Modelant Ferrari 365 P2 NART No.26 White Elephant Le Mans 1967

Modelant Ferrari 365 P2 NART No.26 White Elephant Le Mans 1967.

Replica 1/32 scale artisan slot car.

Team: North American Racing Team
Drivers: Chuck Parsons - Pedro Rodríguez
Race: 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans
Position: DNF - accident (4hr)

Production is limited and numbered to 100 units.

We at Modelant made this model on commission from Pendle Slot Racing, our dealer in the United Kingdom. After the death of John, owner of Ocar (one of the oldest resin brands on the British Isles), Pendle acquired Ocar’s moulds and reproduction rights. One of their best works was the Ferrari 365 P2, which Pendle revised for its marketability as a kit, which you can purchase on their website.

At Modelant, we received the proposal to work on the finished, or Ready to Run version. And we did so, after subjecting the original mould to a thorough update to increase the detail, and adapt it to our finishing touches and quality standards. We are proud to be able to manufacture this model, which had been in our project portfolio for a long time.

Modelant: the tradition of handmade.

This is a 1/32 scale slot car replica, made as usual in high-quality resin, completely handcrafted in our workshop. It features the NART team’s Ferrari 365 P2 Berlinetta Drogo, known as the “White Elephant” and a Le Mans competitor in 1967.

The chassis was also custom-designed and manufactured by us and powered with calibrated material for an optimal performance on the track.

The icing on the cake is that we include a spectacular pencil and ink drawing, made by artist Diego Serrano, and our traditional wooden trunk-style box containing a base-scene from the 1967 Le Mans circuit, a diptych with an excerpt from the model’s history, and the new lifting stands for the exhibition.

At Modelant, we remain committed to sustainability. Most of the materials used in our workshop, from resin to paint, are locally sourced and recyclable, helping to protect the environment.

Our commitment is to create our cars with the lowest possible environmental impact. This includes the materials, the selection of external suppliers, and our workshop and tools.

The Forgotten Stories: Ferrari 365 P2 NART “White Elephant”

We know there were many Ferraris that weren’t red, but a Ferrari that isn’t represented by a horse, but by an elephant, this is unique. A forgotten Ferrari that every collector should know about.

When we think about Ferrari, we automatically associate the colour red and the Prancing Horse. We know that there were many Ferraris that raced in different colours, such as the yellow or silver ones of the Belgian Ecurie Francorchamps, the green cars of David Piper, or the blue or white ones of American teams. But a Ferrari that is not represented by a horse, but by an elephant, is unique.

We must begin our story in 1965, when Ferrari was focused on the development of the 330 P3s for 1966. The five Ferrari 275 P2 and 330 P2 from the previous season, which, although named differently, are two versions of the same car differentiated by their engine cylinder capacity, were updated with a more powerful engine and bodied similarly to the P3 by Piero Drogo, former driver and owner of Carrozzeria Sports Car of Modena. The 365 P2 were born, sold to owners of racing teams. All of them in red.

Our protagonist is one of these 1966 365 P2, specifically chassis 0838 from 1965, belonging to the North American NART team, owned by the American importer Luigi Chinetti. This meant that for Ferrari, it was much more than a private team, as the United States was the main market for Maranello cars.

The Key Accident

The 1966 season began very promisingly for the 0838, taking part in the 24 Hours of Daytona, where it finished fourth with top-level drivers such as Pedro Rodríguez and Mario Andretti. However, in the following race, the 12 Hours of Sebring with the same driving duo, it suffered an accident with no consequences for the driver, but a spectacular fire started that seriously damaged the car.

Drogo decides it’s worth repairing the 0838. This was something normal, either to resell it to collectors or to display it in saloons or museums to make some money out of it, but the Modena workshop had a wonderful idea in mind: to completely rebuild it and return it to the track. And not just at any race, but the most important one in the world, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

At that time, Les Hunaudières was 7 kms completely straight, without the current chicanes. This required three things from cars: power, aerodynamic penetration, and stability. Drogo built the body with very sharp shapes and a long aerodynamic tail that should allow the 365 P2 to slice through the air on the long straights of Le Mans. Some of the solutions implemented were a clear step forward compared to its competitors. For instance, a rear wing with a very wide yet very long chord was designed for specially for the car. Two “shark fins” were also added to improve stability at high speeds. And to prevent the tendency to lift off, small appendages were attached on the sides of the nose.

The White Elephant is Born

The colours will be those of the NART team, the white and blue of the United States. The 365 P2 will actually be all white, with only the shark fins, the headlight cavities, and the front whiskers in blue. Its larger than usual size and rounded body shapes give the feeling of being in front of an even larger machine, so they began to call it elephant, the white elephant.

The “White Elephant”, more elegantly called “Berlinetta Drogo,” entered the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans with the number 18, without the shark fins and with an all-American top-quality squad of drivers. The team included Bob Bondurant and Masten Gregory, who won the previous edition of Le Mans together with Jochen Rindt and Ed Hugus, always with the NART team. This time, the adventure didn’t go as planned because after 88 laps, the transmission broke, forcing the team to quit.

The NART team remained convinced that the pachyderm was working very well and continued developing it for the next session.

The 1967 season began with another race where speed was paramount: the 24 Hours of Daytona. A race remembered for the arrival of the three official Ferraris as absolute winners. The start of the race saw our elephant in their midst, until the gearshift failed on lap 338. Either way, the Drogo proved to be competitive and very, very fast.

Le Mans 1967

The goal was always Le Mans, and the car was basically the same as the previous year, but with one fundamental change for our story: the addition of the shark fins, painted in blue, and a nice white elephant in the same position as the Ferrari Cavallino Rampante. And here is the legend of the only Ferrari with an Elefantino Rampante.

The Elefantino was entered as number 26, with Pedro Rodríguez and Chuck Parsons, but this time there was no better luck, as it quitted due to an accident.

After the race, chassis 0838 was returned to its original bodywork, losing forever its characteristic shape. It never competed in another race, becoming part of a French collection. Years later, it was purchased by an American collector who occasionally shows it off at events, but very few remember the past of the only Ferrari that, instead of a horse, was once an elephant.