Enzo Ferrari’s passion may have been racing cars, but by 1950, he had begun to accept that exclusive road cars were needed to finance the company’s growing competition efforts. Early Ferraris for the street were built in very small numbers, usually to special customer order, with no attempt made at standardization. A significant change occurred in 1954, when the Pinin Farina-designed 250 Europa debuted in Paris. It was Ferrari’s first true production model and would form the foundation for all future Ferrari 250 models. These included the second series 250 Europa GT, again designed by Pinin Farina.
At the time of the second series’ unveiling, Pinin Farina was in the process of building a new, much larger production facility and did not yet have the space to build the larger quantities of cars that Ferrari was requesting. Accordingly, in 1954 the 250 GT coachbuilding contract was handed over to the newly established Carrozzeria Boano, headed by the former chief of Carrozzeria Ghia, Mario Felice Boano. The significance of the selection was not lost on Boano: At the previous year’s Geneva Motor show, his proposal for a 250 GT-based cabriolet (chassis number 0461 GT) sat beside its main competition, a coupe by Pinin Farina on a 250 GT chassis. Boano’s cabriolet was extreme and forward-thinking—perhaps too far ahead of its time; both Enzo and the public favored Pinin Farina’s more subtle offering.
Boano was to replicate Pinin Farina’s coupe concept in production form. He executed his rival’s design faithfully, with one exception: he erased one of Farina’s styling signatures, smoothing out an “aggressive” haunch over the rear wheels, giving the finished Ferrari a stronger and lower beltline in the process. Over a two-year production run, an estimated 68 to 80 of these aptly named “low roof” coupes, most wearing steel bodywork, were completed. The ultimate prize of this uncommon production run was a group of 14 Boano bodies executed in lightweight aluminum alloy. Their reduced weight drastically improved the punch of the 229 horsepower, 3.0-liter “Columbo” V-12 engine. Expectedly, these Alloy-bodied Boano coupes proved especially nimble in competition, achieving significant in-period victories at the 1956 Alpine GT and 1957 Acropolis Rally.
