Racing Veteran Shows Its Muscle at Amelia Island

Of the many Ferraris at Amelia Island this year, there was one particularly special one which was not evident on the surface, but about which you found out when you learned something of its history. It was a very nice looking 250 GT SWB Berlinetta, s/n 2095 GT, entered by Ferrari of Vancouver, which probably means noted collector Brian Ross.

Now all SWBs are decently rare and all are great to see in any context but what is especially nice about this particular chassis number is that it was a very well-raced SWB that had a long life with a multiple of drivers/owners in the early 1960s.

The drivers’ names are not any that you’d remember, and none became famous for their exploits, but what was really nice was that it showed how much these cars were raced by non-professional drivers in a whole host of races, some very competitive and some just for fun. The main point, however, was that the SWB was fulfilling its destiny as a race car, and it raced all through 1960, 1961 and early 1962 in Italy, with probably its best finish being a 2nd overall at the Coppa Sant’Ambroeus at Monza driven by Giancarlo Sala. After that it went to a new owner in Germany, Hans-Georg Plaut, who drove it in a number of German races (but also at Spa) in 1962 and 1963. With Erich Bitter it raced throughout Germany in 1964, before finally being put up for sale is a used race car.

It had its engine replaced at this point but after many owners and much searching the original engine was reunited with the car in the 1980s, and everything was put back together by Wayne Obry at Motion Products, with the SWB’s new owner Jerry Lynch doing the mechanicals.

After that it was raced in the Monterey Historic Races for many years by Lynch before being sold to its current owner. So what you see here is a real war horse doing what these cars were meant to do, which was to race. Our congratulations.

Images from Associate Editor Keith Bluemel.