Car of the Day - Ferrari P4 - 350 Can-Am

Car of the Day - Ferrari P4 - 350 Can-Am

Ferrari - At the very upper echelon of desirable, important and collectible race cars stands the Ferrari P4. With a race record that includes victories in the most important international race events and driven by a who's who from the most dangerous and glamourous era of motorsport history the P4 is an iconic racecar.

With just three 330 P4s built, chassis numbers 0856, 0858 and 0860, plus one 330 P3 - 0846, converted to P4 specifications the P4 is a rare and highly sort after addition for any serious collection.

The particular example featured in this Car of the Day went to auction in 2009 at RM Auctions - Ferrari Passione e Leggenda, unfortunately at the time the world was in the deplths of the GFC so the car was passed in at 7.25 million euro, a figure that would undoubtable be surpassed in todays recovering economy.

The P4 gave Enzo Ferrai one of his most prized moments - the 1-2-3 victory at Daytona in 1967 against the unlimited-budget Ford assualt on his dominance. An image of the victory has remained behind his desk since that time. With a second place at Le Mans, 0858 could be considered the second most desireable of the P4s having also played a significant role in Ferrari’s 1967 World Manufacturers Championship for Sportcars win and finishing second in the 1967 Le Mans 24 Hours

Rule changes at the end of the 1967 season made the P4s obsolete for the 1968 season and 0858 became one of two P4s to be modified to compete in the Can-Am Series in America. This was without success however as the 4.4 litre engine could not compete against the no holds barred big block engines of the likes of the McLarens.

This car is also is of particular significance to us here in Australian as it was briefly owned by David McKay’s Scuderia Veloce and raced at Surfers Paradise in 1968. 0858 was also owned by a South African enthusiast and won five races in the Springbok Series. On retirement from racing it was sold and maintained the same ownership for the past 40 years with only rare public outings.

Rod Halligan