'The best Ferrari ever built'

The American sports car racing scene of the 1950s was a time like no other, when fiercely independent, deep-pocketed men could acquire ex-factory racecars and campaign them with some of history’s most legendary drivers. Admirably pure in its essence, this was a golden era of racing that fielded some of the decade’s most beautifully sculpted and ferociously specified competition machines.

One of the most significant purpose-built Ferrari sports-racing prototypes from the 1950s, was this 1955 Ferrari 410 Sport Spider which was one of just two factory-campaigned 410 Sports equipped with a 24-spark plug 4.9 litre V12 and is one of a select few Ferrari models with coachwork both designed and built by Sergio Scaglietti.

It was the Scuderia Ferrari team car driven by Juan Manuel Fangio at the 1956 1000 KM Buenos Aires and later piloted by Carroll Shelby during his landmark 1956 and 1957 seasons when driving for the renowned Southern California-based team principal John Edgar. Shelby won more races as a driver in this Ferrari than in any other car during his racing career, with eight wins and ten podium finishes. There seemed to be no race it could not win as Shelby told a Los Angeles Times reporter, “Nothing can touch this Ferrari if it runs” and decades later he added, “It was the best Ferrari I ever drove.”

Also raced in-period by legendary drivers Phil Hill, Eugenio Castellotti, Masten Gregory, Richie Ginther, Joakim Bonnier, Bruce Kessler, Jim Rathmann, and Chuck Daigh, it is, without exaggeration, one of the most important and colourful Ferraris to compete in racing during the 1950s. It is among the most successful of all sports-racing Ferraris, entering nearly 40 races in-period with 11 victories and 19 total podium finishes from 1956-1958.

It remains a highly original example retaining the matching-numbers engine, chassis, body and is also fitted with the original fuel tank which was inscribed by Shelby, “Mr. Ferrari told me that this was the best Ferrari he ever built.” Like the famed men who rode it to such success in-period, the illustrious John Edgar and the inimitable Carroll Shelby, this Scaglietti-built spider is a powerful and nuanced character that cannot be repeated, and will never be forgotten.

This spectacular 1955 Ferrari 410 Sport Spider is expected to fetch between $25m to $30m as part of RM Sotheby’s Monterey sale between the 18-20th August 2022. Photos: Patrick Ernzen © Courtesy of RM Sotheby's.