Page 39 - Demo

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time in 1956, he attracted the attention of the IRS. He
was indicted for tax evasion in 1957 and was scheduled
to go to trial. The day before the trial, Parravano took
off for Mexico with a couple of trailers of his prized race
cars.
The story goes that some cars got across the border
— and some didn’t.
The cars that made it into Mexico were eventually
sold there and are all accounted for. The IRS confiscated
those that didn’t — and auctioned them off to satisfy the
tax debt.
Despite reported sightings of Parravano in Italy,
Mexico and the United States, he has never officially
resurfaced, and his disappearance is sports-car legend.
About the time the indictment was coming down,
Parravano ran an ad offering our subject car, 500
Mondial 0448MD, for sale. Not long after, Javier
Valesquez, a Mexican racer and an organizer of the
Mexican Grand Prix, appeared with the car.
Valesquez reportedly raced the car in a few local
races and retired it to a personal collection, where it
remained until 1972.
Almost every Mondial is unique
Like many early Ferrari race cars, there are a few
variations of 500 Mondials. There are Pininfarina- and
Scaglietti-bodied cars, there are open cars and closed
cars, open-headlight cars and closed-headlight cars,
Series I and Series II models.
As expected with early Ferraris, nearly every Mondial
is unique in some way.
The 500 Mondials got their power from 1,984-cc,
4-cylinder engines. The engine was developed to give
Ferrari an option to their 12-cylinder units. Aurelio
Lampredi designed the Ferrari 4-cylinder engine. The
engine was based on Lampredi’s “long-block” 12s.
There were several advantages to the 4-cylinder en-
gines. A big advantage is less weight. If you have ever
held a connecting rod, it’s easy to understand how four
rods are much lighter than 12. The same goes with pis-
tons, piston pins, bearings, valves, valve springs — and
the mass that contains them.
A second advantage is torque. The power produced
in the large-displacement cylinders of the 4-cylinder
engine comes on at lower rpms than in the small cylin-
ders of a 12-cylinder engine. That added torque gave the
4-cylinder more power coming out of a corner, which is
a serious advantage on a short, twisty track.
our subject Mondial 500 Spyder
Chassis 0448MD is a Series I example with a Pinin
Farina-built, covered-headlight body.
The Pinin Farina examples were built in two styles.
Our subject car has the most-desirable “riveted” body.
Pinin Farina built their bodies over a framework of
lightweight tubing. They found that if they riveted the
body to the tubing, they could substantially strengthen
the car.
While the purpose of the rivets was functional, the
look emphasized the Mondial’s competition breeding.
A big change
Despite decades of intense studying by Ferrari his-
torians and enthusiasts, the Ferrari genome is still not
totally mapped. RM Sotheby’s had previously auctioned
0448MD at their 2017 Monterey sale. At the time, the
car was represented as a 1954 Ferrari 500/735 Mondial
Spider rather than a 500 Mondial as it was represented
at this most recent auction.
Details
Years produced: 1953–54
Number produced: 33
Original list price: $10,000
Current SCM Median Valuation:
$4,152,500
Tune-up cost: $3,500
Chassis # location: On front cross
member
Engine # location: Center left crankcase
above water inlet
Clubs: Ferrari Club of America, Ferrari
Owner’s Club
Web: www.ferrariclubofamerica.org,
www.ferrariownersclub.org
Alternatives: 1954 Aston Martin DB3S,
1955 Ferrari 750 Monza, 1953
Maserati A6GCS
SCM Investment Grade: A
comps
It was explained in 2017 that the chassis and engine
were both stamped 0448, but the stamp font was some-
how different. The implication was that the factory had
replaced the 500 engine with a 735 (2.9 liter) engine,
which had then been stamped to match the chassis.
The 500 and 735 engines were visually similar, so that
could have been the case.
The issue could have been easily addressed by mea-
suring the displacement of the engine, but apparently
that wasn’t done. Maybe having a cool 735 engine was
judged to be better than having a restamped 500 engine,
so the displacement was left ambiguous.
RM Sotheby’s sold 0448MD for $3,850,000 in 2017.
SCM’s Platinum Auction Database called the sale “a
touch under expectations.”
At Villa Erba in 2019, the engine size was no longer
ambiguous. The car was presented as a 500 Mondial.
This time, the car brought $4,158,767. No explanation
was offered. Ferrari Classiche certification was pro-
vided, which implied that the factory had inspected the
engine and confirmed it was indeed a 500 engine with
the correct number.
The sale barely broke the low end of RM Sotheby’s
$4 million–$5.4 million estimate. The sale price was not
unexpected or disappointing.
The high-water mark was set last year with the $5 mil-
lion sale of a Series II model with serious competition
history, an exemplary concours record and impeccable
provenance.
There’s no slighting 0448MD, but it’s a lesser car than
the $5 million example.
Chassis 0448MD has a well-documented, low-owner-
ship history. It is Classiche certified and is a well-known
car. Unfortunately, it has little in the way of competition
success and no event background.
It’s a great car, though, as confirmed by its over-$4
million sale. The seller probably went backwards on the
deal — but got a good number.
The new owner has a car that will be welcome at
virtually every event in the world. The new owner will
also be the first to present this car at the events. No one
should be disappointed with this sale. ♦
(Introductory description courtesy of RM Sotheby’s.)
1954 Ferrari Mondial Series I Spyder
Lot 44, s/n 0438MD
Condition 1
Not sold at $4,000,000
Bonhams, Scottsdale, AZ, 1/17/19
SCM# 6891055
1955 Ferrari Mondial Series II racer
Lot 22, s/n 05560446MD
Condition 2+
Sold at $5,005,000
Gooding & Company, Pebble Beach,
CA, 8/24/18
SCM# 6877087
1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial 735 Spyder
(subject car)
Lot 252, s/n 044MD
Condition 2-
Sold at $3,850,000
RM Sotheby’s, Monterey, CA, 8/18/17
SCM# 6846350
Steve Ahlgrim wrote his first story for SCM in 2002, and
he's been our Ferrari Guy for years.
September 2019 93