Cars

Apparently, Hef named his empire after the recently defunct Playboy Automobile Company – and his interest in American cars doesn’t end there, as the picture above attests. But he’s also a big Mercedes fan: he’s known to have owned a 300 SL Roadster, as well as a pair of 600 Pullmans. The latter, rather unsurprisingly, came complete with champagne coolers, central partitions, rear privacy curtains and reclining rear seats.

The Veneno Roadster – a drop-top version of the Aventador-based Veneno – is a permanently open hypercar. That is, there is no roof; not even an impossibly clumsy, temporary tent to erect. A roof would simply not fit in with the lightweight ethos of the car... And besides, who wants to pilot their 3.3m-euro (excluding VAT) ‘street-legal racing prototype’ in the rain? An extremely strong carbonfibre monocoque, coupled with robust rollover protection, ensures safety for the occupants inside should the pilot lose control, regardless of the weather.

Things could have been so different. In 1977, founder David Cottingham realised that he could both earn a living and multiply his job satisfaction by developing his weekend hobby – in particular preparing and racing ex-Works Jaguars – into a business. Soon afterwards, having mastered the same basic six-cylinder design common to many competition Jaguars, his allegiance switched to Ferrari.

"The F40 offers sheer thrill and exhilaration. It’s so raw, it’s so basic and it’s so impressive. Everything about the car is great… except the brakes. And that's an easily solvable problem." So says James Cottingham of Ferrari specialist DK Engineering, about the last car that Enzo commissioned. "These days, people might climb out of a brand-new Ferrari and say that it’s fantastically fast, but a little bit cold and neutral.

Finding four Ferrari 275 GTBs and a 250 GT California Spider in one place at one time is fairly unusual, at least outside the confines of a business specialising in sports cars from Maranello. But while JD Classics, based in Essex in the UK, is better known for its extensive Jaguar services (inspection, restoration and race preparation) and its large selection of British sports cars - just look at this video:

Video: JD Classics

Talacrest's stunning Maranello ensemble includes a Ferrari 500 TRC 250 SWB California Spider, 250 GT Lusso, 275 GTB 'Shortnose', 275 GTB Competitizione, and so on. Nit-pickers might complain there's no 250 GTO but do remember that a GTO (judging by recent market activity) could well cost you more than this entire nine-car collection of exceptional Ferraris put together. 

Photos: Talacrest

'Moby Dick' could reach 227mph on the Mulsanne Straight

"We all had trouble keeping a car of almost 600HP on the track"

Mr Herrmann, at 85 years old you can look back on an incredible career in motorsport. How did you start racing?

What better way to see out the late Italian summer than to indulge your passion for classic cars and motorcycles – and then perhaps test out a new purchase by driving or riding it home? As you will see below, there are some tempting cars for sale at the show.