Alfa Canguro was finder Gary Schmidt American? | FerrariChat

Alfa Canguro was finder Gary Schmidt American?

Discussion in 'Other Italian' started by bitzman, Feb 24, 2013.

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  1. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    wallace wyss
    #1 bitzman, Feb 24, 2013
    I was going to use this car as an example of a good garage find in a speech but
    I have conflicting info. I heard the guy that found it Gary Schmidt, was an American teaching at a US base in Germany but some sites say he was German. I know the last name sounds Germany but "Gary" sounds pretty Yank to me.
    Also one forum answerer on another site said he actually bought it from Rob de la Rive Box, a dutch man living in Switzerland who wrote stories, took pictures (I bought some from him in person) and dealt in the occasional oddball car. He bought it wrecked from Bertone but I couldn't believe the price quoted. Was it under $100? Must have been pretty much hit hard.I think it is the most beautiful Alfa. The 8C tries to emulate it but with more awkward proportions.
     
  2. tazandjan

    tazandjan Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Terry H Phillips
    #2 tazandjan, Feb 24, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  3. velocetwo

    velocetwo F1 World Champ

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    #3 velocetwo, Feb 25, 2013
    Beautiful! Brilliant design
     
  4. hyenahf

    hyenahf F1 Rookie

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    #4 hyenahf, Feb 25, 2013
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2013
    ive heard the same story 25-30 yrs ago through the alfa club. i vaguely recall he picked it up at while visiting the bertone and saw the crash damage car at the facility. As the story was told he first ask if he can purchase the car and the tour guide said "no its not for sale". upon leaving the place, someone ran after him as he was driving away and said they were willing to sell it to him and at a ridiculously low price. In those days usa service men were able ship the car back for virtually nothing through the military transport and with the strength of the greenbacks...why not?

    Being a handcrafted "one-off"car loosely based of an already extremely rareTZ2 chassis, you can imagine the challenges gary had in order to restore it. If memory serves the car was severely damage in the front. They had an short story along with pictures in the alfa newsletters of the crashed car at bertone and some more photos later taken in gary’s garage stateside. I know nothing about the recent restoration though i hear the car now resides in japan.

    regards

    ps

    perhaps someone here can chime in with further details?
     
  5. Stephengreenberg

    Stephengreenberg Rookie

    Jun 22, 2016
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    Stephen Greenberg
    #5 Stephengreenberg, Jun 22, 2016
    Mr. Gary D. Schmidt was an American and was married to Anne Schmidt. During the late 60's and early 70's I was very close as we were neighbors in Bitburg, Germany. Gary was my Guidance Counsular and his wife Annie was my English teacher while I attended Bitburg High School. On the weekends I worked with Gary in his shop (an old storage downtown Bitburg) on his car collection. Initially, I was given a pan of gas and a wire brush to scrub old Ferrari parts, mostly nuts and bolts. As I grew wings I was fortunate to have the opportunity to travel with him and during one of those trips experienced a visit with Rob De La Rive Box in Switzerland. Rob gave me a poster from his shop and as soon as I locate it I will scan and post on this link. I remember also going with Gary to purchase a 'barn find' (1951 Ferrari 195 Inter), and a pair of Maserati Mistrals. During this time Gary also had a 1959 Ferrari Tour de France. Gary also founded an international post-war historic race car club and each year the club would race at Nurenburgring.
     

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