The Pebble Beach Concours 2016 — Ferrari vs Ford Revisited
Without a doubt one of the most entertaining eras of Ferrari history was the epic battle with Ford which began in 1963 with Ford’s effort to buy Ferrari, the failed negotiations and Ford’s resultant quest to beat Ferrari at LeMans.
Ford desperately wanted to beat Ferrari in the world’s most prestigious endurance race and ultimately did so, not once but twice.
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of Ford’s first victory at LeMans with their GT40s, which broke Ferrari’s six-year winning streak there and paved the way for Ford victories at a host of other significant racing venues including Sebring, Daytona, Monza, Nurburgring and many others.
The Pebble Beach Concours successfully gathered all the actual winning GT40’s of these races, and of even greater importance, the men who drove these cars. In attendance this year were Chris Amon, Dan Gurney, Jacky Ickx, David Hobbs, Brian Redman and Sir Jackie Stewart.
The highlight of the weekend was a forum of these drivers moderated by Ken Gross, which offered deep insights from the drivers about these cars and that incredible racing era.
As exciting as these races were, fifty years has passed and modern times have introduced a new level of competition not on the racetracks but in the auction halls and on the concours green.
Pebble Beach has paired with Gooding & Company for the last few years and several high water marks have been set for both Ford and Ferrari, particularly with the 2014 sale of a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO for $38 million.
In 2014 Mecum garnered a seven million hammer price for the Ford GT40 prototype GT/104. This was a little behind the 2012 $11 million high-water mark for the GT40 Gulf Mirage driven by legendary endurance racers Jacky Ickx And Dick Thompson. Part of this car’s value is due to its having been used as the camera car for the1971 movie “LeMans,” starring Steve McQueen.
Ferrari took the highest two auction spots at this year’s Gooding auction with a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB Spyder California Competizione selling at $18.15 million followed by a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione at $13.5 million, with fifth highest value at the auction going to a 1950 Ferrari 166 MM Berlinetta at $5.45 million.
Pebble Beach has a long-standing tradition going back to the 1950s of having dog shows right alongside the car shows. While this is no longer the case on the concours field, the traditions continue with Gooding allowing the owners to bring their four legged friends into the auction tent to help them select cars, and of course pose for photos.
One other Pebble Beach tradition is the Dawn Patrol, created by Phil Hill and other early risers, who would huddle on the field to drink coffee, watch the sunrise and observe the concours entrants as they emerge from the morning fog on their way to their places on the field.
Hagerty Insurance Company has taken over sponsorship of the event, which typically has 500 attendees. Hagerty provides coffee, pastries and the highly collectible Dawn Patroll hats. A very small number of hats are discretely handed out on the field and the groups forming around the representatives distributing the hats fit somewhere between a good rugby scrum and a piranha feeding frenzy.
Of course there is also the annual contest to see who can get their hat for sale on eBay first, with the current record being eight minutes. No current statistics on Dawn Patrol hat values are available, however. No doubt someday these figures will be posted along with other auction results.
Creating a single model class such as was done for the GT40s creates an interesting visual panorama since Pebble Beach typically places the honored marque directly on the cliff overlooking the ocean. This provides an exceptional backdrop for photographs and invites direct comparison among different examples of the featured model.
The lineup of seventeen GT40s on the lawn was very nice visually but the sharp angularity of that design was in direct contrast to the voluptuous curves of the twenty-two 250 GTOs on display in that same area in 2013. I suspect even the non-Ferrari fans, and not a few Ford owners, would have also given the nod to the visual superiority of the sea of rolling red offered by the GTOs.
This year also marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of BMW, with many significant BMW automobiles presented in two classes, pre-war and post-war. The BMW 507 on the field was a standout as that particular model exhibits timeless elegance of line and graceful presentation. This particular car had been owned by Elvis Presley and was painted in red at his request due to the number of lipstick messages left on it by his female fans.
A significant display of BMW motorcycles was also presented with eleven motorcycles on display covering the years 1923 to 1974. Of particular note in this class was the stunning one-off art deco 1934 BMW R7 concept bike on loan from the BMW factory.
A full class of thirteen Bizzarrinis was also on display, including the first car built by Giotto Bizzarrini, the 1953 car known as the Macchinetta with an aluminum body built on a Fiat 500 “Topolino” chassis. While not the most graceful of designs, it has a certain charm all its own, and it became a design stepping-stone for Bizzarrini’s later more elegant designs.
An exceptional array of Ferraris were on the field, headed by Les Wexner’s 1956 290 MM Scaglietti Spyder in right-hand drive with full racing livery. This car has stellar racing history, having been piloted successfully by Juan Manual Fangio, Phil Hill, Olivier Gendebien, Wolfgang von Trips and many others. Never crashed, the car was raced until 1964 and is considered one of the rarest and most valuable of the vintage racing Ferraris.
A striking 1966 330 P4 Drogo Spyder was also on display. Owned by Lawrence Stroll of New York, this car displays one of the best examples of Drogo’s designs which manifest everything that embodies the svelte aerodynamics of endurance racers of the era. This example placed second at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1967, neatly sandwiched between the other two P4s which placed first and third. This photo finish was a nicely timed response by Ferrari to the three Ford GT40s that placed first, second and third at LeMans the year before.
Pebble Beach often displays cars that seem to have disappeared from the public eye and it was a welcome sight to see one of the rarest series-built Ferraris, a 1967 California Pininfarina Spyder, only fourteen made over a two-year period. Built on the same chassis as the 500 Superfast, it was the most expensive Ferrari road car at that time. This particular car (S/N 9985) was one of only two built with right-hand drive.
Two other very interesting road and race cars were also shown, both with seldom seen colors on Ferraris of the period. These unique colors accentuate certain body lines not normally brought out in the traditional red.
The first was a 1958 250 GT LWB Scaglietti Berlinetta, painted a rare robin’s egg blue with a burgundy stripe. Presented by the Principality of Monaco, this series three car (S/N 1031 GT) had a long-range fuel tank installed and placed fourth in the 1958 Tour de France, and raced there again in 1960.
The other car was Jean-Pierre Slavic’s 1960 250 SWB Berlinetta Competizione in a beautiful gold color. This alloy bodied car (S/N 2159 GT) completed three Tour de France races, and competed successfully until 1964.
One other fine Pebble Beach tradition is for the ladies to dress in period style and complimentary colors to go with specific cars, perfectly exemplified by the lovely Monique Snow next to the yellow 1967 Alloy 275 GTB/4 owned by Gwen and Tom Price. One of sixteen alloy 275 4-cams built, this particular car (S/N 9609) arrived in the U.S. in 2007 and has recently been given a complete restoration.
It was an absolutely superb field this year, with a 1936 Lancia Astura winning Best of Show, the Pebble Beach Concours having raised over 1.75 million for charity and the crowd being treated to the unique bellow of the GT40s on the awards podium. Even if you are not a Ford guy you have to admit it was an exhilarating sound to hear echoing across the green.
The question now remains as to who won the Ferrari vs. Ford turf war at Pebble Beach this year. I would definitely have to give the nod to Ferrari in the auction house.
As far as driving performance goes, one of the beauties of modern times is that you can choose between a vintage seven million dollar GT40 or a 2016 488 GTB with the same top speed, better mid-range performance numbers and a price tag slightly north $250,000. The Ferrari becomes an easy choice here.
For any of the Tifosi faced with this choice, the decision is best summarized by a Ferrari owner overheard explaining the field of GT40s to his wife with this description: “Honey, they’re like Ford trucks only they cost a lot more.”
Reprinted with permission from the writer Tom Meadows from the Ferrari Market Letter — Volume 41/Number 20/24 September 2016
To receive stories in your inbox every week, sign up for our weekly newsletter here.
Check out the more than 6,000 car listings on the MCG Marketplace.
Click here for information on financing for classic cars from Woodside Credit.
Click here for information on collector car insurance from TDC Risk Management.
Click here for information on transporting classic cars from Plycar.
