26 replies to this topic

[AAGR]

I know that this is some way off an original topic .... but in the late 1960s/early 1970s I was privileged to know Henry Manney III who lived in Paris at the time.

I well remember him telling me that at a time when Ferrari GTOs were considered obsolete, he actually bought two of them, and kept them parked outdoors, sometimes in the street, near his apartment in Paris. Yes, I promise you that they were genuine, for I once saw one of them, which was an ex-Tour de France winning car.

Happy days ....

AAGR

[jcbc3]

I know that this is some way off an original topic .... but in the late 1960s/early 1970s I was privileged to know Henry Manney III who lived in Paris at the time.

I well remember him telling me that at a time when Ferrari GTOs were considered obsolete, he actually bought two of them, and kept them parked outdoors, sometimes in the street, near his apartment in Paris. Yes, I promise you that they were genuine, for I once saw one of them, which was an ex-Tour de France winning car.

Happy days ....

AAGR

If you want another good weep, look here: Vintage car ads

[Duc-Man]

I read a couple years ago an article about a GTO where an owner of the car in the 60ies said that his wife used the car to pick up the children from school or do the shopping when he wasn't racing it.
No mater how iconic it is, after all it is just a car.

[Doug Nye]

Back in the '80s when Nick Mason's GTO was worth a mere £100,000 or so he lent it to me for a few days, during which Geoff Goddard encountered a central heating problem at his house in Ascot, and we shot down to the local plumbing supplies shop for bits in the GTO, then back again to fix the problem. I remember Bill Clarke on his farm outside Christchurch firing up his ex-Nuvolari 1935 German GP-winning Alfa Romeo Tipo B on a Sunday morning, to nip down to the nearest village shop for his milk and newspaper - and that was on gravel roads there and back, though in that case no lightweight Scaglietti aluminium body panelling was exposed to harm. Proper cars, owned and run by proper blokes.

DCN

[richardspringett]

Slightly off topic as regards GTOs - but the previous owner of my Alfa Romeo TZ in the 70/80s used it to collect vegetables from the market for his pizzeria.....quite how he got the vegetables in the rear compartment is unknown!

Richard

[D-Type]

I read of one GTO owner (Nick Mason or Neil Corner perhaps?) who found on an icy morning that the only one of his cars that would start was his GTO so he used it to take his son to school!

[Jack-the-Lad]

Are there any GTOs that were never raced?

[David McKinney]

Not that I know of, but there were plenty which would have seen much more road use than competition work in period

[Bloggsworth]

When I lived in Bramham Gardens in Earl's Court, there used to be one parked at the eastern end.

[Svend Seegert]

I read of one GTO owner (Nick Mason or Neil Corner perhaps?) who found on an icy morning that the only one of his cars that would start was his GTO so he used it to take his son to school!

Nick Mason, (and a daugther as far as I remember ). :-)

[raceannouncer2003]

I saw one (or a very good replica) on the street in Oahu (Hawai) a couple of weeks ago. Does anyone know if there is one here? I tried to email David Seielstad but the email bounced back.

Vince ;H.

[Arjan de Roos]

Are there any GTOs that were never raced?

All GTO's including their family members: the 4 litres and the LMB's, have a racing pedigree. Most competed internationally some only locally. Maybe LMB 4619SA has minimu racing career as it only competed in some historic races in the eigthies. 330 GTO 4561SA was delivered to Mr Michel Paul Cavalier, a business man and for a period member of the SEFAC board, as a civile car. After his untimely death, the car was bought by Col. Hoare, who brought it into competition.

The GTO is a car that drives pretty friendly and indeed starts always. Just fire up gently and drive of calmly.

[Giraffe]

Autosport March 3rd, 1967, & the GTO is almost half the price of the 275LM......................


By giraffe138 at 2011-12-05

Seen testing at Donington Park last year...


By giraffe138 at 2010-08-20

Edited by Giraffe, 05 December 2011 - 09:22.

[David Birchall]

The GTO is a car that drives pretty friendly and indeed starts always. Just fire up gently and drive of calmly.

I would love to! Where do I sign up?

[TooTall]

Here is some video of some So. California lads enjoying their GTOs back in the day.



Cheers,
Kurt O.

[Geoff E]

Autosport March 3rd, 1967, & the GTO is almost half the price of the 275LM......................

It was twice as old.

[willga]

I read of one GTO owner (Nick Mason or Neil Corner perhaps?) who found on an icy morning that the only one of his cars that would start was his GTO so he used it to take his son to school!

I got ferried to school in my father's 250GT SWB and Lusso every so often - good excuse to blow the cobwebs out, although a little difficult to sneak in late...

[Alan Cox]

Proper cars, owned and run by proper blokes.
DCN

I think I would be correct in saying that DCN's good friend Paul Vestey regularly used to use his GTO as the mode of transport to attend race meetings at Silverstone. I'm sure I used to see it in the BRDC car park.

[BRG]

I think I would be correct in saying that DCN's good friend Paul Vestey regularly used to use his GTO as the mode of transport to attend race meetings at Silverstone. I'm sure I used to see it in the BRDC car park.

Well, better to have sensible people using GTOs for necessary everyday journeys, than this bunch of morons.

The trouble today is that the only people who can afford supercars are the very people who should never be allowed loose in them....

[David Birchall]

Here is some video of some So. California lads enjoying their GTOs back in the day.



Cheers,
Kurt O.

Ahh, it was so like England wasn't it? Average young people enjoying themselves in expensive cars in beautiful weather. Just as I remember England in the late sixties.
Shades of "Withnail and I"...

Edited by David Birchall, 07 December 2011 - 00:58.

[elansprint72]

Here is some video of some So. California lads enjoying their GTOs back in the day.



Cheers,
Kurt O.

Fantastic footage (and it includes an Elan ).

[monoposto]

Chris Evan's 250 GTO

[raceannouncer2003]

This from David Seielstad:

"There was a person on the windward side who owns several fake Ferrari.

There is no real 250 GTO on Ohau to my knowledge. I know the owners of all 36 and none are permanant Hawaii residents.

Ed Davies, who lives in Florida and Jon Shirley who lives on Mercer Island both own GTOs and both have vacation homes on Maui, but I doubt that they bring their GTOs out to Hawaii, or if they did it would be to Maui. Jon was on Maui at the beginning of November.

Regards,

David"

Vince H.

I saw one (or a very good replica) on the street in Oahu (Hawai) a couple of weeks ago. Does anyone know if there is one here? I tried to email David Seielstad but the email bounced back.

Vince ;H.

[ZOOOM]

I have a friend who was a basketball player at Marquette University while I was there.
After College, he bought a GTO. Raced it locally for several years and sold it to buy a Bugatti.
He's been crying about it ever since...
ZOOOM

[ZOOOM]

I have a friend who was a basketball player at Marquette University while I was there.
After College, he bought a GTO. Raced it locally for several years and sold it to buy a Bugatti.
He's been crying about it ever since...
ZOOOM

[Cynic2]

I have a friend who was a basketball player at Marquette University while I was there.
After College, he bought a GTO. Raced it locally for several years and sold it to buy a Bugatti.
He's been crying about it ever since...
ZOOOM

I think we share the same friend, and I'm not sure he's really crying. Subsequent to the GTO he's had any number of good Ferraris, and more than one Alfa as well: a 2.9, multiple 2.3s, and a 1750. His Bugatti was the Helle' Nice' "Bugatti Queen" T35B (4863).


He was a really great guy and a really great enthusiast. I was supposed to visit to spend a day with him, to try the Bugatti against his Alfa 2.3 on some of the roads there. I never got around to that (incredibly stupid, no?), so when I was at Road America for an event, as a surprise he drove the T35 up from Milwaukee so I'd have something to drive around.


I haven't spoken to him since he was ill, and I think the Bugatti may have moved on, as did the GTO 20-some years ago. Still, nothing changes the fact that this is a gentleman of outstanding automobile tastes. One of the best.


A reminder of that day:





Uploaded with ImageShack.us


(In photo are Peter Giddings, yr hmbl svt -- after all, this thread did start with Henry Manney III -- and Brian Brunkhorst. Sorry for poor quality of the cell phone photo)

Edited by Cynic2, 09 December 2011 - 21:58.

[cdrewett]

Autosport March 3rd, 1967, & the GTO is almost half the price of the 275LM......................


By giraffe138 at 2011-12-05

Seen testing at Donington Park last year...


By giraffe138 at 2010-08-20

I had a friend who was a friend of Peter Clark and we joined him for a few race meetings and hillclimbs with the GTO. It was always extremely scruffy with loose wires all over the place. But I seem to remember he had quite a successful trip to Daytona.
Chris