At the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June 1953, Scuderia Ferrari fielded three new competition Berlinettas bodied by Pinin Farina. All three were based on the 4.1-liter 340 Mille Miglia, but one example was powered by an even larger 4.5-liter engine, derived from the mighty 375 F1 Grand Prix, the Monoposto that had earned Ferrari its first ever Formula One World Championship win. This was to be the first of a new line of sports racing cars called the 375 MM.

After Le Mans, Scuderia Ferrari converted its two other Le Mans Berlinettas and one 340 MM Vignale Spider to 4.5-liter 375 MM specifications. These cars went on to capture crucial wins at the 24 Hours of Spa and the Nürburgring 1000 Km, securing the 1953 World Sportscar Championship for Ferrari, ahead of Jaguar, Aston Martin, and Lancia.

Between fall 1953 and spring 1955, Ferrari built 22 new 375 MM chassis, with serial numbers ranging from 0358 AM to 0490 AM. All were constructed using traditional Ferrari methods, based on a tubular-steel chassis with a 2600 mm wheelbase – slightly longer than the 340 MM. Like its predecessor, the 375 MM featured independent transverse leaf-spring front suspension, a live rear axle, Houdaille shock absorbers, and massive, finned-aluminum drum brakes.

Ferrari supplied the 375 MM with two distinct Lampredi engines: the original tipo 102 engine and the revised tipo 108 unit, which had a shorter stroke, larger bore, and slightly larger displacement at just over 4.5 liters. The tipo 108 engines were typically fitted with two-barrel Weber 42 DCZ3 carburetors instead of the more temperamental, four-barrel units used on the factory racing cars, but both engines utilized magneto ignition and produced about 340 bhp at 7,000 rpm.

Except for one example bodied by Carrozzeria Ghia, customer 375 MMs were originally bodied by Carrozzeria Pinin Farina, in a style that defined the traditional “Ferrari look” – large egg-crate grilles, trails of exposed rivets, impressive proportions, and restrained yet sporting lines.

Pinin Farina built 13 spiders, most outfitted for competition use and sold new to gentleman drivers like Italian ace Piero Scotti and wealthy American sportsmen including Briggs Cunningham, Bill Spear, and Jim Kimberly.

In addition to these spiders, Pinin Farina also constructed six similarly styled berlinettas and two one-off coupes on the 375 MM chassis. Two of the berlinettas were entered in top-line racing events, including the Carrera Panamericana and 24 Hours of Le Mans, while the four remaining examples were individually tailored for road use at the request of Ferrari’s premier customers – VIPs like Johnnie Walker importer for Italy Enrico Wax and French industrialist Michel Paul-Cavallier.

With thoroughbred underpinnings and genuine 170 mph performance, these outrageous 375 MM Berlinettas were wolves in sheep’s clothing – elegant, custom-bodied competition cars that offered the ultimate in high-speed, over the road transport for two people and their luggage. In its day, a Ferrari such as this had no real rival. It was, quite simply, in a league of its own.

The 375 MM presented here is among the select group of Pinin Farina Berlinettas built to order for important early patrons of the Ferrari marque. In the case of this car, 0472 AM was created for Alfred Ducato, Vice President of United California Bank in San Francisco, California.

During the early 1950s, Alfred Ducato cultivated personal friendships with Enzo Ferrari and North American importer Luigi Chinetti – relationships that led him to purchase 11 new Ferrari automobiles over a span of two decades, ranging from a 195 Inter to a Daytona Spider. Ducato was such an influential and prolific customer that he and his many special cars were even profiled in Cavallino, issue no. 19, published in 1984. The article, written by automotive historian Robert T. Devlin and titled “One Man’s Passion ~ The Ferrari Twelves” concludes:

“One can’t help but notice that Fred Ducato is a man of taste, with a welldeveloped and mature love of the products of Maranello. All of his Ferraris had been twelve-cylinder powered vehicles. With little interest in the six- and eight-cylinder models of recent issue, Fred Ducato sums it all up in this intuitive statement: ‘The sounds of the twelve are unique; nothing sounds like a twelve cylinder Ferrari!’”

By 1954, Alfred Ducato had become part of Ferrari’s inner circle and frequently attended the sports car races held throughout California and Mexico. After watching Jack McAfee drive Tony Parravano’s 375 MM Spider to victory at the Golden Gate Park races in San Francisco, he was determined to have a 375 MM competition model of his own. Ducato made his case with Luigi Chinetti, and Enzo Ferrari agreed to sell him a 375 MM with a berlinetta body by Pinin Farina.

Upon hearing the good news, Ducato wrote to Enzo Ferrari on October 6, 1954:

“My dear Mr. Ferrari: Since Mr. Chinetti telephoned me on Sunday and told me about your extreme generosity in preparing an outstanding 4.5 Milli Mille [sic] car for me, I have not been able to sleep at night since I am so excited about it. This is really most kind of you, Mr. Ferrari, and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it. Needless to say, you know I will do everything possible in the future, as I have done in the past, to further promote the wonderful cars which you create and I hope you will be pleased with the results.”

In this letter, Ducato provides a detailed list of certain special features he would like to appear on his car, gently asking Ferrari “if it is possible for you to do them.”

“The body must be very comfortable for long trips with plenty of head room, leg room and baggage room… The seats should be very well upholstered and the entire car, including the top inside, to be leather lined… please be sure the car has glass windows and is most comfortable…the highest rear axle ratio for maximum top speed…strong bumpers – front – rear…tools and spare parts… Corsa tires…Mr. Chinetti and I thought that a blue color with yellow or tan leather would make a nice color combination for the car…”

On October 27, 1954, Ducato sent a follow-up letter to Pinin Farina:

“Mr. Farina, I hope you will not misunderstand me regarding this car. It will be my third Ferrari, which I consider the finest car in the world. I intend to enter it in all of the large automobile shows and Concours d’Elegance held in the western part of the United States. Mr. Ferrari will tell you I have won many, many blue ribbons and received a great deal of publicity for the Ferrari in these shows in the past. I keep my cars in excellent condition at all times and that is why I may seem a bit too particular about this car. I want it to be a great credit to you, to Mr. Ferrari, and to me, personally.”

On November 5, 1954, chassis 0472 AM arrived at Carrozzeria Pinin Farina in Torino, where it was assigned job no. 13445. The coachbuilder’s handwritten ledger, a copy of which is included in the car’s file, records the Berlinetta’s original colors: Azzurro (Light Blue, Duco code 4354), tetto nero (black roof), and pelle naturale (natural leather, code 3218 VM). This ledger also notes two other significant Ferraris being outfitted for coachwork at the Pinin Farina workshops during the final months of 1954 – Gianni Agnelli’s 375 America Coupe and King Leopold’s 375 Plus Cabriolet.

Completed at Ferrari in February 1955, 0472 AM was shipped from Genoa, Italy to California aboard the SS President Pierce, arriving at San Francisco’s Pier 50 on April 9th. Ducato arrived with a photographer to record the unloading and uncrating process of his new Ferrari. He sent several of these photos to Enzo and Dino Ferrari and kept a few for posterity.

According to Ducato, his new 375 MM Berlinetta had cost him $16,500, not including import duty or shipping expenses. Eager to show it off, he drove it to Pebble Beach, California later that month to watch the sports car races in the Del Monte Forest.

Not long after, Ducato repainted the Ferrari in a single shade of royal blue, as the light, metallic Azzurro color was “not bright enough” for his liking. In this form, he debuted 0472 AM at the 7th Annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance®, held on April 21, 1956, and won First in Class for European Sports Cars over $10,000.

As exciting and powerful as it was, the 375 MM Berlinetta was not really all that suitable for daily transportation in 1950s San Francisco. Ducato encountered some trouble with the exotic magneto ignition and eventually shipped the engine to Chinetti Motors for repairs. However, after it returned, he found that the car still did not run well and would not maintain a fine tune, so, around 1958, he traded it back to Chinetti for a more appropriate road car – a new 250 GT Pinin Farina Coupe.

Chinetti eventually found a new owner for 0472 AM in Norman N. Thompson of Malibu, California. A registration card contained in the history file gives Mr. Thompson’s address on Paseo Hidalgo, one of the narrow, winding foothill roads that led up from Pacific Coast Highway. Thompson apparently repainted the Ferrari in traditional racing red and drove it throughout the 1960s until he damaged a valve in a stoplight drag race against a Corvette.

When Fred Leydorf purchased 0472 AM in California during the summer of 1969, the 15-year-old Ferrari had already covered some 50,000 miles. Although it was not in running order, the car had clearly been well cared for; its aluminum bodywork showed no sign of damage and its original leather upholstery was intact, albeit dried-out and cracked from the California sun.

Soon after trailering it home, Mr. Leydorf wrote to Alfred Ducato hoping to learn more about the early history of his latest acquisition. Not only did he receive a reply, but Ducato also sent copies of his voluminous correspondence regarding its specifications, photographs documenting its delivery, and a box of spare service parts that Ferrari had supplied for the car, complete with invoice.

Over the next few decades, Mr. Leydorf worked on the 375 MM as time allowed and diligently researched every element of the car’s mechanical operation, sourcing factory blueprints and build sheets, acquiring photos of other existing cars, and even taking a meeting with Aurelio Lampredi, who provided a sketch of the engine’s internal workings.

Many of Mr. Leydorf’s Ferrari friends contributed to the careful restoration of 0472 AM. FCA founding member Dick Merritt provided regular guidance and counsel, GM Styling Vice President Chuck Jordan helped select the perfect shade of Rosso Chiaro (Light Red), Terry Myr provided mechanical expertise, and a friend who had founded the Automotive Leather Guild sourced new hides that matched the original Connolly samples. The restoration was completed just in time for 0472 AM it to make its debut at the 2006 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance® – 50 years after it was shown there by Alfred Ducato. In the years since, Mr. Leydorf displayed the Ferrari selectively, but always to great acclaim, receiving Best of Show Foreign at the 2019 Concours d’Elegance and the Pavilion Award at the 2022 Cincinnati Concours d’Elegance.

The warm reception the Ferrari receives is a credit not only to its impressive restoration and sheer presence, but also to its exceptional provenance and documentation. The history file that accompanies this car is truly extraordinary, providing a unique insight into the earliest days of Ferrari ownership in North America. 0472 AM is accompanied by rare, original pieces of factory literature, a fantastic selection of period photographs, correspondence between Alfred Ducato and Enzo Ferrari, Luigi Chinetti, and Pinin Farina, as well as copies of the factory build sheets, which confirm that the 375 MM retains its matching-numbers engine, gearbox, and differential. The centerpiece of Mr. Leydorf’s collection for the past 55 years, 0472 AM has been handled with a kind of reverence and loving care that few automobiles ever receive. As a result, this extraordinary machine stands today as a monument to the combined efforts of Ferrari, Pinin Farina, and the appreciative caretakers who have continued to maintain and cherish it – just as Alfred Ducato had promised to back in 1954.