At this year's Monterey sale, someone famously paid $1,875,000 for a tangle of twisted, burnt metal. It's unpleasant and unnoticeable to look at, but barring fire fatigue, the scrapyard will end up paying the new owner about $650 for staining the aluminum. According to brand experts, the burnt chassis tag and recorded provenance indicate that at one point it was a car, more precisely a 1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial Spider. And with a thick checkbook and a skilled workshop, this is once again a car capable of handling a hectic schedule of world-class events and prestigious rallies.
A very exciting daydream has come true, but what is the result?Aside from the obvious financial upside of owning a mid-century Ferrari, what can we expect from this vehicle, Lazaro? ?
It's been just 60 years since this Mondial was road-worthy or recognizable. How many people were there when chassis No. 0406MD appeared at the 1954 Mille Miglia, let alone realized it? low, to put it generously. To the average modern enthusiast, a car of this caliber might be the equivalent of a grainy black-and-white blur in a book. If you're one of the lucky few who get to attend the staging areas of important competitions and rallies, those are the bejeweled sculptures found in museums. Look, but don't touch.Look but don't look drive.
The average enthusiast probably knows more about how the pyramids were actually built than they do about how multi-million dollar mid-century race cars drive. are they fast? are they scary? Are they difficult?
Is it even a car?
“That's the closest you can get to greatness,” Matthew Ivanhoe says with more than a hint of respect. “A big part of why we love these cars is that they are tangible pieces of history. It's like I was sitting and holding the same steering wheel that I was holding when Cabianca won. It's like being. Coppa d'Oro delle Dolomiti.” In early summer, Ivanhoe and I had lunch at a fancy Italian restaurant outside New Canaan, Connecticut. There he owns and operates The Cultivated Collector. Famous for regularly stocking the world's best analogue supercars, Ivanhoe spends the rest of his driving time behind the wheel of a rare ephemera crate that's exactly what we're talking about. .
On the restaurant's gravel lot, his blue and cream 1952 OSCA MT4 rattles in the shade. He has participated in the Mille Miglia twice. Ivanhoe believes the impressive barchetta has around 28 major historic races under its fan belt, split between hill climbs, endurance races and grueling mountain pass sprints. Even if it is stationary, it is a vision of past heroic deeds.
Nowadays, it's just a device for getting spaghetti. We asked Ivanhoe about the average use case for a car like the OSCA MT4. “It's not a car; it's an event pass,” he says. “Is there a coolest event on Earth that you absolutely want to go to? That car will go. It's easier to say what events you won't be involved in than to list what will happen.” ” This includes the latest edition of the Mille Miglia. The Mille Miglia is a very special event that is not only prohibitively expensive to attend, but also often logistically daunting. Even if you have the money, finding a car that meets your criteria is not your ticket's right. Events must go through a rigorous selection process, which often ends in rejection. But what about OSCA? Avanti!
Recorded as a two-time competitor, the road to the modern Millet as an automatic entry is paved with gold. OSCA's low plexiglass wind deflector has a competition sticker on the corner, as if to prove his point. Okay, this is like a backstage pass to the most romantic automotive event on the planet, but what's it like when you leave the starting line? This is a purpose-built race car. Sure, it’s miserable to manipulate and impossible to tame, right?
Let's check it out.
From a distance, the MT4 looks like a pretty gorgeous kid's car. Seeing the footprints of small animals in Barchetta up close is extremely valuable. Riding on a wheelbase about 3 inches shorter than the first generation (NA) Mazda Miata, his OSCA almost disappears below the beltline of today's Honda Accord.
As an early MT4-2AD—or Maserati Tipo 4 cylindersThe 1092cc twin-cam four-cylinder engine produces just under 100 horsepower. It's nothing compared to Ferrari's contemporary 210hp 225 S, but at just 1400 pounds, the lightweight MT4 was a real giant-killer to drive around the Italian countryside.
In 18 years of serious competition, the mighty MT4 has amassed an impressive record of 939 entries, 449 race starts, 98 class wins and 81 overall wins. These laurels have been grabbed for some of the greatest cars in history. Aside from a steady stream of Ferraris and an early but very competitive effort from Porsche, the British terrorized the circuits with prototype Jaguars and Astons, while their homegrown adversaries in the OSCA had These included big-budget Alfa Romeo, Lancia, and Maserati. The peak of MT4 came in his 1954 year. In that year's 12 Hours of Sebring, Sir Stirling Moss won the overall victory with Briggs driving his Cunningham's MT4. This record immortalized him as the only overall victory in a sports car with an engine displacement of less than 1.5 liters.
Meanwhile, the stakes for glory this New England afternoon have never been lower. Back on the gravel road, the MT4 came to life with a rusty rumble that belied the size of its heart and hooves. Ingress is simple but nerve-wracking. The small door opens easily and there's no roof or windshield to shake my forehead at, but I struggle to reach my waist where the car's window frame is standing, so I have to lower myself into the OSCA tub. is not much different from that of a go-kart. But be careful where you prop yourself up. Most cockpit lugs will break and most aluminum surfaces will warp under weight.
But once inside, the scenery is like a dream. Other than a few patinated gauges and an unlabeled switchgear built into the very thin aluminum dash plate, it's entirely wheel and shifter operation. Only a slight bulge in its curved hood blocks forward visibility, everything else falling behind the barchetta's short nose.
As we sit there considering the flight controls; quattro cylinder Snort and spit. It's time to move. His 4-speed manual, an OSCA proprietary design, supports the Roti 4 and, as it first felt, offers an unexpectedly light shifting action. Like all angry half-pints, the relatively high torque on the tachometer means it starts the smoothest, albeit with some dissonance.
You can't hide the essence of competition. Throttle response is instant and sharp, and steering response is matched by a spinal-pounding, direct response. This engine displaces 1.1 liters, six times more than his modern V-12 engine, and makes a mechanical noise strong enough to shave a cat's hair at 60 feet. Drive through the unusually peaceful suburbs of Connecticut.
It weighs about half as much as a shock-bumper Porsche 911, moves like a bee on a string, and feels like having frozen espresso foam thrown at your face. Every input, no matter how trivial, is heroic, complete, and unfiltered. All the while, you're battling the biting wind. You're also competing for road space with modern behemoths like the Subaru Impreza and Audi TT. Even the smallest collision is sure to send it into a violent spin, ending in a cartoon-like explosion.
I have no choice. At least my death comes with OSCA. At least it's interesting. At least that's the story.
But we will survive this race, the cruise. I stepped into the quiet parking lot of The Cultivated Collector. There, tiny raindrops are just beginning to sizzle on the black roof. We squeezed our little uncovered gem into the Ivanhoe showroom in time for the summer showers. The smell of warm fuel vapor wafts through the garage, a space filled with Cisitalias and other mid-century Millemasters from Ferrari.
I asked Ivanhoe if this was the first time he took out his MT4 just to have lunch. “Well, I’ll take it to dinner, I’ll stop at the grocery store, and I’ll take it for a nice Sunday drive,” he said with a laugh. “When I say these '50s sports racers, I'm not talking about 356s, I'm talking about proper sports racers, but they're the last of the kind where you can get that kind of experience wrapped up in an easy-to-digest package. Cheers.”
Looking back at our quick outburst. You won't get sore, hot, bruised or limp as you spend wheel time in purpose-built prototype race cars designed to travel at maximum capacity for thousands of kilometers. Adaptation required careful examination of the clutch and making sure he wasn't shifting into 4th gear for the money. that's it.
I don't think you can say the same about a race car that's 10 years junior to the little OSCA.
Ivanhoe agrees. “In the 1960s, things become more purposeful, but I can't explain it any further,” he explains. “They've become more hardcore, they've become more focused.'' 917s, GT40s, 512S, grand, incredible cars, but, well, one of those he goes to the store to drink a gallon of milk.'' I’m not going to take one with me.”
When I interviewed GT40 owners for a feature earlier this year, they echoed this sentiment. I told Ivanhoe about this. “Cars like that are hot, uncompromising and the clutch is an on and off switch; During the move-Overheats when moving. It's a racing car.it is race-It’s a race car,” he says. “These '50s racers can still be used as cars. The suspension is pretty compliant, the motor is very easy to use and easy to use, and it doesn't make that deafening, painful noise.”
That makes sense. When Ivanhoe's OSCA was a top-notch athlete, parts of the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio were unpaved. Suspension compliance was considered a plus, not a drawback. Fuel stops during races were also sometimes erratic, and these engines could not be relied on to only drink hot. “The compression isn't so high that you need to run some crazy jungle juice that you won't find at a gas station,” he says. “You can pump gas, add an auxiliary fan, and drive in traffic.” Just like we did.
And, short of a catastrophe, if something goes wrong, there's little that can't be fixed by a competent collector car mechanic on the side of the road. “It was very innovative and cutting-edge for its time, but we're not talking about something made from unobtanium,” he explains.
I was hopelessly hooked. But what can you do? As of this writing, hagerty price guide found the average price for a 1100cc OSCA MT4 to be $986,000, with the lowest priced at $789,000 and the highest priced at $1.5 million. It's a steal when you consider that a fair Ferrari sports racer will cover between three and five times his mileage, depending on provenance.
So what's a reasonable analogue? I asked Ivanhoe if a stripped-down, hotter twin-cam MGA or similarly spiced Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider would scratch that itch. Ta. “The stripped down Giulietta is a great car. I love it. It definitely gets an 80 percent [OSCA] Gain experience, maybe even more,” he said excitedly. “But, well… there’s only 20 percent left!”
“But it is what it is: Hot Rod Giulietta enthusiasts and OSCA enthusiasts, they speak the same language,” he continues. “We all love the same thing. One is a little spicier than the other.”
I'm reminded once again of the crumpled Ferrari that went on sale in August for $1.875 million. What a lark it was back then. If you want a Ferrari, you can use that cash to buy a nice Daytona. and It's a good Dino and has enough left for a few 308s and Testarossas.
But now that we're armed with the best bug-in-the-tooth context, we're not so sure Mondial wasn't one of Monterey's best buyers.
***
Please check Hagerty Media Homepage So that you don't miss a single story, or even better, Please bookmark it. Get our best stories delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe to newsletter.
via Insider
