1955 Ferrari 410 Sport Spider by Scaglietti

Chassis No.

0598 CM

Engine No.

0598 CM

Gearbox No.

35/SNR

Documents

Bill of Sale Only

To be offered on Saturday, 20 August 2022

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- One of the most significant purpose-built Ferrari “big block” sports-racing prototypes from the 1950s
- One of just two Factory-campaigned 410 Sports equipped with a 24-spark plug 4.9-liter V-12
- Scuderia Ferrari team car driven by Juan Manuel Fangio at the 1956 1000 KM Buenos Aires
- Piloted by Carroll Shelby during his landmark 1956 and 1957 seasons when driving for the renowned Southern California-based team principal John Edgar
- Carroll Shelby won more races as a driver in 0598 CM than any other car in his racing career, with 8 wins and 10 podium finishes
- Also raced in period by legendary drivers Phil Hill, Eugenio Castellotti, Masten Gregory, Richie Ginther, Joakim Bonnier, Bruce Kessler, Jim Rathmann, and Chuck Daigh
- Among the most successful of all even-numbered sports racing Ferraris, entering nearly 40 races in-period with 11 victories and 19 total podium finishes from 1956–1958
- Remains a highly original example retaining the matching-numbers engine, chassis, and body
- One of a select few Ferrari models with coachwork both designed and built by Sergio Scaglietti Fitted with original fuel tank inscribed by Shelby, “Mr. Ferrari told me that this was the best Ferrari he ever built.”
- Accompanied by the first (1956) and last (1958) trophies won by Shelby driving 0598 CM, along with the original 1957 Nassau racing license plate

RISE OF THE KINGFISH

The American sports car racing scene of the 1950s was a time like no other, when fiercely independent, deep-pocketed men could acquire ex-factory racecars and campaign them with some of history’s most legendary drivers. Unfettered by sponsorship concerns or overwhelming regulatory scrutiny, this tightly knit community of men’s men risked life and limb in the events of the Collier brothers’ fledgling SCCA, often competing on old US Air Force tarmacs that had been provided under the auspices of ex-SAC chief General Curtis LeMay. Admirably pure in its essence, this was a golden era of racing that fielded some of the decade’s most beautifully sculpted and ferociously specified competition machines.

Among this niche of sportsmen that included such luminary figures as Briggs Cunningham, Tony Parravano, John von Neumann, and Jim Kimberly, few team owners commanded more respect than John Edgar. Born in Ohio to a wealthy family whose company manufactured kitchen machinery, Edgar was a derring-do character obsessed with speed. As a young man he drove a Mercer Raceabout and a Pierce-Arrow, and he got his start in competitive racing in the field of boating, campaigning four-cylinder outboard racing boats on Midwest rivers and Florida’s inland water by the early 1930s. But this unique character, who quoted Shakespeare and later rubbed elbows with Ernest Hemingway, was not to find a long-term place in boat racing after he sustained a serious accident in Miami’s Biscayne Bay, breaking all his ribs and losing a kidney in the bargain.

After a brief hiatus of soul searching, Edgar resumed competitive activities in a new milieu—sports car racing. He was initially intrigued by a run at the Indianapolis 500, but the corporate atmosphere and cutthroat business did not suit the sensibilities of a man who just wanted to have fun. So, in 1948, having transplanted to California, he showed up at the El Mirage Dry Lake time trials in a souped-up MG TC, where he proceeded to best the 21-year-old Phil Hill.

But Edgar’s future vision crystalized when he attended the Palm Springs race of March 1951 and saw Jim Kimberly’s Ferrari 166 Barchetta, which walloped his further-tuned MG Special by two laps. The racing machine from Maranello was a thing of beauty and power, and he knew that he had to have one.

Shortly afterwards his friend Henry Manney III acquired chassis number 0032 MT, an important early 340 America that Scuderia Ferrari had campaigned at the Mille Miglia and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Edgar knew the 4.1-liter Lampredi-engined beast would be too much for his friend to handle, and within a month the car was his. With the famed Jack McAfee at the wheel, 0032 MT began racking up SCCA wins in 1953 and 1954 for the nascent Edgar team. Before long, this great success led to Edgar purchasing his next Ferrari, the 1954 Le Mans-winning 375 Plus, chassis number 0396 AM. Bitten by the bug, and increasingly obsessed with winning an SCCA driver’s championship—which he endearingly referred to as “the whole ball of wax”—Edgar went on to purchase a four-cylinder Ferrari 857 Sport, chassis number 0588 M.

The well-tuned and masterfully McAfee-driven 857 S secured a victory at Stockton in 1956, but beforehand, at Palm Springs in February1956, a frustrated Edgar ran into a brick wall of overwhelming power in the form of Tony Parravano’s 4.9-liter Ferrari 410 Sport (0592 CM) piloted by an ex-chicken farmer from Texas named Carroll Shelby. This was the moment of inspiration for Edgar to acquire the most powerful and highly developed sports racer produced by Ferrari yet, the ex-Fangio Scuderia team 410 Sport.

Only in his wildest dreams did Edgar, who was soon to be dubbed “The Kingfish” by the motoring press, surmise that this ex-factory car, chassis number 0598 CM, would soon be piloted for Team Edgar by the charismatic Shelby himself—in the process cementing the Texan’s legacy as one of America’s most talented racing drivers.

BUILDING A CAR FOR A RACE THAT NEVER HAPPENED

Enzo Ferrari was determined to secure the FIA World Sportscar championship in 1955, with the final leg being the Carrera Panamericana: a grueling five-day rally that traversed the Mexican wilderness en route to the border near El Paso, Texas. Ferrari had experienced overwhelming success on nearly every circuit in sports car racing, with the one possible exception being the notoriously dangerous Carrera Panamericana.

In 1952 several privateer Ferraris were entered, including three of Maranello’s latest sports-racers, Vignale-bodied berlinettas built upon the Lampredi 340 racing engine platform. Subsequently known as the 340 Mexicos, these cars showed promise as Luigi Chinetti finished 3rd overall. But a year later the upgraded 340 MM entries could not hold pace with Lancia’s dominating D24 racecars, despite Umberto Maglioli’s commanding 10-minute lead during the race’s final leg. In 1954, Maglioli rumbled to victory in Erwin Goldschmitt’s 375 Plus, but John Edgar’s entry of the Le Mans-winning 375 Plus ended in tragedy as navigator Ford Robinson was killed in a severe accident that miraculously spared the life of Jack McAfee. Riding too high to handle safely, these extremely powerful cars clearly required some chassis development to remain in control on the bumpy and unpredictable surfaces of the Carrera course.

So, for the 1955 Carrera, Ferrari designed an all-new chassis, the type 519/C. It utilized a low-riding tubular spaceframe of unusual width and featured a shorter wheelbase, with the hopes of neutralizing the Panamericana’s uneven roads. Instead of integrating the 375 Plus’s 4,954-cubic centimeter racing engine, however, Lampredi chose to revise his brand-new long-block V-12 designed for the Superamerica road car. At 4,961 cubic centimeters, this was the largest engine yet built by Maranello, and in racing form the type 126/C motor featured Formula One-style twin-plug ignition per cylinder, a quadruple distributor and coil ignition system in 0598 (magnetos in 0596), and three huge twin-choke Weber 46 DCF carburetors to develop nearly 400 horsepower. This was an unprecedented output for a Ferrari sports car—and 40 horsepower more than the initial pair of 410 Sport customer-delivery Speciales (0592 CM and 0594 CM) with Type 126 single-plug engines and Weber 42DCZ/4 carburetors.

Only two 410 Sports were built to these specifications with the intention of factory-based racing. They were appropriately designated chassis numbers 0596 and 0598 with CM suffices, standing for “Carrera Messicana.” After development had begun on the 410 Sport in 1955, however, both the Carrera Panamericana and 1000 KM Nürburgring FIA races were cancelled in the wake of the Le Mans tragedy (in which 83 spectators were killed and another 180 injured when a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR left the track and disintegrated in the crowd). As a result, Maranello repositioned the 410 Sports to participate in the 1956 World Sportscar Championship racing season, making their debut at the season-commencing 1000 KM of Buenos Aires in January 1956.

The pair of 24-spark cars, chassis numbers 0596 CM and 0598 CM, were respectively driven by the teams of Peter Collins and Luigi Musso, and Juan Manual Fangio and Eugenio Castellotti. Fangio had requested a special modification to 0598 CM that moved the accelerator from its normal position to one between the brake pedal and the clutch. All eyes were on the local hero from Argentina, with the press focusing much of their attention on Fangio and his 410 Sport. After Castellotti experienced a tire issue forcing the car into the pits for repairs, Fangio jumped back in 0598 CM with a significant distance to overcome and furiously chased down Stirling Moss in the leading Maserati 300S. After charging back to the lead lap with Moss in his sights, the differential gave way from the punishment enacted by the feverish pace and raw power of the type 126/C engine on the 89th lap (28 laps after the transaxle had failed on 0596 CM).

Both cars were sent back to the factory for a refit before delivery later in 1956 to privateer clients. John Edgar had waited in the wings for his opportunity at 0598 CM, anxious to obtain the golden chariot that might deliver him a championship.

EDGAR’S MODENA MONSTER

By July 1956, John Edgar had pried Carroll Shelby away from the Scuderia Parravano, where the driver’s efforts were often compromised by the owner’s colorful insistence on tuning...