The artisans at Amalgam Collection have recently unveiled an extraordinarily beautiful handmade creation honouring the design of the iconic Ferrari 250 GTO: a hand hammered aluminium replica of the 250 GTO body, at a quarter the size of the original. Each piece has been forged from aluminium sheet using traditional panel-beating methodology, forming the panels with a hammer over a buck, exactly as the original full-size bodies were created by Carozzerie Scaglietti in the early 1960s.
Measuring 1.08 metres (42.5 inches) long and weighing approximately five kilograms, these body replicas represent the start of a new collection of high-end pieces from the Bristol UK based company, already world renowned for their reference level, large scale car hyper-detailed models. Founder Sandy Copeman says: “Since modelling Ralph Lauren’s Ferrari 250 GTO back in 2009, as each year goes by, we’ve fallen ever more in love with the perfect form and beauty of the body of this most important Ferrari icon. The form of the 250 GTO represents more than any other the quintessence of the Ferrari brand in the collective imagination. The longer you look and the deeper you go into every detail, the more perfect is the outcome of the creative work by Bizzarini, Forghieri and probably most importantly regarding the body, the finalisation of the design by Scaglietti.”
This 250 GTO body replica is the first in a series of bodies that Amalgam will produce
The investment in skilled work-hours is significant, and so each piece will be individually made to order. Copeman commented “We at Amalgam, and the design team at Ferrari themselves are of the opinion that, when displayed in the hammered finish, these 1:4 body replicas are most expressive of the raw beauty of the original form and the very skilled process of creating them.”
The buck over which the body is formed has been machined using extremely accurate data, gathered from digital scans of several significant 250 GTOs Amalgam has modelled over the years. The body is shown installed on a walnut wood trestle, other mounts can be designed and supplied to order. Wall-mounting the piece would also make a stunning display.
This 250 GTO body replica is the first in a series of bodies that Amalgam will produce. Next in line is the 250 Testa Rossa, also a Scaglietti design. “The 275 GTB and 365 GTB/4 are also in our sights to follow in 2023 and 2024” remarks Copeman.
The Hammered Aluminium Ferrari 250 GTO Body Replica can be found on:
https://www.amalgamcollection.com
About AMALGAM COLLECTION and their history
Amalgam are recognised worldwide as makers of the finest hand-made large-scale models. Their work is unique in its attention to detail, with a focus on creating models that truly capture the style and spirit of each car. They have dedicated all their skill and passion to achieving a level of excellence that raises the impact and value of each finished piece to a level far above anything previously created.
For owners of cars they have already modelled at 1:8 in a limited edition, for which the tooling already exists, they offer a tailormade service, customising a model to perfectly match the specification of the real car.
For owners of unique very high value cars, Amalgam Collection offer an even bigger 1:5 or 1:4 ‘one-off’ model build from their UK workshops in Bristol, England. They will digitally scan the car wherever it is in the world and take up to a thousand pictures of every detail, allowing them to perfectly and accurately replicate everything at scale. Given the significant number of hours required to develop a unique model the costs are high, so the model is built at a very large scale to maximise the impact and detail, and to deliver the ultimate finished piece.
Amalgam Collection’s design, management and development heart is in England, with extraordinarily skilled and dedicated teams producing the bigger editions in Hungary and China. They are a multinational, multicultural team of crafts-men and women, dedicated to creating the world’s most precise, beautiful and exclusive models. Inspired by the F1 teams and iconic luxury car marques of England and Italy that they serve and partner with, they take huge pride in their mission to perfectly capture the designs, and honour the designers, drivers and creators of the automotive art they love.
Originally a partnership of four talented model-makers formed in 1985, from the start Amalgam created finely tuned models for the most important UK and German designers and architects. Working closely with Norman Foster’s team on the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank and on the Hong Kong Airport project was a fast, steep learning curve which quickly opened their eyes to subtle aesthetics and refined engineering. Working with such gifted architects their passion and desire to model the very best designs was ignited, which in due course led them to Williams F1 and Adrian Newey who were dominating the F1 championship in 1995, then on to Maranello and to the massively important design heritage of Enzo Ferrari in 1999, and latterly to the works of Pininfarina and Ettore Bugatti.
The seminal performance and luxury car designers of the early to mid-20th century were obsessed with achieving ever higher speeds, lighter and more powerful engines, more streamlined bodies, an impassioned quest that inevitably resulted in elegant and beautiful solutions as a consequence of stretching the supreme excellence of the craftsmanship and engineering to the very limits of what could be achieved at the time.
The companies that today bear these iconic names continue to be inspired, and their creativity is still fuelled, by the extraordinary passion and genius of their founders. Amalgam Collection too find inspiration in the creations of the founders and their companies who continue to design and create automotive artworks.
