Historical liveries with a modern twist: some are overdone and some are perfect. This Ferrari 812 Superfast belongs to the latter category.
Photography: Thomas Stoner and Max Lammers
The inspiration for this particular Ferrari 812 Superfast is 250 GT SWB Competizione with serial number 2119 GT. The dark blue, all-aluminium race car left Maranello on the 11th of August 1960 and was entered by Rob Walker’s Racing Team just nine days later at the Goodwood Tourist Trophy. Stirling Moss, who was seriously injured in a crash in his Lotus 18 two months prior, quickly recovered, got in the car and won the three-hour endurance race.
Moss lapped the Aston Martin DB4 GT driven by Roy Salvadori twice. The story goes Ferrari installed a radio in the car which Moss turned on to listen to race commentary to keep track of other drivers. He drove the car on two different occasions for Walker’s team before it was passed on to the Maranello Concessionaires racing team, while retaining the original livery. Unfortunately, the car disappeared into private ownership before making a return at the 1993 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Fast forward 58 years
The owner of this beautiful 812 Superfast first saw the car at a Ferrari exhibition and fell in love with the livery. After deciding the car had to be a modern tribute to the well-known Short Wheelbase, the driver and team, it was time to head to the atelier. In terms of customization, the Ferrari configurator is a bit limited so the owner hired Marco van Overbeeke Design to help him out with renders. Marco is a freelance automotive designer and he got to see the car and meet the owner for the first time when it was handed over at HR Owen Ferrari last year.
During my 2018 London trip I saw this particular 812 Superfast just a couple of hours before it was picked up by its owner. At first, I wasn’t convinced the satin paint would be a good tribute to the original, but seeing it in the direct sunlight I have to say it really works. Metallic paint can often hide the curves of a car whereas this Blu Scozia Opaco enhances them.
There are a lot of exciting cars on Stephen’s horizon. He’s currently working on a classic livery for his Monza SP2 and his 488 Pista Spider.
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