In 1965, Ferrari began implementing changes to the 330 GT 2+2 model that would eventually result in a discrete second series of cars. While these developments most conspicuously involved changes to the bodywork, Series II cars featured several other deviations from the original design, including a revised dashboard panel. As was often the case with Ferrari production evolution, the transition from Series I to Series II cars was not a sudden change from the end of one batch to the beginning to the next, but rather a gradual evolution of features in which some cars offered elements of both designs and are therefore best understood as ‘Interim’ cars.

Chassis 7483 is notable as being one of the later Series I examples, and as such still features the distinctive quad-headlamp arrangement and 11-louvre design on the front wings. Yet this car is considered an ‘Interim’ car as one of the first examples fitted with suspended pedals and the second-series dashboard, with three air vents rather than two. Curiously, the dash panel still employs Series I-style rocker switches rather than the toggle switches that appeared on later cars.

Factory equipped with power windows, air conditioning, and the five-speed gearbox found on second-series cars, chassis 7483 was originally finished in Bleu paint over a Rosso leather interior, combining for a very elegant colour combination. Completed in September 1965, the Ferrari was distributed to Luigi Chinetti Motors before being sold to the first private owner, Charles Raffaele of Jericho, New York. By the late-1980s, the 330 had surfaced in Southern California, and 10 years later it passed into the care of a Florida-based enthusiast.

In 2006 the ‘Interim’ 2+2 was acquired by a respected collector in the Middle East, and it has remained carefully garaged since then. As the car is in obvious need of significant refurbishment, it presents an excellent opportunity for the Ferrari enthusiast seeking to steward the full restoration of an interesting production car. Given this car’s striking original colour combination of Bleu over Rosso, the car offers an ideal platform to renew a truly unique Ferrari.

The 2+2 Ferrari models of the 1960s have earned a devoted following of their own, and this remarkable example promises to thrill once it has been restored to its original glory. Claiming elegant Series I details such as the quad-headlamp coachwork and Borrani wire wheels, yet possessing Series II mechanical advances including the long-legged five-speed gearbox, this car truly represents the best features of both series.