450S

The 450S was the most powerful sports car of its day. In all the races it was fielded in during the 1957 season, it either won - or retired. But it never suffered an engine failure. The all-new short-stroke V8 of 4.5 litres featured twin gear-driven camshafts, twin ignition and four twin-choke carburettors and was designed in 1955 by Guido Taddeucci with the cylinder head design related to the 150/200S. It produced so much power that the factory's 400-bhp test-bench could not record it. During rebuilds one car was fitted with a 4.7 litre producing 410 bhp and two cars with 5.6-litre engines with 526 bhp.

The 450S was fitted with a new 5-speed transaxle gearbox by Colotti mounted ahead of the final drive. The front suspension was twin wishbones with coil springs, while the de Dion rear axle was sprung by a transverse leaf spring and telescopic shock absorbers were adopted from 1957. The top speed was indicated at 320 kph (200 mph) with acceleration just little short of nerve-shattering and a deafening noise sounding like rolling thunder if heard from a safe distance ...

Juan Manuel Fangio and Jean Behra won the 1957 edition of the Sebring 12 Hours in Florida. Behra and Moss won at Kristianstad in Sweden, Masten Gregroy at Grand Bahama and Carroll Shelby at Riverside, California and Palm Springs. When the World Sports Car Championship regulations adopted a blanket 3-litre limit for 1958, the mighty 450S became obsolete, but its engine was adapted for the 5000 GT road car of the Shah of Persia and a few other lucky customers. The mighty V8 would return to the tracks from 1962 with the Tipo 151 coupés and power speedboats to a series of world championship titles as well.

Of 10 450Ss made seven went to the US. The original 1956 roadster (coachbuilt by Medardo Fantuzzi) was rebodied as a striking coupé by Zagato of Milan to a design by English aerodynamist Frank Costin for the 1957 24 Hours of Le Mans race where it was entered for Stirling Moss. It was later rebuilt as a truly wild road car for an enthusiast from Minneapolis in 1958 and has been in the German Rosso Bianco museum of Aschaffenburg near Frankfurt for the past 15 years.