the over-representation of the cars it spawned.

Demonstration Day at the Simeone Foundation -- Gallery

Over Thanksgiving weekend, we checked out the "People's Choice" Demonstration day over at the Simeone Foundation in Philadelphia.  They had the 250TR, the 917, and the GT40 opened up for all to see, and they took the Corvette Grand Sport and Shelby Daytona Coupe outside for a spin! There was a great enthusiast crowd, and Dr. Simeone gave a very informative lecture about the cars beforehand. For anyone on the East Coast who hasn't been over to see this collection, you really need to go. Now. The cars are not only top notch in curation and originality, but almost all of them have some significant provenance. Case in point: There are were only 6 Shelby Daytona Coupes built. Simeone has one of them. But this is the ONLY one that was actually built by Shelby in the USA. The other 5 were made in Italy to save time and money.  See what I mean?

Click the photo below for the entire gallery.  I shot these on my cel phone, so the quality isn't up to my usual standard!

This image taken from the foundation website: http://simeonemuseum.org/

Pebble Beach 2011 Gallery is Up!

For all 175 photos over 3 gallery pages click HERE

The featured themes this year were the Ferrari 250 GTO (roughly 20 of them in attendance!), prewar Mercedes-Benz, and Stutz automobiles. Best in Show was won by Peter Mullin's incredible Voisin.

Look for cameos by Stirling Moss, Gordon Murray, Jay Leno, Ed Welburn, Ian Callum and Jason Castriota!

Concorso Italiano 2011

Concorso Italiano, which was begun in the early 1990s, has become one of the top events in the Pebble Beach weekend. Compared to the rarified air at the Quail and Pebble Beach Concours D'elegance, the Concorso feels a lot more inclusive and down to Earth.  Its physical location is a lot closer to Laguna Seca than Carmel, and this is fitting as the event seems to straddle the line between the hardcore gearheads and the straw hat and blazer types. It feels more like a typical regional car show where owners sit by their cars (most actually drive their cars in rather than trailering them!) and chat and have a good time. Unlike a regional show, however, the scale of the Concorso is huge, and the array of machinery on display is a vast survey of mostly postwar Italian vehicles. And true to the inclusive spirit of the show, they even added a category for non-Italian cars!  We had a great time at the Concorso, which has the cars well organized by marque and model. It's really cool, for example, to see a perfectly aligned row of Maserati Boras or DeTomaso Panteras. These are cars that you'd be lucky to see once in a blue moon on the street, yet at the Concorso, you get to see a whole family reunion.  It's just fantastic. In addition to the more common Italian cars, there is all sorts of wonderful, obscure stuff in attendance. Have you ever seen an Intermeccanica, for example?? How about an Iso Lele? I certainly saw a few cars I had absolutely never laid eyes on before, so the show was very educational. Click HERE for the 2 page Mega Gallery!