* 166MM/53 (#0328M) - Raced at 12 Hours Reims 1953. Picture taken with Zsa Zsa Gabor. Unknown current status Are you talking of her or of the car?She actually lived in my great grand parents house, in Budapest, in the previous century. My late father actually remembered the 3 sisters when they departed to the US! A real monument! Incidentally I a pretty sure Rubirosa had also plenty of other non Ferrari cars, I believe I remember a yellow 300SL discovered few years ago and now restored?
Hello, Bira! Actually, I'm just talking about the car; on a previous post, this photo was uploaded and it was later captioned as showing chassis #0328M. I'm sticking to Ferrari cars on this list, but I supposed that he might have owned other cars; was this 300SL you mentioned his car (Rubirosa's), or was it the car of Rafael Trujillo's son, that was a close friend of him? Image Unavailable, Please Login
0050 alive and well with a long term owner in the US. Not listing the name for privacy reasons. Anyone on this board is savvy enough to go somewhere else and find that info if needed to satisfy their own curiosity. Thanks.
I was surprised so many of the famous Ferraris he raced are unknown but then I haven't checked that site of pure SN listings yet either. But his gullwing I found in 30 seconds via the net. It's owned by Hans Kleissl who owns HK Engineering in Germany specializing in 300SLs. Does anybody know what Rubirosa sold his gullwing for, way back when? I imagine it was probably under $10,000 because, if he sold it in the '50s or '60s, it was just an old used car back then, before the collector boom in sports cars started (I know, I bought my first one for $4000 in '66 and my second for $8000 in the early '80s). Also going by the crash pictures, that crash doesn't look that hard on the driver if it was LHD but maybe he was speared by the steering column? Besides the pepper grinder, isn't there some flaming drink or gourmet dish called "Rubirosa?" That's what originally made me think he died in a flaming wreck but the pictures show no burned area on the car.
I used to work as a turn marshal at all SoCal venues, and remember seeing Rubi race in what I think was a 500 Mondial (I wasn't yet into Ferraris). He had an odd way of making it through a corner: He would saw away at the wheel so that he made a series of small straights. Obviously not the fastest driver on the course, but he was certainly enthusiastic.
I can confirm 100% that Hans Kleissl owns the Rubirosa car. Please see the interview I did on the worlds foremost expert in the world for 300SL. He didn't know Rubirosa owned the car until recently. HK: The master of the 300SL » Le Monde Edmond And yes Rubirosa died because the wheel speared him after celebrating a Polo match victory late until the morning.
New update to the list: Road Cars: * 250 GT Cabriolet Series II (#1561GT) - Car in which he died. Destroyed. * 250 GT PF Cabriolet SI (#0783GT) - Gift from Doris Duke? Now owned by Joe Hayes. Race Cars: * 166MM (#0050) - Raced at LeMans 1950. Alive and well with a long term owner. Named not disclosed for privacy issues. * 375MM PF Berlinetta (#0380AM) - Raced at LeMans 1954. Presumed to be destroyed. * 500 Mondial Series II (#0556MD) - Raced at Nassau 1955 and Sebring 1956. Now owned by Bryanp. * 166MM/53 (#0328M) - Raced at 12 Hours Reims 1953. Picture taken with Zsa Zsa Gabor. Unknown current status * 500 TRC Spyder Scaglietti (#0660 MDTR) - Raced at 12 Hours Sebring 1958. Unknown current status. * 500 TRC Spyder Scaglietti (#0706 MDTR) - Raced at Cuba GP 1958. Unknown current status. * 500 Mondial Spyder Scaglietti (#0464MD) - Gift from Barbara Hutton. Raced at Carrera Panamericana. Unknown current status. * 625 LM Spyder Touring (#0644MDTR) - Raced at GP of Venezuela 1956. Unknown current status. * 500 Mondial Spyder PF (#0438MD) - Owned by a short period of time. Raced at Santa Barbara Now owned by Dr. Ulrich Schumacher - in Germany * 750 Monza Spyder Scaglietti (#0440MD) - Raced at Sebring 1957. Now owned by Robert Brooks. Non-Ferrari cars: * 1955 Mercedes 300SL W198 "Gullwing" (#198.040.4500087) - Now owned by Hans Kleissl who owns HK Engineering in Germany.
Not true! Kleissl had sold the car some about 7 or 8 years ago to a member of this forum who lives in Munich, Germany. I remember the car in a pale yellow color. So its not true that he did not know the Rubirosa-ownership until "recently"....! And - Hans Kleissl is very very good on 300SLs but he is not the only one with this quality amongst the "worlds foremost expert(s)"....! At least there are3 other "worlds foremost experts" in Germany and one or two in the USA.
I also remember the car as found in yellow I think in an underground parking lot in Paris. Saw some pictures in a classic car magazine at some point in the last 25 years..
Yep, the person in Munich owned the car when still in yellow and unrestored. He owned it briefly and probably sold it back to Kleissl.... I saw the car this year at Kleissl`s stand on the Schloss DYck-event. It was now in bare metal.