With some measure of convoluted thought, the automobile pictured above could be the single most important example of a pure roadgoing Ferrari of the 1960s. That?s a bold statement for a car that, at first blush, looks like a 275GTB. It?s also a machine that may have flown under the radar of less hard-core fans of the storied Italian marque. So what is it" Well, it?s a Ferrari 275GTB. A Speciale to be exact, a one-of-one automobile built by Pininfarina for its founder, Battista “Pinin” Farina.

Pinin and Il Commendatore: Battista Pininfarina and Enzo Ferrari.
The Italian design house, of course, has long been associated with Ferrari. Pininfarina?s first work for the company was a Ferrari 212 Inter. In those days, Enzo?s creations wore bodies from a number of carrozzerie, including Vignale, Touring, and Ghia. The story goes that in 1951, Ferrari and Farina (Battista didn?t legally combine his nickname and his given surname until 1961) met on neutral ground at a restaurant in Tortona, halfway between Turin and Modena, because neither man wanted to be seen as the supplicant, hat in hand, asking for work. That meeting led to a string of Pininfarina-designed Ferraris that continued on until the F12berlinetta left production last year. Ferrari?s 250 series consisted of a broad spectrum of cars?from the blistering homologation-special 250GTO and the mid-engined 250LM to the relaxed and luxurious 250GT/E and Series I/II Pininfarina cabriolets. The 275 series, in co...