The historic 1952 Ferrari 340 America, 24 units were built, ran in the 1952 24 Hours of Le Mans and finished fifth overall. This iconic classic car with chassis number 0202A that originally featured Italian Vignale bodywork will be up for auction at the Mecum auction house Aug. 12-14 in Monterey, California.
This model is not just another Ferrari classic, it's a rare classic and it sold for just $200, around (€169). The purchase took place in 1990 when race car driver Mike Sanfilippo bought it without knowing it was this rare Ferrari.
After finishing racing in Europe, he still raced several times in the United States during the 1950s, where at the end of that decade his owner replaced his original 4.1-liter V-12 with a Chevrolet V-8.
Following an accident, the car's original Vignale body was replaced with a custom body in 1956. Later when the car was in transport this body was damaged and was replaced by a fiberglass one from a Devin Spider.
In 2006, classic car restorer Tom Shaughnessy saw the “Devin Spider” for sale on an online portal and bought it for $26,912, not knowing what car it was. But when removing the fiberglass body to begin restoring the car, the restorer, with the help of Ferrari expert Marcel Massini, soon discovered that it was indeed a rare Ferrari with a significant history.
It was taken to Ferrari's own classic car department, the Ferrari Classiche, to bring it back to its original form. This included rebuilding the 4.1-liter V-12 engine, 4-speed manual transmission, and building a new body that combines Vignale's original design with the iconic Racing Blue paintwork of the time.
