In the first sixty years of the 20th century, the many Italian ‘Carrozzerias’ specialized in designing and building custom bodies for the world’s finest chassis. After the Second World War, even the most exclusive manufacturers started series production. Gradually the likes of Pininfarina and Bertone changed their business as coachbuilders to design consultants for manufacturers. Production of low volume models like convertibles are frequently outsourced to these Carrozzerias as well. The most exciting work for the design houses became the design and construction of one-off show cars, which are usually a good sign of future styling directions. Fortunately, the art of custom coachbuilding was not entirely lost as the demands of the richest enthusiasts are regularly catered for. Italy’s Pininfarina has a special department set up for these custom requests and in the past decades did a lot of work for the brother of the Sultan of Brunei. Sadly all this work was done in secrecy and few of these creations were ever seen in public. Earlier this year American collector Peter Kalikow and Pininfarina took the wraps of the highly customized Ferrari 612 Kappa, showcasing the company’s capabilities very well. Long before this unveiling, fellow American James Glickenhaus dropped off his 1967 Ferrari 330 P3/4 and a Ferrari Enzo with the request of combining the P3/4’s styling with the Enzo’s mechanicals; the best of both worlds.
In the following months, he traveled to Turin many times to supervise the design process to make sure everything complied with his wishes. Already at the cutting edge, the Enzo mechanicals needed no work, but every body panel and most of the interior was discarded. To make sure the custom creation worked as well as it looked, a full size plastic wind tunnel model was constructed and fitted on the Enzo chassis for extensive wind tunnel testing. At around this time (January 2006), Glickenhaus revealed the first details of his project on a variety of web forums. The story was quickly picked up by the mainstream media and many artist impressions of a ‘modern 330 P3/4’ appeared. None of them came close to the car taking shape at Pininfarina, but Glickenhaus managed to keep any real drawings and pictures from the public eye. Just a few days before the prospected release, in the second half of July, images from an upcoming article were scanned and leaked. One of the first things revealed was the cars new name; Ferrari P4/5 by Pininfarina. Yes, Ferrari gave their full permission to use the name and badges for this one-off and even offered to give technical support. This could very well have been the result of Ferrari liking what they saw and Glickenhaus’ expressed desire to use the design and name strictly for a one-off.
A combination of Glickenhaus’ design ideas and wind tunnel work resulted in a car that can only be described as a modern interpretation of the Ferrari 330 P3/4. Where Pininfarina’s Enzo design is very angular, the new shape penned down for the P4/5 has classic round shapes. This by no means compromised the performance with the wind tunnel tests showing lower drag figures with similar downforce figures compared to the ‘function over form’ Enzo. The active underbody aerodynamics of the Enzo were retained. The obvious design cues taken over from the Ferrari P3/4 are the fenders, air-intakes and ducktail. An addition to the design theme is the high location of the exhaust pipes, previously only seen on Formula 1 racers. The interior also received the ‘Glickenhaus touch’ with a Ipod Nano stereo, world wide GPS, on board gas generation fire system, improved AC-system, full roll cage and exposed carbon fibre throughout. Of course the seats are fully custom made covered in bespoke fabric. Despite all these changes, Pininfarina’s engineers have managed to shave almost 200 kg off the Enzo’s weight with the P4/5 weighing in at 1200 kg. So recapping Glickenhaus efforts have resulted in a better looking, more efficient and lighter version of the Enzo.
Pictured above is the full size Eppa wood styling model constructed in December 2005. The three photographs are supplied by James Glickenhaus, the last three are sections of the same photos. The finished product differs in detail with a rounder nose and slightly different headlights. In July 2006 the P4/5 was completed, although still in primer, and the happy owner could take it out on the Autostrada for the first time. One of his thoughts after the brief test drive was: ''P4/5 pulls away and vanishes into the distance like an F 16 launching from a carrier deck.'' On July 29th Pininfarina will release the first pictures of the completed and painted Ferrari P4/5 by Pininfarina. The official release of the car will be at the eve of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in August 2006.
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