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Films:
Ferrari 250 Testarossa Tribute: Building Your Dream Is A Beautiful Thing
Want to see our car and meet the four people who built it? Come to the San Marino Motor Classic this Sunday, June 9, 2019! https://www.sanmarinomotorclassic.com/vistors-guide
To be that smart and talented to build your dream, anyone that loves cars as we do are so envious, as long as there are people like this there will always be autos that will take us to a place that other people will never understand, they only see a car to gets them to point A to point B.
Mr. Peter Giacobbe, thank you for taking the time to share your wonderful Ferrari, a full Chianti Classico toast. Magnificently executed and full of life, I can see it running the hills of Tuscany in my mind. In closing, thanks for your contributions to the automotive industry. Also, thank you Petrolicious for showing others dreams and giving us a little relaxation and dream time!
Kind Regards,
Kurt Spangler
Stuttgart GE
Some interesting background about the car
1. This project took about 10 years from conception to the current status. A dream that is truly a labor of love and dedication.
2. The background research to over 2 years and eventually produced a folder of information about 5″ thick.
3. NOS parts were procured from all over the world. Some parts were virtually not available and in the end were custom fabricated. Not a cheap effort.
4. Chassis was fabricated from period photos, scaled to proper size that is amazingly close to the original cars.
5. While every effort was made to make the car as close to the “real deal” it was also build to actually drive and race in SVAR and VARA vintage racing. Therefor compromises were made to accommodate racing regulations – fuel cell, roll bar, belts, fire bottle etc. The end result is that given skinny tires an all, it hauls butt – at the Auto Club race way it comes dow the front straight at about 175 MPH.
6 The car has also won several concourse awards: Palm Springs 2012 Desert Classic Peoples Choice 1st palace; LA Ferrari Concourse Pasadena 2012 and 2014 by special invitation; La Jolla Concourse 1st place Special Interest Car.
7. Up coming feature car in (sorry can’t disclose) major magazines.
8. Come see for yourself – August 16th, Enderle Center Classic car show 9am thru # PM Tustin California. See you there
This particular video, with Peter Giacobbe and his “Fake” TR, hits me right in the brain stem! Though I have never been a huge fan of Ferrari, this one tells the whole story of my life. Markedly differently, but still, just the same. There are a few videos here that I have watched countless times, but this one I’ve come back to, every day since it was posted. All I can say is ….wow. No rules…just an old Hot Rod Ferrari, that he cobbled from old parts in his garage. Isn’t that what OUR life is really all about? Cooler than any other Ferrari ever built, before or since.
I am also a subscriber to Jay Leno’s Garage. A video they posted to youtube brought me here, to petrolicious…and I’ve never looked back. The incredible sense with which this website, and specifically the videos are done, is ethereal. I’ve spent the time to send these to all of my seriously ill car culture friends and I sincerely hope they have watched them. Hopefully they’ve subscribed.This is without a doubt one of the finest sites out there for those of us with this disease. On one video, Steve Strope states, “This is my cancer. It’s with me ’til I drop!” Yes…that pretty much sums it up for me.
The car has been successfully raced at Fontana Race Way in Fontana CA. and Willow Springs in SVARA and VARA. For those of you who wanted more detail, I have attached several photos which show some of the body off and engine detail plus a recent photo of racing action at Willow Springs. About a year ago we spun a main bearing which nictitated a major engine rebuild over that last year. The car is now back and running so its let the fun begin!
Thank you for sharing what is clearly your passion. The sound from that engine and the beautiful lines of the car are simply magic. I applaud you for driving the car and enjoying it versus putting it on a pedestal for worship. The fact that you built this with your own hands must be so satisfying. This story and video will be pure motivation for me to complete a long overdue project in my own garage. Thanks to you and salute.
Regarding my initial comment that Peter Giacobbi in the video was probably referring to Phil Hill rather than Graham Hill as the article above says, I still believe that to be the case. Phil Hill actually drove the 250 TR whereas I don’t believe Graham Hill ever did, or at least he was certainly not known for it, whereas Phil was, having been very successful in his career behind the wheel of Ferraris. In the 250 TR, Phil Hill actually won the 24 Hours of Le Mans (in ’58 I think) along with a co-driver whose name escapes me. However I stand corrected by Ed below for my statement that Graham Hill didn’t drive Ferraris. Thanks for the correction Ed.
I would love one of these! I would love to be able to put one of these together. I bet the experience of driving it is fabulous and not that far off driving an original. All too often the original Ferraris have been over-restored and even if they’re driven they’re inevitably have to be treated as an investment. Now the values on matching numbers cars have such OBSCENE valuations I’m not sure how I would feel driving one even if I could afford it. There should be many more recreations like this so people outside the inner circle can get to see such a car up close and perhaps even be taken for a spin in one. If owners of the originals feel snotty about a well put together recreation they should ponder a moment how they would feel having a car like this were they unable to afford a real one – like the chap in the film I’m sure they wouldn’t feel like swapping it either.
Petrolicious, a once again wonderful film with the heart and soul intact, with a wonderful engine exhaust sound track.
Peter, A dream come true for you to enjoy exactly as you dreamed it.
A wonderful toy for you to use as the originals were intended to be used. Im sure the body is left unfinished to show it to be metal work and to also stand out from the RED Ferrari crowd.
The video is masterfully done by a very talented person, Miguel de Olaso. This was a labor of love and nearly a ten year project to get the car to this point. Mr. Giacobbi is truly a talented engineer, race car driver and close personal friend. Peter’s Dream will live on. Thank you Petrolicious for a great production!
Normally I am not a fan of replicas, but the saying goes “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” and this takes it to another level, one man’s ode to the car he loves, built out of passion and respect, what’s not to like.
Big up Mr Giacobbi and petrolicious for bringing us another great vid.
I was already starting to think that Petrolicious might have gone astray given all these recent contributions about the usual Porsches, new cars et cetera. But this video has restored my faith, at least for now. This jewel of a car with its original body, the story of recreating a myth, the fabulous footage – all this is absolutely gorgeous. Now, please just do the same thing with a prewar car, so that I don’t need to watch your video with Brian Bent’s Oakland over and over again…
Some guys have/buy great cars and change them upside down. Turn them into freakish machines. Here we have the story of a guy who looked at one of the best, rarest and priciest cars that exist, and decided he wanted to build one, just like it was ‘back in the day’, without changes (OK, the engine is a 4.4, but only because he couldn’t find the 3 littre).
I’m speechless. Great story, great video, great looking car with that rough unfinished look, great guy… Thanks Petrolicious!!!!!
That is so unbelievably cool and my favorite feature yet! To have the knowledge and skills to pull something like this off would be my dream. Kudos to Mr.Giocobbi and Petrolicious, nicely done. For some more Italian inspiration check out (on YouTube) the hand made miniature Ferrari 312p built by an Italian engineer.
Hi Ed, I stand corrected. I always associate Graham Hill as driving for Lotus, BRM and Brabham, whereas I associate Phil Hill for driving Ferraris (among others) when they were making some of their most iconic cars (250 TR, 250 GTO, etc.). Wouldn’t the video be referring to Phil Hill rather than Graham however, as Phil most certainly did drive the 250TR with success? Thanks.
