By A.J. Baime | Photographs by Jeffrey Rose for The Wall Street Journal
Anne Brockinton Lee, a former advertising executive who is a Reno, Nev., resident, on her 1956 Ferrari 250 GT Boano Cabriolet, as told to A.J. Baime.
My late husband, Robert "Bob" Lee, had just finished his first safari in Africa in 1955, and was traveling through Italy on his way back to New York. He was in his 20s and traveling with an Italian girlfriend, and they were in the city of Modena. Bob was thinking: "Modena...isn't this where they make Ferraris?" He asked and was told no. Ferraris were built in Maranello, nearby. But the Ferrari service garage was in Modena, right up the street. So Bob went there.
There were some Ferraris, and the manager said that they belonged to customers. Bob could look but not touch. All of a sudden, the manager came back and said, "Mr. Ferrari is here and would like to meet the American gentleman." Enzo Ferrari, the company founder, walked out. He spoke no English, but Bob's girlfriend translated. Ferrari asked Bob to sit in one of the cars and then asked how it felt. Bob said, "To tell you the truth, my head hits the roof." Enzo Ferrari laughed, patted his chest and said, "Ferrari is a shoemaker. If he makes you a car, it will fit."
In the mid-1950s, the Ferrari company was new and few in America had heard of it. [Ferrari produced its first car, the 125 S, in 1947.] Bob had friends who raced cars, so he knew of Ferrari. After that meeting in Modena, Bob remained friends with Enzo Ferrari for the rest of his life.
In April 1956, Bob went to the New York International Automobile Show and made a beeline for the Ferrari stand. There was this 250 GT Boano Cabriolet. It had a 3.0-liter Colombo V-12 engine and, before New York, it had been displayed at the Geneva car show. Bob asked the gentleman working at the stand about the cost. The man said the car was not for sale. Bob immediately sent a telex to Enzo Ferrari in Italy, saying, "I just saw this 250 GT Boano. I don't know how much the car is worth, but I have $9,500 in my savings account and I offer that for the car."
A couple days later, Bob got a call from the gentleman working at the Ferrari stand at the New York show. The man said, "I don't know who you are. I don't know how you know Mr. Ferrari. Even I cannot buy this car. But I have been instructed to sell it to you for $9,500. I can tell you it cost the factory more than that to build it. Bring me a cashier's check."
That man turned out to be Luigi Chinetti, the Ferrari importer in North America who was also a famous race-car driver. Chinetti had driven a Ferrari to an all-out victory in 1949 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and that victory had put Ferrari on the map. Chinetti usually only sold Ferraris to famous people, because that is how he got exposure for the company.
Bob brought a check, along with his mom, and that day, they took the car on a test drive down Park Avenue. Chinetti drove, Bob's mom sat in the passenger seat, and Bob squeezed into a luggage space in the back. Chinetti drove like a madman. Bob remained lifelong friends with Chinetti, also.
This car was the first 250 GT Cabriolet with a body designed and built by the coach-builder Boano, according to my records. [Ferraris came with bodies designed by different coach builders, the most famous over the years being Pininfarina.]
I started dating Bob in the 1980s, and already he was building the Robert M. Lee Automobile Collection. He did not buy cars to impress anybody. He bought what he liked. When he was asked about his favorites, he would say his first Ferrari and his first Bentley. The collection has, according to our records, the first Ferrari ever imported into America, and even the Ferrari race car that Luigi Chinetti drove to win Le Mans in 1949.
Bob died in 2016, and everyone expected me to sell the cars. But they have been such a huge part of my life for about 35 years. I have kept the cars and, in fact, I have been adding to the collection. I love to show these cars and share them with other car enthusiasts. For Bob, and for me, the Ferrari 250 GT Boano Cabriolet is what started it all.
Write to A.J. Baime at myride@wsj.com.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 28, 2024 08:00 ET (12:00 GMT)
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