The Phantom

In 1965, a Ferrari racer turned his back on Enzo and asked an

independent to build him a car. From there, it got interesting.

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID TRAVER ADOLPHUS

W
hen you see it, it’s so impossibly low and of the most remarkable creations that ever came from
slinky you can’t help but grin; when it runs, man’s hand.
the sound makes you laugh with joy. Its his- Giotto Bizzarrini had started his career as a test driver
tory is shrouded in more controversy than the Kennedy at Alfa Romeo, and moved into engineering work on
assassination, its looks are otherworldly. Little children the Giulietta chassis. He soon found his way to Ferrari,
run out of their houses to watch it pass, and grown men also as a test driver, but again moved into development,
fall to the ground in supplication to their metal god. working on the Testa Rossa and eventually leading the
It’s a rolling four-alarm fire, a hazard to pedestrians, team that created the phenomenal 250 GTO. His tenure
an insult to decent persons everywhere, a testament there was short, and he left with five other engineers
to stubbornness, perseverance and singular vision. The in an incident known variously as the “palace uprising”
Bizzarrini P538 is distilled essence of the sports car, one and “night of the long knives,” after Enzo Ferrari ordered

18 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR

• July 2008 HEMMINGS.COM

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