When Jaguar team driver and 1951 Le Mans winner Peter Whitehead wanted one of Ferrari’s fantastically potent 750 Monza Spyders for himself, he contacted the Monza owner he knew best: the Jaguar racing department.
In 1954, Jaguar re-wrote the rules of sports car design with the monocoque-based and fantastically aerodynamic D-type. But when this new car was continually hounded and often beaten by a four-cylinder upstart from Ferrari, the Jaguar racing department needed to do something. So they bought this car, 1954 Ferrari 750 Monza Spyder Scaglietti s/n 0462M.
The second of approximately 30 Monzas built, 0462M was just a year old by then and had proven itself with a win at Leinster and a fast but unsuccessful drive at Goodwood by future F1 champ Mike Hawthorne. What the Jaguar race department found was no great revolution in technology but a car that excelled in nearly every category. The car’s tubular chassis was rigid and small. Its aluminum bodywork was minimal and slippery. Best of all, the Lampredi-designed four cylinder engine was powerful, small, light and, when installed in the completed chassis, created a car that was impeccably well-balanced, easy on tires and brakes, and incredibly fast. Thoroughly vetted, the Ferrari was sold by Jaguar to Peter Whitehead who, in turn, sold it to Sir Jack Brabham. In his care the car quickly found its way to Australia where it would compete through 1959.
Thereafter 0462M has enjoyed stints in some of the world’s finest Ferrari collections, appeared on the Mille Miglia, at Monaco and the Monterey Historics, and has been serviced by the finest Ferrari mechanics. It wears the fine patina of an actively campaigned and fastidiously maintained race car and comes with its original, matching number and a spare transmission.
One of the most beautiful and potent cars from the halcyon days of sports car racing, 0462M stands ready to enter the world’s finest automotive events, will make a significant addition to an car collection, and is available here at Mecum’s upcoming Monterey auction.
Not a 750 Monza but a 735 Mondial. Many differences in addition of the 4-speed gearbox. Highly interesting Ferrari 4-cylinder sports car however.