Ok, so it's not a traditional hot rod story but I think some of you will enjoy it. I saw tha auction and have always wanted a true Devis SS but this is even better. http://www.sportscarmarket.com/articles/archives/720 And the link to the car: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4649333573#description
My Dad's Devin brought over $100k at Barrett Jackson last year: He found it all thrashed and brought it up to spec.
Well guys this one got away from all of us . This car turned out to be the buy of the year. The Devin body was chump change . This car's ch***is turned out to be a 1953 ferrari 340m, ch***is #0202, a very rare early ferrari race car Restored it is worth 1.5m to 2.5 m. Tom Shaunessy a noted ferrari enthusiast and parts collector scored the big one . There is a link to the full story and history of this car at www.ferrarichat.com Im unsure of the thread but if you go to the vintage message board its been the talk of the last week. Will post link later tonite. I should be kicking myself in the *** about this one it was only 3 miles from my house. Larry
Could someone post a photo of the correct Ferrari bodywork? Is it anything like the 166 Ferrari I had the privalidge of working on years ago?
DAMN! I wish I would have seen this auction earlier! Then again, I wouldn't have had any idea that the frame was a Ferrari and worth that much anyways....but still......... AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!
Well better him then someone who would of had no idea what that ch***is was really for and wasted it on that body LOL...
As promised www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=113281 A little history of the car with early racing photos and an intersting story www.tomyang.net also has a thread on the car . Larry
MY step dad had a 64 f car was lemans back up or some **** it was ugly and my fat *** didn't fit in it but the 360 he has is nice and i get to drive it if i want.
I'll bet the guy from Illinois that sold the car on eBay either currently is, or will be shortly, ****ting his pants! The 26 grand he got for it is a respectable chunk of change, however, one of the guys posting on the Ferrari chat site pointed out that 26 grand is about 1% of what the car could potentially bring if the car is restored to original and the original engine is found for it. I would have loved to see the look on the guy's face the exact moment he figured out he sold a do***ented Ferrari Lemans race car for a mere pittance of what it was worth. If it were me I think I would immediately want get a Pepto-Bimol IV drip and some restraints, Thor
If you had showed me that ch***is in your backyard, I would have thought it was homemade. Very crude. The information says some other company actually made it for the Ferrarri factory. It sure doesnt seem valuable. Those guys are nuts not like us hotrodders---LOL
I'd like to know if the buyer knew what he was bidding on all along or did the ID numbers show up when he went to collect it? You wouldn't want to ask the seller too many questions and get him spooked.
The early Ferrari Race cars were not that fancy, they just had a LOT of horsepower for that time. I can't tell from those photos if it has the tapered round to oval tube kickups in the rear of the frame. That is a real nice feature.
Tom Shaunessey knows his stuff. He has had an unbelievable amount of Ferrari cars and parts go through his hands. He has files on all the missing cars with all the tidbits and rumors. He probably saw the ch***is photos and knew exactly what it was. Stuff is still out there. I found a car early last year that had sat in a guys front yard for twenty years. His landlord said sell it or else. His brother contacted a buddy of mine who contacted me. There was something about it that clicked with us. I wasn't in a position to get it but a friend drove 400 miles sight unseen and bought it based on my hunch. Turned out my hunch was right and after some research we were able to nail the history down. The car is a '54 Swallow Doretti with an Allied fibergl*** coupe body. It was built in So Cal by a guy named Bill Binney and raced at Paramount Ranch and Pomona. All that was left was the ch***is, suspension, brakes and the body which had been cut up. The guy who had it was going to sell the ch***is and trash the body. You have to know what you're looking at and sometimes you have to play your hunches and take a risk.
He knew, he's a well known collector. Don't rule out the 1/2 million dollars minimum it will take to make this car "real" again and it will always have a black cloud over it when it's done. Still a nice find for someone who did his homework!
I don't think the cloud is black, the ch***is is the center piece of the restoration, finding a match for the engine & transmission may take some looking. If a twin to the car was rolled 6 times in a vintage race and the driver walked away from it he'd have about the same rebuild ahead of him.
Think HE'S ****ting his pants? What about the 2nd place Ebay bidder??? That guy's really gotta be ****ting his pants.
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