Thanks to all who shared our Dream Drives Trivia question over the weekend.
We posted the picture above and asked if you could identify the car. Many of you guessed Ferrari. Well, you were right! Our winner this week is Joan Sundwall Paulson of Franklin, TN. Congratulations!
Contact us at [email protected] to learn how to claim your prize.
This is a very rare 1962 Ferrari 400 Superamerica LWB Coupe Aerodinamico by Pinifarina. It is only 1 of only 18 built and it goes up for bid at the RM Auctions | Sotheby’s auction next month in Paris.
Watch our Facebook for the next Dream Drives Trivia, taking place Saturday, January 16th.
By the 1950s, Ferrari had established itself not only as a world-class manufacturer of sports racing cars but also as a manufacturer of the world’s best grand touring cars for the road. Enzo Ferrari had come to fully realise that, in order to continue the success of his racing program, he needed to be able to create, market, and sell equally exceptional road cars. Throughout the decade, the Ferrari GT car had evolved immensely into a top-shelf luxury touring car, namely the 342 America and the 410 Superamerica, which became the last word in sporting luxury. However, these cars were known as heavy and unforgiving to drive, and many believed that such a prestigious automobile should have more refined driving dynamics.To address these changes, Ferrari introduced the 400 Superamerica at the Turin Motor Show in 1959. The 400 SA incorporated a number of changes from its predecessor, chief amongst which was a new Colombo short-block V-12 engine. The new powerplant was bored from its 250 GT dimensions of 3.0-litres to almost 4.0, and it was fitted with the outside-plug arrangement that had proven to be so effective in the Testa Rossa sports racers. This new Superamerica also benefitted from Dunlop disc brakes at all four corners, which replaced the drum brakes on the 410 Superamerica, and an overdrive that increased the top end ratio by 28 percent. These changes markedly improved the car’s performance and road manners and brought its driving characteristics in line with the car’s outstanding level of luxury.The earliest 400 Superamericas were constructed on Ferrari’s shorter, 2,420-millimetre wheelbase and clothed in open coachwork by Pinin Farina. When chassis 2207 SA, dubbed the Superfast II, was introduced at Turin in November 1960, it featured coachwork that had never before been seen on a Superamerica, and it stunned the crowd. The car’s body featured a pointed open-mouth nose leading to a slippery roof and belt lines converging into a delicately swooped fastback tail that catered toward aerodynamics, helping the Superamerica cut through the air.Two years later, at the London Motor Show in September 1962, Ferrari introduced a second-series 400 Superamerica. This car retained the distinctive Aerodinamico coachwork of its predecessors, but it now rode on the 250 GTE’s 2,600-millimetre chassis, which eventually replaced the earlier and shorter-wheelbase chassis. Approximately 18 long-wheelbase Coupé Aerodinamicos were constructed when production came to a close in 1964, adding to a total of 35 Series II examples, which also included the earlier SWB Superamericas.
The 400 Superamerica is often considered to be the grandest of Ferrari’s grand touring automobiles, as it is utterly uncompromising in every sense. The Superamerica offered its owners nothing but the finest in terms of automotive technology, with cutting-edge design, performance, and luxury. This particular Ferrari is one of the most important examples constructed, and it is truly capable of anything its next owner desires.
