Ferrari 250 Nembo Spider
Discussion
out of all the many truly beautiful older Ferrari's there have been a lot of people consider the 275 variants to be the prettiest of them all
a wonderful shape and some lovely details make a real beauty no doubt,
i particularly have a real soft spot for the NART Spider, the pinnacle of the 275's IMO,
this is still such a lovely pure shape IMO, however, in the 60's a small group of people got together to rebody a 250 and a real, rare beauty was born
bring forth the luverly 250GT Nembo Spider,
OMG!
this is the car that some say inspired the NART Spider (similar pure flowing design, gills behind the front wheels and the short back)
the car featured here was sold at auction for £660,000 recently
Below are some exerpts from the catalogue description i found,
"Modena then truly was the vibrant racing and sports car capital of the world. In the heart of it all Giorgio Neri & Luciano Bonacini had their own carrozzeria. They had benefited from the closure of Maserati's racing department, which brought them more work in their villaggio artigiano warehouse section of Modena, replete with such shops, buzzing with activity, and it was there that they gave birth to the Nembo Ferraris. 'Nembo' was a contraction of the names of the two partners."
"1777 GT was brought forth by two protagonists; the first was Tom Meade, a free-spirited Californian who settled in the villaggio artigiano to create his own interpretations of Ferrari bodies, most notably the Thomassimas (one of which graced a cover of Road & Track in 1970). He certainly had talent and an eye for flamboyant design qualities noted by Richard Merritt, who was the founder of the Ferrari Club of America, and a regular Modena visitor. To supplement his cash flow Tom became a source of used Ferraris and Maseratis for clients in Europe and the US."
"The second key figure in the creation of the Nembo Spyder was Sergio Braidi. Little is known about Braidi other than the fact that he wanted a spectacular Ferrari spyder along the lines of a 250 GTO 1964 version, but without the roof and that aesthetically is what 1777 GT's carrozzeria is. Indeed Tom Meade claims no design influence for it and actually almost used an actual GTO as the basis for the Nembo Spyder, since GTOs were then just obsolete racing cars and at least one or two passed through his hands. The pair eventually settled for a 1960 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet, Series II, whose was M. Moratti Jr. Meade recalls: 'It had a normal 3 carburetor setup except that the air cleaner was cut way down to provide much lower hood clearance'"
"With their experience and characteristic talent, the car was soon ready, seen in period photos first with Bonacini's MO 103 Prova plate and soon after with MO 14 2381. It was at some point fitted with a replacement engine with six twin-choke Weber carburettors, probably by Neri & Bonacini, although it is also possible this change was made later."
"The resulting car was stunning, and as stated by the late historian Stan Nowak, 'Of all the specials not authorized by the factory [no. 1777 GT], must be considered the most successful, or at least the most visually attractive. Luigi Chinetti did see it and it did inspire the creation of the NART Spyder which it resembles."
"1777 GT was the first and indubitably the most important of the Nembos. There was another less attractive spyder on a shorter chassis, 3771 GT, and the Nembo coupe, 1623 GT. There was a third spyder, possibly 2707 GT, with a shark nose, which left Modena for Lebanon when new, as a bare body shell, and vanished."
what a wonderful machine!
a wonderful shape and some lovely details make a real beauty no doubt,
i particularly have a real soft spot for the NART Spider, the pinnacle of the 275's IMO,
this is still such a lovely pure shape IMO, however, in the 60's a small group of people got together to rebody a 250 and a real, rare beauty was born
bring forth the luverly 250GT Nembo Spider,
OMG!
this is the car that some say inspired the NART Spider (similar pure flowing design, gills behind the front wheels and the short back)
the car featured here was sold at auction for £660,000 recently
Below are some exerpts from the catalogue description i found,
"Modena then truly was the vibrant racing and sports car capital of the world. In the heart of it all Giorgio Neri & Luciano Bonacini had their own carrozzeria. They had benefited from the closure of Maserati's racing department, which brought them more work in their villaggio artigiano warehouse section of Modena, replete with such shops, buzzing with activity, and it was there that they gave birth to the Nembo Ferraris. 'Nembo' was a contraction of the names of the two partners."
"1777 GT was brought forth by two protagonists; the first was Tom Meade, a free-spirited Californian who settled in the villaggio artigiano to create his own interpretations of Ferrari bodies, most notably the Thomassimas (one of which graced a cover of Road & Track in 1970). He certainly had talent and an eye for flamboyant design qualities noted by Richard Merritt, who was the founder of the Ferrari Club of America, and a regular Modena visitor. To supplement his cash flow Tom became a source of used Ferraris and Maseratis for clients in Europe and the US."
"The second key figure in the creation of the Nembo Spyder was Sergio Braidi. Little is known about Braidi other than the fact that he wanted a spectacular Ferrari spyder along the lines of a 250 GTO 1964 version, but without the roof and that aesthetically is what 1777 GT's carrozzeria is. Indeed Tom Meade claims no design influence for it and actually almost used an actual GTO as the basis for the Nembo Spyder, since GTOs were then just obsolete racing cars and at least one or two passed through his hands. The pair eventually settled for a 1960 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet, Series II, whose was M. Moratti Jr. Meade recalls: 'It had a normal 3 carburetor setup except that the air cleaner was cut way down to provide much lower hood clearance'"
"With their experience and characteristic talent, the car was soon ready, seen in period photos first with Bonacini's MO 103 Prova plate and soon after with MO 14 2381. It was at some point fitted with a replacement engine with six twin-choke Weber carburettors, probably by Neri & Bonacini, although it is also possible this change was made later."
"The resulting car was stunning, and as stated by the late historian Stan Nowak, 'Of all the specials not authorized by the factory [no. 1777 GT], must be considered the most successful, or at least the most visually attractive. Luigi Chinetti did see it and it did inspire the creation of the NART Spyder which it resembles."
"1777 GT was the first and indubitably the most important of the Nembos. There was another less attractive spyder on a shorter chassis, 3771 GT, and the Nembo coupe, 1623 GT. There was a third spyder, possibly 2707 GT, with a shark nose, which left Modena for Lebanon when new, as a bare body shell, and vanished."
what a wonderful machine!
Edited by Forthright MC on Sunday 30th December 00:11
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