Sign of its Times

The year is 1964 and the world is swinging. Having absorbed the blues and become astonishing live performers, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones are now ready to re-export the music to the country in which it originated, rewiring the world of entertainment in the process.

At the cinema, James Bond’s third outing, ‘Goldfinger’, seeded the idea of the blockbuster movie, and introduced a potent new form of celebrity. In Japan the Tokaido Shinkansen high-speed ‘bullet’ train had begun operating in October of 1964. In terms of sleek modernism, it didn’t get much better than that.

Above: The 275 GTB, number 252, that took victory in the 1966 Ascoli to Colle San Marco hillclimb race

Fêted already in Italy and Europe, by this point America was also coming under Enzo Ferrari’s spell. Hollywood’s showbiz elite loved his cars, and an ever-expanding band of pros and privateers competed in Ferrari cars old and new on many of the dusty airfields that had been reconfigured as racing circuits. Enter the 275 GTB.

Unveiled at the 1964 Paris motor show, it showed Ferrari on the cusp of the modernism that was gripping the wider world. Its job was to replace the lithesome 250 GT Lusso, a car of unsurpassable elegance. The combined talents of Ferrari, Pininfarina and coachbuilder Scaglietti ensured that not only would this not be a problem, but the new car would also herald a paradigm shift in the company’s design language.

Above: silent lines of 'scocche' (body shells) of the 275 GTB, pictured in 1965

Accordingly, the 275 GTB had a long bonnet, dramatic cab rearward stance and a short Kamm tail with its distinctive upturned flick. There was a notable step forward in its engineering, too. The 275 GTB was lighter than the Lusso, while its V12 grew in capacity to 3,286cc with a claimed power output of 280cv at a sonorous 7,600 rpm. All that power was harnessed by a five-speed rear transaxle, the first of its kind to appear in a roadgoing Ferrari.

The story of the 275 GTB is one it shares with various other Ferrari cars in that golden era: a surprisingly short production run, constant evolution, augmented by competition versions and technical upgrades. When the FIA refused to homologate the 250 LM in the GT class, Ferrari reworked the 275 GTB for racing duty. Preeminent here was the glorious 275 GTB ‘Speciale’, three of which were made, and whose modifications included a lighter chassis and a tuned Tipo 213 engine. The Speciale proved itself a worthy successor to the 250 GTO when it finished third overall at Le Mans in 1965.

From left: the car's beautiful wood-rimmed steering wheel; detail of the gear lever’s ‘dogleg’ first ratio; chassis n.10621, the Ferrari 275 GTB originally owned by Steve McQueen

After two busy years, the 275 GTB4 duly debuted at the 1966 Paris show. This iteration had a quad-cam V12, the first Ferrari road car to feature this configuration, and was good for 300cv at 8,000 rpm. The company’s North American agent, Luigi Chinetti, saw US market potential in a convertible version and ordered some 25 of them. In the end, only 10 of the so-called NART Spider were made, turning the original into something of a Ferrari unicorn.

Such was its rarity that unauthorised after-market conversions later became fashionable. That’s what happened to the 275 GTB chassis no.10621, originally a Berlinetta owned by a certain Steve McQueen. Delivered from the factory in ‘Nocciola’ brown, McQueen had the car re-painted in a Chianti red and replaced the Campagnolo wheels with Borrani wire wheels. He used the Ferrari to commute from Los Angeles to the film set of ‘Bullitt’, much of which was shot in San Francisco.

Above: Ferrari F1 driver Charles Leclerc at the wheel of a 275 GTB at Fiorano

Fast forward a decade or so to 1980 and this particular 275 GTB underwent its aforementioned Spider conversion. Skip further forward to 2010 when its new Australian owner Vern Schuppan, an ex-Formula One racing driver, decided to return the car to its former glory, entrusting the restoration to the Classiche department at Ferrari.

Once complete, The Official Ferrari Magazine was invited to drive the restored 275. On the move, the sonorous roar of that Colombo V12 – surely one of the greatest sounds in the automotive world – reaching its red-line crescendo was a uniquely nape-tingling sensation. This was a physical car to drive and required a certain determination. Now imagine being Steve McQueen heading north through the early-morning sea mist along the Pacific Coast Highway en route to a day’s filming. Or racing a 275 GTB Competizione for many hours around Le Mans or Spa. Car and legend mingle, Ferrari style.

Cover image: a 275 GTB parked up in Copenhagen in 1964, backdropped by the Danish capital’s famous 'The Little Mermaid' figure by Edvard Eriksen at Langelinie Pier

THIS STORY WAS TAKEN FROM ISSUE 64 OF THE OFFICIAL FERRARI MAGAZINE