An unexpected journey

This glorious 250 Europa GT was conceived for touring, but has spent much of its iire in competition - and it's hungry for more

- WORDS SIMON HUCKNALL

I sell you an engine, the rest you get for free.” If Enzo Ferrari really did say that to an irate customer – the story and precise words are open to conjecture – then he may well have been talking about the ‘short-block’ Colombo V12 that in Tipo 112 form powers this 1955 250 Europa GT. It was, for Ferrari, a genuinely transformative engine that would see service in all of the 250-series greats, SWB, GTO, Tour de France and Lusso included.

The Europa in its second showing, as here, was also a breakthrough model. It became the first ‘250GT’, which, through all its iterations, ran for nearly a decade, taking Ferrari from a bespoke sports-car maker to a coveted prize fought over by Ford and Fiat. The fact that this example achieved a podium finish in period, driven by one of the world’s greatest sports-car drivers in perhaps the most gruelling road-race of all, makes piloting it today a rare privilege.

We’ll return to chassis 0373GT’s race history shortly, but it’s first worth understanding why the 250 Europa GT was such a key template for future Ferraris. Its design was influenced by the 375 America, introduced at the Paris Salon in 1953. Most Americas were supplied with Pinin Farina’s three- or five-window coupé body sitting on a long (for a Ferrari) 2800mm wheelbase, and Aurelio Lampredi’s 4.5-litre V12 provided the muscle. Only a dozen were built, but it was a promising nod to the flourishing US market. The first 250 Europa was launched the same year with a Vignale body, although most production cars were sold with Pinin Farina coachwork. This model was powered by a smaller, 3-litre Lampredi V12, and 22 were sold in its 10-month run.