I have posted some 300 posts for 2014 which is also the year I started my Instagram account. Some of the most beautiful cars in the world are on my feed. Cars that are rightly regarded as pieces of art today. Mercedes 300SL Gullwing. Ferrari 250 SWB. Ferrari 250 Testarossa pontoon fender. Ferrari 250 California Spyder. Maserati A6G2000 Zagato. Aston Martin DB4 Zagato. Each of the cars mentioned are really sculptures that also happen to have an engine inside. What was the most popular picture of them all?
It was a surprising choice. With over 419 likes it was the Ferrari 250 TDF. Made in end of the 1950s the TDF or ‘tour de France’ is one of the most important cars Ferrari ever made. The 250 TDF is part of the famed 250 series which includes the GTO, the Cal Spyder, the SWB and the Lusso. The TDF was a very successful race-car for Ferrari and won numerous car races and rallyes including the TDF numerous times. The car is an all alloy car and thus very light. While historians and connoisseurs always have had a weakness for the 250 TDF, the general public has favored the 250 SWB as the early 1960s dual-purpose car to own. So it was surprising to see the 250 TDF win the picture contest over all other cars including the 250 SWB. I think the win is well deserved. The car is elegant but still aggressive. The most attractive TDF in my opinion is the car above, with covered headlights and a single louver car (many other versions exist including open headlight and 3 or 14 louvers). To borrow an analogy from the Rolex world, which many readers might relate too, the TDF is the small crown submariner while the 250 SWB might be the big crown. The 250 SWB is perhaps, like the Rolex big crown, the obvious choice and many consider the car, rightly so, to be among the most beautiful and well proportioned in the world. The more understated choice is the 250 TDF and it is – in relation to Ferrari history – perhaps more important than the 250 SWB., much like the small crown submariners from Rolex. The TDF is much rarer too, only 77 were made versus more than 160 SWB (both competition and steel versions). Lastly maybe the deciding factor in choosing this picture might have had nothing to do with the car but rather the exceptional color. A beautiful Bordeaux that suits Ferrari exquisitely.
NB: Picture credit – AFMBR – Ferrari chat.
