Miguel Sánchez
FIAT-BARTOLETTI TYPE 642 PHOTOS: BONHAMS AUCTIONS
When we remember Colonel Kurtz saying that of the "horror"In Apocalypse Now, the great address of Francis Ford Coppola. However ... There are not so many who remember the masterful cinematographer who made possible those 153 minutes full of shocking shots: Victor Storaro.
Something similar happens in motorsport. Everyone remembers Michael Schumacher's acute driving but… Those 5 world championships with Ferrari would have been possible without the technical support of Jean Todt y Ross Brawn? Probably not. For this reason, we must never forget the essential role of those who, although not in the foreground of the objectives, are essential for the proper logistical and technical development of the situation.
Our protagonist today is one of those, because although his name has been linked to such rabid cars as the Maserati 250F or the Ford GT, drivers like Fangio o Carroll Shelby and circuits such as Le Mans or Reims ... He never dedicated himself to crossing the finish lines victoriously, but to taking them safely to the tracks where the cameras captured the deeds of a time where motor racing knew more about passion and risk than telemetry and computing.
Also, and in case you are thinking that the cinematographic references in this news appear again as "House brand", we will tell you that they are completely justified since one of the owners of today's protagonist was Solar Productions: the production company with which Steve McQueen he rolled the huge Le Mans. In short, an object for mythomaniacs that has been auctioned at goodwood yesterday; with all of you the FIAT-Bartoletti Type 642 Racing Car Transporter.
FIAT-Bartoletti Type 642: A SECONDARY OF EXCEPTION
To a certain extent, all the trucks of the teams are exceptional witnesses. But what of this FIAT ... It exceeds all media. Since its inception it could not be in a better place, transporting neither more nor less than the racing cars of the team Office Alfieri-Maserati that 1957 disputed the great prizes in which Fangio flew with his 250F until winning the Drivers' Championship. Of course, that is "Arrive and kiss the saint".
But here the thing is not left, because in 1960 it was acquired by the North American team Scarab, the one that during that year tried to land - with as little luck as great audacity - in a Formula 1 dominated exclusively by Europeans. Dismounted that attempt to "Storm Europe" based on hoarse-sounding powers produced by the V8 "small block”Chevrolet, the FIAT-Bartoletti passed into the hands of another American wanting to conquer the Old World: Carroll Shelby.
This one was - anticipating what would be the Ferrari vs Ford battle at Le Mans 1966- completely obsessed with beating the dominant Ferrari 250 GTs on the Gran Turismo racing scene. Finally He did it in 1965 thanks to a - unabashedly similar to the Ferrari 250GTO- Cobra Daytona that arrived at Le Mans with about 100CV more than its rival mounted -paradojas of life- in this Italian-made truck.
After this, the Type 642 Racing Car Transporter continued its service with the American engine being the main transport of the Alan Mann's team -Ford officer in the United Kingdom and equipped with the radiant GT40s of the moment-, although he was able to reconcile with his home country by serving in David piper moving the legendary Ferrari P and 275LM painted in the characteristic green of this squad.
And after this the cinema! Since it was acquired by the producer of Steve McQueen to be used as a figurative vehicle in the filming of what, to date, remains the best and most ambitious tribute film to the world of motorsports. As you can see, sometimes it is not bad to be a "Secondary luxury"… Look at everything this truck has witnessed.
Curiously, he was acting as a pilot in the filming of this movie when David Piper lost part of a leg when crashing a Porsche 917.
FIAT-Bartoletti Type 642: RESTORATION AND AUCTION
By the 70s, our FIAT-Bartoletti was beginning to be a museum piece. The reason was obvious: while at the time when this vehicle was lit, teams needed little more than cars and a certain mechanical arsenal than to travel with the mechanics to launch into races ... The increasing complexity in the world of competition demanded greater resources and more extensive logistics.
Suddenly, that old exceptional witness was out of date. Fortunately, the vehicle was not lost in a scrapyard, but fell into the hands of the collector and enthusiast of Cobra and Scarab Don Orosco. He knew how to value the historical importance of this vehicle - curiously especially for the North American engine and its sixties obstinacy to unseat Ferrari in Europe -, restoring it until leaving it in the perfect quasi-original condition in which we see it today. For this he repainted it in its characteristic blue color, thus returning the changes in the paint that Steve McQueen made in a shoot where the Bartoletti was adapted to represent the role of the official Ferrari transport. In addition, the details of the wood - of South African origin - and the seats were returned to their original state.
With this careful restoration and the unappealable history that it contains ... I wish we could have bought it ourselves 😉
PD: The truck is so iconic that it has been reproduced to scale in several versions. You can buy it with the characterization that he wore in the movie Le Mans, carrying the Shelby Team Cobra, with Alan Mann's GT40s and in the characteristic green of David Piper's team.
