Continuing the reviews of my new Le Mans model, today I’m presenting something I never believed I could ever have in my collection. Together with the Mazda 787B and the Volvo 850 BTCC, the Ferrari 250 GT SWB Breadvan is one of my top 3 favorite race cars of all time. I don’t know the make of this model, but it was part of the Ferrari Collection by Fabbri Editori of Italy. All I know it is an painfully great model!
Most real photos are wallpaper sized because this car really deserves it
Story: It all happened in 1962. Count Giovanni Volpi, owner of Scuderia Serenissima hired Giotto Bizzarrini (quite a coincidence the Breadvan being a bit bizarre), to modify a 250 GT SWB to rival the 250 GTOs. Why modify an older and not-so-good car instead of just buying a brand new GTO?? Well, Enzo Ferrari being Enzo Ferrari, he didn’t wanted to sell any GTOs to Volpi because he hired former Ferrari employees. Thank you, Enzo, because if you wasn’t so grumpy we wouldn’t have the Breadvan!
The donor car for this project was a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB, which was 2nd in the 1961 edition of the Tour de France (the car race, held in France between 1899 and 1986). As the other race spec SWBs, this car had a lightweigth body and a Testarossa 286 bhp engine.
Bizzarrini teamed up with Piero Drogo to develop a more aerodynamic body, based dom Kamm’s aerodynamic theory. This makes this car, technically, a kammback. The resulting appearence was totally unconventional. Les françaises called the car “La Camionnette” (little truck), while the anglophone press nicknamed it “The Breadvan”.
NSFW
Probably my favorite part is this photo above. Bizzarrini replaced the 3 original 46 DCN Weber carburettors by 6 TWIN CHOKE 38 DCN WEBER CARBURETTORS. 12 thirsty gaping mouths, drinking as much air as possible from the outside world. Even with this big body, the resulting car weighted only 935 kg, against ~1000 kg of the GTOs.
Just hear it’s mighty roar!
Its début was at the 1962 edition of the 24 Heures du Mans. At the race it quickly passed all the GTOs and it was briefly the 7th overall, but a driveshaft failure caused its retirement. However, it won other two races at the GT Class during the 1962 edition of FIA Sportscar Championiship. Its last real race was at the Coppa Gallenga Hillclimb (the Breadvan hillclimbing, that seems a very plausible heaven for me) in 1965.
Accuracy: 9/10
I won’t give a 10/10 because of that small red plastic piece at the front of the carburettor transparent cover and some missing tampos, most notably the small yellow arrow in the back. But the rest? Absolutely perfect!
Fit and Finish: 9.5/10
The model have a nice weight, and feels very solid and well built. The silver fine painting around the windows is crisp, the tampos are perfect and the tail lights are perfectly aligned. If you look closely at the two big openings in the front you can even see the radiator fans! It only loses half a point due to the same little red plastic thingie, which looks very flimsy.
Features: 6.5/10
Working suspension? No. Openable doors? No. Real noise? Welp, no. But the small diorama base, the wooden steering wheel and the spare in the trunk scored it some extra points. Did I mentioned it has a wooden (well, a brown) steering wheel? How cool is that?????
Value: 10/10
I looked eBay every now and then, dreaming of owning a Breadvan model some day, but it was very expensive... I was simply ecstatic when I found this in MercadoLivre for R$100. A quick eBay search says me the cheapest one for sale (which doesn’t look as good as this) is running for more than R$150 plus shipping, so it was probably one of the best deals of my life.
Rarity: 7/10
According to eBay, Breadvan models aren’t rare, they’re just expensive. I didn’t found many like this, with the diorama base, but there are more than 20 results for Breadvan in Toys and Hobbies section.
Total: 42/50
I’m really biased for making a review of it, since it’s one of my favorite racecars, but I hope my photos can help you to have your own conclusions. I’m immensely happy for finally having one of my holy grails. The Breadvan is probably one of the most unique race cars in racing history, so it’s not only a great model to have, but it is, in a certain way, a piece of history.