1964-1966 Ferrari 500 Superfast

 

         1964-1966 Ferrari 500 Superfast

 

In 1964 at the Geneva Salon Ferrari brought the 500 Superfast. The car is a continuation of the 400 SuperAmerica, but they were built on a longer wheelbase, were more powerful and faster. As a result Ferrari decided to drop the SuperAmerica in favor of the "Superfast" one. Until 1966 when the car was discontinued, Ferrari produced only 37 units (produced in two different series), all of them in coupe version. The Superfast was the last in the line of luxury GT.

The body was designed by Pininfarina, and bore striking similarities to the 400 SA Coupé Aerodinamico. It had a large, shallow oval radiator grille opening, with open headlights in deep wing recesses as standard, although two examples received Plexiglass covers.

A long sweeping bonnet ran into an airy cabin section with slim roof pillars, from which the rear screen flowed into the boot line, terminating in a neat shallow oval Kamm tail. The tail lights were horizontal, bullet-shaped assemblies with three individual circular lenses to each unit, unique to this model. Wrap-around chrome-plated quarter bumpers were fitted front and rear: those at the front with shallow recesses for the circular side/turn lights (apart from the first car in the series which had shallow elliptical flush lights above the bumper).

The 500 Superfast was built on a 2650 mm wheel base chassis and was powered by a five liters V12 engine that delivered 400 bhp. The engine was unique to this model, with bore centres of 108 mm, which had been used on the earlier Lampredi ’long’ block engine. This was the only common ground, however; otherwise the design was based on the original Colombo ’short’ block. The engine was coupled to a 4-speed, all synchromesh gearbox, with an electronically operated overdrive fifth gear on early cars, and to a 5-speed, all synchromesh gearbox on late models.

The 500 Superfast made the 0 to 60 mph sprint in 6 seconds and was capable of a top speed of 170 mph.