Overview

Just the third 300BC ever built, ST 403 BC is the marque’s benchmark documentation case — a Bertone-bodied, Crosley-powered spider first raced by Henry Wessells III at Watkins Glen in 1952 and later given a two-year, no-expense-spared, historically forensic restoration that became a reference point for other 300BC owners.

History

ST 403 BC arrived in the United States alongside ST 401 BC and ST 402 BC — the first three 300BCs built — all three imported by Fergus Motors of New York, one of them (probably ST 401 BC) having been shown at the New York Auto Show. From Fergus all three passed to Otto Linton’s Speedcraft Enterprises of Exton, Pennsylvania — Linton being the racing driver instrumental in developing the 300BC for the American market. Wessells himself later recalled that the car was “sold through Fergus Motors (as distributor), but Tony Pompeo was in the deal, I think.” Henry Wessells III of Paoli/Ardmore, PA put down a deposit on 8 September 1951, and the car (alongside its sister car ST 402 BC, bought the same day by Tom Schatchard) arrived at Speedcraft in March 1952; the invoice was dated June 1, 1952, though delivery is understood to have happened earlier that spring (exact date unconfirmed — see Section 3). Otto Linton’s own records give 24 April 1952 as the delivery date to Wessells and note that the Crosley engine was supplied with the car but not fitted. The car carried its Bertone badge on the wing on the dash rather than on the body. A period photograph taken behind Linton’s shop in June 1952 shows 402 and 403 side by side, both already in their owners’ hands. It was Wessells’ first competition car, and he reportedly always drove it to and from races rather than trailering it. He competed through 1952 at the Duryea Hill Climb (Reading, PA), Brynfan Tyddyn, Thompson, Giants’ Despair, the Convair Trophy Races, and the Queen Catharine Cup at Watkins Glen, where he finished 2nd in class in what turned out to be the last race ever completed on the streets of Watkins Glen. Wessells later became a founding member of the Vintage Sports Car Club of America and helped establish the American Alfa Romeo Owner’s Club.

In March 1953 the car went to Sebring but did not run in the 12-hour race — according to the restoration research it was driven down from Ardmore by James Carson and scratched after a bad bearing was found on arrival, while the owner of sister car ST 402 BC recalls it being taken along purely as a spares car (accounts differ; see Section 3). Wessells raced the sister car instead, finishing 3rd in class — the two owners were friends and co-drove 402 there. Later that year, driven by his friend James Carson, ST 403 BC again finished 2nd in class in the Queen Catharine Cup on Watkins Glen’s new closed circuit. Wessells sold the car on December 31, 1954, to Herbert Whiting of Cleveland, Ohio (later founder of the Northern Ohio Region Porsche Club of America), who raced it at Cumberland and Put-in-Bay. In 1959 it passed to Kaye M. Hier of Stow, Ohio, who raced it at Put-in-Bay, Watkins Glen, and Cumberland, including an 18th-overall finish in the 1961 Queen Catharine Cup. J.D. Igleheart of White Plains, NY, bought the car in 1962 and campaigned it in VSCCA events through the 1960s-80s, with attention from Crosley specialist Candy Poole. Aside from a showing at the 2008 Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance, the car then sat largely unused for roughly two decades.

In July 2010 the car was bought by Mark Bean and Jim Utaski with an initial goal of preservation; on assessment by appraiser Miles Morris of Morris & Welford, they concluded a full restoration was required instead. Working principally with Automotive Restorations (Kent Bain) of Stratford, CT, plus Epifani Restorations and consultants John de Boer, Paolo Epifani, and Marty Stein, they carried out an exhaustively researched, historically accurate two-year rebuild — including hand-fabricating the unique early-production transmission using ST 401 BC and ST 402 BC as reference cars, color-matching original paint found in body gaps, and reproducing upholstery and floor matting from surviving originals. The sister cars contributed hardware as well as patterns: the carburettors and Braje intake manifold came from Marty Stein’s spares for ST 402 BC, and Paolo Epifani borrowed 402’s shift linkage to fabricate a correct setup for 403. The Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum, through Dr. Fred Simeone, reunited a large cache of Henry Wessells family archive documents with the car. The restoration was completed in 2012 for a documented total spend of $247,434.81, after which the car swept the 2012 East Coast concours circuit (see Racing/Contemporary Racing below) before being sold at auction in 2015 and 2016. The most telling verdict on that work came from Otto Linton himself: taken out for a ride in the finished car, he told Jim Utaski they had nailed the restoration and that it drove exactly as he remembered it when new.

The car has since belonged to Scott and Jamie Cielewich of Orlando, Florida, who describe acquiring it from Mark Bean and Jim Utaski and who also own a Siata 208. They have shown it widely — Radnor Hunt, Hershey, Cobble Beach and Boca Raton between 2016 and 2018 — and have kept the link to the car’s first family alive, one of their favourite photographs being Jamie Cielewich with Mrs. Wessells. In June 2023 the car was at Paolo Epifani’s shop having its Crosley engine rebuilt, by then finished in a red/bordeaux colour rather than the shade it wore at auction.