...he plied the hard-nosed team manager with cocktails.

The contract outlined a partnership that was to last until 1975: the Gulf Oil Racing Team was born. And the Dry Martinis? Wyer was offered the use of the company’s Sabreliner for his transfer from New York to Pittsburgh. With the co-pilot doubling as “a most efficient steward”, he plied the hard-nosed team manager (ex-Aston Martin, and the man who started the GT40 programme) with cocktails.

No estimate has been advised; however, given its provenance (owned by arch-enthusiast, British ex-pat Charles R.J. Noble or his family for more than 55 years) and the fact that as one of the 50 original ‘Blowers’, and one of just three supplied as Le Mans-specification chassis, we are expecting it to change hands for an impressively high figure.

Everyone knows that running an Italian supercar will never be cheap. And there will come times when even simple service work is held up for the want of a back-ordered part. The French company Red Parts is there for those occasions, stocking thousands of components, many (almost) worth their weight in gold.