The English engineers building £79,000 mini Ferraris
They may not be road legal, but these sleek collector’s items are very fast and very beautiful, says David Green
In the heart of the Oxfordshire countryside at a former Second World War RAF bomber training station, Ferraris are being painstakingly assembled by hand and are available from £79,000. Sounds intriguing. Yet all is not what it seems.
Bicester Heritage is home to a group of specialist automotive businesses each with their own skill set and speciality subject. One of the most successful on the site is the Little Car Company, which builds small-scale replicas from the hall of fame of the classic car world. Founded by Ben Hedley, it emerged after he realised “that most classic cars aren’t being driven or enjoyed by most collectors in fear of depreciation”. His solution celebrates “icons of the past by introducing these vehicles in a new fully electric way”.
The company’s first car was a Baby Bugatti Type 35, and it has since built a Little Car Company version of the legendary Aston Martin DB5. Strong sales and a finely crafted product have resulted in the automotive holy grail of licensing opportunities — a deal with Ferrari. The natural car with which to start this relationship was the 250 Testa Rossa. The 75 per cent-scale junior classic was built using the original drawings of the car from the factory in Maranello and is limited to 299 units. It’s a thing of considerable detail and beauty, with a genuine Nardi steering wheel and Borrani wire wheels.
The Little Car Company likes to create special editions. It did this with its mini DB5, offering a James Bond version replete with (fake) machineguns, smoke screen and rotating number plates. With the Testa Rossa J it is offering a souped-up race variant that honours the model’s three wins at Le Mans in 1958, 1960 and 1961. Called the Pacco Gara edition, which sounds far better than the English translation, “race pack”, the model gets a stylish colour scheme, additional exterior side mirror, period-correct spotlights and a passenger tonneau cover in the same black or red Ferrari leather as the seats.
As purposeful as the car looks, it’s more than a cosmetic upgrade, with the model receiving a boost in power to 14kW, drilled brake discs and adjustable dampers. A removable roll cage and racing harness complete the motorsport look and add extra safety features to the performance-based model.
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The size of these creations suggests a market for children, but the reality is that these models are far too exquisite and valuable for the kids to be let out in them, ice cream in hand. Don’t be fooled by the diminutive, cute look of the cars; these things are fast. Scary fast. The junior classics are also surprisingly roomy, fitting all but the largest people. They are not road legal but, as Hedley explains, “Our clients use their cars for a wealth of different reasons. Some use them to drive around their estates or to take on racing days, others purchase them as art pieces or as an investment.” A collector of “big” Ferraris sums it up: “To own a unique Ferrari-licensed model like this was an absolute must for my collection.”
It may appear, on first impressions, to be an extravagant plaything, but given that the last time an actual 250 Testa Rossa changed hands about a decade ago it sold for a rumoured $40 million, you may just be able to justify buying this electric adult toy.
thelittlecar.co
