Red Reborn

We got a rare glimpse into the department that restores and maintains some of the most valuable cars in the world

- Wilhelm Lutjeharms

TURNING a corner of one of the many buildings at Ferrari’s Maranello headquarters, the sight of a 1973 Ferrari 312 B3 Formula One car’s nose and front wheel stops me dead in my tracks. It happens again as I enter the building I’ve been trying to find … except this time, I don’t know where to look. There is an immaculate 330 GTC on a lift, as well as a 500 TRC and 250 LM – both receiving full restorations – and another concourse F1 racer, a 1968 Dino 246 Tasmania. Peering inside the Dino, I’m surprised to find a plush, period-correct cockpit with cloth covering and a small, beautifully machined gear lever to the right of the steering wheel. The car is compact, sleek and beautiful.

My reverie is interrupted by the greetings of two friendly employees with an invitation to follow them to their archive, a place that is the main reason this entire department actually exists.

Sitting down at a large wooden desk, the head of the department, Luigino Barp, takes out a folder from one of the high shelves and places it in front of me. “This is the folder we have of the first Ferrari, a 125 S,” he explains. We carefully leaf through the engineers’ technical drawings of the fuel pump and the connecting rod. Although it was a 1947 model, the drawings are actually dated from 1946.