One to Buy: Barn Find 1962 Ferrari 250 GT Cabriolet Series 2
/ Ben Tyer
Although Ferrari made a significant step towards productionisation when the company signed a cooperation agreement with Pininfarina in late 1952, it wasn’t until the 1960s dawned that the cars from Maranello were built in any substantial kind of numbers.
Alongside the four-seat 250 GTE, the second series 250 GT Coupe and Cabriolet were the first Ferraris to be sold in the several hundreds with no major production changes.
Unlike the Series 1 250 GT Cabriolet (which looked completely different to the Coupe of the time), the Series 2 was simply an open top version of the Coupe design.
Launched at the Paris Motor Show in October 1959, it was built on a traditional tubular steel chassis with independent coil spring front suspension and a live rear axle located by semi-elliptic springs and twin parallel trailing arms. In the engine bay was a three-litre 240bhp V12 hooked up to a four-speed overdrive gearbox.
Just a couple of hundred Series 2 Cabriolets were built between 1959 and 1962, one of which is currently being offered by Gullwing Motorcars of New York.
Chassis 3051 GT is a matching numbers example completed on November 25th 1961 in the stunning colour scheme of Blu Scuro with Rosso upholstery. Its first owner was Raffaele Redaelli of Milan who owned the car until 1970.
In 1971, chassis 3051 GT was exported to the USA. At some stage the car was repainted silver and put into long-term storage from which it has only recently emerged.
3051 GT is thus presented in completely unrestored condition and must rank as among the last of these cars to remain as such.
For more information, visit the Gullwing Motorcars’ website at: https://www.gullwingmotorcars.com/
