The unbelievable story of Egon Hofer’s Ferrari 212E Montagna  Words and images by Roman Klemm

The 1969 season had a remarkable little surprise for all fans of the red cars from Maranello. Enzo Ferrari decided to enter his factory team not only in Formula 1 and the manufacturers’ world championship but, for the first and last time, also in the European Hill Climb Championship. The brilliant Mauro Forghieri built a unique prototype for this project, which should beat the opposition from Porsche and Fiat-Abarth; the Ferrari 212E Montagna, based on the Dino 206S chassis, no. 020.

Scuderia’s ‘trip to the mountains with a single car’ paid off. Ferrari's factory driver Peter Schetty dominated and won the title. In his factory car he succeeded in all the events in which he participated in the year. He won in Montseny, Spain and Mont Ventoux in France, Trento-Bondone and Cesana-Sestriere in Italy, Rossfeld and Schauinsland in Germany, and at home in Orson-Villars. The 27-year-old Swiss was redirected to the Scuderia World Championship car in the next year and did not disappoint. He and Jacky Ickx finished second in Spa in 1970 and with John Surtees he came home in third at Monza, each time in the Ferrari 512S. Schetty certainly belonged to the closest circle of Commendatore's confidants, which is evidenced by the fact that he then managed Scuderia as its Sports Director for the following two years before he completely retired from the racing world.

So, Ferrari achieved what he wanted in 1969 and his short ‘adventure on the hills’ ended there and then. The car, or rather its vital parts, were for sale and it was not difficult to get big money for this quick unique machine. Austrian businessman and racer, Egon Hofer from Salzburg, was prepared to pay the asking price and he also had his own Ferrari Dino 206S chassis on hand. On 4 December 1969, he bought the ‘Montagna’ body and other parts and let specialist Piero Drogo build a second, but again quite unique Ferrari 212E, around his own no. 016 Dino chassis.

Hofer raced the car successfully in 1970 and it was clear that some of the then very popular automobile shows were interested to present this rare prototype to an even broader audience. In the winter, one of Hofer's friends arranged the car to be displayed at the Greger Racing Show in Munich (Sepp Greger coincidentally was one of Shetty's former rivals), for which the Bavarian enterpreneur had paid him a fair amount of DM 4,000.

“When we arrived after the show to collect the car – it  was gone!” says Hofer with horror today. It disappeared along with several other exhibits. The search for these remained fruitless. It was only much later that it was revealed that a car dealer from Munich had committed the theft, for which he went to prison for a year-and-a-half. By the time he died in 1974, the stolen goods in question had long been sold, in whole or in parts, through dubious channels by several dealers and their tracks had disappeared….

Hofer has come to terms with the fact that he will be able to enjoy the unique appearance of his 212E only on photographs. Sometimes even reminiscing over the original purchase contract with Ferrari from 1969, "I still remember that day and date."

But sometimes miracles happen!

“At the end of 2017 (after almost five decades since the robbery), I received a call from Sweden. A friend called me who had just made an incredible discovery at a collector. He said he was taken to a hall where there were several older cars, mostly hidden under covers. He partially pushed one of them away, and the lettering ‘Egon Hofer Racing Ltd.’ was laughing at him from the red door. Accordingly, he had rightly concluded that he just discovered my lost Ferrari Montagna. I immediately rushed to the North of Europe – the car had to go back to my garage! The Swedish owner, who had all the legal documents regarding his acquisition of the car, basically did not want to sell the car – but we finally agreed," laughs the happy ‘old-new’ owner of the Ferrari 212E, Hofer – even though he had to buy it de facto twice.

One of the first to learn about the story was the car designer, Ing. Mauro Forghieri. “And he asked me to keep the car in its original condition. This is how the prototype best documented its technical developments and details such as the original rear-break cooling, and the small front-flippers, which were covered by larger spoilers later,” explains Hofer of the rather unrestored-looking exterior of the red Barchetta.

“From Sweden, I only saved the rolling chassis. The original 12-cylinder engine was missing. But I had a Ferrari Dino V6 engine, a 2-litre Formula 2 machine, and so we installed it. I also had a good supply of parts for the Ferrari tipo 601 gearbox and it is in the car today, as well,” explains the Austrian.

Kommerzialrat Egon Hofer readily likes to share his ‘rediscovered happiness’ with fans, contemporary witnesses and experts. As soon as his 212E was again in roadworthy condition in autumn 2018, he registered it for the historic Rossfeldrennen. What a coincidental location: exactly where Schetty won 49 years ago, the ‘Montagna’ presented itself to the astonished public again! And Hofer enjoys the reunion by taking part in as many great historic events across Europe as possible – most recently at the Austrian Ennstal Classic in Grobming on 27 July 2019.