There are not too many venues the Factory uses to present new cars to the public. Torino, New York, London, Brussels, Frankfurt, Paris and for sure Geneva. The Geneva Motor Show usually takes place in early March, so the next days will see several cars, celebrating their anniversary this year after having originally being presented at Lac Léman.
60 years ago the Geneva Motor Show took place from March 5th to March 15th. The newly introduced Ferrari at the show was the competition car 250 MM Pinin Farina Berlinetta. The total production was 31 cars, 18 Berlinettas by Pinin Farina, a further Berlinetta by Vignale and 12 Vignale Spiders, produced in three series (2 Series I, 4 Series II and 6 Series III cars). The earliest serial number was a Series I Vignale Spider with S/N 0230MM, shown at the Paris Motor show in October of 1952. Production ended in 1954.
The 250 MM Pinin Farina with –funny enough- the matching serial number 0250MM! It was originally presented in light Blue metallic and is said to have been completed by the Factory only days before the Motor Show in first day of March 1953, it shows PF job #11189. The car had –typical for that time and typical for competition cars- right hand drive configuration.
After the show 0250MM was sold to Italian Franco Rol from Torino who entered the car into 53’s edition of Giro di Sicilia where the car was crashed. There is some uncertainty within the community if it was 0250MM or 0252MM that was sold to Rol, but the light Blue livery fits more to 0250MM, the Geneva Show car. It is said that the car was sent back to the Pinin Farina plant not earlier than November of 1953. Pinin Farina replaced –on job # 12248- the original front with a front that looked similar to the one S/N 0354MM and a 375 MM were fitted with from new. The colour changed from Blue to a Rosso Corsa livery.
In 1954 0250MM was used for several hill climbs before it left to the UK before it was exported to the US. In the time before well known German Hartmut Ibing purchased the car and subsequently sold it to Munich citizen, Dietrich von Bötticher, the original engine was temporarily replaced before the original engine was discovered again, has been overhauled and implanted in 0250MM again. von Bötticher commissioned a complete restoration –again in Red and not the original Blue met.- to DK Engineering and offered 0250MM for 1 million Deutsch Marks in 1993 and again, this time for 1.25 million Deutsch Marks after the completed restoration in 1995. The car was not sold at a high bid of 1.2 million Deutsch Marks in Brooks’ 1996 Monaco auction and von Bötticher participated with the car in Coys International Historic Festival at Silverstone in 1997 before it returned to the US, being acquired by Dr. Ronald Finger.
In June 2001 our good friend, Mike Sheehan, tried to broker the car for an asking price of 1.05 US$ but it stayed with the doctor until it was auctioned by RM during their 2005 Arizona auction on January, 28th 2005 what made 0250MM travel across the Atlantic once again to its destination in Austria.