VIN: the works / Casimiro de Oliveira Ferrari 340 America chassis 0082 A
History of chassis 0082 A
Chassis 0082 A was the first 340 America built from scratch. It was preceded by chassis 0030 MT and 0032 MT, both of which started life as 275 Sports and were subsequently rebuilt with 4.1-litre ‘340’ engines.
0082 A made its debut as part of a three-car works entry on the 1951 Mille Miglia (April 28th and 29th).
The other Scuderia Ferrari team cars present were also 340 Americas: chassis 0032 MT was entered for Alberto Ascari / Senesio Nicolini and chassis 0116 A (another brand new example) was on hand for Dorino Serafini / Ettore Salani.
A fourth 340 America (chassis 0030 MT) was part of the Scuderia Marzotto line up.
Unlike these other cars (which were all Touring-bodied Spyders), chassis 0082 A was fitted with a Berlinetta body by Carrozzeria Vignale. Four more fixed head Vignale-bodied 340 Americas were manufactured, three of which were road cars.
Scuderia Ferrari entered 0082 A on the Mille Miglia for Luigi Villoresi and navigator, Pasquale Cassani.
They departed Brescia at 4:05am amid torrential rainstorms and the slippery roads resulted in many accidents; team-mate Ascari was out of the race within half an hour when he left the road between Lonato and Desenzano.
A couple of hours later, Villoresi went off near Ravenna which caused extensive damage to 0082 A’s front left corner. Some of the bodywork had to be cut away and a wheel was changed, but Villoresi and Cassani were able to continue.
The weather improved between Pescara and Rome; Villoresi began to increase his pace.
By the time he reached Rome, he had established a comfortable lead which was consolidated over the return leg to Brescia.
Villoresi eventually finished 20 minutes ahead of the second placed Lancia Aurelia B20 of Giovanni Bracco / Umberto Maglioli. 0082 A completed the 978 mile course at an average speed of 75.7mph.
The Ferrari was subsequently repaired and sold to Casimiro de Oliveira of Porto.
Casimiro de Oliveira was the brother of Portuguese filmmaker and actor, Manoel de Oliveira. Both men were accomplished amateur drivers and Casimiro went on to own a series of Ferraris to include a 225 Sport (chassis 0180 ED), a 250 Mille Miglia (chassis 0332 MM), a 375 Mille Miglia (chassis 0366 AM) and a 750 Monza (chassis 0524 M).
0082 A was Casimiro de Oliveira’s first Ferrari and replaced an Allard J2 he had raced in 1950.
Against a strong field, de Oliveira drove the 340 to victory in the 217 mile Portuguese Grand Prix (June 17th), The event comprised 45 laps of a beautiful 4.8 mile road course around Oporto.
Four weeks later, 0082 A placed third overall in the 142 mile Vila Real street race.
For 1952, de Oliveira moved on to a new Ferrari 225 Sport and sold the 340 America to another enthusiastic Portuguese amateur, Jose Nogueira Pinto of Lisbon.
Nogueira Pinto raced 0082 A on four occasions in 1952, most notably picking up fourth at the Portuguese Grand Prix.
By spring 1953, chassis 0082 A was in the possession of specialist car dealer, Viviano Corradini, who had homes in Milan and New Jersey. The 340 America was exported to the USA where Corradini contested a couple of minor SCCA races.
Corradini is understood to have sold 0082 A to a Californian owner in the mid 1950s at which point it was retired from competition duty.
Notable History
Scuderia Ferrari
Registered BP 2685
29/04/1951 IND Mille Miglia (L. Villoresi / P. Cassani) 1st oa, 1st S/GT2.0+ class (#405)
Sold to Casimiro de Oliveira, Porto, Portugal
Registered MR 13 30
17/06/1951 IND Portuguese GP, Porto (C. de Oliveira) 1st oa, 1st S2.0+ class (#14)
15/07/1951 IND Vila Real (C. de Oliveira) 3rd oa, 2nd S2.0+ class (#2)
Sold to Jose Nogueira Pinto, Lisbon, Portugal
22/06/1952 IND Portuguese GP, Porto (J. Nogueira Pinto) 4th oa, 4th S2.0+ class (#20)
07/07/1952 IND Vila Real (J. Nogueira Pinto) DNF (#19)
31/08/1952 IND Vila do Conde (J. Nogueira Pinto) 4th oa (#5)
27/09/1952 IND Vila do Conde (J. Nogueira Pinto) 3rd oa (#??)
Sold to Viviano Corradini, Milan, Italy / New Jersey, USA
23/05/1953 SCA National Bridgehampton (V. Corradini) NC (#34)
09/05/1954 SCA Regional Suffolk (V. Corradini) ran (#??)
Later sold to California
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Ferrari - https://www.ferrari.com & 1000 Miglia Srl - https://1000miglia.it/?lang=en
