MOTOR CARS | 277Now enlarged to 3.3 litres, the 60-degree V12 engine remained
the familiar Colombo type, in standard form producing 280bhp at
7,600rpm. A higher - 300bhp - state of tune employing six Weber
carburettors was available, and this was used for the handful of
aluminium-alloy bodied 275GTB/C (Competizione) models built,
though customers purchasing a 275GTB for road use could also
specify aluminium coachwork and/or the six-carburettor engine.
Despite its near-perfect appearance, revisions to the original 275GTB
were not long in coming: a longer nose, enlarged rear window and
external boot hinges being introduced towards the end of 1965.
Mechanically the only major change was the adoption of torque tube
enclosure for the prop shaft. The model’s ultimate incarnation - the
275GTB/4 - appeared in October 1966, the ‘/4’ suffix denoting the
presence of four, rather than the original’s two, overhead camshafts.
Sadly, by 1968 the progress of automobile emissions legislation
had effectively outlawed the 275GTB and its like from Ferrari’s most
lucrative export market, the United States, and the model was
phased out later that same year after a total of only 460 cars had
been completed.
Left-hand drive chassis number ‘06585’ was completed in February
1965 in steel bodied, short nose form and sold new by the factory
through the official dealer VECAR in Rome. Factory records show
that ‘06585’ is the 19th car assembled. Its original colour scheme
was blue with beige interior. The car’s first owner was SILA SpA
(Società Impresa Lavori Agricoli) in Rome. On 30th December 1966
SILA sold the Ferrari to its second owner, Ugo Forcesi of Fracsati,
Rome. Around 2-3 years later, ‘06585’ was exported from Italy to
the USA, and in May 1969 was advertised for sale in Autoweek
magazine by Internal Combustion Engineers (ICE) of Kensington,
Maryland. Conversion from the original short to the current long
nose configuration was carried out and then in April 1977 the car
was again advertised for sale in Autoweek, on this occasion by Bud
Pessin’s Archway Motor Imports of Manchester, Missouri. By this
time it had been repainted red and re-trimmed in black.