In this episode of Petrolicious a 625 TRC originally owned by John von Neumann is featured. According to tamsoldracecarsite.net, “John von Neumann is one of the two people most responsible for Ferrari and Porsche’s early success in North America.” The site continues, “He was involved in both the commercial and sporting aspects of Ferrari and Porsche in Southern California and raced Ferraris in Europe, the US, Mexico, Argentina, and Nassau.”

Be sure to check out the video above of this pedigreed ’57 which was involved in over 50 races during ownership under Neumann. The video states that out of those 50 races the ’57 took 1st place in over half!

Currently, the car is owned by Bruce Meyer who won the ’57 during a silent auction. He allegedly, “bet the ranch” on it and came out on top. Bruce talks a little bit about John saying, “John von Neumann was very California centric. He was the Ferrari, Volkswagen, and the Porsche distributor–really the pillar of sports car racing in California. In 1957 John von Neumann ordered two very special TRCs with 625 Le Mans/Formula 1 engines in them which were 2.5L engines, more powerful than any other engine that had been put in a TRC.”

The video goes into detail about the car’s history and while it’s not a domestic its great to see what else was going on during the golden age of American hot rodding and kustomizing.

Bruce opens the video with this statement and we’ll close with it, “when I’m driving this car what’s going through my head is total disbelief. I did not grow up in a privileged environment and never thought I’d have more than some low-end driver. I’ve exceeded my expectations in the car arena.”