Author Randy Cook in 750 Monza (0518M) at Concorso Italiano.

By Pete Vack
From our Archives, February 2017

We are saddened by the loss of Bowtie Ferraris author and vintage racer Randy Cook, who passed away on February 16, 2017 after a being diagnosed with cancer.

When I first met Randy, he was carrying a huge, I mean huge, three ring binder bursting with facts and photos of Chevy-engined Ferraris.

He plopped it down in front of me and said, “Well, let’s get to work.”

Author Randy Cook in 750 Monza (0518M) at Concorso Italiano.

One is remembered by his work

By Pete Vack

We are saddened by the loss of Bowtie Ferraris author and vintage racer Randy Cook, who passed away on February 16, 2017 after a being diagnosed with cancer.

When I first met Randy, he was carrying a huge, I mean huge, three ring binder bursting with facts and photos of Chevy-engined Ferraris.

He plopped it down in front of me and said, “Well, let’s get to work.”

He had originally wanted to run a series of articles in VeloceToday, each one addressing a different Chevy-engined Ferrari. But clearly, there was a need for a book on the subject, provided he could come up with enough valid serial numbers to fill a decent sized volume. I suggested the name “Bowtie Ferrari”, and drew up a Chevy bowtie logo with “Ferrari” in the center of the bowtie. Randy loved the idea but I wondered if it would it fly in Detroit. The logo is clearly a trademark, and even the word “Bowtie” might be legally Chevrolet’s. But Randy, being Randy, said, “Just let them take us to court, I’d love to fight them.” Randy was a fighter, and a guy who would stand his ground over a Florida sinkhole if he thought he had a chance.

Last year Randy brought his Bowtie Ferrari (1175 GT) to the Concorso, which was the car’s final show culminating an almost 20-year ownership prior to being sold to The Old Racing Car Company in Felmingham, England. The car will be kept in its current configuration and as such, is likely the last remaining pre-1960 two-seater Ferrari still with a Chevy engine.

He was tenacious as well. He decided to go ahead and try to make a book out of Bowtie, and never faltered going forward, despite what we both imagined would be moans and groans from the traditional Ferrari community. We’d help him find a Chevy-engined Ferrari and he would go after it, getting all the facts and talking to everyone who was even still slightly vertical. He poured over copies of old R&Ts, Sports Car, SCI, and Autoweeks to find results and match them up with the serial numbers. Many times the fact that the Ferrari did have a mongrel Chevy engine installed was quietly hushed up, and not easy pickings. Did not bother Randy one bit. We got Toly Arutunoff (who better?) to write the preface, and Ferrari historian Alan Boe to fact check. Our own Hugues Vanhoolandt freely supplied many of the great full color shots in the book, and Jodi Ellis took on the task of the layout and handling printing assignments.

Melton’s vision of Ferrari TR SN 0724.

Randy was equally insistent upon honoring and remembering old friends, like Jerry Melton. A part time photographer and artist, Melton had painted a caricature-like picture of the Chevy-engined Testa Rossa, SN 0724 at Green Valley Texas and gave it to Randy for the book. He stood his ground when wanting the painting on the cover. It was, after all, his book.

He deserved his own chapter, too. Randy was the proud owner of one of the only Ferrari V12s (a 250GT PF coupe) left to still be powered by the Chevy V8, and drove it to shows. He sold it after the book was published, but that was not his goal. Shortly before he passed away he told me of his latest project, a Ferrari 400 that would also have a Chevy V8 installed.

Very proud of the finished book, he took it around everywhere and sold many copies out of the trunk. It sold so well he decided to write and publish another book, Blue Oval, et al, Ferraris,this time featuring the Ford-engined Ferraris, along with other oddball engines, inserted into the hallowed chassis of Maranello.

Last year’s Concorso Italiano featured Chevy-engined Ferraris, and Hugues Vanhoolandt took the below video of Randy at CI discussing the Ferrari 0126A which was given a Chevy engine in 1958. Note that it has been restored with a proper Ferrari engine.

Randy was also active in the Florida Vintage car race scene as a tech inspector, driver of old Saabs and a Ford 60-powered MG. But he devoted the last years of his life to his books, and making damn sure that everyone knew that a huge number of mega million dollar Ferraris survived over the years because a lowly Chevy or Ford engine kept them running both on and off the track.

Damn right Randy. You’ll be missed.

Author Randy Cook in 750 Monza (0518M) at Concorso Italiano.

Story by Staff

This year’s Concorso Italiano celebrated a little-known part of Ferrari history, which is covered in two recent books authored by Randy Cook of Tallahassee, Florida.

His books, Bowtie Ferraris and Blue Oval, et al, Ferraris, document almost 100 Ferraris of the 50s and 60s that were at one time powered by Chevy, Ford, Buick, Chrysler and Offy engines.

The two basic reasons for implanting American engines into very rare and exotic cars of the time were to make racing Ferraris faster and easier to maintain, and to keep street driven Ferraris on the road and out of the scrap yard at a time when it was almost impossible to repair a broken Ferrari engine. Two magazine articles appeared in 1959 documenting the installation of Chevy engines into two different Ferrari chassis for street driving. A car featured in one of the articles was an unexpected guest at the Concorso, actually it was the body of the car (0024) which is now on another chassis (0097).

Above, Hugues Vanhoolandt videoed Bowtie Ferrari author Randy Cook and Matt Stone discussing the Ferrari 0126A which was given a Chevy engine in 1958.

Randy’s books reveal that Ferrari racer John von Neumann’s two 625 TRCs were later re-engined, one with a Chevy (0680), and the other with a Ford (0672). His 500 TRC (0708) was the recipient of a Buick engine. Owen Coon installed a Chevy engine in the 1958 Le Mans winning Ferrari 250 TR (0728) while his friend George Reed put a Ford engine in the ex-factory 250 TR59/60 (0770). George Tilp fitted an Offenhauser engine into his 500 Mondial (0464). All of these cars were road raced or drag raced with their American engines. Other notable examples include the ex-Jim Kimberly 375 MM (0364), which became the Rich Lyeth Hi-Tork Special and the ex-John Edgar 857 S Monza (0588) raced by Oscar Koveleski known as “Car 54 Where Are You.” Both had Chevy engines.

The ex-John Edgar 857 S Monza (0588) as raced by Oscar Koveleski.

Last year Randy brought his Bowtie Ferrari (1175 GT) to the Concorso, which was the car’s final show culminating an almost 20-year ownership prior to being sold to The Old Racing Car Company in Felmingham, England. The car will be kept in its current configuration and as such, is likely the last remaining pre-1960 two-seater Ferrari still with a Chevy engine.

Ferrari (1175 GT) still has its Chevy engine.

All the cars covered in Randy’s Bowtie Ferraris book (except 1175 GT) that still exist today have been reunited with their original, or original type, engine and thus are highly desired and valuable cars that likely owe their survival to the interim use of an American engine. Two such cars were displayed this year as follows:

340 America (0126A) owned by Donald Murray of Costa Mesa, California

This car was delivered to an Italian owner in 1951 and reportedly was returned to the factory 17 times between 1952 and 1954 to be “repaired and revised.” The car came to the U.S. west coast in 1958 and the Ferrari engine was replaced with a Chevy V8. In the 1960s it was sold to a Naval officer who took the car to the Guantanamo naval base in Cuba. The officer was reportedly killed in Vietnam and the car stored in a barn in North Carolina for several years.

In 1976 it was restored using an engine from a 250 GT PF Cabriolet. A 340-type engine was built for the car in 1988 and installed along with a period correct five-speed competition gearbox. The car went from Italy to Japan, Mexico and then in 1994 back to the U.S. It has since competed in historic racing events and been displayed at various concours. Murray purchased the car in 2009.

750 Monza (0518M) shown by Peter Markowski of Vergennes, Vermont

The Ferrari factory painted this Monza yellow and sold it to Jacques Swaters of Brussels to be raced by his Ecurie Nationale Belge racing team in 1955. From March 1955 until February 1956, it competed in several European sports car races with its best finish a third at Spa driven by Roger Laurent.

In 1957 the car was purchased by John Kilborn of Decatur, Illinois who raced it several times in 1957 and 58. It was then sold to Dean Knight of Oklahoma City. Knight and “Big” Jim Hall raced the car in 1959. Bobby Alyward, Goebel and Delmo Johnson raced the car for Knight for a couple more years around Texas and Oklahoma. Author Willem Oosthoek designated this car as a “Chevarri”.

Karl Bloechle of Switzerland purchased the car in 1981 and had it restored with an engine from a 275 GTB. During the next twenty years, Bloechle and others ran the car in historic races in Europe and England. Dan Ghose of Connecticut purchased the car in 2001 and raced it in historic events in the U.S. and Italy.
Recently, under Markowski’s oversight, the car was restored again, now back to its original yellow Swaters livery.

Two cars featured in Randy’s second book, Blue Oval, et al, Ferraris, were also on display. These cars retain their transplanted American V8 engines and are examples of several such 60s four-seat street Ferraris not restored back to their original configuration. At least 20 similar Ferraris are known to still have American engines.

This car was converted to Chevy power in the 1970s and was once owned by Harry Hibler, editor of Hot Rod Magazine, who reportedly planned to write an article about a hot rod Ferrari for the magazine. The unfinished project was purchased by Briggs in 1999 and in 2004 initial restoration of the car was undertaken by his father. Briggs has continued to update the car over the years and it is in beautiful condition today. His unique 12 cylinder diesel transporter made its first trip after restoration to the Concorso.

250 GTE 3137, owned by Gary Briggs of Haywood, California, on a very special hauler.

Shortly after Lipscomb purchased this car in 1976 he replaced its ailing Ferrari engine with a Ford 289 and the car became known as a “Ferrari Cobra”. Lipscomb has an interesting story about the car on a display board with the car.

330 GT 5455, owned by Mike Lipscomb of Carmel, California.

Not too far away at the Goodings Peeble Beach auction another car from Randy’s Bowtie Ferraris book was also a centerpiece car. 0046M, formerly owned by Darrell Westfaul, a University of Alabama classmate of Randy’s, sold for $5.45 million and although the Ferrari drive train had been reinstalled in the car, it was not running. The car looked just like it did when it came out of Westfaul’s warehouse where it had been parked from 1967 until 2007.

0046M, formerly owned by Darrell Westfaul.

Randy’s books have gotten favorable reviews from Ferrari historian Michael T. Lynch and others. Bowtie Ferraris sold out its initial run of 500 copies and Randy had a second printing done of 250 copies. Only a few copies of Blue Oval, et al, Ferraris remain and it will not be reprinted. These are the only books ever written on the subject of American engined Ferraris and a must add to an enthusiast’s motorsports library. Check out the Bowtie and Blue Oval Ferraris website at www.racmotorsportspublishing.com