Going back to 2014 … In the middle of nowhere outside of Fallon, Nevada was a very rare Ferrari that few knew existed The first production car run built by Ferrari had around 50 cars - this was one of the last largely original surviving examples that had been put away in a storage container along with its original rebuilt engine - ****** - gl*** - trim and body parts by Clarence who had escaped from California many years ago - he was one of the first to attend the early get togethers at Pebble Beach before it went commercial … A few folks knew of his Ferrari and had tried to buy it over the years but Clarence had plans to complete the restoration he had started long ago - a wildfire changed that when he almost lost his house and the Ferrari so Clarence decided it was time to part with it … Here is the Ferrari emerging from where it had been stored Jim Transporting To Travel Traveling To Share Stories From The Road
You can read the history of the Ferrari production here: @ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_250_GT_Coupé The year before I picked this up one of the few examples had sold but it was not as original as this car as Clarence explained to me over a long breakfast when I first met him in town early that morning … Jim Transporting To Travel Traveling To Share Stories From The Road
Clarence became involved with car restoration when he was doing body repair as a side job to his day job as a garbage man - one of the folks he was doing work for brought him a vehicle with a ****ty paint job - Clarence painted it after doing the body work and that evolved into doing body work and paint and restoration on finer cars which resulted in him favoring Ferraris … Clarence was one of the first to convert a semi trailer to a double decker car hauler and take it to Pebble Beach where he would play host to fellow car enthusiast by putting up an awning attached to the trailer and firing his barbecue … Back then Pebble Beach was still just a gathering of friends but it was getting noticed by the commercial car show and auction crowd … The Ferrari at drop off Jim Transporting To Travel Traveling To Share Stories From The Road
Clarence was hosting one of his last barbecues at Pebble Beach and his sister happened to be present … When a group of older gentlemen stopped at one of the Ferraris that he had on display - they took great interest in it - which evolved into a heated discussion a****st them in a foreign language that Clarence did not recognize … But his sister did because she spoke fluent Italian - as it turns out the group were retired Ferrari employees who had come to Pebble Beach and they were discussing a Ferrari that Clarence had restored - one of them had helped build the car but did not recognize the hammer marks on the welds as being his workmanship - Clarence explained thru his sister that he had duplicated the finish hammer marks in his restoration - the group was amazed - they stayed and visited quite awhile … Clarence had to reach a point to emotionally let go of the Ferrari knowing the new owner would not send the car back to be factory restored - he explained to me that Ferrari had a policy of accepting cars it had manufactured for restoration by retired employees (in some cases) and Ferrari would re stamp the ch***is and frame and drive train as required back to original … The original V-12 engine is in this crate that Clarence had rebuilt Jim Transporting To Travel Traveling To Share Stories From The Road
I arrived in the east valley of Phoenix, Arizona to drop off The Ferrari was on a custom cradle with casters - it had been balanced by Clarence The wooden crates contained the original parts and gl*** which had been carefully packed by Clarence Jim Transporting To Travel Traveling To Share Stories From The Road
The guy who hired me did not tell me what I was picking up - just that it was a project car with a few boxes - the Ferrari and the wooden crates and misc loose parts took up my entire trailer - I loaded this up and had no room left over for a second vehicle I had on my schedule I called him after I loaded and got back into cell phone range and advised him the price I quoted him had changed because the footprint of the load had changed I also told him he need to line up a forklift to unload at the drop off location He told me he had a couple guys he could call if needed to help me unload … I told him at that point I knew what I was hauling including the history of the Ferrari and significance of it being most likely the most original example that had survived from 1958 I told him out of respect for Clarence and the Ferrari unless he lined up a forklift and a qualified operator at the drop off location I would instead There was a forklift and several folks waiting for me at the drop off location … Jim Transporting To Travel Traveling To Share Stories From The Road
THANK YOU! Nice to know that there are still great cars out there. Hope the new owner has plans to restore it and get it to the lawn of Pebble Beach some day. Bob
Hi Bob Here are a couple auction results of other examples … @ https://rmsothebys.com/auctions/mo18/lots/r0032-1958-ferrari-250-gt-coupe-by-ellena/ @ https://rmsothebys.com/auctions/0120/lots/r0023-1958-ferrari-250-gt-coupe-by-ellena/ I believe the new owner of this vehicle that I transported from Clarence had a local restoration job done and has since sold the car Which - in my opinion - is unfortunate Had the new owner truly respected the Ferrari - he would have enlisted the ***istance of Clarence and returned this car to Ferrari for a complete restoration including re-issuing necessary vin/serial numbers as required - this car certainly deserved it - in my experience it was one of the true historically significant survivors that that I personally have known. Jim Transporting To Travel Traveling To Share Stories From The Road
It probably was misrepresented and sold to an uninformed new owner. Jim Transporting To Travel Traveling To Share Stories From The Road
The Jalopy Journal
