458 Italia

Make
Ferrari
Segment
Coupe

Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus - the boutique, low-volume supercar manufacturer started by film producer and noted car fanatic James Glickenhaus - is still ticking. Most recently, the company thwarted the Ford Bronco at the Baja 1000 with its Boot desert racer. And when it comes to keeping things on the pavement, the company has already built two examples of the road-going the SCG 003S - or "Stradale" - for customer delivery, while the racing SCG 003C ("Competizione") has been active in sports car racing competition since 2015. Needless to say, things are getting a little long in the tooth.

Thankfully, there's fresh word that we can look forward to a better, more compelling SCG 003S this April; in a Facebook update, James Glickenhaus revealed that more than 320 changes are coming to the 003S "to make it a better car on the road."

Those changes will be applied to the company's two extant 003S examples retroactively, and the new-and-improved Stradale will be on display at the 2020 New York International Auto Show. The update didn't say anything about the nature of the hundreds of 003S tweaks now inbound, whether they are more focused on enhancing livability, performance, or both.

But the announcement does suggest that SCG is taking building exclusive, boutique road cars every bit as seriously as it takes its racing business. It's not often that an auto manufacturer retrofits updated components to sold cars for free unless compelled to do so by mass consumer outcry, or law.

The SCG 003S is the first of two planned road-legal versions of the 003C race car, the other being the 003CS - or "Competizione Stradale" - which will serve as a more explicitly track-focused version of an already extremely capable performance road car. That version is slated to get the Stradale's twin-turbo 4.4L BMW V8, but in every other respect, it will be closer to the Honda-powered Competizione, with just enough tweaks to make it streetable.

Pervasive throughout all of this is an obvious penchant for Italian supercar manufacturers, and especially Ferrari. The SCG 003 was even sculpted by Italian designer Paollo Garella, formerly of Pininfarina - the same firm that penned the Ferrari 458 Italia, F12berlinetta, FF, and countless other notable designs.

It's a big, expensive bit of homage to Italy's most famous sportscar manufacturer, and you can see the fruits of SCG's labor at NYIAS 2020.