2022 Pebble Beach Auction results
This years auction featured two of Gaston Andrey's national championship winning Ferraris being placed up for sale. The Ferrari 500 TRC #0706 was sold out of the Oscar Davis Collection. The second Ferrari was a 500 Mondial 0430 MD which was from same family for 40 years.
The Oscar Davis Ferrari 500 TRC was the second highest selling Ferrari at Pebble Beach was due to the condition and provenance. Campaigned to numerous wins by a luminary racing driver lineup, this beautiful 500 TRC is a highly desirable example of the early Testa Rossa. Slotted in at the end of the production run, 0706 MDTR is the second-to-last car built and in April 1957 it was loaned by the factory to François Picard, who repainted the car French blue and raced it under the banner of his Ecurie Los Amigos. After scoring three class wins through early June, including 5th overall at the Portuguese Grand Prix, Picard teamed with rising star Richie Ginther to run the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In late 1957 the Ferrari was sold through Luigi Chinetti to Mike Garber of Hamden, Connecticut, the sponsor of the legendary Swiss-born racing driver Gaston “Gus” Andrey. Still finished in its Le Mans blue livery, Andrey first drove the beautiful 500 TRC at the Nassau Bahamas Speed Week in December 1957. Andrey failed to finish the Tourist Trophy event but came back strong with a 2nd in class in the Governor’s Trophy prelim race and a respectable 5th in class in the hotly contested Nassau Trophy race. Following Nassau, the car remained in the Southeast and was entered by Mike Garber in the 1958 12 Hours of Sebring. Driven by Andrey, Bill Loyd, and for a short stint the great Dan Gurney, the car ran well until the 125th lap when it suffered a rear axle bearing failure.Following Sebring, the car was refinished in a two-tone scheme of white over a red lower body, a red stripe, and Swiss emblems on each side, paying homage to Andrey’s Swiss heritage. 0706 MDTR was driven by Andrey in a slew of races through 1959, earning him the SCCA E-Modified championships in 1958 and 1959.
Almost always among the top 10 finishers, the car claimed an overall win at Lime Rock in April 1958, and a class win at the 1958 President’s Cup at Marlboro, Maryland. It also won its class at Bridgehampton in June 1958, Virginia International Raceway in October 1958, Thompson in May 1959, and Lime Rock in July 1959.
The Ferrari’s success prompted a fair amount of coverage in the motoring press, including a piece in the October 1959 issue of Road & Track, and cover car status for the January 1960 issue of Sports Car Graphic.
The 2nd Ferrari was a Ferrari 500 Mondial 0430 MD. This was the car which Gaston Andrey won his 2nd National Championship. In all, Ferrari built 22 examples of the Series I 500 Mondial for the 1954 season. Most wore handsome PininFarina bodies, styled along the lines of the 375 MM.
A compact and nimble sports racer with thumping four-cylinder power, the 500 Mondial proved successful from the outset, capturing class wins at Barcelona, Casablanca, Imola, and the Mille Miglia. The 500 Mondial Spider , chassis 0430 MD, is among the 13 examples built with aluminum coachwork by Pinin Farina and one of five that featured the low-grille, covered-headlamp frontal treatment.
