Sbarro’s interpretation of the 1957 Ferrari 335S is in some ways prettier than the one Scaglietti built in the 1950s
At the age of 17, Franco Sbarro, whose real name is Francesco Zefferino Sbarro, left his native Italy for Neuchâtel, Switzerland, in order to live his dream of being an auto mechanic.
In 1957, he found employment in the field and met Georges Filipinetti, owner of the famous auto racing team. Sbarro became his chief mechanic, and while maintaining the racing cars he designed his first car, the Filipinetti coupe.
In 1968, he left Filipinetti and created the ACA-Ateliers de Construction Automobile-in Grandison, on the shore of Lake Neuchâtel. From that time, he has concentrated on the construction of cars, either replicas of legendary models, or prototypes of his own design.
Inspired by the famous, rare, and expensive 1957 Ferrari Testarossa, the car we present was finished in the colors of the American Cunningham race team, which ran Testa Rossas at the beginning of the 1960s. Based on a Ferrari 365 GT4 2+2, the frame was removed from the original body, as well as all the comfort features of the 365 (air conditioning, heating, electric windows…), cutting the weight of the car by 500 kg (1,100 lbs). The wheelbase was reduced to 2,400 mm.
Sbarro wanted to be able to use this Ferrari “barchetta” on the road as well as the racetrack, and of the four he built, two were short-chassis models, this one with short doors. The body is made of a composite material and the car is equipped with Borrani wire wheels and Michelin tires with a period design.