Exactly 40 years ago a celebration was held at the house and racing circuit owned by the late Pierre Bardinon to mark the 20th anniversary of his then already famous Collection Mas du Clos, an unique assemblage of rare racing Ferraris. At that time the Collection Mas du Clos had some 70 Ferrari racing cars, including examples of sports-racing cars, as here, GT cars and F1 and F2 treasures as well. Old Ferrari racing cars were of little value in the late 1960s and early 1970s so building a superb collection did not involve today’s lofty prices. Nevertheless, the Bardinon family had had a long time and highly successful involvement in a well-respected leather goods business in Paris. In fact there was an amusing and no doubt aprocryphal tale that they had made a fortune suppling the rabbit’s fur hats for Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812!
Among the cars above are a 335 Sport, a 250TR (the 1958 Le Mans winner) and a 250TR/59 with a line of prototypes behind them. The Bardinon’s family’s 14th Century house can be seen in the background. Behind the cars are the modern outbuildings used to house the Collection.
The lineup to the left includes a 375 Plus (the 1954 Le Mans winner), a 121LM (found abandoned in a chicken coop in New Jersey some years before by an American friend), an 860 Monza (the Sebring 12 Hour race winner in 1956) and an ex-Scuderia Ferrari 410 Sport. The prototype cars along the far wall are pictured below. These include, just below, a 268SP and a 275P (the 1963 and 1964 Le Mans winner) while further below are three later prototypes: a 350 CanAm (actually a revised 330P4), one of the two existing 312Ps and a 312PB.
The Collection’s GT cars, although not shown in these photos, included a competition 250 SWB, two 250GTOs (a 1962 and a 1964), a special 375MM berlinetta and a one-off 410 Sport berlinetta (the first Ferrari GT car bodied by Scaglietti).
Pierre Bardinon passed away in 2012, followed not long thereafter by his wife Yanne. For some years, starting in the early 1980s, Pierre Bardinon had commenced the disposition of a number of cars in his collection and some of the remaining important cars have continued to be sold by his children. It was a unique pleasure and honor for everyone who had been fortunate to have seen the Collection Mas du Clos assembled together and to hear these fantastic racing cars being driven around the Bardinon private racing circuit.
Photos ©The Klemantaski Collection –www.klemcoll.com
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