Sbarro GT40 atop Pantera in Der Schweiz

[Wallace Wyss]

When I was in Switzerland some decades ago with Mark Stehrenberger, the artist who draws cars, we popped over to Franco Sbarro's shop in Neuchatel and saw three GT40s being built. I think he was on the team of a Count Filipinetti that fielded a GT40 for Shelby after Ferrari failed to send him the latest Ferrari for LeMans (or maybe it was a Daytona coupe) . Anyway maybe he ended up with enough GT40 spares to build some more cars. I recall at some point after he displayed one, that journalist historian Karl Ludvigsen took him to task for using the SN of some already existing GT40 on one of his replicas. But the one I had a ride in was a GT40 body on top of a Pantera. It looked convincing from some angles except for the VW type exhausts coming out from under the body. Sbarro, short, white hair, glasses, seemed unapologetic for copying cars. In later years, after my visit, I think he started sort of a school for car builders or designers and every year they would show a car at the big auto show in Switzerland.

Has this GT40 body/Pantera chassis been discussed on the forum?

 

[Randy V]

Never seen or heard about by me Wallace... Sounds intriguing though in a rather odd sort of way..

 

[Ronnie Spain]

Randy,

I have no idea how many Panteras Sbarro turned into GT40 lookalikes. I have only ever come across photos of a single such car, which you can see here on:

Sbarro Ford GT40, 1968

It is the car in the first photo and also the straight side view at the bottom of the photos down the right hand side. I was told back in the late 80s that the flexing caused by the use of the Pantera chassis caused windscreens to break if one of these cars were to be parked up on a pavement edge, but I don't know whether that was correct or conjecture.

Ignore the text of the article, as it flannels about, and cites Sbarro as being correct regarding the lies he told in court about GT40s real and fake, the fake, of course, being cars he himself built and then claimed to be the original cars. Interestingly, the #48 photo regarding the write up on GT40 P/1048 is GT40 P/1048, and therefore is not the car as per the caption for that photo which says "Ford GT40 #1048, restored by Sbarro in December 1979." That was certainly when he was handed the genuine 1048, the car in the photo, for restoration, but instead of restoring it he built up what I believe was the first of his brand new Sbarro GT40 chassis and claimed it was 1048 restored when the work was completed in 1983, but he had by then long ago sold off the genuine GT40 P/1048, in June 1980, only 6 months after having been handed the car, and despite not being its owner.

Much more could be written about his spurious GT40 activities, and believe me it will be written, but for now I have another project which decrees the need for all my time, as you know.

Ronnie

 

[Jim Craik]

Ronnie,

I clicked on the small photos on the right, the white one on the bottom which I think is the Pantera/GT/40. I notice the side window is one peice and appears to be open at the rear like the MKIII, but hinged at the front, without the Triangle "wing" window. It looks to be glass or at least something thicker than Plexi. Do you know anything about this window setup?

 

[Randy V]

Thanks for that Ronnie.. My curiosity is resolved now. The GT40/pantera sits a bit tall and the exhaust would be a non-starter in my opinion. Chassis flex would be a reasonable presumption if there were no birdcage or the spider were not a structural member.. Cars like that could become death traps! I think I would rather own a Valkyrie before one of those conversions (thinking back in the day)..

Sbarro = Legend in his own mind

 

[John S]

Sbarro Ford GT40, 1968

Text from link above:
"The car (chassis #1048) had experienced many vicissitudes since its construction in 1966. Its then owner, Jean Pierre Van Den Doorn, gave it to Sbarro for a light restauration in December 1979. In 1980, the car was sold by Sbarro to Giuseppe Lucchini, but without its original chassis plate. This plaque was subsequently used by Sbarro for a replica GT40 he sold to ... Jean-Pierre Van Den Doorn!"

Ronnie

This is really beyond believe, taking someone else's car and selling that while in the meantime creating a replica and presenting this to the owner as being his car. Can't believe someone would do that and to me this is quite simply theft!
How come someone can get away with this?

John

 

[Pierre-Louis]

the one I had a ride in was a GT40 body on top of a Pantera. It looked convincing from some angles except for the VW type exhausts coming out from under the body.

Has this GT40 body/Pantera chassis been discussed on the forum?

Hi all,

Few detailed pics of this Sbarro Pantera-based GT40...

 

[Pierre-Louis]

on our small french GT40 forum, recently, we had a new member, saying he was the owner of the only Sbarro Pantera-based GT40 ever put on the road.

The car is now painted in 1075 livery, but the cockpit, restored with minor modifications (seats), really looks like it was in 1981...

Cobra - Forum Cobra - GT40 - Shelby - Forum 427 Racing • Consulter le sujet - Les répliques GT 40 produites par Sbarro

 

[Urs]

Hello

About the Sbarro gt40.
In switzerland we also have a Sbarro gt40 on the road, it s painted red (Scuderia Filipinetti)
A friend of us did some modifications on the car in his Garage.
From the outside it looks not bad , but when you see the car without the front and the rear part , it looks far away from an original gt40, strange how someone can change the plates and it will be accepted as original ??

Greetings Urs

 

[David in Durango]

A car built in 1968 would NOT be based on a Pantera, IMO. Mangusta, maybe.

Pantera production didn't start until 1970 model year, so possibly late late 1969.

Just my guess.

 

[DaveM]

Does anyone know the result of any legal actions against Mr. Sbarro? Is he dead now?

 

[Pierre-Louis]

M. Sbarro is in perfect health, I've personnaly caught a glimpse of him last february at "Rétromobile" (french vintage car exhibition) in Paris.

On that occasion, some of my friend had a long talk with him regarding GT40 (His first sentence was to say he didn't want to talk about GT40 due to the problems he had with these cars in the past, and then ... he talk about nothing else for 1h and a half...)

 

[Cliff Beer]

It's like I always say, the GT40 is an incredibly rare and special car. Merely 100 of these unique cars were originally made, and only 200 of them survive to this day.....

 

[Wallace Wyss]

Sbarro and his Lola T70 which John Starkey "outed"

It wasn't only GT40s he was making. This British expert in Lola T-70s has a lot to see about a mystery T-70 from Sbarro

JOHN STARKEY CARS :: GRYFON INC.