Ferraris typically have eight- or twelve-cylinder engines. More often than not, they’re painted red – especially those factory cars campaigned by the Scuderia itself. But this one has a four-pot, and it’s blue. French Racing Blue, to be specific. And that’s just the start of what makes it so spectacular.
This 1955 Ferrari 500 Mondial Series II (photographed by James Lipman for Gooding & Company) was delivered new to a privateer French racer named François Picard, who had it painted in his national color. Within the year it was back in the factory’s hands, and has passed through the hands of several other owners throughout its early history, taking class wins along the way at races in France, Venezuela, the Bahamas, and Florida. And it’s still believed to be the only car ever fielded by Scuderia Ferrari in any color but red.
By 1960, it was sitting, neglected, in the back of a Rambler dealership in the US, where a young naval officer named Robert Phillips found it. He took out a loan from the bank, and bought it for a couple grand, but couldn’t afford to have it restored. So he took it with him to the naval base where he was stationed in Oakland, convinced the base auto-shop manager to let him work on it there, and over the course of nine months, learned the art of auto mechanics on a Ferrari with an F1 engine.
Phillips has he’s kept the car all this time, racking up 33 trophies at 18 concours events since undertaking its restoration and conservation in 2000 – including six best-of-show awards and the esteemed Enzo trophy for the best Ferrari of any kind at Pebble Beach.
Having long since retired with the rank of Admiral, Phillips has earned a reputation as a leading expert on these four-cylinder Prancing Horses. And now he’s selling his beloved Mondial. Gooding will auction it off in Monterey this summer, where it expects the car to sell for somewhere in the $5.5-7.5-million range. We can only hope that whoever takes it home will drive it and take as good care of it as the Admiral has.