VIN: Prince Bernhard's Ferrari 250 GT Superfast chassis 0725 GT
/ Ben Tyer
HISTORY OF CHASSIS 0725 GT
Chassis 0725 GT was one of three Ferraris built in 1957 with Pinin Farina’s Superfast bodywork.
These cars were inspired by the original Superfast (chassis 0483 SA) which had been unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October 1956.
All three of the 1957 Superfasts were destined for special customers.
The first, chassis 0719 SA (built on the 410 Superamerica platform), was displayed at the 1957 Paris and Turin Motor Shows, after which it was sold to Jan De Vroom, co-founder of the North American Racing Team (NART).
The other two 1957 Superfasts were built on the 250 GT platform. Both went to serial Ferrari-owning members of European royalty: 0725 GT to Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and 0751 GT to Princess Lilian of Belgium.
0725 GT was the fourth Ferrari Prince Bernhard had ordered. He was a personal friend of Enzo Ferrari which no doubt helped him secure such an individually configured machine.
All three of the 1957 Superfasts had minor detail differences, particularly with regard to ventilation, instrumentation, lighting and chrome body trim.
Prince Bernhard paid 3.575m Lire for 0725 GT.
Its Tipo 508 C chassis was delivered to the Pinin Farina plant in July 1957 and the car was completed in Maranello that October.
Painted black with a green interior, as soon as it was ready, Ferrari delivered the car to Prince Bernhard’s residence, the Soestdijk Palace on the outskirts of Baarn. Here it was registered with the Dutch plate AA 13.
In March 1961, 0725 GT was sold to the Dutch industrialist and amateur racing driver, Andre ‘Dries’ van der Lof, from Enschede.
Van der Lof kept the car until February 1969, at which point it was purchased by Kirk F. White’s Auto Enterprises of Philadelphia. By this time, 0725 GT had covered nearly 100,000km.
White quickly sold the car to Carl Bross, a jeweller from Detroit.
One year later, Bross part exchanged it with White for the ex-Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 412 P chassis 0854. 0725 GT found a new home in the Ferrari collection of John Delamater of Carmel, Indiana.
Delamater had the car repainted burgundy with a brown leather interior.
During the 1970s, 0725 GT passed through the hands of Norman Silver in High Point, North Carolina.
In the early 1980s, the car found a long term home as part of TV producer Greg Garrison’s collection in Thousand Oaks, California.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Ferrari - https://www.ferrari.com
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