DNA OF A CHAMPION

The evolution of Aurelio Lampredi’s tall-block V-12 racing engine can be traced through numerous successes in factory sports-racers ranging from the 340 Mexico and 375 MM to the monstrous 410 Sport of 1956. By 1954, this model line had crested in the 375 Plus, which chiefly improved on the 375 MM with a Formula 1-derived 4,954-cubic-centimeter engine that utilized a revised carburetor configuration to coax as much as 372 horsepower from the large-bore V-12. In its day, this was the largest and most powerful engine Ferrari had yet built, and it more than proved its worth with victories at the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 1954 Carrera Panamericana—a more impressive pedigree is difficult to conceive.

While six examples of the dedicated 375 Plus chassis Tipo 505 were built and fitted with the new 375 Plus engine, two additional 375 chassis were designated Tipo 102 Plus and fitted with the 4.9-liter engine (and these are known to be the only eight chassis ever fitted with the behemoth engine). One of these two cars was a roadgoing cabriolet ordered by the Belgian King Leopold III, while the other, the featured chassis number 0478 AM, was fitted with spider coachwork by Scaglietti as ordered by the famed Italian-American sports-car racing impresario Tony Parravano.

RACED BY ROYALTY

Following delivery to Parravano in early 1955, the Ferrari made its official debut at Santa Barbara in late May, with Jack McAfee taking a 3rd place racing under #98. The 375’s first major win transpired in late July when Carroll Shelby roared to overall victory at the Seattle Seafair airfield, making this one of only a select group of 10 Ferraris raced to overall victory by the iconic American driver. Shelby returned with 0478 AM at Palm Springs in December, where a bad crash during the first lap of the preliminary race sidelined the car for the main event.

With the evolution of the 410 Sport model, Tony Parravano soon parted ways with the 375 Plus, selling it to local California racer and SCCA stalwart Frank Arciero, who commissioned new bodywork by a British specialist named Jack Sutton. As a 20-year veteran of England’s aviation industry, Sutton was remarkably proficient in old-world metalworking techniques. Upon relocating to Los Angeles, he soon became a go-to coachbuilder for many local homespun racing specials, eventually earning him the nickname “America’s Scaglietti.” In addition to crafting the current spider coachwork in aluminum, Sutton also oversaw modifications that possibly included adjusting the chassis, resulting in more spry handling that soon paid great dividends in SCCA racing.

In this guise the Ferrari went on to be very competitive through the late 1950s as entered by Arciero, with drivers Miles and McAfee racking up numerous top-three finishes. During this time a young Dan Gurney began racing for Team Arciero, and his victories at Paramount Ranch in December 1957, Palm Springs in April 1958, and Pomona in January 1959, attracted the attention of Luigi Chinetti. This soon prompted an invitation from the factory to join the 1959 Scuderia Ferrari grand prix team, which in turn led to a higher platform of achievement for the American driver.

FROM CASINO TO CONSIGNOR: THE PATH LESS TRAVELED

Successfully campaigned by Arciero through 1959, the Ferrari was sold in 1960 to William Harrah, the casino magnate and famed American collector and Ferrari enthusiast. The car remained in his impressive collection, later to become the National Automobile Museum and comprised of well over 1,000 cars, for 24 years before being offered for sale in 1984. By 1987 the car was sold to a Swiss enthusiast who commissioned a restoration by the highly respected Graber Automobile Ltd, onetime pre-war coachbuilders and more recent restoration specialists. Following completion of this work the Ferrari was enjoyed in the Mille Miglia Storica four times during the 1990s, during which time the engine was comprehensively rebuilt by René Ruch and Beat Roos Engineering.

In 1996 chassis number 0478 AM was acquired by the consignor, a world-class collector. During his patronage, the car has largely been domiciled out of view, although there have been fantastic exceptions like the 2000 Wine Country Classic, where Dan Gurney himself put the Ferrari through the paces. The 375 was the subject of a full cover-car feature by noted marque historian Alan Boe in the October/November 2019 issue of Cavallino magazine. A sidebar by William Edgar, the vintage Ferrari racing historian and son of Southern California sports car racing legend John Edgar, quotes an older interview he conducted with Carroll Shelby, in which the famed snake charmer reminisced:

“I drove that big 4.9 Ferrari of Tony’s at Seattle [July 1955] and won, and drove it again at Palm Springs [December 1955] and crashed. That Ferrari turned into being one of the best. It was the lightest, fastest Ferrari I ever knew.”

Now offered from 29 years of fastidious ownership, chassis number 0478 AM is a most intriguing prospect, being a historically significant Ferrari competition car that could well benefit from a full restoration to either its original 1955 configuration or current Sutton body configuration. Long absent from the greater collector car niche, the 375 Plus should expect a warm welcome at major concours d’elegance. For the owner that prefers to enjoy the enormous 4.9-liter engine in vintage racing heats, the car is ideally configured as-is, and it is eligible for nearly every major top-shelf vintage driving event, including the Mille Miglia Storica. Most importantly the car still retains its original matching-numbers engine and rear axle, along with a Tipo 104 gearbox (internal number 18 D).

For the Ferrari collector searching for historically significant top-shelf racecars, this 375 Plus stands with the best of them, claiming important period use by racing royalty, incredible rarity as a one-off hotrod speciale, and a prime example of the model that won Le Mans in 1954—one of the marque’s most important victories.