The pinnacle of four-cylinder Ferraris.
The 750 Monza from 1955 is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful racing Ferraris of the 1950s. Only 33 examples left the Maranello factory to race on circuits around the world.
This article focuses more particularly on two cars that I had the chance to photograph, chassis numbers 510M and 568M.
The year is 1955, Ferrari has only existed for eight short years. Maranello's cars are fielded in F1 and F2 and also in the world sports car championship, a much more prestigious championship than that F1 at that time.
ts models, the magnificent 161, 212, 225 or 340 were equipped with the in-house V12 but from 1951, Ferrari, to respond to new legislation and also inspired by the 4-cylinder Alta engines of the HWM, temporarily abandoned the V12 for 4-cylinder engines cylinders.
Aurelio Lampredi, the in-house racing engineer, worked on a 2l and 2.5l 4-cylinder engine. This engine, used in F1, had a chain-driven valvetrain, 2 Weber 45 DOE carburettors and could produce 170hp.
This engine successfully equipped the 625 and 750 F1 driven at the time by prestigious names like Hawthorn, Gonzales and Trintignant.
In 1954, given the success brought by this new engine, Ferrari decided to also apply it to its racing cars and developed a 3-liter engine for the 750 Monza. As always with Ferrari 750 = 4cyl x 750 = 3000 = 3l.
The new engine was a double overhead camshaft and produced 250 horsepower at 6,000 rpm. Top speed was 265 km/h (164 MPH), making it a very competitive car.
The structure of the car was tubular steel, manufactured by Gilco, and the covering panels were aluminum.
The bodywork was done by Scaglietti based on an original design by Enzo's son, Dino Ferrari.
Designed to be light and agile, the Ferrari 750 would be able to fight against competition from the Jaguar Type D, Maserati 300S, Porsche 550 or Austin Healey 100S. The car made its first laps on the Monza circuit during the “Gran Premio Supercortemaggiore” driven by the Gonzales/Trintignant pair where it won its category and the nickname “Monza”
Here are two examples of this magnificent model and not the least because they were driven by such prestigious names as Phil Hill, Carroll Shelby Maurice Trintignant, Alfonso de Portago and Jim Hall.
750 Monza 1955 #0510M
The car left Maranello in 1955, sold to Texan Allen Guiberson, accustomed to entering Ferraris in competition on American territory.
It made its first appearance at the 12h of Sebring driven by Carroll Shelby and Phill Hill. She had an almost perfect race and finished first in her category and second overall.
Crowned with this victory, Phil Hill will drive the car in Palm Springs but will not finish the race.
The following month, in April 1955, the car won the Pebble Beach race driven by Hill.
In July of the same year, a new victory at the SCCA Beverly completed #0510M's record. The car was then sold to a renowned driver: Jim Hall who entered it for the 56 season in numerous races driven by Carroll Shelby.
The first victory of the year will be on the Pebble Beach circuit during the “Del Monte Trophy”
Shelby followed up with two more victories at Dodge City, at the Regional-Boot Hill Trophy and one at the SCCA National Eagle Mountain in Fort Worth.
At the end of the season the car which suffered some damage was sent back to Maranello. It will be repainted red and to bring it into compliance with the new legislation it will be equipped with a windshield running across the entire width of the car. It was Jim Hall who piloted the car for the '57 season, scoring a class victory and placing #0510M on three other podiums at Galveston and For Worth.
In 1993, the car was restored by Troy Rogers, former chief mechanic of Chaparral Racing Team.
750 Monza 1955 #0568M
The car left Maranello in February 1955, sold to French driver François Picard who entered it directly in the Agadir GP where it finished in third place. The driver also drove it in Dakar but did not finish the race.
Back on the European continent, #0568 is registered for the 1000km of Paris which takes place on the magnificent Monthlery circuit. On the French circuit it was driven by its owner and by Maurice Trintignant, "Pétoulet", who finished in a very good third place.
The car then took part in the Rouen GP where it finished 13th.
Alfonso de Portago, the famous Spanish driver drove at the Swedish GP at Kristanstad where the car had to retire after a gear change problem
Being in Sweden the car was sold to Tore Bjurström of Scuderia Ferrari Svezia.
The car, then painted in blue and yellow, Swedish colors, took part in the Helsinki GP in May 57 where it finished in third place driven by Eric Lundgren.
It was the Finnish driver, Carl-Otto Bremer, who was behind the wheel for the Midnight Sun Auto Race where she finished second after a fierce battle with Jo Bonnier and her Maserati 200S.
#0568 will be fielded with this same driver at the Swedish GP which took place at Kristianstad (the car finished sixth) and later in the year at Karlskoga Kanonloppet where it finished second.
In 1958, Carl-Otto Bremer purchased the car and continued to race it successfully, winning the '59 Helsinki GP ahead of Curt Lincoln's Cooper and Graham Whitehead's Aston Martin DBR1.
In 1961 the car finished again on the podium of this grand prix but in third place. Then #0568 took a well-deserved retirement in Finland until 1998 when it was sold at Christie's Pebble Beach auction.
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Obviously the 31 other Ferrari 750 Monzas also stood out on many circuits other than those mentioned in this article, which only traces the history of two chassis.
This model notably won at the RAC Tourist Trophy in 1954 driven by Mike Hawthorn and Maurice Trintignant, at the Mugello GP in '55, at the 10H of Messina the same year and at the SCCA National Peeble Beach in '55 and '56.
Finally, it should unfortunately be noted that it was at the wheel of a 750, during testing preceding the Monza "Gran Premio Supercortemaggiore" race of 1955, that Alberto Ascari, just recovered from his extraordinary dive into the port of Monaco at the wheel of his Lancia, was killed. The Ferrari 750 was thrown off course and rolled over numerous times before crashing into the grass in the ditch, killing the talented driver at 37 years old.
Here are the two cars today:
Note that #0510 was restored to its April 1955 configuration when the car won the Pebble Beach race driven by Hill, while #0568M was restored to a long windshield configuration.
750 Monza 1955 #0510M
750 Monza 1955 #0568M
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