Historical Ferrari Photographs from the Archivio Corrado Millanta®
The Klementaski Collection recently acquired the Archivio Corrado Millanta® from the family of Corrado Millanta who died in December 1983 at the age of 74. Millanta had a professional background in industrial design and engineering but loved photography. He developed close friendships with automotive designers, engineers and drivers which gave him unusual access to racing departments and design studios.
The photograph above was taken at Ferrari in Maranello in August 1949. On the left is Felice Bonetto who often raced and tested Ferraris in the early days of the late 1940s. Then we see a relaxed Enzo Ferrari. To Ferrari's laft is Fredrico Giberti, one of Enzo Ferrari's long-standing technical associates having started at Scuderia Ferrari in 1934 and having had an important role there in the design of the Alfa Romeo 158 Grand Prix car. Finally, on the right in the suit is famed driver Luigi Villoresi who would race for Ferrari in the 1950s.
At right is another Millanta photo, this of Enzo Ferrari during a test session at the Modena Aerautodromo in March 1952 with a Ferrari 500F2 in the foreground.
Below is a discussion at the Ferrari factory in Maranello in June 1953. This is a review concerning a test of a new Ferrari 340 America berlinetta involving Enzo Ferrari at the right along with his head designer Aurelio Lampredi (facing Ferrari) who was best known for his highly successful four-cylinder motors then used in Ferrari's winning F2 cars, but was also the designer of the "long" Ferrari V12s which had powered Ferrari's victorious Grand Prix cars in 1951 and also were used to power a new series of Grand Touring cars such as this 340. The Lampredi V12 motor was used primarily for the largest displacement motors which were derived from the 1951 Grand Prix motor and were also used in the fastest sports cars such as the 375MM and the 375 Plus.
The driver perhaps most closely identified with Ferrari's 375F1 Grand Prix cars in 1951 was Froilán González, who led the defeat of the Alfa Romeo 159s at Silverstone in May of that year. Here he is with Enzo Ferrari during a test session at Monza in mid-1954. González also achieved the success of co-driving the winning car at the 1954 Le Mans 24 Hours, a Ferrari 375 Plus.
These powerful and very expensive Grand Touring cars also attracted the most famous and important clients of the day. Below with Enzo Ferrari is Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, better known as the Shahanshah of Iran, who is inspecting his latest purchase at the Maranello factory.
Photos from the Archivio Corrado Millanta® ©The Klemantaski Collection – http://www.klemcoll.com
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