MadaboutKitcars

I thought I would start a new build thread for my 250 Testarossa project. I'll get some photos together to show the progress so far and see how it develops.

I managed to purchase a complete Scaglietti inspired, all aluminium body for a 1957 250 Testarossa by Giordanengo. This is an early pontoon fender car, an absolutely stunning looking vehicle and one of my all time favourites.
It is about as close as you will ever get to the real thing, the body was originally fitted to a genuine chassis 0611GT complete with 3 litre V12 and running gear. A tiny number of these cars were coach built by Giordanengo in Italy during the 1980's
The body is mostly straight but there are a few parts missing that I am going to have to fabricate from scratch, namely the scuttle panel and bonnet.

I'll soon be on the look out for a suitable chassis to mount the body onto. Whilst I would love to rebuild it around all Ferrari running gear once again, it is simply just about impossible to source front engine, rear wheel drive base cars at sensible money.

I am going to have to be creative and put my engineering skills to the test !

At the moment I'm thinking spaceframe Lotus 7 style chassis. The live axle cars share a very similar wheel base and track to the original 250 TR. I'm thinking V6 engine so it will at least sound right or close to that high revving V12.


This is going to be a fantastic project !!

The Alfa V6 is first rate engine, the only draw back is the width of the unit and the lack of gearbox options for rear wheel drive. It has been done so I won't rule it out at this stage. I did have an Alfa 156 V6, I must admit the exhaust note is something else at high rpm!

Here are a couple of photos of the TR parts. So far I have stripped the remaining paint and gone through all the box's of bits ! There were other bits included not shown in the photos. I have offered the parts up, everything lines up and will go back together without problem.

Most Cobra chassis are far too wide. Last thing I want to do is modify the body to fit a chassis.

The TR track is very narrow so the live axle 7's with the ford axle are about right. I'll have to get the tape measure out with regard to the wheel base to confirm it one way or another. The 250 GT Boano chassis was modified a fair bit to take the TR body, I can't see that Giordangengo would have stretched the TR body 250mm just to suit the standard chassis, I will check.

Buying an on the road car as a donor is the obvious route for me.

The photo's on the advert were poor, as was the description. The body is all hand crafted aluminium. It is largely complete and it fits back together when you offer it up. I think I have made a good decision here, get it mounted onto a suitable chassis, fit a good strong V6 engine and away we go !

This is the actual car before it was dismantled.........

I have spoken with the guys that removed the body from the chassis. This was done some time ago and unfortunately the scuttle panel was lost then.
The owner kept the bonnet for his other 250 TR as a spare ! At that time there was no intention to re use the body so it was put into storage.

That video above helped me to identify the car, namely the bulge for the spare wheel in the lower boot area and that little rectangular plate above it. Also the seats and the silver paint in the head light recesses. Those features are unique to this particular car.

The 7 style chassis are a good starting point. If you look at the shape of a typical 7 with swept back front wings you will see that the Testarossa has some similarities. The seating position relative to the rear wheels is also similar as is the long nose forward of the cockpit. When the outer panels of a 7 are removed you are left with a neat, light weight space frame. Even down to the suspension, the Testarossa was a live axle at the rear with double wishbones at the front, same as the Westfields etc. Wheel base and track are also very similar and as I said before, I wouldn't want to modify the bodywork to suit a chassis. If a 7 chassis is that close I shouldn't have to modify that either apart from adding mounting points for the body.

I've managed to strip the remaining paint over the holiday and sort out the dents at the front of the nose cone. I put in a couple of hours today lining up the front end panels and checking for fit and making little adjustments as required.
I'll get some ali sheet and steel tube this week in readiness to rebuild the scuttle panel. I should be in a position then to weld it all together.
I think I'm happy with the 7 style donor now, it seems to be the most logical and straight forward way to getting on the road. I just need to confirm the wheel base of the 250 before I start looking.

I've owned 2 Westfields and several of the early monocoque Robin Hood 7's all with various engines from a 1600 Ford crossflow to a tuned 3.9 Rover V8. I also had a Ginetta 27 with a Rover V8, with an Escort live axle.
You are right about the characteristics of the 7 but the bigger engines with matched diff ratio make them far more drivable.
Remember the 250 TR was a small car designed for the track first and foremost all be it with a big engine. The original TR must have been a handful with the V12 engine and skinny tyres.

I've got the outer wings tacked onto the nose. I'll offer up the inner wings over the weekend and tack them on too. I need to make up a frame to support the whole lot whilst I make the scuttle and bonnet . Photos to follow!

Along with the body there were several boxes and included were the original rear lights and lots of other spares. I'm not sure if they are common to anything else but they look authentic and the same as other TR's on google.

700 Euros for a pair of rear lights. There must be a similar style unit from other cars of that era for a tiny fraction of that.
Some of the old school crafts men can do wonders with a sheet of ali! Luckily the parts I need to make only have slight curves and mostly just in one direction.

Some stunning work in that last photo, not sure about the highly polished finish.
I've seen the Cobra based one and watched the progress. As a one off its got the looks but it does look really wide. The Giordanengo body is as close as you will get for a true size and shape For me this sort of car is all about capturing the likeness of the original. The chassis is important but it shouldn't compromise the shape of the car.

Not much progress over the last week or so. I have sold my restored 1949 Triumph Roadster so I've been clearing the garage and making space for the 250 TR. The priority now will be to find a suitable "7" car.

It was a really long time in the making, nearly 4 years but it was a total rebuild from scratch. It is a fantastic car but it was the right time for someone else to enjoy it! The TR project is a one off, once in a life time find and to be honest I never thought I would ever own one.

Well, the Triumph Roadster has now been collected so I've the space I need ( and some cash !) to get moving on this project.
I have measured the approx. wheelbase of the body and it is as I thought, much closer to the original 250 Testarossa at around 2300mm, than that of the long wheelbase Boano, the original donor.
Following a wanted ad in my local paper I have found an extremely well built, MOT'd and SVA'd Locost 7 with Ford running gear and very low mileage. I'm going to try and do a deal this week with the seller.

The deal is done with the Locost 7, one of the best examples I have seen. I'll be taking delivery in 10 days or so. I've got my eye on a set of wire wheels, hub adaptors and spinners. I'm going with the original look of skinny front and rear tyres, 165/80-15 and 185/80-15.

I managed to get my hands on two sets of wire wheels yesterday. One set is "as new" which came from an Austin Healey and are 5 1/2" - 15". The second set are 6" -15" with a deeper dish and look more like the original fitment. They will need a refurb as there is some light surface corrosion and flakey paint. I'll be able to offer them up later this week as I will have the donor car in the garage all being well.

I'm undecided about the level of finish I'm going for at the moment. Part of me is saying go for the mint showroom look, on the other hand I could go with the old racing car or barn find look. At the moment I'm thinking the latter. Either way I'm going with the dark Rossa Barchetta red paint or perhaps leave in bare aluminium.