1962 Ferrari 400 Superamerica SWB Coupé Aerodinamico.
One of only eight Series I Ferrari 400 Superamerica SWBs with covered headlamps.
Ferrari Classiche certified, confirming it to be a fully matching-numbers example.
Boasting an unbroken chain of ownership and exhibited at a number of prestigious events including the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
Short wheelbase and covered headlamps – the most desirable specification of the closed-coupé Ferrari 400 Superamericas.
Dressed with a dramatic and desperately beautiful Pininfarina-designed Aerodinamico body, worthy of exhibition at the world’s greatest concours events including the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este.
The flagship twelve-cylinder Ferrari of the period, uniquely coach-built and sold to the marque’s most important clients with Enzo Ferrari’s personal blessing.
Chassis no. 3559 SA
Engine no. 3559 SA
The Ferrari 400 Superamerica
“Owning one should be the goal of every automotive enthusiast everywhere.” That’s how the famous American magazine Car & Driver summarised its in-depth review of the Ferrari 400 Superamerica back in 1963. Strong words indeed, but then this was no ordinary Prancing Horse.
The 400 Superamerica followed the tried-and-tested Gran Turismo recipe – one which, as the austerity of the War faded, was becoming more and more sought-after. Ferrari’s flagship model, it employed the legendary Colombo V12 in large four-litre form, a short- or long-wheelbase chassis, overdrive, disc brakes at all four corners (a first for a Ferrari road car) and a bespoke coupé or cabriolet body styled in a manner of different ways by Pininfarina.
“Owning one should be the goal of every automotive enthusiast everywhere.” That’s how the famous American magazine Car & Driver summarised the Ferrari 400 Superamerica
Coach-built. We can’t emphasise enough how painstakingly built to the original owners’ exacting specifications these cars were. And said owners weren’t your average Ferrari customers – they were VIPs, loyal brand disciples, pop stars, captains of industry and even royals. Il Commendatore himself drove a 400 Superamerica. Need we say anymore?
Ferrari 400 Superamerica production was split into two series. The first, produced from 1959–1962, comprised a mere 15 short-wheelbase (2,400mm) cars, which were bestowed with a stunning Aerodinamico closed-coupé body by Pininfarina. It’s a dramatic design befitting of the world’s greatest motor show stands, with swooping curves, tapered overhangs, lashings of chrome and eleven exquisitely aligned vents in each of the front wings.
Chassis number 3559 SA
Even in the rarefied realms of the Ferrari 400 Superamerica, there are certain combinations of specification which, today, significantly increase the desirability. The car we’re honoured to be offering – chassis number 3559 SA – is one such example.
Crucially, this is one of only eight Ferrari 400 Superamericas Series Is ordered with covered headlamps – an option which, in our opinion, enhances the overall aesthetic harmony of the Aerodinamico coachwork.
The exhaustive build process began at the dawn of 1962 and this Ferrari was not signed off until July, by which point chassis number 3559 SA was resplendent in Blu Sera Italver over a Blu Connolly interior. The car was delivered new to Luigi Chinetti’s Ferrari concessionaire on the East Coast of America. Chinetti in turn found this 400 Superamerica its first home with one C. O. Marshall Jr. in Ohio.
Clearly fond of his flagship Ferrari, Marshall Jr. retained chassis 3559 SA for a decade, covering over 20,000 miles and even exhibiting it at the fifth Annual Ferrari Club of America meeting in 1968, where it won the Judges’ Choice award. The car remained in the United States under the stewardship of one further owner until 1989, at which point it was exported to Switzerland and acquired by Arnold and Walter Meier on the shores of Lake Zurich.
The Meiers were true disciples of the Prancing Horse, religiously maintaining the 400 Superamerica and, with a view to preserving the factory authenticity, commissioning a comprehensive restoration in 1993 with Edi Wyss Engineering in Switzerland.
The restoration complete, the Meiers transported the car back across the Atlantic, this time to the West Coast, and entered some of America’s greatest events, including the International Concours d’Elegance in Monterey and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, where chassis 3559 SA contested the ‘Ferrari Grand Touring Coupés up to 1968’ class in 1994.
“Of more importance was the Ferrari Classiche certification, which confirms this Superamerica’s matching-numbers chassis, engine, gearbox and differential.“
Two years later, in 1997, Werner Meier drove this 400 Superamerica to the Ferrari 50th-anniversary celebration in Rome/Modena – a pilgrimage which, quite rightly, earned him and his beloved car a photo in that year’s Ferrari Yearbook.
The Meiers only parted with chassis 3559 SA in April of 2003, selling to a collector in Florida who exhibited the car at the XIV Cavallino Classic Concours in 2005. In 2011, the legendary American racing driver and racing school founder Skip Barber acquired this historically-significant Ferrari. His goal with the car was to win a revered Platinum Award at the world-famous Cavallino Classic in Florida and, with that in mind, he sent it to the Ferrari specialist Greg Jones to put it in the best possible stead.
The extensive work paid off, Barber clinching the Platinum Award at The Breakers in 2012. Of more importance was the Ferrari Classiche certification, which chassis 3559 SA subsequently received, confirming its matching-numbers chassis, engine, gearbox and differential.
This Ferrari 400 Superamerica was acquired by its current owner in 2013 and has since been carefully stored and seldomly driven. Today, the car is accompanied by its Ferrari Classiche certification binder.
In the period, these ultra-rare and highly exclusive flagship twelve-cylinder Ferrari Gran Turismos were the preserve of those who Enzo Ferrari personally held in the highest esteem – and were built to an accordingly high quality. Perhaps unsurprisingly, their stature in the market has remained lofty to this day, bolstered by their rarity, bespoke no-two-alike nature and, of course, exceptional beauty.
Chassis number 3559 SA distinguishes itself further with its unbroken chain of owners, each of whom fastidiously maintained it and exhibited it at prestigious events across the world, and its fully matching-numbers provenance. Whether you’re looking to reintroduce this 400 Superamerica Aerodinamico into the international concours circuit (to which it would be welcomed with open arms) or simply after a jaw-droppingly beautiful and astonishingly capable Gran Turismo for cross-continental jaunts, this is a Ferrari for the most discerning of collectors. In fact, 400 Superamericas reside in the world’s most prominent Ferrari collections. Here is an exceedingly rare chance to join them.
Price Upon Application
