Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal
Sports Car Digest focuses on Classic Car Auctions, Concours d’Elegance, Vintage Car Racing, Road Rallies and other historic automotive events.
Stephen Mitchell has been fascinated by Ferraris since he bought his first Berlinetta Lusso at the age of 17. His second Ferrari was a 250 GTO (3987) that he acquired at the age of 19. Since then, Ferraris have been an important part of his life as he navigated a filmmaking career both in the USA and in France.
In 1970, he met Enzo Ferrari for the first time in the paddock of Monza during practice for the Italian Grand Prix - a memorable conversation during which Enzo and Stephen were joined by Juan Manuel Fangio.
By Stephen MitchellMy pilgrimage to Pebble Beach this year was memorable for many reasons. My purpose in attending was to shoot footage of the Ferrari 250 GTOs that would be the feature attraction--for me, at least--of the event for inclusion in my on-going GTO documentary. The cars looked great and each of them was recognizable by their distinguishing detail differences unlike another Ferrari … [Read more...]
By Stephen MitchellA friend once asked me what was the fastest I'd ever driven a car. My answer was 7500 rpm in fifth gear. Race cars don't have speedometers and the car in question was my Ferrari 250 GTO. I was on the way to Las Vegas and my father was riding next to me in the passenger seat. In those days, there were no posted speed limits on Nevada's highways and we were having the time of … [Read more...]
Story by Stephen MitchellI spent a lot of time in a showroom at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and 26th Street in Santa Monica. It belonged to Otto Zipper and featured Ferraris that held me spellbound for hours at a time.On the occasion of my first visit, there was a silver Berlinetta Lusso showing its profile to passers-by and behind it in an array was a 250 2+2, a 330 GT America and … [Read more...]
Story by Stephen MitchellThe first time I saw a Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso was at Riverside Raceway where I was attending the Times Grand Prix. The Mecom team--which earlier had campaigned a GTO I would later acquire--was there with a one-off special named the Hussein for A.J. Foyt to drive. At one point, I noticed an interesting shape in the pits and used my binoculars to get a better … [Read more...]
By Stephen MitchellReading through my friend Marc Sonnery's book "Rebel Rebel" which deals with the life and times of the Ferrari 250 GT Breadvan, I was taken back to a period of my life when I saw the car several times a week and, sometimes, drove it. During the time that I owned my Ferrari 250 GTO s/n 3987, the Breadvan was owned by my friend and fellow Ferrari Owner Club member Matthew … [Read more...]
Story and photos by Stephen MitchellOnce upon a time, I received a call from an acquaintance Mario Tosi. He and I both owned Ferrari GTOs and used them as daily transportation. His had been for sale and I came close to buying it before finally purchasing 3987. Mario was calling to say that he had found a buyer for his car and wanted to say goodbye to the car by organizing a track day at Willow … [Read more...]
Story by Stephen MitchellBack in the day, the Ferrari Owners' Club in Los Angeles held monthly dinner meetings with invited guests as speakers. One of these was Franco Lini who, at the time, was the manager of the Ferrari Formula 1 team. Talking with him afterwards, I made mention of the fact that I would be at Monza for the Grand Prix of Italy. He said, "Come see me when you are there", which … [Read more...]
Story and photos by Stephen MitchellThe 250GTO #3987 was the third car I'd ever owned.The first was a 3.8 E-Type Jaguar. It was a beautiful car, but featured a low-revving six cylinder with an unsynchronized first gear that was like a granny gear off a truck. The car was more at home on the open road than negotiating the beach canyons of Los Angeles.The second was a Ferrari … [Read more...]
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