Letters From Readers - 375 Plus: True or False?, May 2000
Sir,
According to the potted history in your March 2000 issue, the Ferrari 375 Plus of Mr Favero would have been rebuilt from the engine of the 1954 Le Mans winner given to Gonzales, plus parts of a damaged car sent by Ferrari to Argentina in order to repair the latter’s damaged Le Mans winner. Unfortunately, the truth doesn’t go like that, for two simple reasons. One, the ’54 Le Mans winner was not given to Gonzales but sold to John Edgar in time for the Carrera Mexico, in November. This car (0396AM) has been in the Mas du Clos collection since the ’70s. Two, the only 375 Plus ever imported into Argentina was 0398AM for Enrique Diaz Saenz Valiente, in time for the 1954 Buenos Aires 1000kms. Government documents referred to by Favero can therefore only apply to this car (0398AM) which is in Ralph Lauren’s collection. I am afraid one can now guess what ‘0386AM’ was actually made from…
I am, yours, etc.
Antoine Prunet, Paris, France
(Both you and the many others who have written on this subject make valid and interesting points. Clearly there are at least two views of the fate of 0386AM: one that it was broken up after the Mille Mliglia, the other in keeping with those of the owner of the car. All we can do in such circumstances is point out the variance and state each case clearly. I hope you agree that in this respect at least, we were successful — ed)