Fifteen years in the making this is one man’s Ferrari ‘passion project’: the personal car of a professional restorer whose work is outstanding. The car he chose as his inspiration was the ‘hot rod’ Ferrari 625 TRC, the result of another Ferrari enthusiast’s obsession some 60 years earlier.

That man was John von Neumann, Ferrari’s agent for America’s West Coast. He is often credited with a pivotal role in Ferrari’s evolution but it was as a racing driver that he made his greatest contribution to the legend, when he ordered two bespoke-built ‘hot rod’ versions of Ferrari’s 500 TRC. Ferrari had already updated the Testa Rossa to meet the FIA’s new Appendix C regulations of 1956, but for von Neumann’s car the race-proven Tipo 625 engine was considered the most expedient way to delivering the extra engine capacity, resulting in an impressive 25% increase over the standard 500 TRC’s output of 180 brake horsepower at 7,000 rpm.

By 1957 John von Neumann, together with drivers Richie Ginther and Ken Miles was going head-to-head with the best European exotics, beating locals Julio Mariscal in a Jaguar D-Type and a young Ricardo Rodriguez in an OSCA. In turn Ferrari’s race department was inspired to further develop the larger-capacity four-cylinder TRC into the legendary V-12-powered 3-litre 250 Testa Rossa, and these were the engines eventually fitted to von Neumann’s own cars. Thus, the genesis of Ferrari’s greatest sports racer, the 250 Testa Rossa, can be found directly in the 500/625 TRC.

Fast forward to 2009 and the project began to create a ‘hot rod’ Testa Rossa with an even larger capacity 4.8 litre V12 engine. For this a ‘barn find’ Ferrari 400, which was beyond economic repair, was found. The engine was given to a marque specialist and completely rebuilt with new internals, as was the manual 5-speed gearbox and differential.

Meanwhile the body was removed, the chassis shortened by 300mm and then given to a local coachworks to build the Scaglietti-inspired bodywork and superlegga frame on a buck created from a huge collection of photos collated by the owner.

Considered one of the most beautiful of all the Ferraris the finished result is a very fitting tribute.

Recently arrived from its South African owner, with UK duties paid, the car comes with a small number of spares, including replacement screen; its original steering box to convert to LHD if required, and spare seat cushions. It is competitively priced and ready to be enjoyed.

£POA