Bearing the distinctive long-nosed “Ferrari look” created by the factory’s principal design house, Pinin Farina of Turin, the first series of 250 GTs included 82 cars coachbuilt by Carrozzeria Boano. At the end of 1957, Mario Boano departed the company to set up the styling department at Fiat and his son-in-law, Ezio Ellena, took over with veteran partner Luciano Pollo.
The renamed Carrozzeria Ellena produced a further run of fifty 250 GTs, known as the Ellena coupes, with improved body proportions and headroom, courtesy of a slightly raised roofline, the adoption of a standard four-speed gearbox shift pattern, larger brakes, a ZF steering system, and the fitment of a single distributor to the engine. Passenger comfort and luggage accommodation were much improved from earlier Ferraris, and the panel and trim fit throughout was described by period road tests as being “superb.”
Equally superb was the performance of the famed Colombo-designed V-12, which, with 240 hp, could propel the Ellena coupe to a top speed of 127–157 mph, depending upon the selected final drive gear ratio. Such performance is not surprising, as the mechanical specifications of the Ellena, including the engine, gearbox, rear axle, suspension, brakes, wheels, and tires, were the same as that of the 250 GT Tour de France, Ferrari’s then-current GT racing car.
Minimal build numbers and the sad fate of many of the parts sources for Tour de France and California Spiders means a low survival rate for the 250 GT Boano/Ellena series. Ferrari historian Marcel Massini estimates that only about fifteen 250 GT Ellena coupes remain in their original form.
