Pirelli Tire North America teams with Divers Street Rods, winning the coveted Ridler Award with "FERRAMBO"

ROME, GA. – A lowly 1960 Rambler wagon sat amongst other project cars at Tim Divers Street Rods in Washington State awaiting its turn at resurrection. One day, Gran Prix Imports owner and Divers' customer Mike Warn saw the Rambler sitting in the back of the shop and the gears started to turn in his head.Was this the car he had been looking for? Could the Rambler be the basis of a one of a kind street rod?
Warn definitely saw something special in that car, and was able to purchase the Rambler.
Immediately, he sought the counsel of shop owner Tim Divers. The two men looked the car over, inspected every nook and cranny of the Rambler and began to discuss plans for the little wagon; but one statement by Tim Divers changed the course of the project forever - and was a defining moment in the genesis of the car.
Knowing that Mike had a certain fondness for the foreign car industry, Tim joked with him, saying, "I'd slap a Ferrari powered engine in the back of her and slam her to the ground."
Mike liked the idea of taking an all-American car and injecting Italian power and style into it. A 2002 Ferrari 360 Modena was located in California to be a donor car for the project and was shipped north to Washington, where the concept could be built.
"American hot-rodding has always been about putting a bigger and better motor with better suspension and parts together…so what better combination than an American Motors car with an Italian motor shod with Pirelli Tires to keep it connected to the road?"
Starting the project with a heaping helping of creativity, Tim Divers took the process a few steps further than just a drive-train swap and a set of cool wheels and tires. "We re-shaped the nose of the car to resemble a Lusso Ferrari, and the interior was fashioned to be just like a vintage European cockpit," explained Divers. "We incorporated lots of new sports car technology into the 1960 Rambler by fabricating the chassis to accept the power-train and suspension components. We also installed fresh-air intakes off of the motorized windows, dropout subframe technology to ease service to the power train, and one-off wheels fitted with Pirelli P Zero 225/35-18 fronts and 295/30-20 rears." Hubs and brakes were also added, and the craftsmanship speaks for itself. Each part of the body was hand worked and hand painted. Countless hours of workmanship and refining combined with creativity and a desire to create something new and exciting for an unprecedented vehicle.
"The goals of the project were to design and engineer a car that had never been done before and to make it drivable," explained Divers. "Mission accomplished." Sporting an Art Morrison chassis and steering box, much of the suspension is Ferrari or fabricated by Divers Street Rods.
So much of the car is hand built – having been designed and crafted by the team at Divers – that the they spent night and day for weeks on end working hard to build the perfect street rod. From the Saffron Fine Scottish leather interior to the custom built interior, trim and chassis bits built by Diver's Street Rods, Ferrambo is astonishing, and it stole the show in Detroit.
Ferrambo is the team's freshman effort at entering the Ridler Award competition, but it doesn't show. Cars entered into this competition are at such a high level of fit and finish that they become instant icons in the industry. "We have never entered a Ridler Award Competition," explained Divers, "let alone won one! It is an honor to have been commissioned to build a car at this level and to be included amongst the every best in the country. To receive the top award at Detroit Autorama at America's Greatest Hot Rod Show is very rewarding! One always wonders if people know what really goes on in one's projects, and winning showed us that yes, they
knew." As Divers Street Rods are on the cutting edge of the street rod hobby, they believe that street rodding is moving towards pro-touring style cars in the future. "With Pirelli's well known reputation, and with them being original equipment on Ferrari's and Lamborghini's, they seemed a perfect fit for the new generation of rods being built. All of our expectations were exceeded by Pirelli when it came to performance, looks and comfort." "We are very excited that Mike Warn and Tim Divers teamed up with Pirelli to make Ferrambo a reality," said Rafael Navarro, Director of Advertising, Public Relations and Motorsport at Pirelli Tire North America. "Pirelli's tires coupled with Ferrari's heart and Tim Diver's soul have combined to create one fantastic machine – one that will be remembered as a street rod icon." However, Tim Divers isn't stopping at Ferrambo, far from it. "We are currently building a GT '39." Divers says. "A 1939 Ford convertible with one of Ford's GT supercar motors up front. Pirelli tires are the only tires for this beast, and it will be completed very soon." One can keep up with their progress at www.diversstreetrods.com and see the craftsmanship and excellence at work that made Ferrambo such a force to be reckoned with.
Pirelli Tire North America specializes in manufacturing and marketing high-performance tires for passenger vehicles, motorcycles, ATV's and motorsports. An industry leader in technology and quality, Pirelli operates its highly advanced Modular Integrated Robotized System (MIRS) in Rome, Georgia, to better serve the American OEM and Replacement markets. For more information please visit: www.us.pirelli.com