How does a car end up in an unrecvorable place to begin with, driving on ice?
My story is of my late lambo 350 Gt. While living in South Africa 15 years ago I bought a countach very reasonably from somebody who needed money like right now. I took a quick loan, drove the car for a few the weeks while trying to sell it as my loan was short term. Sold the countach for cash, a quite used vette convertible and a M5 with 30kmi. Used the cash to repay the loan, sold the vette quickly and the M5 sat. Then I heard about a 350 Gt sitiing in a farmers barn, traded the M5 to him for the 350 GT and some cash. Figured I would use the cash to restore the 350 GT. car was complete, but between redoing bodywork, interior, rebuild engine with new pistons and a couple of cams. Bushings, rubber, diff, gearbox etc etc. The cost balloned to the opoint where I could have bought a decent Daytona, and the profits from the countach were long gone. Along the way when I was about halfway through the 350GT in 99 someone offered to swap me their totaly redone Miura S for the half done 350Gt plus $50K. Frankly this would have been a more desirable and it turns out cheaper option, I did not do the trade as I had little clue what the 350 would cost and had just bought an apartment so was reluctant to sopend more money. Penny wise and pound foolish it turns out. Funny thing was when redoing the 350 Gt which took over 8 years I also saw a 330gtc for and an alfa Sz both of which I would happily have bought for less than I had tied up in the 350GT. I call the 350 gt lesson my school fees. Sold the 350 gt a year ago when the market was more robust and recovered the money plus a bit. Learned the lesson of restoration, it costs the same to redo a $1mill V12 Italian car properly as a $150K car. Bottom line have someone else spend the money. I have heard it many times since, great restoration with the car thrown in for free. Fun project though. Oh yes and Wife took the money to put under the matress, so car fund depleted. But some funds went to a great redo of the boxer. Bill the idea of a glass 308 seems to be sticking in the head lately, hmm. Plus I need a track car and if still breathing in a year or two I am really saving for a 288. So basicaly now I am keeping the powder dry for the right car opportunity. I doubt it will involve a restoration but then I am a car addict.
About 10 years ago I rode along with a friend who raced FV's and needed to pick-up a tranny that he had rebuilt by an older gentleman. We entered his quasi-shop/garage/barn only to find an early 356 coupe on a rottisserie and a 54' Speedster (#54 /#200) located farther back in the building. The story goes that the car was parked in the mid-sixties and hadn't been moved since. The owner wanted $18,000 for it at the time, and after adding up the restoration costs (late 90's), I quickly realized I'd be upside down quickly with it. I later learned that it had been sold to a gentleman in Nevada who restored it and it recently changed hands for around $175K. The older gentleman also had an early sixties German version karmin Ghia , 914/ 4 and several vintage Vee's from his younger days which also included racing in the Put-in-Bay road races on that island in the late 50's. The building where these cars were stored was unassuming so you never know what lurks behind doors that you drive by every day. I also found a late 50's Chrysler 300 years ago but that story can wait. Great topic and stories! keep em' coming! Mark
There is a `36 Cord at the bottom of Gull lake near Kalamazoo Mi. that was the result of an early winter ice fishing trip. Not really a project I`d want to tackle.
Not my find, but probably one of the best finds in history if the story is true...http://www.intuh.net/barnfinds/index.htm
Too bad you can't just hook some cables to it and pull it out like they did this Russian WWII tank: http://www.12mbdragoons.com/panzer/
Alprimo, First: welcome aboard! Second: the story is from a few years ago and caused quite a stir, however it is not real. MotoB, Very cool! Unfortunately, a Soviet T-34 will withstand a brute force approach much better than Italian sportscar coachwork will. Regards, Art S.
Hi Art. Are you saying the Portugal barn find is not real? Any links to this. I really thought it was
Just today I heard (on the Today show) that a rare early Bugatti has been discovered in Europe and will go to auction.
Easy to maintain, good on petrol, removable hardtop on some models, four wheel disc brakes on later cars. Pleasant looking--Virgil M. Exner, Jr. designed with involvement of both Frua and Ghia--(there was a lawsuit between Frua and Ghia). Later cars were meant to have a full rear seat and therefore have the square hardtop. I own one. The car is not stellar in performance or handling. A sheep in wolf's clothing. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Bill your story reminds me of the recovery of the Vasa ship: surely one of the greatest marine recoveries ever and also one of the biggest ego generated disatrs ever -king size ego in this case- are you familiar with it? www.vasamuseet.se In English: I don't rate Wikipedia but they do mention the salvage. It was Franzén, a man who happened to be courting my aunt at the time who pulled it off. The the ship was sprayed for decades with a solution to, I think, make sure exposure to the air would not rot the wood. If you are in Stockholm you have to visit, it is quite a sight! best regards, Marc http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_%28ship%29
This car sold on Friday for US$4.4M (Euro3.4M) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090207/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_car_auction
IMO it would be a great car to have and thus, despite the current state of economic affairs, I still feel it was well bought.
I agree. If it was a T57SC Atalante (supercharged), rather than "just a T57S, it would have gone for somewhat more.
