Mr Bank Director
Perhaps Alfred Ducato could be described as somewhat fussy. This was probably due to his job as Vice President of the United California Bank in San Francisco, but his correspondence with Enzo Ferrari does suggest that he was very particular. On 6 October 1954, he wrote: ‘My dear Mr Ferrari: Since Mr Chinetti telephoned me on Sunday and told me about your extreme generosity in preparing an outstanding 4.5 Milli Mille car for me, I have not been able to sleep at night since I am so excited about it. This is really most kind of you, Mr Ferrari, and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it. Needless to say, you know I will do everything possible in the future, as I have done in the past, to further promote the wonderful cars which you create and I hope you will be pleased with the results.’ And added: ‘The body must be very comfortable for long trips with plenty of head room, leg room and baggage room… The seats should be very well upholstered and the entire car, including the top inside, to be leather lined… please be sure the car has glass windows and is most comfortable… the highest rear axle ratio for maximum top speed… strong bumpers – front – rear… tools and spare parts… Corsa tires… Mr. Chinetti and I thought that a blue colour with yellow or tan leather would make a nice colour combination for the car…». Probably Ducato could afford all this, as Luigi Chinetti was one of his good friends – and he was in the inner circle of Ferrari’s good customers, having bought eleven cars directly from the factory, all of them 12-cylinder models. There was just one thing that Alfred Ducato had underestimated: For his 4.5 million lire (about 16,500 dollars at the time, a lot of money back then), he bought a 375 MM, a racing car.
So he was proud and satisfied when he was able to pick up his Pinin Farina berlinetta on Pier 50 in the port of San Francisco on 9 April 1955. However, he didn’t like the colour; the ‘Azzurro’ (code 4354) wasn’t striking enough for him, so he had the car repainted dark blue. Then he realised that the powerful engine in the 375 MM wasn’t really suitable for everyday driving in San Francisco, so he sent the Ferrari to Chinetti in New York to find a solution. Chinetti couldn’t find a solution, bought Ducato #0472AM – and sold him a 250-GT-Pininfarina-Coupé instead. The next owner of the 375 MM was Norman N. Tompson from Mailbu, who immediately had the Ferrari painted red – and destroyed the twelve-cylinder in a race against a Corvette. When Fred Leydorf took delivery of the Ferrari 375 MM in the summer of 1969, it had a good 50,000 miles on the clock. Although it was still very much original, it was no longer roadworthy. Leydorf, born in 1931 and for many years one of the leading engineers in the Ford development department, was then president of the Ferrari Club of America – and known for his pettiness when it came to originality. He began a decades-long restoration of #0472AM, which was only completed in 2006 – and inexplicably had it painted in Rosso Chiaro. Just six months after the collector’s death, the berlinetta is now coming up for auction at Gooding & Co. at Amelia Island 2025, where it is expected to fetch between $8 million and $10 million.
Of course, we have the full story of the magnificent Ferrari 375 MM here. And a fine overview of Ferrari’s early models here. And then we also have the archive.
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