During its first 10-15 years of existence, Ferrari transitioned from a boutique builder of road cars to a genuine small-scale manufacturer. This growth meant more revenue to spend on racing, and necessitated the evolution of Ferrari road cars from barely disguised race cars to something that would appeal to discerning buyers beyond the adventurous types who tolerated the uncompromising nature of early roadgoing Ferraris. The 1960 introduction of the company’s first four-seat model, the 250 GTE, cemented this change. Interestingly, it accommodated back seats not by lengthening the wheelbase, but by moving the engine forward, and when it came time to replace it for 1964, the 2+2 had become an important enough model to warrant a dedicated longer wheelbase.
The new car, the 330 GT 2+2, used a 4.0 liter variant of the venerable Colombo V12, providing a level of torque that made virtually any task effortless, a marked improvement over the 250. The model also introduced new Pininfarina design language at the rear of the car which would later be echoed on several other models, while a controversial four headlight arrangement at the front remained a one-off treatment that eventually gave way to more conventional front-end styling in 1965. Retrospectively termed the Series II, these later cars also gained a 5-speed transmission and numerous detail changes. Regardless of variant, the 330 GT 2+2 delivers the performance and exciting mechanical bits that define a Ferrari in an elegant and understated package that could accommodate a young family or at least a pair of heavy packers intent on doing some grand touring.
This particular example was originally completed in December of 1965, finished in the color combination it still wears today: grigio fumo with blue interior. The car is highly equipped with electric windows, air conditioning, and today, a modern (but vintage styled) Becker radio.
The car’s first owner was a Scotsman who collected the car at the Ferrari works, where it was fitted with EE (foreign tourist) plates. Despite its owner being from the United Kingdom, the car is left hand drive, a representation of how few RHD examples were made (just 36 of 460 Series II 2+2s were RHD), and was also suited to continental use. Given that the car was serviced barely a year later in January of 1967 at the Ferrari factory, with 19,000 miles on the odometer, the car saw quite a bit of use. The car returned to the Ferrari factory for service again a year after that, and was eventually sold on to its second owner, also a resident of the United Kingdom, in 1976.
The car remained in the same family, initially with a father and then later his son, for nearly thirty years, and during that ownership period, the car was imported to the United States shortly before being sold in late 2005. The car has remained in the United States since, with owners located in the southeastern United States and then Colorado. The second of these two owners commissioned a substantial restoration in 2014-2015, which was performed by Classic Investments in Colorado. The restoration included all cosmetic aspects and most of the mechanical aspects of the car as well. Included in this work was a complete respray, renewal of the chrome, and restoration and refurbishment of nearly every mechanical system.
The car’s current owner bought it in 2022, and noting that it had a number of fluid leaks, had the car sent to Motion Products, who removed the drivetrain from the car to address them. This eventually evolved into a complete rebuild of the engine, carburetors, gearbox, and a reseal of the rear axle. The starter was also replaced, the radiator recored, the distributors serviced, and the suspension freshened. The tires were also replaced, the seats restuffed, and the AC system serviced. In all, the work, which was performed in 2023-2025, totaled about $184,000.
The resulting car runs and shifts beautifully and has been used by its current owner as a daily driver and family car including for his children, for whom he added child seat anchors on the rear parcel shelf. The goal was to create a car that was fully reliable and the systems in the car reflect this, with modern LED exterior lighting, good thermal capacity in the cooling system, functional air conditioning, instruments, and even interior dome lights. The car comes with two binders of invoices totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars of restoration work, as well as tool roll with tools, jack bag with jack, Massini report, and car cover.
