Gooding and Company will be offering the first 275 GTS/4 Ferrari built during its August 21 auction following the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
This Ferrari, carrying serial number 09437, was the brainchild of Luigi Chinetti, Snr., the American Ferrari distributor and New York City dealer whose North American Racing Team activities lent these cars their NART designation.
This car, the prototype, is one of two built with alloy bodies while the 3rd and 4th examples were crafted with all-steel bodies. All four bodies were constructed individually by Scaglietti but the final six cars, also steel bodied, were converted to Spyders from coupe bodywork.
This first NART Spyder, completed in January, 1967 was delivered to Chinetti Motors the following month. Meanwhile, motoring writer and racecar driver Denise McCluggage had approached Chinetti for a car to drive in the Sebring 12-hour that year. She and co-driver Marianne “Pinkie” Rollo were offered this car by Luigi Chinetti. Seven Ferraris took the green flag at Sebring but only one finished; the McCluggage/Rollo NART Spyder scoring a very creditable 2nd place in the GT class and 17th overall. This victory would mark the only time a NART Spyder was raced in contemporary competition.
