VIN: the David Brown Ferrari 340 America chassis 0130 AL
History of chassis 0130 AL
The first 340 America (actually a 275 Sport fitted with the new 4.1-litre ‘340’ engine) was displayed at the Paris Motor Show in October 1950.
Early 340 Americas were all competition-type machines but, twelve months after the model’s French debut, Ferrari displayed a luxurious Coupe designed purely for road use: 0130 AL.
Coachbuilt by Ghia of Turin, compared to Ghia’s three subsequent 340 Americas, 0130 AL differed in practically every detail. It was also Ferrari’s first full four seater as reflected by its AL chassis suffix (instead of the normal A suffix used by every other 340 America).
Commissioned for display at the Paris Motor Show which took place in early October of 1951, 0130 AL was painted dark blue with a grey roof.
The two-tone livery continued inside where the upper dash was finished in blue and the lower section in grey. A polished wooden insert divided the separate elements.
Ghia fitted an unusual single instrument binnacle; the solitary dial incorporated read outs for road speed, engine speed, fuel level, water temperature and oil pressure.
One week after the Paris event closed, 0130 AL was in England where it starred on the Brooklands of Bond Street stand at the London Motor Show.
Based in Mayfair, Brooklands of Bond Street were the sole London distributors for Alvis, Aston Martin, Healey and Lagonda and had recently become the British Ferrari concessionaire as well.
0130 AL was spotted at Earls Court by journalist, John Bolster, who wrote for Autosport magazine:
“Another beautiful car was the Ferrari 4.1-litre saloon that made its debut at Paris. I persuaded Stirling Moss to sit in it, and he agreed that the driving position, and all the controls, are ideally situated. Of course, the pedals are properly placed for “heel and toe”, and the small, wood-rimmed wheel feels delightful in the hands. They want £9700 for this, but unfortunately Stirling and I had both forgotten our cheque books.”
Brooklands of Bond Street sold 0130 AL to David Brown, the owner of Aston Martin Lagonda. It was the first Ferrari road car sold in the UK.
How long David Brown retained the 340 America is unclear.
By the mid 1960s, it had been repainted red and was in the possession of Michael Ward.
Ward only kept the car for a few months before selling it to Colin Crabbe of Antique Automobiles in 1965.
From there, the trail goes cold...
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Ferrari - https://www.ferrari.com
