Ferrari 250 GTZ

The mysterious ones

There is already a small “insertion” about the Zagato 250 GT LWB in our collection of Ferrari 250 GT LWB “Tour de France”. Amongst all the gems, it is perhaps a bit lost what fine specialities the five Ferrari 250 GTZs, as we will call them here, are. The “Tour de France” are well known, famous, they were very successful on the race tracks of this world – and something like the foundation of Ferrari to earn good money with customer sports cars. There were four series of the “TdF”, Scaglietti built probably 72 examples on the basis of a Pininfarina design (we have a very nice collection here).

But how it came about that already the fifth example of the Ferrari 250 GT LWB Berlinetta, as the “Tour de France” was officially called, received a body by Zagato is not really clear. The probability that Ferrari itself sent a couple of chassis to Zagato in Milan is rather low; the collaboration with Zagato never really came about. Therefore, it was perhaps more personal preferences that brought a few Ferrari customers to Milan. Elio Zagato, himself a very talented racing driver, had the reputation of being able to build not only beautiful, but above all light racing cars.

The first customer was Vladimiro Galluzzi. Galluzzi, a successful racing driver and also president of the Scuderia Sant’Ambroeus, expressly asked Zagato for a car with which he could win both races and beauty contests. The car with the chassis number 0515GT, known as “Berlinetta”, was then also used in some races (without winning a flower pot), but it is beautiful in any case, today it is considered a prime example of this Ferrari 250 GTZ. Perhaps also because it is now owned by David Sydorick and has competed at pretty much every Concours. (We won’t bore you with all the details here, you can find the whole story of #0515GT and lots of pictures in our TdF collection).

The next Ferrari 250 GT to come to Zagato in Rho wore chassis number #0537GT. It was ordered by former fighter pilot Camillo Luglio (but then delivered to his wife Cornelia Vassali). Although he did not receive the car until the end of July, Luglio still managed to win the 1956 Italian championship for sports cars with more than two litres of engine capacity. #0537GT was even lighter than #0515GT – and already with that example Zagato could save at least 50 kilos compared to the Scaglietti “Tour de France”. In general, #0537GT, called “Coupé Corsa”, is perhaps a little more consistent, more sharpened in many details than its more famous brother, but the current owner Robson S. Walton, who has owned the car since 1994, does not show it off at every “Marksmen’s Festival”.

Luglio kept #0537GT for a few more years, but for the 1957 season he ordered a new racer from Zagato, #0665GT. There were then some changes and improvements – #0665GT looks quite different from the two earlier Zagato-250-GT. And there were probably no more beauty prizes to be won at that time. But Luglio won the Italian championship for the second time – and finished 6th overall at the last Mille Miglia, coming 2nd in his class. And a first circle is closed with this vehicle: the second owner of #0665GT, called “Competizione” was then Vladimiro Galluzzi. Today, the car probably belongs to Lee Harrington.

Only the fourth 250 GTZ broke out of the illustrious Galluzzi/Luglio circle, ordered by Vittorio de Micheli from Florence. As its name, “Lusso”, indicates, Zagato was allowed to draw from the full range of options, especially in terms of interior design. However, this did not stop de Micheli from competing in some races with his Ferrari with chassis number #0689GT. After an accident in 1960, the car received a new front end, and it was not until the current owner Rick Nash had the car restored to its original configuration.

The last of the Zagato 250s carried chassis number #1367GT, so it was also a late model among the TdF. And the vehicle designated as “Prototipo” was optically quite different from its Milanese brethren, Vladimiro Galluzzi, him again, actually wanted a racing car. And without a double bubble, but with tail fins. This is certainly the greatest Zagato design, and Galluzzi immediately parted with this car – the next owner was no stranger, namely Cornelia Vassali, Camillo Luglio’s wife. #1367GT has probably been with the same Italian owner since the early 1980s.

The exact ownership and racing successes of all five Zagato 250 GT Ferraris can be found in our TdF collection. We have more nice things in our archives.