Mark A Cella and His Favorite 60′s era Ferrari 250 SWB Berlinetta
The precursor to the Berlinetta, which means “Sport Coupe,” was the Ferrari 250 GTO. Indeed the GTO was built on the strength of Ferrari’s record producing V12 GT racers. GTO equates to “Gran Turismo Omologato,” Italian for “Grand Touring Homologated,” while homologated means “Official Agreement”. The 250 is the cubic centimeter displacement of each cylinder in the engine.
Mark A Cella Officially Agrees This Car is all About Racing
The car was built by Ferrari from 1953 to 1964 becoming Ferrari’s most successful line of cars to date. It was the first Ferrari to receive four disc brakes. Versions of it were the first four seater. Having a lightweight V12, 260-275bhp, 4 gear trans., competition engine launched its success at winning so many races recounting in detail would be endless, so here’s a few:
In the 1960 season it took 1st-4th place in the Le Mans 24 hour race, leaving it’s nearest rivals to eat dust. It took 1st-3rd in its third consecutive victory of the 5500 km Tour de France. Later that season for a second consecutive win at Goodwood, driver Sterling Moss took a victory by lapping the entire field. Then it won all over the rest of the season.
The car weighs only 2,314 pounds which equates to a very high power to weight ratio. Its top speed reached 152 and it hit 60 from a dead stop in 6.2 seconds. All of these figures were superb in 1960.
Mark A Cella Agrees it’s One of the Greatest Ferraris Ever Built
Owners of this car back in the day could drive it to the track and race it with very minor modifications if they chose. Of course they’d have to slap on their numbers. The competizione models were built for strictly racing so were even lighter with up to 40 more horsepower and a shorter wheelbase making them faster in curves. Nothing could compete to either version.
Sports Car Intl placed it as their 7th Top Sports Car of the 60′s. Motor Trend voted it 5th on their top ten Greatest Ferraris of all time and Mark A Cella rated it first place on his list of top Muscle Cars of the 60′s. It leads over his 67 Corvette Sting Ray and 3rd place 68 Chevrolet Camaro.
Learn more about Mark A Cella Ferraris, and read more about Mark Cella‘s work.
Tags: adventure, Auto Insurance, Automobiles, fast cars, ferrari, fun, racing, Sports Cars, vehicles