1956 Ferrari 500 TR Prototype

I have to confess that we sometimes get very carried away by some of the machinery we get to examine and test. We even have some degree of conflict about not being able to more frequently feature more down-to-earth and historic cars. It’s not that we don’t love Jags and Spitfires and Corvettes and Healeys. We do. But along comes someone like the pleasant and generous Bill Binnie and offers us the chance to sample one of his little treasures. Well, it’s hard to refuse. Usually I don’t.

When I first saw 0600, or more correctly, chassis 0600 MDTR, it was at Paul Lanzante’s workshops in Hampshire, U.K., being prepared for the 2003 season. At first I took this to be a “run of the mill” Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa. Except one glimpse at the chassis plate rang some serious bells for me. That and the fact that there was a four-cylinder rather than a twelve under the bonnet. Well, engines get swapped around, and we know about V-12 Monzas, but it was that chassis number. It sits near the beginning of my complete record of cars driven by the Rodriguez brothers, Ricardo and Pedro.