Zagato Ferrari 250 GTZ LWB Tour de France #0515GT & #0537GT

All but five Ferrari 250 GT 'Tour de France' long wheel base chassis were bodied by Scaglietti. The remaining five were bodied by Zagato. No two were exactly identical as they were created according to the customers' needs.

In 1956 Zagato received an unexpected commission. Two of Ferrari's paramount clients, Vladimiro Galluzzi of Milan and Camillo Luglio of Genova, had specifically requested Ferrari to supply two 250 GT LWB chassis to be bodied directly by Zagato. In these years, Ferrari had several other privileged carrozzeria - Ghia, Touring, Scaglietti, Vignale and Pinin Farina ? performing nearly all of his coachwork, but due to the old friendship with Ugo Zagato, Enzo Ferrari accepted the offer. In addition, he was wise enough not to disappoint two of his most important customers.

For the Ferrari 250 GT LWB, Zagato used his lightweight, aeronautic techniques which he first adopted when founding his coach building company in 1919. This meant the lightweight and purposeful bodywork on the 250 GTZ not only looked incredible, it helped Camillo Luglio become the Italian sports car champion twice over.

The cars shown here are #0515GT and #0537GT. The first example was commissioned by Vladimiro Galluzzi and while this car was the first 250 GT LWB Berlinetta on which Zagato began actual construction, it was finished seven days after completion of Camillo Luglio's chassis #0537GT.

Galluzzi ordered his 250 GTZ for use in both racing and on regular roads, while the one for Luglio was destined mainly for racing, and was, therefore, much more spartan. This resulted in two cars with very similar lines, but each with a different execution and finish. The one for Galluzzi was exceedingly elegant, with a Lancia Blue color on the main body and a white roof. Due to very limited time before its first race, Luglio's car was initially delivered without any paint and the car was driven to 2nd place overall in the 'Criterium di Roma' in nothing but primer. Later it was finished in gunmetal grey with a red bonnet. Both cars were built in just a bit more than two months.