VIN: the Roberto Rossellini / Ingrid Bergman Ferrari 375 Mille Miglia chassis 0456 AM
History of chassis 0456 AM
Although the 375 Mille Miglia was designed as the ultimate sports racing car of its day, several customers requested road-going versions.
Pinin Farina produced 21 of the 22 original 375 Mille Miglia bodies. 13 were Spyders and the remaining eight were Berlinettas.
Six of the eight Berlinettas were destined for life as road cars. Four of these followed broadly the same pattern as Pinin Farina’s standard Berlinetta Competizione. The other two (0456 AM and 0490 AM) were more individual.
Chassis 0456 AM was a totally fresh design created for the 1954 Paris Motor Show which took place between October 7th and 17th. It entered the Pinin Farina plant on July 17th and was completed not long before the show opened.
Painted pale blue with a red interior, 0456 AM incorporated a host of radical features; an unusual step for the normally conservative Pinin Farina studio.
Rotating headlights were mounted inboard of bulbous front fenders that housed distinctive covered indicators. The wing profile flowed in one continuous line from the nose to the back of the cockpit then over the rear wheels into a long rounded tail.
Arced sections were carved out down each flank and shark-fin cooling louvres were added. Fog lights were housed in each corner of the wide front grille and a second intake was located on the bonnet.
The tunnelled roof was integrated with finned flying buttresses that swept down to the back of the car.
Despite its long rear overhang and lift-up rear hatch, most of the luggage space was consumed by the enormous fuel tank upon which a spare wheel was mounted.
The beautifully appointed interior featured a custom body coloured dash. A small oval binnacle directly behind the steering wheel housed a 300kmh speedometer and 8000rpm tach. Smaller gauges for water temperature, oil pressure and fuel were mounted centrally. Upholstery was a mix of rubber mat and fine leather.
The freshly completed 375 Mille Miglia Aerodinamico Speciale was purchased by Italian film director, screenwriter and producer, Roberto Rossellini.
It was Rossellini’s second 375 Mille Miglia as he had bought a Pinin Farina Spyder (0402 AM) in June 1954.
Prior to his 375s, Rossellini had owned a 166 Inter (011 S), a 212 Export (0076 E), a 250 Mille Miglia (0230 MM) and a 250 Europa (0299 EU).
In 1953, Rossellini had also purchased a 212 Inter (0265 EU) as a wedding gift for his third wife, Ingrid Bergman.
However, Bergman was not a fan of Rossellini’s fast cars nor his motor racing. She was quoted as saying: ”Earlier I went to see his new Ferrari. It is a monster that does over three hundred kilometres an hour. I told him it looked like a flying saucer and it does. I sat in it for a moment and I put my fingers on the wheel in the sign of the cross like we do on the forehead of the children when they go to bed. I am sure Roberto does not know the effect it has on me when he roars off in one of these monsters.”
Famously, on the 1953 Mille Miglia, Rossellini was at the southernmost checkpoint in Rome when Bergman flung herself across his bonnet and refused to move until he agreed to withdraw from the event. The pair had recently married and Rossellini was racing against his wife’s wishes.
After just one race with his bright red 375 Mille Miglia Spyder (at the Karlskoga Kanonloppet on October 3rd) Bergman convinced Rossellini to give up the sport for good.
Rossellini was not bitter and, within a few days of the Kanonloppet, he purchased 0456 AM as a gift for his wife. Part of the $6000 price included a colour change to pale gold (Grigio Ingrid).
The car was delivered in late December 1954 but, predictably, Bergman did not want it and Rossellini ended up keeping it for himself.
In April 1957, chassis 0456 AM passed to its second owner, John Treadwell in Rome.
Two months later, it was sold to John Koontz of San Francisco.
It then went through the hands of several US owners and, by 1968, was dismantled awaiting restoration.
After a decade in pieces, the unfinished car was purchased by attorney and Ferrari collector, Wayne Golomb, of Springfield, Illinois.
Later it joined the collection of Microsoft president and chief operating officer, Jon Shirley.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Ferrari - https://www.ferrari.com
