This Gorgeous Cegga Ferrari Replica Illustrates Why Attitude and Provenance Are Equally Important to Authenticity
On a country road just outside of London, the Cegga 002/60 roars into view in vibrant color that gives the impression of a grainy film reel boosted to high definition. The automobile pays homage to a Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa that had an extremely unlikely life: it was raced, wrecked, rebuilt, and extensively customized before going on to achieve notable success on the European racing circuit during the height of motorsports, only to be sold and returned to stock specifications about seven years later.
For clarification, here is a quick timeline: Owner Alfred Hopf lost control of his 250 Testa Rossa in 1958 on the Freiburg-Schauinsland hill climb in Germany, and he found himself stranded deep within the Black Forest’s forests. The Gachnang brothers, from Aigle, Switzerland, purchased the wreckage the next year with the intention of racing despite the ban on motorsports in their nation at the time. The car’s handling was refined by Claude, a talented mechanic who also hired Italian coachbuilder Scaglietti to wrap the tubular steel chassis in a unique hand-beaten aluminum body. (For instance, the pert tail has a lot in common with vintage British sports cars.) Under the auspices of Scuderia Cegga, an abbreviation for Claude et Georges Gachnang Aigle, the car, dubbed Cegga 002/60, went on to win multiple hill climb races throughout Europe in the early 1960s. It also made an appearance on the starting line for the Nürburgring 1,000 Kilometers and the Four Hours of Pescara.
Building on a Ferrari 250 GT Boano chassis, this exact replica of the Cegga 002/60 recently brought close to $865,000 at auction.
However, Georges resigned from racing following an accident in 1966. The Ferrari collector who bought the car quickly had it restored to stock condition. If David Cooke hadn’t been a former English rugby player and an enthusiastic historic racer, Scuderia Cegga and its distinctive roadster might have been completely forgotten. After reading about the Gachnang brothers and their vehicles in 2016, Cooke located the brothers, who were then in their 80s, and asked them to share their extensive collection of technical drawings and old images of the 002/60. Classics specialist Neil Twyman recreated the motorcycle with inboard disc brakes, an ENV differential, and independent rear suspension (instead of a beam axle) to match the original Cegga geometry, using a Ferrari 250 GT Boano chassis and a period-correct 3.0-liter Colombo V-12. It took four years to complete, during which time the brothers frequently traveled from Switzerland to offer practical guidance. As a grieving George saw Cooke race the Cegga doppelgänger at the Goodwood Revival in 2019, the replica went on to become a frequent sight at historical events.
