EXCEPTIONAL AND EXTREMELY RARE 1965 ASA 1000 GT “THE FERRARINA”
Totally restored to the highest standards, Dutch registration, previously Swiss. Complete with all original details and perfect in every aspect.
Source: INTERNATIONAL ASA REGISTER https://www.asaregister.com/:
In the late 1950s, Ferrari, aiming to participate in the growing market for small-displacement sports cars, began experimenting by building, in 1960, a Gran Turismo with a 850cc four-cylinder engine, mounted on a modified Fiat 1200 Pininfarina Coupé.
After building this first and only prototype, the engine was enlarged to 1032cc and, in 1961, at the Turin Motor Show, a new sports car appeared on the Bertone stand, bearing a small rectangular badge depicting the Italian tricolor with the word “mille” in blue on a yellow background, in a font very similar to the Ferrari logo. The body was designed by the young Giorgetto Giugiaro and built by Carrozzeria Bertone. The chassis, conceived by Engineer Giotto Bizzarrini following the lines of the Ferrari 250 GT, was tubular, with elliptical section side members and reinforcing elliptical crossmembers.
Despite Ferrari’s decision to deny the use of the prancing horse logo, the new car was immediately nicknamed the “Ferrarina”. The engine, which was not shown at the Turin Motor Show due to the lack of ANFIA (National Association of Automobile Manufacturers) registration, was none other than the evolution of that 850cc four-cylinder mounted on the Fiat 1200 Coupé Pininfarina. The displacement had been increased to 1032cc (bore and stroke 69×69) and fed by two Weber 40 DCOE9 twin-choke carburetors.
After various vicissitudes, production was entrusted to Oronzio De Nora, a Milanese industrialist in the electrochemical sector who, at the urging of his son Niccolò, intended to enter the automotive field. To this end, the company ASA (acronym for Autocostruzioni Società per Azioni) was established, chaired by Niccolò De Nora and headquartered in Lambrate, then an industrial suburb of Milan, adjacent to the “De Nora” factories. The newborn ASA was provided technical assistance by Ferrari with the supply of chassis and engines and with the consultancy of Chiti and Bizzarrini (who had meanwhile left Ferrari), as well as by Bertone for the bodywork and final assembly. The transfer of the project stipulated that the “Ferrari” brand should not appear on any part of the car, but for the public of enthusiasts it maintained the nickname “Ferrarina”.
Production of the new coupé, announced in 1962, actually began in 1963 at the Bertone plant, which built about ten examples. Production continued at Ellena and the car was distributed without ever using the Ferrari sales network, except in the United States where it was marketed by Luigi Chinetti, the official Ferrari importer in the USA. At the 1964 Turin Motor Show, the 1000 spider was presented in its final version with a fiberglass body, also built by Bertone, which resulted in a weight reduction of about 120 kg compared to the prototype presented in Geneva the previous year.
Despite its performance and high technological content, the “1000 GT” did not have the success it deserved, perhaps due to the absence of a brand with a sporting prestige, coupled with the selling price (2,520,000 Lire in 1965, for both the coupé and the spider) which was not particularly competitive. Even the intervention of Luigi Chinetti, former driver and Ferrari dealer for the United States, who advertised the car clearly implying its noble origins, did not produce appreciable results.
For participation in racing activities, Giotto Bizzarrini built a prototype ASA GTC (Gran Turismo Competizione) racing car in 1962 with an engine under one liter, destined to compete among Prototypes in the 1963 World Sportscar Championship. The ASA GTC was built by the “Autostar” workshop of Giotto Bizzarrini in Livorno, “…with a tubular chassis, aluminum bodywork built by the Modena-based “Sports Cars” body shop of Federico Drogo, ASA 1000 engine, 5-speed gearbox, Koni shock absorbers, AC Dunlop disc brakes, rigid axle with 4 uniball wishbones, self-locking differential…” as Bizzarrini himself described it. In 1964, the “411” model was exhibited at the Paris Motor Show, with the engine increased to 1092 CC and a power output of 104 hp. The car was called “lightened” with a completely aluminum body and plexiglass side and rear windows. The side windows were sliding. The weight of the “411” was reduced to 650 kg compared to the 740 of the standard version. Only four examples of the “411” were built. The 1092 cc engines were then installed on standard coupés which bore the name ASA 1100 GT.
For competition purposes, a unique prototype of the GT in plastic was also built with a new 1800 cc four-cylinder engine. The prototype, driven by Giorgio Pianta, was destroyed in an accident during the 1966 Targa Florio. Two years later, the “613 RB” was presented, an interesting “Coupé-spider” variation with a fiberglass body and roll bar, which could be equipped with a 1290 CC inline six-cylinder engine or the 1800 CC four-cylinder. The RB613 was built by the Corbetta body shop in just 4 examples. One of these, equipped with a 1300cc six-cylinder engine, was sold in the USA and raced in 1967 at Sebring and Daytona. Of the remaining three, two equipped with the six-cylinder remained in Italy. The third, which mounted the 1800cc four-cylinder engine, was sent to Japan.
In 1967, the ASA adventure was about to end: the former Ferrari engineer Giovanni Cadorin designed and built a Formula 3 single-seater on which he mounted a Cosworth engine, waiting to be able to mount an ASA engine. It seems that the single-seater is now in the advanced stages of restoration with the original ASA engine. In the late 1970s, some cars were assembled using the original materials recovered after the closure of ASA. We recall an RB613 equipped with a 1275 cc six-cylinder engine, as well as several GTs and a couple of spiders. Very recently, a GT racing car equipped with one of the two 1800 cc four-cylinder engines has been assembled in Northern Italy: it is a replica of the car destroyed during the 1963 Targa Florio but with an aluminum body instead of fiberglass.
