Ferrari 275 GTB/4: Is It The Ultimate Ferrari?

It is not easy being in front of a 275 GTB and decide whether it is more a “masterpiece” or more a “work of art”. Its clean lines make it an elegant sedan, but the powerful V12 (that on the GTB/4 was the first 12-cylinder Ferrari to mount overhead 4-cam), delivers 300 horsepower and lots of music for your ears. It was presented at the 1966 Paris Motor Show and has celebrated (on average) 50 years: a Ferrari that is rarely seen in red, much easier, counting that is not easy to find one, to find one in yellow, silver, and even black, as if to emphasize that is so special that does not even need to call the attention or respond to the classic cliché Ferrari = red. Loved and owned by celebrities, athletes, Hollywood stars, the 275 GTB/4 differs from the normal 275 for the hump on the engine compartment, while the interior is the classic that Maranello offered to wealthy clients of the era and that today see massively increased price tags.

Ferrari did not build any racing variant to this model, but gentlemen of the time, making slight modifications, used this V12 for some regularity rallies and similar competitions, always getting good results. Driving a 275 GTB is something mystical, it transcends reality from the moment you sit on the soft leather seats, closing the door and hearing the sound of metal, a distinctive “clack” of years gone by. Ironically, this treasure on wheels could be driven every day, if you maintain a good mechanical maintenance: it has good handling, excellent ergonomics and visibility and it does not represent one of those “mainstream” models (only 330 were produced), so facing curious people in the streets, will let you have fun while listening to the most bizarre attempts to guess the exact model. If you observe it, is a continuous search for details, signatures of skilled masters designers; being behind the wheel or even sit as a passenger is something difficult to describe: a mixture of excitement and fulfillment that would not go off, a pure pleasure to leave and drive, aimlessly, without thoughts, immersing our unconscious in a time when “cars” meant freedom and not a sterile ease of movement.