Lord Brocket’s butchered beauties

The Ferraris 340 America, 250 Europa GT, 195 Sport and the Maserati Tipo 61 ‘Birdcage’. What do these cars all have in common? The short answer is that one example of each of them did not fair too well in the hands of one Charles Nall-Cain, better known as Lord Brocket, who until being rumbled for insurance fraud in the mid-nineties was a well-known collector of Ferraris and Maseratis. After the crash of the classic car market in 1990 and facing mounting debt, Brocket attempted to defraud his insurers for around £4,500,000, alleging that these cars had been stolen from his collection. Despite later withdrawing his claim, Brocket ended up spending a few years in prison because of it. 

But what happened to the cars in the meantime is a sad tale. 

195 Sport 0123S as it appeared on Kidston.com

A quick breakdown of the cars, if you’ll pardon the pun (which you’ll only get later). Just 23 340 Americas were built, and Brocket’s 1951 specimen was one of only 11 of these that had the beautiful Vignale body made up of one gracefully sweeping arc from front to back when seen in profile (other bodies were built by Ghia and Touring). Since it has been restored it looks nothing like the original, but is simply made up: it has lost its windscreen to become a faux-Spyder, and has missing bumpers, different air intakes and outlets and so on. The 340 America was the first of the now famous Ferrari Americas, and also the first to use the naturally aspirated Lampredi 4.1 litre V12 that had been initially developed for the Ferrari F1 arm; it was no slouch. While the 250 Europa was another grand tourer style Ferrari to use the puissant Lampredi V12, the later 250 Europa GT shortened its wheelbase from 2,800 to 2,600 mm and opted for a Colombo 3 litre V12 based on that of the 250 Mille Miglia. It was the 250 Europa GT that Brocket had. With coachwork by Pininfarina and Vignale, it represents another important milestone in the history of Ferrari, being that it was the first to have the ‘GT’ monicker. 28 were built, of which Brocket’s model was the penultimate example to roll off the production line. Just to gauge how rare these cars are, fewer 250 Europa GTs (and 340 Americas for that matter) were built than 250 GTOs. This exact model was originally owned in succession by two Dutchmen, and raced once at Zandvoort, even taking part in a couple of hill climbs before Brocket became its sixth owner in 1980.

Gregor Fisken with  2456 at Laguna Seca in 2000

Brocket’s 1950 berlinetta chassis 195 Sport, one of only three to be bodied by Touring, also had an interesting life before he owned it, racing for example at Silverstone, the RAC International Rally and the Tour de France in 1951, while one of the other Touring 195s led at Le Mans and won the 1950 Mille Miglia. The 195 Sport concerned here was actually in need of total restoration when Brocket purchased it, having allegedly been found in the USA rusting in an avocado grove, but this doesn’t excuse what happened to it. Then there is the 1960 Maserati Tipo 61 ‘Birdcage’, a hugely important car. A chro-moly frame of about two-hundred tubes welded together gave this car its nickname as well as a much lighter but more rigid chassis than most of its contemporaries. A Camoradi Birdcage in white and blue team colours won the Nürburgring 1000km in 1960 with Stirling Moss behind the wheel, and again in 1961. Other drivers to throw around a 2.9 litre, 250 bhp, 177 mph Birdcage included the greats Jim Hall, Carroll Shelby and Lloyd ‘Lucky’ Casner himself, who originally founded Camoradi specifically to race the Birdcage. The Birdcage that Brocket owned was raced in 1960 and 1961 but was then partially destroyed in a garage fire and later dismantled. Brocket bought the bits and gave it a new frame, body and engine. The Tipo 61 and its ancestors (Tipos 63, 64 and 65) are crucially significant in the history of Maserati racing, being the last we saw of the marque in racing until the 21st century. Designed by Giulio Alfieri, three Tipo 61s in Camoradi colours were also entered at Le Mans in 1960, but despite being thrillingly quick all had to retire suffering from various problems including starter motor trouble for instance, a great shame. 

340 America is 0138 AM at Elkhart  Lake in 1985. Courtesy of Marcel Massini.

What happened to the examples that Brocket owned is a horrifying story to say the least. Afflicted by the aforementioned financial troubles, Brocket hatched a plan to defraud his insurers by staging a ‘theft’, even suggesting at one point that there had been interest from ‘Japanese buyers’ in the models. What he in fact did was have two employees dismantle the cars, cut up their bodies, scatter them across his large estate and bury them. Several engine parts and an OSCA 2000 also met an unfortunate end, although unfortunately little is known about what happened to it. His estranged wife at the time happened to be caught attempting to forge a prescription to quench her drug addiction, and ended up spilling the beans to the police. Brocket was duly tried and convicted. The 250 Europa GT has happily been accurately restored to its former glory, but during its restoration the body and many of the parts have had to be built again from scratch. The same is true of the 340 America which was virtually destroyed and is now residing in the USA, but the reconstruction is not at all true to the original as far as looks are concerned, and it has a different engine altogether. The Tipo 61 has been restored extensively and raced again in dark red at Laguna Seca in 2000. The 195 S however has not been fully restored yet; all that remains of the original body is the boot lid and badges. It remains for sale in its current state. Brocket also had time added on to his prison sentence when it emerged that he had been involved in further fraud, this time passing off a fake Ferrari 250 SWB that he had had built on the base of the much less valuable 250 GTE 2+2, giving it the serial number of a real short wheelbase 250 that had been missing for a long time. He may have got away with it had the real 250 SWB not been found, but that’s another story for another time.

T. Sherriff

1964 Maserati 151/3

I've been obsessed with these images for years. 

They were shot in the paddock of the 1964 Le Mans. The incredible contour line of the car, the brutal bare metal effect, the slightly underexposed picture and the "homely" feeling of the paddock wrap together all the best emotions I can get from researching the history of classic cars. 

The Maserati 151/3 has got an extra value. It represent the ultimate, loud and romantic failure. It carried on its shoulders the expectations of 10 years of close calls and isolated glories for the marque. Arguably this particular car - chassis 151.002 - will take all these hopes away with it on the 10th of April 1965, Le Mans Test day.

Lloyd Casner was pushing the car hard after a couple of warm up laps. The car must have been very close to its top speed of 198mph when approaching the "hunaudieres"'s bump, a particularly tricky bit. Cars were usually going slightly airborne at the time and with all four wheels off the ground, the only way to avoid disaster was to tap the brakes to point down the nose and partially lift off the throttle, trying to maintain the perfect speed at the rear wheels for the contact with the tarmac. Casner might have lifted off completely, according to Maurice Trintignant, but he will never be able to tell his side of the story. The car barrel rolled out of the track taking two trees with it. It was the horrible end for car and driver. Its engine would have been recovered and fitted to a mid engined prototype, the Maserati Tipo 154 (or Tipo 65) and tried again, in less than a month at 24 Heures. But Jo Siffert crashed it in the effort of keeping up with the Fords and it was the very end of Maserati at Le Mans.

The 151 project always had it an yet never stood a chance, a great design that didn't benefit from the necessary testing but still developed effortlessly. Only a handful of chassis were ever created and we owe much of this story to Johnny Simone, who ordered .002. Two more sister cars were sent to Briggs Cunningham in the USA where they would have been raced much more often than the European counterpart. Changes in regulations stopped and restarted the development of the engine that started as 4 liter V8 and would raise to 5 liter with a development up to 5.2. But it wasn't a good time for Maserati that didn't have money to invest in proper development even after having graced the world in the fifties with the 450 and the notorious Tipo 61 birdcage.

The 151 would be competing Le Mans in '62, '63, '64 and for the last fatal time at the testing in '65. They always stood a chance and quite often had the honour of leading the race. But lack of testing and factory development would curse the car. Gearbox failure, electrical failure, stuck throttle, alternator, battery and brakes showed up in one race or another, but the worse problem was possibly the useless De Dion suspension that was causing the internal rear wheel to toe in, literally eating the tires. The car would have to live with this issue until the winter of '63/'64 when one of the last upgrades turn the 151/1 into the 151/3. The car would receive extended track and wheelbase and a diet that took the weight from 975 to 940kg. The upgraded 5.0 V8 with its excess of 430 bhp and the new Drogo body would have been good enough to grasp 200mph (198 recorded). This last development is the shape in the pictures on top of this post. The amazing line gently wraps the front arches so tight that they would have to be hammered away in the pits. The extreme rear Kamm offered space only for a small vertical rear window. The scrutineers wouldn't like that during '64 test day and this would have to be enlarged with a flat, almost horizontal, roof window. These are just some examples of how little testing the car received and there's plenty more, like when one of the "American" sister cars had to be raced without doors for the extreme heat in the cabin (finishing second overall) or like the hilarious start at the 1963 Le Mans Start.

I'll report this story in the words of Marc Sonnery:

"Picture the bright and sunny scene of the 151's greatest moment: In front of the packed grandstands, André Simon is uncharacteristically hopeful and feels ready for the sprint to the cars. A pompous official drops the flag, and 49 drivers dash across the tarmac. Simon reaches the Maser, and...the door is stuck closed! Adrenaline spurting from his ears, Simon yanks again harder and the recalcitrant portal pops open and smacks him in the face as the rest of the field roars away! Nose bleeding, badly delayed, and hotter than a jalapeño, Simon finally blasts away, flooring it through Tertre Rouge and onto Mulsanne Straight."

I've been looking for the story behing those underexposed pictures for a long long time, collecting bits and pieces and sometimes being side tracked. I finally found a comprehensive and satisfactory story in an old article that Sonnery wrote many years back. Please take some time and read it HERE. It's typically very well written and maniacally researched.

The car remained as a wreck and without the engine for at least 15 years before Peter Kaus restored it and sourced a correct engine for it. Carrozzeria Allegretti also managed to savage the original body buck to recreate that amazing body. After some races the car was supposed to be resting at the Rosso Bianco museum in Aschaffenburg, Germany, so you can imagine my excitement in seeing the car at this year's Goodwood Revival driven by none less than Jochen Mass. Seeing and hearing the car at speed is a feeling I shall never forget. Find here a selection of the pictures I took and notice how low the car is in comparison with the Astons and SWB. Click to enlarge.