VIN: the Marvyn Carton / Jan De Vroom / Luigi Chinetti Ferrari 365 P Tre-Posti chassis 8971
History of chassis 8971
Chassis 8971 was the first of two 365 P Tre-Postis built by Ferrari in collaboration with Pininfarina.
Both were based on state-of-the-art P car underpinnings from Ferrari’s sports car racing programme and fitted with 4.4-litre engines said to produce 380bhp. However, it was the Tre-Posti’s three abreast cockpit layout that grabbed most headlines.
Chassis 8971 was painted White Gardenia and upholstered in black vinyl with red carpet. Having appeared in a series of publicity photographs, the car made its public debut alongside the new 275 GTB/4 at the Paris Motor Show which took place in early October of 1966.
A little over a week after the Paris Salon had closed, 8971 became the star attraction at the London Motor Show.
It then went on to appear at the Brussels Motor Show in January 1967, the Geneva Motor Show in March and at the Florence Concours d’Elegance in May.
To prepare the car for road use, a series of modifications were carried out.
The fully integrated front indicators were deleted in favour of separate units mounted atop the front bumperettes. The fuel filler cap was moved to the left-hand sail panel from its original location protruding through the left-hand rear quarter window.
To improve cooling, extra ventilation slots were cut from the engine cover and rear apron. A bank of five slots were also temporarily located along each sill (but soon blanked off again).
Elsewhere, the original flat tail light lenses were switched to a domed type and the webbed five-spoke wheels changed to the star-pattern used on production models.
Perhaps most obviously, Pininfarina also added a full width rear spoiler.
In July 1967, chassis 8971 was sold to Ferrari’s North American distributor Luigi Chinetti in Greenwich, Connecticut. Chinetti was billed a total of $21,160 for the car in two separate invoices: one for $9600 from Ferrari and another for $11,560 from Pininfarina. Ferrari’s bill mentioned the engine had been taken out to a five-litre displacement.
In September 1967, Chinetti sold chassis 8971 to investment banker Marvyn Carton who was the Executive Vice President of Allen & Company on Fifth Avenue, New York.
Having served in the Air Transport Command during World War 2, Carton assumed the vice presidency at Allen & Co. soon after the cessation of hostilities in 1946 and retained the role until 1991. He traded a striking Giallo Solare 500 Superfast (chassis 6041 SF) for which Chinetti gave $8000 against the $26,000 Tre-Posti.
As part of the deal, Chinetti was permitted to use chassis 8971 for an on-track demonstration at September’s Bridgehampton Can-Am race (where it was driven by Stirling Moss). The Bridgehampton display was followed by an appearance at the Los Angeles Motor Show in October. By this time, the car’s rear spoiler had been removed and the satin black front apron treatment switched to an all-white arrangement.
Marvyn Carton only kept chassis 8971 for a few months before he traded it back to Chinetti for something better suited to New York traffic: a 365 GT.
Chinetti soon found a buyer for the Tre-Posti in American-domiciled Dutchman and NART co-founder, Jan De Vroom. De Vroom was no stranger to super exotic Ferraris; his passion for fast cars, sailing boats and fine watches was reputedly indulged by his close friend, Margaret de Cuevas, who was the only child of Bessie Rockefeller and one of the world’s richest women.
Chinetti had to take another part exchange to get the deal done; this time it was De Vroom’s aluminium-bodied competition-spec. 275 GTB/4 (chassis 10311).
De Vroom had chassis 8971 flown to his villa in Cannes where he used it over the summer of 1968.
Upon the car’s return to the US in September, chassis 8971 was traded back to Chinetti in exchange for a 365 GTB/4 and a Dino.
Chinetti’s family subsequently retained the Tre-Posti until December 2017 at which point the car was sold to Texan-domiciled Mexican industrialist, J. Roberto Quiroz.
Notable History
White Gardenia / Nero
10/1966 Paris Motor Show
10/1966 London Motor Show
01/1967 Brussels Motor Show
03/1967 Geneva Motor Show
05/1967 Florence Concours d’Elegance
07/1967 sold to Luigi Chinetti, Greenwich, Connecticut
09/1967 sold to Marvyn Carton, New York
09/1967 Bridgehampton Can-Am track demonstration by Stirling Moss
10/1967 Los Angeles Motor Show
03/1968 sold to Luigi Chinetti, Greenwich, Connecticut
05/1968 sold to Jan de Vroom, New York
09/1968 sold to Luigi Chinetti, Greenwich, Connecticut
12/2017 sold to J. Roberto Quiroz, Texas
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Ferrari - https://www.ferrari.com
