$1.5 MILLION! 1953 Ferrari 212 Europa Coupe by Vignale

1953 Ferrari 212 Europa Coupe by Vignale
Sold For $1,550,000 Including Commission
RM | Sotheby's - AMELIA ISLAND, FLORIDA 2015
Chassis No.0287 EU
Engine No.0287 EU
Built for American sportsman Thomas Neelands
A compelling early Vignale-bodied Ferrari; one of only six built
Matching-numbers original engine and gearbox
Two-time Copperstate 1000 participant
Freshly serviced and ready to rally or show
THE FERRARI 212
Ferrari’s 212 series of automobiles was constructed between 1950 and 1953, and it boasted a variety of different styles and configurations that customers could choose from. The cars were blessed with a modified Colombo V-12 that was bored out to 2.5 liters to provide high horsepower, as well as a chassis that was largely based on that of the earlier 166 MM but had been adapted by engineers to handle the higher horsepower of its updated engine.
With only about 100 models of the 212 produced, production was divided up into competition-ready Export models, which sported even-numbered chassis, and road going Inter models, which received odd-numbered chassis. Towards the end of the production run, some of these 212 models carried the chassis number suffix “EU,” which stood for Europa. Numerous coachbuilders would be commissioned to clothe the 212 chassis and engine, but none were more distinctive than those bodied by Vignale.
CHASSIS 0287 EU
Following its completion by the factory, chassis number 0287 EU, a 212 Europa Coupe with coachwork by Vignale, was earmarked for shipment to the United States, where it would be sold by Luigi Chinetti Motors. The car was shipped directly to Chinetti’s facilities, where it was subsequently purchased by its first owner, Thomas Neelands of New York City, a prominent financier, sportsman, and enthusiast of fine automobiles.
By the 1960s, chassis number 0287 EU had traveled further west to San Francisco, where it was owned by Sid Colberg. In 1977, the car was purchased by Robert Raylor, of Burlingame, and three years later, the car was reported to be with Robert Lloyd, of Justin, Texas, who started to restore the car. Two years later, the 212 Europa was in the respected collection of John Ridings Lee, of Dallas, who had repainted the car maroon and removed its side chrome trim.
In 1983, chassis number 0287 EU returned to California, in the custody of Russell Head, a resident of Hillsborough. Head showed his car at the Ferrari Owners Club Concours at the Rancho Canada Gold Club in Carmel Valley in August 1984.
Sometime thereafter, the Europa was owned by an individual in Salt Lake City, Utah, and then it was imported to Switzerland after being purchased by Albrecht G. Guggisberg’s Oldtimer-Garge in Berne. After properly importing chassis number 0287 EU into Switzerland in June 1986, it was resold that same month to Paolo Gecchelin, of Castelgomberto, Italy. Gecchelin used the car frequently and showed it in the Ferrari Club Italia meeting at Imola in October 1987. Two years later, he drove it in the Mille Miglia, wearing #151. In June 1989, the car returned to Imola, where it was shown once again by Geechelin during the Ferrari Club Italia meeting.
Following its second time participating in the Mille Miglia, in May 1990, the Europa was sold to a Mrs. Graziella Palato, of Vicenza, Italy. Obviously Gecchelin regretted selling his Europa, as he purchased it back from Palato in January 1992. Following his reacquisition of the car, Gecchelin showed it during the Tutte le Ferrari in Pista meeting at Mugello in October 1993. However, in 1995, Gecchelin would part with his Ferrari for the last time, selling it to Ralph Bruggmann, of Gstaad, Switzerland. Burggman displayed his Europa at Ferrari’s 50th anniversary celebrations in Rome and Maranello in May 1997.
One year later, the 212 Europa was sold back to Albrecht Guggisberg’s Oldtimer-Garage, who commissioned the engine to be overhauled. Shortly thereafter, it was sold to collector Edgar Schemerhorn, of Delft, Holland, in December 1999. Schemerhorn drove the car sparingly but showed it at the MECC Show in Masstricht, Holland, in 2002 and again at the Uwe Meissner Modena Motorsport Track Days and Concours at the Nürburgring in Germany in 2005. In December of that year, the car was pictured in issue number 59 of the German magazine Ferrari World. Schmerhorn sold his car at RM’s own famed Ferrari – Leggenda e Passione auction at the Ferrari factory in Maranello, Italy
Chassis number 0287 EU, one of only six built
140 bhp, 2,562 cc single overhead-camshaft V-12 engine, five-speed manual gearbox, independent front suspension via A-arms, transverse leaf springs, and hydraulic lever shocks, live axle rear suspension with semi-elliptic leaf springs and hydraulic lever shocks, and four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes. Wheelbase: 102.4 in.
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Robert Myrick Photography©