1956-1959 Ferrari 410 SuperAmerica

When Enzo Ferrari phased out the 375 America (see entry), he wasn't abandoning the top end of his market. He simply had a better car for it: bigger, beefier, more powerful. Logically, he called it Superamerica - and super it was. The 410 Superamerica was first shown as a chassis at the Paris Salon in September 1955. Aside from more obvious robustness, its engineering differed little from previous Ferrari practice. Thus, it was a sturdy ladder-type affair comprising oval-section main tubes and round cross-tubes, with the new A-arm/coil-spring front suspension (as seen on the previous year's new 250 GT Europa) and the usual live-axle rear end with trailing arms and leaf springs. As on the 375, wheelbase was 110.2 inches.

Also retained was the Lampredi "long-block" V-12, but the change in type number signified greater displacement. Sure enough, bore was stretched 4 mm, to 86 mm, giving 4962 cc on an unchanged 68-mm stroke. Compression was 8.5:1, one of the lowest yet seen from Ferrari. Nevertheless, factory literature pegged output at a quite healthy 340 horsepower at 6000 rpm. As before, power was taken through a multi-disc clutch and 4-speed gearbox. With a choice of several axle ratios ranging from 3.11 to 3.66:1, claimed top speed ran from 137 to nearly 162 mph.

The first complete Superamerica, clothed in a handsome coupe body by Pinin Farina, starred at the Brussels Salon in January 1956. Though visually much like PF's contemporary Boano/Ellena design on the junior chassis, it offered a little more room and luxury to help justify a considerably higher price. At that years New York Auto Show, the 250 GT was listed at a lofty $12,800, the Superamerica at an even more stratospheric $16,800. By contrast, Detroit's costliest car that season was the new Continental Mark II, which seemed sufficiently unattainable itself at just under $10,000. All of which helps explain why only 15 of these Series I SAs were built. Nine were "standard" coupes similar to the Brussels show car. Specials included a finny Ghia-bodied coupe a la Chrysler's Virgil Exner, and a coupe and cabriolet with less pretentious Boano coachwork.

An even more spectacular Superamerica appeared at Paris 1956, Farina's new "Superfast" design. A futuristic fastback, it bore a tapered snout, headlamps recessed behind clear plastic covers, and trendy tailfins as wild as any Exner could conceive. Wheelbase was closed up by a full eight inches to 102.3, as on the 250 GT. The one-off Superfast began a Series 11 Superamerica. Just eight "standard" Farina-bodied cars were built, all with mild styling updates, plus two specials. Scaglietti did one, a rather tasteless coupe with two-tone paint and too much chrome. The other was a new Farina coupe that he called 4.9 Superfast but is now better known as Superfast II. It was similar to "Superfast I" (the '56 Paris show car) but lacked the fins.

Paris 1958 marked the start of the SA Series III, distinguished by several running-gear changes. Spark plugs moved from inside the engine vee to outboard of the heads (as on the racing 250 Testa Rossa) and compression was raised to 9.0:1, bumping maximum horsepower to 360 at 7000 rpm. The diameter of the all-drum brakes was increased to match those of Ferrari's latest sports-racers, and the gearbox received a normal H-pattern gate, with first at the upper left and fourth at bottom right. (Earlier SAs had a "mirror-image" layout with first at the top right and fourth at the lower left.) The Series III also looked considerably different, vaguely like Superfast I but more practical. Headlamp covers curved more to match revised front fenderlines, though the last four or five cars were built with exposed lamps. The Series III prototype had an airy, thin-pillar greenhouse with large rear quarter windows, but the latter were exchanged in production (which began in early '59) for louvered metal panels as on Superfast II, so outward vision skill left something to be desired. Not counting specials, it appears that 410 production amounted to 15 Series I cars, eight Series II, and about 15 Series III.