In late 1955, Ferrari’s 500 Mondial was up against Maserati’s new two-liter A6GCS and it was clear that it was not capable of handling the situation.  Shortly thereafter Ferrari introduced their new 500 Testa Rossa, so named because the cam covers were painted red.

The bore and stroke and hence capacity of the Tipo 131 engine remained the same as the Mondial, however, instead of being based upon the Type 553 F2 engine, a reversion had been made to the head very much like that of the Type 500 but with a different cam cover.   It had also been strengthened at the lower end.

An all new Tipo 518 chassis dropped the Mondial’s transaxle and de Dion rear suspension in favor of an engine-mounted transmission and a live rear axle located by parallel trailing arms and suspended by coil springs.

The 500 TR was extremely competitive in both Europe and the States with 17 examples being completed.  The assigned chassis numbers are as follows: 0600, 0608, 0610, 0612, 0614, 0618, 0620, 0622, 0624, 0634, 0636, 0638, 0640, 0648, 0650, 0652, 0654.  All used the suffix “MD/TR”

0652 was the second to last 500 TR completed and was originally retained by the Scuderia Ferrari as a Factory Team Car.  On the 24th of June, the Scuderia Ferrari entered four cars including 0652 MD/TR in the fourth 1000Km Supercortemaggiore Race held at the Monza Autodromo.  It turned out to be a near complete and certainly the most famous success for the type in general as the car of Collins/Hawthorn won, that of Fangio/Castellotti took third place with our subject vehicle (0652MD/TR) driven by Gendebien/de Portago coming in fourth!

The car was then sold through Luigi Chinetti’s Ferrari dealership and initially raced by Carroll Shelby before being passing on to Masten Gregory, Wolfgang von Trips and later Chester Flynn.  Over an active five year career, the car participated in no fewer than 45 different races before being retired.  Initially completed as a standard 500 TR with a 2-liter twin-cam four cylinder motor, by 1959 a Ferrari Tipo 128 V12 and later a small block Chevrolet had replaced the original drive train.  In 1978 the car began an intensive ten year restoration that saw the reinstallation of a Tipo 128 F, 3.0-liter V12 motor and Tipo 508, four speed gearbox.  Over the past twenty years 0652 has participated in no fewer than 40 historic racing events including the Ferrari of North America Historic Race Series as well as the Mille Miglia!

Chassis 0652 MD/TR as a package includes but is not limited to the following:
• U.S. Title
• Copy of original Ferrari Homologation Papers
• Full F.I.A. papers (two sets)
• Full documentation Album
• Removable roll bar
• Two tonneau covers
• Two complete interiors
• Additional seat pads of varying density and height
• Fuel cell installed in original alloy tank
• Full fogger fire system. (Inspected and recharged 6/7/98)
• Complete set of original drum brakes, backing plates shoes, etc...
• Various suspension components
• Three additional original sets of 500 TR body panels including two complete rear clips
• Collection of various period and recent photos along with magazine articles