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For the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, the 340 once more changed its appearance—its brake vents were more prominent, and it had gained a single-piece wraparound windshield, extra driving lights and leather hood straps—but it was no more fortunate in the race itself. Driven by Louis Rosier and Maurice Trintignant, the car dropped out while running 42nd with clutch problems that afflicted most of the non-finishing Ferraris. There is some debate as to whether Rosier raced s/n 0196 or a sister 340 America, s/n 0202A, at Le Mans. The overall consensus is that it was indeed s/n 0196, and factory records seem to support this, as the car’s build sheet states that it should have a long ratio axle for Le Mans. In July 1952, Piero Scotti, a privateer from Florence who had come third in the ’51 Mille Miglia in 1951, bought s/n 0196 from the factory. The car’s history gets a little fuzzy over the next several years, but during this time it was rebodied as a coupe. This wasn’t a new body, but one that had been fitted to a 1952 Aston Martin DB3 belonging to Frenchman Mike Sparken. Sparken, who had purchased the Aston in ’53, had commissioned Vignale to build a berlinetta shell, which was designed by Giovanni Michelotti. Sparken sold the Aston in ’54, and while we don’t know the whys or the hows, the closed Vignale body somehow ended up being united with s/n 0196. By 1960, the car was in the U.S., owned by Thomas Caulfield. It changed hands two more times that year, ending up with Lee Sturtevant of Illinois, who paid $3,000 for the car and kept it until 1965. It stayed in Illinois until the late 1970s, with a Mr. Burdette of Northfield until 1977 and then Joe Marchetti of Chicago through 1979. It then moved to Canada with Aldo Bigioni, who owned it until 1997. One year later, now bizarrely fitted with a Mercedes gearbox and disc brakes, it was sold at the Monterey Sportscar Auction. S/n 0196 arrived in the UK in March 1999. New owner Hugh Taylor commissioned DK Engineering to return it to original specification, but it was Anthony Bamford, who bought the car a few months later, who funded the restoration through to its conclusion in 2001. “We just put it back to what it was,” says DK’s David Cottingham. “I’m not sure why the original body was changed, but a lot of the cars changed bodies in the early days; they could do it quickly. The Vignale coupe body was beautifully made and, like the rest of the car, in really good condition. It was quite attractive; the only thing that spoiled it was the flat windscreen. We fitted the coupe body to a 212, so it lives on. I’d already made a body for another 340 America some years ago, so we copied that and made a body jig.” | |
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