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Chassis:
One of the Scuderia Ferrari works cars, chassis 50013 was extensively raced during the 1935 and 1936 seasons by the likes of Giuseppe Farina, Antonio Brivio and Tazio Nuvolari. It was in this car that Nuvolari scored one of his greatest victories, at the 1936 Coppa Cieno. After retiring his own 12C 36, he walked back to the pits but returned to the race in 50013, which had been started by Carlo Pintacuda. Driving like a man possessed, he managed to make up a seven lap deficit to the entire field, which included the Auto Union team.
Towards the end of 1936, the 8C 35 was sold to Swiss gentleman racer Hans Ruesch. He raced the car with considerable success at a wide variety of events all over Europe and also in South Africa. Among the most notable results were a victory in the Donnington Grand Prix with Richard Seaman as co-driver and a win in the Bremgarten Grand Prix. Ruesch also raced the car the 1937 Monaco Grand Prix where he finished eighth and proved faster than the Scuderia Ferrari drivers. In 1938, the car was damaged when R.E.L. 'Buddy' Featherstonaugh rolled it at Crystal Palace. Once repaired, Ruesch raced 50013 several more times before selling the car in June of 1939.
The new custodian was Robert Arbuthnot, an avid racer and the proprietor of High Speed Motors ltd. in London. He also employed the services of Ruesch' mechanic Giulio Ramponi to run the car. Due to the outbreak of the War, Arbuthnot only raced it once, spinning out of the lead at Brooklands. He did set a new and perpetual lap record at Brooklands for cars up to five litres. During the War, Reg Parnell acquired the car along with as many racing cars as he could find. Arbuthnot did re-acquire the car but he could not enjoy it for very long as he had fatal road accident in August of 1946. At that time, the car served as a security for a loan with financier and amateur racer Dennis Poore. He wasted no time and raced the 12-year old car to a victory in what was Britain's first post-War circuit event. He would continue to campaign for several more years, winning the 1950 British Hill Climb championship.
Poore retained the car, long since repainted British Racing Green, until his death in 1987. The only complete surviving 8C 35 was soon after offered at Christie's 1988 Monaco sale. It changed hands for $2.8 million, which at the time was a new world record for a Grand Prix car sold at auction. Sadly, new owner Anthony Mayman passed away before the car could be restored. The 8C 35 soon passed into the hands of Peter Giddings, who had the car completely restored by marque expert Paul Grist. Giddings successfully raced the car for many seasons, before selling it to the current owner in the mid 2000s. He also continued to campaign the car in historic events until he decided to part with it and consigned it to Bonhams for the September 14 Goodwood Revival sale. The pre-sale estimate, of what is the only complete example of its type in existence is GBP 5.5 - 6.5 million.
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