1960 Fiat 306 transporter, custom built by their Bartoletto bus division for Lance Reventlow's Scarab F1 team (the first US F1 team), which only competed in six events before pulling out of F1 (fast cars with notoriously unreliable engines).
The transporter was leased to Lotus, who used it for their F1 team for two years. It was then sold to Camoradi racing (Maseratis), who added the second rear axle for hauling heavier cars. But financial difficulties (always the bane of Maserati) meant they couldn't pay for it, so it was acquired by Carrol Shelby, who used it for Shelby Cobras and Daytona Coupes around Europe.
In 1965 Alan Mann Racing took over Ford's European program and acquired the transporter from Shelby. It continued carrying Cobras and Daytona Coupes.
And it was the vehicle which carried the Ford GTs to LeMans
In 1967 it was sold and went through two private owners until 1970 when it was leased by Steve McQueen, repainted from green to red, and used as the Scuderia Ferrari racing transporter in the film "LeMans". The JCB Historic racing team acquired it, retaining the red paint, and used it til 1976 when they leased it to GTC Mirage for their Le Mans effort. In 1982 it was purchased by Michael Shoen (the motorsport author) who kept the Ferrari livery, brought it to the US, and used it for vintage cars; til a divorce led to the transporter being parked in the Arizona desert and virtually forgotten for twenty years. In 2006 a Scarab collector acquired it and spent over $600k on a full restoration; it returned to the public eye at the Monterey Historics in 2008. (The only non-original item being a modern Leyland six cylinder turbo-diesel replacing the aging Fiat four cylinder diesel.)
The transporter is back in Europe now, on display in the ChromeCars museum.
www.classicdriver.com
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