Steve McQueen's 275 under restore at Ferrari?

This is a news from the italian newspapers: the 1968 McQueen's 275 GTB/4 is under restore at the Ferrari classic workshop.
Unfortunately the roof was cutted in the '80s and today the new owner wants to bring back the car to its originality.
I'm not an expert, but i am a "King of cool" fan and i never heard he owned a GTB.
I know the #09347NART spyder was the only 275 in his garage....
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10621.

Paul

 

Owner is Australian, renowned car collector.

 

no, s/n 10453 was Steve's. To my knowledgde he never owned s/n 09347

 

09437 is a NART Spyder not 09347 (a Series II 330 GT 2+2).

09437 is the The Thomas Crown Affair car which is where the confusion of McQueen's ownership has probably arisen.
10453 (NART Spyder) was indeed supplied new through Hollywood Sports Cars to Steve McQueen.

Paul

 

Lets hope this starts a trend ... putting roofs back on cut cars!

Pete

 

Sorry, my mistake. I just checked on the Chad McQueen's book. Thank you Paul.

The question still is: did Steve own the #10621 GTB/4?

 

Happily this is an economic proposition for a 275 or Daytona and entirely do-able in both cases.

Sadly, it's highly unlikely that any of the GTE's and 330's cut up for 250 replicas will ever be an economic proposition to convert back.

 

I wonder how structurally sound a recapitated car/body would be?

 

Agree! And there is much to do.

 

I think we should just say it.

Classic F car owners in the 80's were idiots.

 

Hello, love the checking fixtures for the door and lid openings. Maybe they made them off an uncut car first, to get the correct dimensions. As no car at that time were all the same anyway.

 

Should be better than new, as there making all the supports. Not like they were rock solid then new, as a tin can on a spindly frame could be. LOL.

 

Not all of them... But there are still idiots today.

 

Look at all the jigs that Ferrari Classic is using on this car. Wonder if they were Made just for this project? Maybe Ferrari engineering has taken a large step forward since the good old days.

 

Mayor,

I think that is a bit harsh. The 80s were a different time and the thinking was about what one wanted in a car. Originality and preservation were not the predominant themes. In 85 i "upgraded from my GTC to a BB". Does that make me an idiot? In the early 80s you could buy a Daytona for $20k and "upgrade" it to a Spyder and restore it for another $20k. My Dad did this when he bought a coupe in Canada and had Dick Straman make the conversion. Does that make my Dad an idiot? At the time he had a 330 GTS, a BBi, C/4, Bora, Indy followed by the Daytona and then 288 in 1985. Later he bought a 250 GT that was in pieces, restored it and took a top award at Pebble handed to him by Sergio Pininfarina. Doesn't sound like an idiot to me.

This is a thread about my father where you can see him with his favorites.....the GTS and GTO.

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=238824&highlight=carl+cantera


My point is that unless you have direct experience in what was going on at that time making this kind of generalized judgement is not a well thought out comment.

best
Steve

 

Totally agree. Put back the pieces...!

 

Except for the ones who quietly bought classics while still cheap (closer to the beginning of that decade, probably) and kept them well maintained....

 

How would they add the roof? Would they just weld a roof to the cut body or make a whole new mid and rear section or even completely rebody it?

 

I bought my first GTC for 10k in 1976. Drove the stink out of it [100k+ miles] and sold it 9 years later for 20k. I thought I was a genius at the time.

 

Hey, hindsight is 20-20, right?

At least you enjoyed the car a lot.

 

I wonder how many miles are showing on the clock now?

 

I recognize your father's name, thank you Steve. Very nice sentiments expressed there in the link!
CH

 

Considering that the prices of well-preserved 275 and Daytona Berlinettas have recently eclipsed fake spyders of said models, this may turn into an entirely practical trend. And well it should.

 

That is wonderful, not owned by Mr Fox by any chance is it?

Will the car come to Australia once it's fully restored do you know?