Luigi Della Grotta's personal Testarossa up for auction

As I mentioned in this thread posted in General Discussion:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/ferrari-discussion-not-model-specific-sponsored-algar-ferrari/508773-bunch-old-exotic-photos.html

I was putting some Christmas stuff away in the garage and remembered to look for my photo albums that have pics I took of the various Ferrari dealers I visited many years ago. It wasn't in that box, but I did find a bunch of loose photos and sure enough, duplicates of the ones I was looking for were in there, BUT, I came across these two.

These loose photos didn't have dates written on that back, but looking at my other sets I have out already, I believe these were from the 1993 Montreal Auto show. It's hard to see as the matt-finish on the photos make it hard for the machine to scan, but this silver Testarossa has the characteristic chrome prancing horse on the front grille. Although the interior has regular TR seat headrests (so the stock, tall squares, not Luigi's custom short 512 TR type).

I wonder if this was his car prior to the seat mods, or a customer car spec'd in the same color, with a chrome horsey?:
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It's definitely the same car, Luigi had the headrests
modified because he felt they blocked too much of the back view. He never ordered 2 Silver Testarossas so that has to be it.

Great pics, I just showed the owner, he's not an fchatter but he's a close friend of mine.

 

I was thinking the likelihood of there being two silver TRs in Montreal to be pretty slim (maybe over the entire time the car was available, sure, but for that display at that time?... Yeah, more than likely the same car).

 

Count down has begun for Luigi's car going on the block.

The CDN $$$ has dropped more in the last 35 days - I suspect it will be leaving the country on its way to the US , any guess on hammer price ?

 

It's been in the US for a while, RM took the pics and posted the listing in december I think. Anyway I just got back from Cavallino with my friend who is the owner and he will be flying out to Arizona tomorrow to see the auction live.

Fun fact about that car:

It was originally ordered for a customer who had left a deposit for it but was unable to complete the purchase because he ran into financial difficulties. Luigi gave him back his deposit and kept the car. It was never plated for the first 24 years of its life and the new owner actually had a hard time because no one even had a record of the customs and duty being paid when it entered Canada back in the 90s (that issue got resolved finally and they were able to plate the car). Luigi always told his customers that they could order the car in any color as long as it was red so it's ironic that he ended up with a silver car but the Testarossa was his favorite.

 

Sold for 154K USD
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Very dissapointing outcome....went up to only 140k, I am in shock and disbelief???

I guess the added 14 is the auction house's commission.

An iconic car that belonged to one of Enzo's friend and the first importer of Ferraris in all of Canada???

I guess the Ferrari people did not show up tonight. Really expected this car to go for 250+

 

See my comments in the Canada section for some reasons why I think it went for this price.

It will be more interesting to see what the overall sales will be for this event. The first nine lots before this TR went at or below low estimate (and yet the Citroen 2CV went $15K OVER high estimate?).

 

wow what a waste, he should have kept it

 

A small picture (approx. 2 X 3") of the interior appeared in the auction catalog:
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Internet bidding POV:
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I'm not up to speed on this particular one other than what I read in the thread

what wld this car have gone for in 2009/2010 and what do you guys think it shld have sold for this weekend?

was this a 70k car 5 yrs ago?

 

I had no idea of this story and the passion of Luigi.
Amazing, thank you guys for the info, pics and vids!

All these things are what make a Ferrari more than Transportation. All of us are in a unique family, continue to help each other on this forum and keep it that way.

 

As I said in the Canadian section unfortunately Americans (and I guess Canadians too) don't care that the car was owned by Luigi. I think eventually someone will paint this car red and it's history will be forgotten...sad.

 

Car was purchased from Luigi's estate for approximately 85k cdn in 2012

 

We really need to write a book about Luigi...

 

ok thanks - what did you expect to see if sell for?

 

I think this was a good buy, given how nice the car is, and the fact it cant be replicated. But some will see car thta cant be repliacted as an over 200k Testarossa. The market returns to sanity.

Frankly i think in the inflection of time this will be seen to have been a great buy.

 

I'm sad the car is leaving Quebec for such a low price. At this price I'm sure many Quebec resisdent would have been interrested.

 

Given the provenance and low mileage the car is a collectable rather than somehting to drive. Maybe this all indicates those who buy cars for $$$ investment are moving on to the next thing.

Still even if you just wanted a Testa to drive, this looks to be one of the nicest ones out there.

 

I was pretty convinced it would have easily gone over 200k. I figured 200-250, maybe 300 if 2 stubborn bidders would have gone head-to-head.

They still made a great profit but unfortunately they did not hit the jackpot.

 

This was one of the nicest if not THE nicest TR I saw. GORGEOUS car.

 

Luigi sounds like a wonderful tifosi, and he would be worthy of an article in Prancing Horse or Forza magazine on his history and passion for Ferrari automobiles.

 

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/141209565-post22.html

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8YpA7_pQL8[/ame]

Fast forward to 44:00.