NEILL BRUCE’S FERRARI GET-TOGETHER
Neill Bruce celebrated the publication of his new book 50 Years with Ferraris with a gathering of old friends and associates from Maranello Concessionaires. They got together at his local pub, The Carpenters Arms in Burghclere, Hampshire on 26 July.
They are pictured with a singularly appropriate Ferrari: this 1966 275 GTB/C (chassis number 09035) was raced successfully by Maranello Concessionaires at Le Mans in 1966, winning its class and finishing eighth overall, after which Colonel Ronnie Hoare sold it to Paul Vestey, who remains the current owner. Vestey also enjoyed success with the car, taking class wins in the 1,000km races at Montlhéry and Monza.
Evro Chairman Eric Verdon-Roe’s photo shows Neill and wife Miggie in the foreground, accompanied by (from left) Chris Hoare (Colonel Hoare’s son), Doug Nye (famed Ferrari author), Allan Mapp (Neill’s ally who accompanied him on most of his shoots of cars provided by Maranello Concessionaires), Tony Willis (he ran Maranello Sales for some time and now looks after the Maranello Archive), John Leaman (he persuaded Neill to write the book), John Warner (former finance director), Chrissie and Mark Konig (Mark was sales director) and Paul Baber (one of the sales team).