330gtc Part One

It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve heard it before, the Pavlovian response is always the same. Smile inanely. Then laugh. There are few sounds as enthralling as a Ferrari VI2 – or, more specifically, a Colombo VI2 – as all 24 tappets click, carbs spit and gurgle and chains thrash, the bass burble hardening into a strident howl as it heads into the upper reaches of the rev range. If this doesn’t move you, if you don’t get tingles just from being within earshot, then get someone to checkyour pulse. Should this emblem of supercar engineering be housed in a 3 3 OGTC, and you’re still not swayed, best call for a doctor.

Hyperbole? Goes with the territory. Ferraris, by definition, attract purple gush. Always have and with good reason. Strangely, though, not this one. Not because it’s rubbish. Heavens no. More that, within the marque tenet, pure roadgoing ’60s Maranello products – as opposed to overtly competition-inspired models – tend to get marginalised. The 330GTC is a case in point. A much-delayed replacement for the 250 Lusso, it lacks the gravitas of its now revered forerunner but, in many ways, this is the better car.