Jim Spiro ex F50 at Copart

"BRAKE" is apparently what they didn't do.

 

That is an awful shame. This is the only F50 I have ever seen in person, as it passed me on a rural stretch of I-10 between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. I'll never forget looking in my rear view mirror to see the amber marker lights and low slung body and thinking - for a split second - "that's a weird looking Corvette" before processing what it really was. Seeing that put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.

 

Very fixable but I dread to think of what the parts cost alone would be

 

Fixable? What if the carbon tub is cracked? Now you're fixing a very high mileage F50 where the tub if one can even be found alone will set you back $75K...

 

I hope that star crack in the windshield wasn't caused by the drivers head.

 

I bet you're right, driver's head caused that...

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2

 

Ug. Calling Gas Monkey Garage for some horrid "repair" job.

 

Oh my gosh what a tragedy! I was so in love with this F50. Is it fixable? costs? Perhaps a project is in order.

 

Waiting for the first Eddie Griffith joke. Anyone? Anyone?

 

Same car?

 

Yes it was.

This is also the same car below, when the gentleman who purchased it from Jim still owned it and brought it with him to Monterey in 2012. That's me on the right with photographer Richard Thompson III next to me. Also sad to see it fall into unsympathetic hands and end up like this.

>8^)
ER
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How do you know if the tub is damaged? The front structure is meant to absorb impact just as it has done. Its a sacrificial item to save the tub. Far worse will have been rebuilt and if not done through insurance then future owners would be none the wiser either.

Even a tub change is an easy option depending on the salvage value of the car as it is. I am sure ferrari would happily take a future owners money and make it new again.

It looks to be quite a low speed direct impact, if that windscreen mark was made by the drivers head then that screen would be completely mashed in any kind of significant impact if he was not wearing a belt.

 

from what i heard, the car had tubi exhaust, it had a cracked pipe which leaked CO2 into the car, causing the driving to pass out...medical reports confirm it i think as his CO2 level was near death when they got him to the hospital. He hit a tree doing 55-60 mph, he was not driving crazy at all.

 

Monoxide if that's the case probably. Hope he is now ok.

 

Not buying that at all. The engine is behind the passenger compartment - a Tubi exhaust even further back - and the roof is not on the car so there would be an extremely low likelyhood of any CO2 buildup occurring to the point that it could incapacitate the driver. If that were true we would have people in convertibles sliding off the road left and right.

>8^)
ER

 

Firstly it's CO not CO2.

Secondly fumes can easily revert back into the cockpit even at racing speeds in a mid engined spyder. This happened in the day a lot including in mid engined 0854 at Brands Hatch in 1967. This is why ALL of our cars have positive cockpit ventilation including our spyders. One should always wear a CO monitor and test all of their cars.

Many Vintage and modified exhaust cars have way too much cockpit CO.

 

Erik,
Napolis is absolutely correct.

Mishaps happen. All the time. For any any number of reasons. It does not imply the car was in unsympathetic hands. People who drive cars like this rarely abuse them.

Unless they are Feds, of course.

 

yes sorry, thought about that after...got my science wording wrong lol

 

Ahh yes on the 'CO'... (duh)

I find it hard to believe that an open top car like the F50 can build up enough to cause driver impairment. I would assume there would be enough turbulent air to mitigate the effects. That really surprises me, but thanks for the education.

>8^)
ER

 

Hmmm. What's the bid estimate. Hope the driver is ok

 

he was being provocative. he said "what if"...just a question and not an implication.

 

Erik, I believe you are correct.... the "CO emission" story sounds like something drummed up by a lawyer, then submitted over to the insurance broker.

Unfortunately for the owner, if he was driving through the city/suburbs he can't say a wild Elk crossed in front of his path.... might as well blame it on the Chupacabra, seems thats the norm these days.

 

The owner looked pretty young in all those pics from the NY drive they put together recently. Shame to see such a beautiful car go, but I did see someone mention that the owner was daily driving this car.

 

I agree. From a defensive position (I litigate defense liability cases for a living for an insurance company), I would never hang my hat on such a defense if there were a third party claiming damages, for a number of reasons.

1) it is the owners responsibility to maintain his car so above situations do not occur. Negligence can be proven by the inference that his cars exhaust system was not maintained thus not being in compliance of laws advising a car must be maintained and without hazard to be roadworthy. He can say he knew nothing about it which he probably didn't, but that doesn't negate the fact that it happened.

1b. Similar case law exists in situations where a person has a heart attack/stroke and hits a building as a result. The person didn't know they had a heart condition or whatever and are therefore not negligent. This situation is different because it involves his vehicle which was not maintained causing the loss which law indicates he must keep maintained. There is no law which states you must know your personal health at all times in order to operate a vehicle. Just because he didn't know he had a car problem doesn't mean he's not liable for what his car caused is how I read the law as it applies to this situation.

2) proving a person passed out due to high levels of CO vs hitting his head on the windshield will not fly. every car on every road has varied levels of CO in their cars regardless of exhaust leaks. There is no case law at least in my state which addresses this as ever being a valid defense. CO levels are subjective based on roadway, time of day, how many other vehicles present.

3) Additionally, this is an isolated incident for all the F50 owners in the world who have tubi exhausts and further speaks to causation being in question not to mention the roof being off. A jury hears that, case over.

I don't know what he was doing, doesn't matter. He lost control somehow, hit a tree and I hope nothing or no one else. I truly hope he's ok. Legally he has a gray area to work with which is good and bad.

If this took place in NY you can forget about it though, nearly every venue in the state is very plaintiff oriented. If an MD were willing to testify that he passed out from CO without question then he may have something, but I cannot see that happening. Then again it is NY, the back surgery capital of the world.