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Car of the Week: This Rare 1961 Ferrari Was Made for a Count. It Could Fetch up to $5 Million at Auction.

6
Robert Ross
·3 min read

With a provenance “rap sheet” long enough to raise the eyebrows of any concours judge, this Ferrari 400 Superamerica Series I Coupé Aerodinamico is a remarkable rarity from the Prancing Horse. One of only seven examples of its kind, and the only one to wear aluminum bodywork, Maranello’s black bolide first broke through the atmosphere in 1961 and will definitely have an impact on collectors during Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach Auctions on August 20.

The car was a custom-built creation for wealthy 24-year-old Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata, founder of Scuderia Serenissima, one of the top privateer racing teams of the early 1960s. Followers of Italian-car fashion will recall that the Count (who inherited his fortune from his father, a fascist adjutant to Mussolini) was a valued Ferrari customer who, once spurned by the mercurial il Commendatore, went on to found ATS, itself an exploding automotive star. But back to the Ferrari at hand.

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The 1961 Ferrari 400 Superamerica Series I Coupé Aerodinamico that’s crossing the auction block through Gooding & Company on August 20. - Credit: Mathieu Heurtault, courtesy of Gooding & Company.
The 1961 Ferrari 400 Superamerica Series I Coupé Aerodinamico that’s crossing the auction block through Gooding & Company on August 20. - Credit: Mathieu Heurtault, courtesy of Gooding & Company.

Mathieu Heurtault, courtesy of Gooding & Company.

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Chassis No. 2809 SA has an unbroken provenance going back to the Count himself, and from its beginning to the present, this car has been a showstopper. In 1961, it took Best of Show at the XV Concorso d’Eleganza di Rimini, and has been presented at similar events ever since—including multiple FCA International Meet Concours and Cavallino Classics—where it has amassed many awards. Most recently, it participated at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in 2021.

With an interior dressed in tobacco Connolly leather, the car remains in largely unrestored condition. - Credit: Mathieu Heurtault, courtesy of Gooding & Company.
With an interior dressed in tobacco Connolly leather, the car remains in largely unrestored condition. - Credit: Mathieu Heurtault, courtesy of Gooding & Company.

Mathieu Heurtault, courtesy of Gooding & Company.

Cited in numerous publications on Ferrari, this Superamerica is a true reference specimen. Powered by a 4.0-liter V-12 topped with three Weber carburetors, the car makes a healthy 320 hp at 6,600 rpm and easily crests 150 mph. Its four-speed gearbox with electric overdrive speaks to the model’s long-legged touring agenda.

Ferrari’s “America” series of custom-bodied, large-displacement grand-touring cars were built for elite (and no doubt demanding) customers who included emperors, shahs and industrialists. Volpi’s 400 Superamerica was one of the first to feature Pininfarina’s new Coupé Aerodinamico body style. Derived from Pininfarina’s Superfast II show car, just 14 of the streamlined coupes were hand-built on the short-wheelbase chassis exclusive to the Series I 400 Superamerica.