1952 Ferrari 342 America Vignale Cabriolet

The 1st of 6 made

 Chassis Number 0232 AL

The 342 was a revolutionary car for its time.  Built on a brand new platform, this large chassis & engine model was created to cure the needs of customers who wanted a more powerful road car that incorporated the luxury of head and leg room.

One-off by Vignale. 342`s were among the first big engine road cars offered to customers. This is the first of only 6 342’s. Built on the 2650mm chassis 342’s were 4” shorter than the 375 America and 250 Europa’s. Furthermore 342’s had full synchromesh transmissions, even serial numbers, wider track, were left hand drive, and very fast.

Chassis # 0232 AL was the first car built and was delivered new on 1/14/53 to Otto Wild of Switzerland.  The 342 was the first series of cars Ferrari produced that were exclusively left hand drive.  With only six being produced #0232 AL was the first made, and the only Vignale cabriolet built.  All of the other 5 chassis were bodied by Pinin Farina.

After the car came to the USA, it was sold by T. Dan Smith of Los Angeles in 1971, to Norman Snart of Hayward, CA.  Mr. Snart owned the car from 1971 until 2005. After being sold to the new owner the car underwent a complete restoration in 2008 and remains in the same collection since that time.