275 GTB (275 GTB and GTB/4)

Replacing the 250

By the early 1960s the 250 GT line was a decade old and cheaper cars, the Jaguar E-type among them, were matching its performance. Ferrari's answer, shown at the Paris Salon in October 1964, was the 275 GTB, named for the 275 cc swept by each of its twelve cylinders. Sources differ on which 250 it replaced: Classic & Sports Car names the 250 GT Lusso, Motor Sport the 250 GT SWB Berlinetta, and in practice it did the job of both. The body was drawn at Pininfarina, credited to Francesco Salamone, and built in steel or optionally aluminium by Scaglietti in Modena. Doug Nye thought the shape looked outdated when new; the verdict has softened since.

The Engineering Step

What mattered was underneath. The 275 GTB was the first road-going Ferrari with independent rear suspension, double wishbones and coil springs at all four corners, and the first with a rear-mounted transaxle, the five-speed gearbox combined with the final drive in the manner of the 250 Testa Rossa racer, which put more weight over the driven wheels. The chassis was the Tipo 563, a ladder of oval-section steel tube. The engine was Gioacchino Colombo's all-aluminium 60-degree V12 at 3,286 cc with a single camshaft per bank, three twin-choke Webers, and a claimed 280 bhp at 7,600 rpm; six carburettors were a factory option quoted at 300 to 320 bhp. Real output of the three-carburettor car was nearer 240 to 250 bhp. Disc brakes were fitted all round and, for the first time on a Ferrari, cast alloy wheels.

Short Nose, Long Nose and the Driveshaft

The first cars, now called Series I or short-nose, had an abbreviated front, a small rear window and an open driveshaft running on a centre bearing between engine and transaxle. The shaft was the weak point: with the engine and gearbox mounted separately, alignment drifted and vibration followed, and Goodwood's buyer's guide notes that Ferrari's own history concedes the difficulty. CV joints were added at the end of 1965, and then the driveline was enclosed in a torque tube that tied engine and transaxle rigidly together, with the mounting points reduced from seven to four. At the same time the nose was lengthened by nearly four inches to cure lift at speed, the rear screen enlarged and the boot lid hinged externally to free luggage space, producing the Series II long-nose. Sources disagree on exactly when the torque tube arrived: Wikipedia and Sports Car Market place it within the two-cam run, while Classic & Sports Car describes it as a GTB/4 addition.

Four Camshafts

At Paris in October 1966 the 275 GTB/4 replaced the two-cam car. Ferrari's own page describes it as the first production Ferrari with the four overhead camshaft V12, derived directly from the P2 prototype. The Tipo 226 engine kept the 77 by 58.8 mm bore and stroke, narrowed the included valve angle to 54 degrees, added dry-sump lubrication with two scavenge pumps and a roughly 16-litre tank, and ran six Weber 40 DCN carburettors as standard for a claimed 300 bhp at 8,000 rpm. The torque tube was universal. Outside, the only giveaway was a raised centre section on the bonnet. Around 330 were built to 1968, though two specialist titles say 350, and about 16 were alloy-bodied. Ten open GTS/4 cars, the NART Spiders, were built for Luigi Chinetti's North American Racing Team, bought at about $8,000 each and listed at $14,400; Road & Track called one the most satisfying sports car in the world.

Competition and Aftermath

Ferrari built four thin-alloy 275 GTB/C Speciale cars for 1965, and chassis 6885 finished third overall at Le Mans that June. For 1966 a lightweight Tipo 590 A run of 11 or 12 275 GTB/C followed, with riveted 0.71 mm alloy panels and an open driveshaft retained for quick clutch changes; at Le Mans 1966 chassis 09035 was eighth overall and first in class, with 09027 tenth and second in class. Tullio Marchesi won the Italian GT championship in 1966 and 1967 in 09007. Even the 1964 prototype, 06003, was pressed into the 1966 Monte Carlo Rally. The 275's reputation has risen steadily since, with the Speciale 06701 selling for $26.4 million in 2014 and NART Spider 10709 for $27.5 million with premium in 2013.

The two-cam driveline is the model's characteristic fault. On cars without the torque tube, which includes every Series I short-nose, the engine and rear-mounted transaxle are located separately and the open driveshaft's centre bearing depends on their alignment; when it drifts the result is vibration and, in Goodwood's words, transmission issues. Ferrari's own history acknowledged the difficulty and the torque tube was the cure, which is one reason later cars are preferred by drivers as well as by the market. The Tipo 226 four-cam engine has what DK Engineering describes as an inherent oil leak design flaw, addressed with in-house modifications during their rebuild of 09475, and a full engine and transaxle rebuild on that car involved new pistons, valves and bearings. Six-carburettor cars, whether two-cam or four-cam, are harder to keep in tune than the three-carburettor version and reward specialist setting-up. Corrosion attacks the oval-tube frame around the body and suspension mounts, the floors and sills of steel-bodied cars and the door hinges, and because the fibreglass floors are commonly left in situ during restoration, hidden frame condition beneath them is not always known. Alloy-bodied cars trade corrosion for the softness of thin aluminium and the cost of correct panel repair. None of these is unusual for a 1960s Ferrari; what distinguishes the 275 is that the outlay to put a poor car right is measured against a seven-figure value, so a documented mechanical history from a known specialist carries real weight.

Identity comes first, because the value spread between configurations is wide and conversions are old and well executed. Ferrari Classiche certification, available to road cars over twenty years old and dependent on the original chassis, is the usual proof that engine, transaxle and body are the ones the factory fitted; both RM Sotheby's Munich 06897 and the Monterey 2025 09931 carried the Red Book, and Motor Sport's guide observes that non-matching, older-restoration cars are the ones that struggle at auction. Nose configuration is the next question. Short-nose cars were converted to long-nose in period and are now being converted back: Tom Hartley Jnr's account of a right-hand-drive 1965 six-carburettor car altered to long-nose in 1966 and returned to short-nose in restoration shows how fluid this is, and a car's nose should match its chassis number and its factory build sheet rather than its badge. Carburettor count and the driveline arrangement should likewise be checked against the build record, since six-carburettor manifolds and torque tubes have both been added later. On the structure, Goodwood flags the tubular frame around body and suspension mounts, floors and sills on steel cars, and door hinges as the corrosion points; DK Engineering's restoration of 09475 mentions that the fibreglass floors are usually left in place, so a fully stripped car is unusual and worth documenting. Colour changes are routine, with 09475 spending forty years in red over its original Celeste, and so is a history of respray. A GTB/4 should show a dry-sump system in good order and an engine that does not weep from the cam covers. For competition-badged cars, Goodwood's warning stands: confirm it is a factory GTB/C and not a later conversion of a road car.

As of September 2026, classic.com's market benchmark for the two-cam 275 GTB stands at $2,639,867 on a rising trend, with an average recorded sale of $2,398,765 and the lowest tracked result at $1,125,000 for a 1965 car in May 2024. The most recent results it lists are two RM Sotheby's Monterey sales in August 2026: $2,700,000 for a 1966 long-nose alloy car with six carburettors, chassis 08057, and $2,177,500 for a 1965 car; RM Sotheby's Munich sold the Classiche-certified short-nose 06897 for 2,367,500 euros in October 2025 after about 460,000 euros of recent restoration. The four-cam market sits higher. As of September 2026 classic.com's 275 GTB/4 benchmark is $3,420,641, also rising, with an average sale of $3,372,283, a low of 2,283,125 euros in April 2026 and a high of $6,050,000 for the alloy-bodied, highly original chassis 10269 at Mecum Kissimmee in January 2026. Between those, Broad Arrow made 3,015,625 euros in October 2025 and $3,415,000 in March 2026, Gooding Christie's $3,030,000 in March 2026 and Mecum $2,860,000 in May 2026, while RM Sotheby's Monterey 2025 failed to sell the Classiche-certified 09931 against a $3.5 to $4 million estimate. Gooding's 2021 results of $3,586,000 for the alloy GTB/4 10025 and $3,662,500 for the one-owner 10443 show the band has moved little for steel cars in five years. All of these are prices with buyer's premium. Sterling data from The Classic Valuer gives a median of £1,780,385 across 76 tracked 275 GTB auction appearances, against a 2019 trade view of £1.5 to £2.5 million.