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Written by Stephen Dobie
Fully restored" are words you might often read in classic car ads. Few, though, come as fully restored as this Ferrari 225E. That"s because it"s just emerged from a rebuild forced by fire.And it"s a car with much provenance, besides that unfortunate blaze. It was produced in May 1952, for its first owner - Count Antonio Sterzi - to take to the Mille Miglia, which it entered before clocking up a number of race victories, including the brilliantly Italian sounding Coppa InterEuropa at Monza.Lots of lovely success, then, before disaster struck. The 225E was involved in a fire (no more details than that: mysterious, eh?) which caused "serious damage".A restoration attempt was made in the 1980s, with some of the bodywork pepped up, but the 225E still couldn"t be driven. Cue its latest owner, who eyed up the potential of the Ferrari Classiche programme, and commissioned a full restoration.The exterior has returned to its dazzling, two-tone best, and the engine comes fully reconditioned. Happily, enough of its V12 survived the fire to ensure it didn"t need full replacement: so much better for both coolness and future value.Perhaps the biggest job, however, has been getting its interior back to best. None of it survived the fire, and so Ferrari"s team examined copious 1950s Ferraris to recreate something as close as possible to the pre-fire cabin.Makes a mockery of the fully restored" Fiesta XR2 that"s had its bumpers reblackened, doesn"t it?
Date written: 21 Mar 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 2639
Fully restored" are words you might often read in classic car ads. Few, though, come as fully restored as this Ferrari 225E. That"s because it"s just emerged from a rebuild forced by fire.And it"s a car with much provenance, besides that unfortunate blaze. It was produced in May 1952, for its first owner - Count Antonio Sterzi - to take to the Mille Miglia, which it entered before clocking up a number of race victories, including the brilliantly Italian sounding Coppa InterEuropa at Monza.Lots of lovely success, then, before disaster struck. The 225E was involved in a fire (no more details than that: mysterious, eh?) which caused "serious damage".A restoration attempt was made in the 1980s, with some of the bodywork pepped up, but the 225E still couldn"t be driven. Cue its latest owner, who eyed up the potential of the Ferrari Classiche programme, and commissioned a full restoration.The exterior has returned to its dazzling, two-tone best, and the engine comes fully reconditioned. Happily, enough of its V12 survived the fire to ensure it didn"t need full replacement: so much better for both coolness and future value.Perhaps the biggest job, however, has been getting its interior back to best. None of it survived the fire, and so Ferrari"s team examined copious 1950s Ferraris to recreate something as close as possible to the pre-fire cabin.Makes a mockery of the fully restored" Fiesta XR2 that"s had its bumpers reblackened, doesn"t it?
Date written: 21 Mar 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 2639
