Ferrari 4219GT

 https://mycarheaven.com/2022/09/the-beautiful-1963-ferrari-250-gto-4219gt/

This is going to be another one of “those” stories. Though I have not thought about this car in years at one point I not only saw it but literally crawled all over and through it. 

It happened like this. My 250 2+2 was serviced by Modena Motors in Redwood City (now long defunct). Originally owned by Jef Provost, who along with the Motorsports Writer for the SF Chronicle ran one of the early vintage racing organizations in the US, it was taken over by a good friend from the Ferrari Owners Club. Bill Morton was in QA for a Silicon Valley firm (I think it was Fairchild Camera, one of the tech pioneers of the Valley) but his love for things Ferrari led to the purchase and management of this shop which was devoted to the brand and other Italian exotics. Bill was also a neighbor. He and Judy lived a mile or so from us in San Carlos and their friendship played a major role in our decision to purchase our car and join the Ferrari Owners Club.

One day when I brought our Ferrari in for some service or repair, I pulled in behind the building and next to a dark blue GTO. A couple of things caught my attention (other than the sheer loveliness of the design, of course). The color was unusual, and there was a small light on the driver door which was meant to illuminate a race number during night events, meaning the car was intended for long distance endurance races such as Le Mans. 

Bill’s mechanic came out to take the keys to my car from me and I asked who owned this lovely beast. I was told the fellow’s name was George Dyer and that he lived in the wealthy Peninsula enclave of Hillsborough and that no, the car had never raced. I was also told that the car had been owned by Dyer since new. According to the above article and other sources neither comment seems to be true. 

At any rate, I asked if it was OK to look over the car more closely, and with the mechanic watching carefully I visually inspected the car from stem to stern. It was in excellent visual condition and did indeed look like it had received only gentle street use. 

For some reason I was curious to know its serial number. I had failed to look at the VIN plate on the firewall while inspecting the engine and did not want to open the hood again, so we opened the glove box to find the California registration for the car, which was street licensed. To my shock the number was 4219GT.

Why the shock? As I learned about company history and oddities I had found that at least the production cars, and likely all the cars, were built on a single line. In those days Enzo had a little quirk to differentiate cars built for racing had even serial numbers, and most had red cam covers (hence the original designation as “Testa Rossa” which is literally “red head”). Production cars all had serial numvers ending in an odd digit. These usually had a two letter appendage, generally “GT” for “Gran Turismo”, meaning a “luxury” touring car. So my car was “250GT4217.” You can tell how low the volume of production still was in the 60s by the fact that there were only four digits in the serial numbers.

The GTO model was a bit of gamesmanship by Enzo. To be accepted as a production car by the FIA a manufacturer was required to build at least 50 examples. There were never that many GTOs built, but there are something like 34 of the prettier Series I cars such as 4219, as well as a second series of about nine cars in 1964 called a “250GTO64.” The 1968 version of the Corvette Stingray is a ratheer blatant copy of the design.

So the shock was what I knew about how serial numbers of production cars were assigned. Each car off the line, regardless of model, got the next number ending in an odd digit. So my car was coming down the line just ahead of this particular GTO. They were built virtually at the same time, and it is very likely the engine assembly for both cars was done by the same individual, as this is Ferrari practice to this day.

Until I read this article I did not know about the earlier history of the car, nor the multiple color changes. It seems it is now a rather sinister looking black (the only GTO I have ever seen in that color). I also find the primer colored area behind the door odd looking and wonder about it. But I do see that the number light on the door is still there, though I don’t now about the one on the rear deck. 

Just another bit of nostalgia that brings me back to a wonderful era to have been lucky enough to have enjoyed deeply with great people and wonderful cars.

"Whether you actively engage in the violent culture of hate or merely step out of the way to give it permission to persist and room to grow, you are complicit"

-Brittany Packnett-