Nicole Simpson's Ferrari? Did I buy it?

Just found this thread. I owned this Mondial in 1996. Bought it knowing it was Nicole's Mondial. Sold it because it was Nicole's Mondial.

 

So after all these years of thread I've read a few things and I can add. I acquired the Mondial in 1996 from Ferrari of Los Gatos. The car did not have plates at the time of my purchased. The sales person told me it is thought to be Nicole's Ferrari but played down the fact that the car was Nicole's when I bought it. I always had the car serviced at Ferrari of Los Gatos. I noticed that there was a bit of overspray in areas of one of the rear quarters. Also a bit of an alignment issue. The CA plates on the car are in fact the plates I acquired with my registration. I was the one who applied the scuderia stickers on the fenders a short time after I purchased it. I do remember that I had difficulty attaching the boot and thinking that it may have not been put on before I owned it. Not sure if I still have any records of the car but I do still retain one of the original keys. I also still have the car cover that was with the car. (Blue). If Nicole's car was in fact willed to her family in 1997 that would have been after I had already owned this car. I sold it though a broker in Campbell CA.
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I am the guy who sold the car on eBay from SoCal. I purchased the car in NorCal from Ferrari of los Gatos in 1995 and got the plate 3rif615. I have no knowledge of this car having been owned by Nicole brown Simpson. I lived in Monterey for years, went to all of the Ferrari stuff during pebble beach and never once had anyone tell me this car had any history with OK or Nicole. By stickers on the car, it was originally sold by symbolic in la jolly down by San Diego not la.

 

After checking my records, I purchased the car in May 1997.

 

So how did the ebay bidding go ?

I wonder if the car being Nicole Brown Simpson's actually makes the car less desirable ?

Also, I remember in the movie O.J. bashed in the windshield. I wonder if there's a way to check if the windshield is original ?


Probably a good percentage of Ferraris were celebrity owned at some time. My Mondial was originally owned by Michael J. Fox. But there's no flux capacitor.

I would think the coolest Mondial was the PPG Indy pace car.

 

And what about the Rossi Rubino car also for sale on eBay now. 86 3.2 cab from California that was originally....White...

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That's a nice one. I would think 50k +.

 

I pay $25/month for my insurance, but I have never slashed the tires. That probably costs more. Anyway, nice car. I wouldn't take less than 50k for it.

 

and the verdict is?

 

I am going to vote "not guilty" because the car in the Itoh photos does not appear to have the red center brake light and the rear taillights both appear to have white centers. Your car is "correct" in these matters but NCBS's appears to have been messed with.

Your most compelling evidence .. the "plaintiff's exhibit" sticker, is not conclusive. It could be a fake (these stickers are very easy to come by and this one appeared very late in the story); and if it's not fake there is no evidence that this exhibit was used in a "Simpson" court case. Hard to see why the owner's manual would be used as an exhibit in a case of disputed ownership, if in fact the ownership of the car was ever disputed in a court of law. I would think the title would be material not the manual. And finally there is no "provenance" to this claim, both prior owners of the car deny the Simpson link. You would think that any dealer who had sold the car in the past would know and trumpet that fact in order to promote the sale, and that the owners in turn would preserve this claim. And finally the car might be a CA car but it was apparently sold new in La Jolla not LA as one would expect.

 

Curiouser and curiouser .. in the current auction a bidder with only 6 feedbacks bid the car to 35,900 in the closing hours. This is just short of the $36000 reserve (car sold for just over $36K in two prior auctions but apparently the bidders on both cases failed to pay). In the prior failed auction, a bidder with only 6 feedbacks bid the car to $35000 in the closing hours. In the first failed auction, a bidder with only 6 feedbacks bid the car to $35000 in the closing hours. Coincidence? This story is full of "coincidences" it seems.

 

Well well, it "sold" at $36K the reserve price to a bidder with 7264 feedbacks. This same bidder balked at just under reserve the last 2 auctions. And the car reappeared on eBay this morning so the aroma of fish permeates the air.

Ferrari Mondial 3 2 Cab | eBay

And if there were only 2 white 3.2 Cabs sold in CA, the other one is listed on eBay this morning as well albeit with color coded wheels and an "as new" dark blue interior. So if you buy both you will surely own NCBS's car

Ferrari Mondial | eBay

OOPS .. the Rosso Rubino CA Cabrio car recently sold on eBay was also originally white ... but the owner/seller had it since at least 1996 so that may predate the OJ saga ..

 

I have never bid on your car, sorry, primarily because I doubt the NCBS claim and would not want to pay a premium for something that was at best extremely difficult to prove as you have discovered; and secondarily because I am not a huge fan of Mondials having owned one and found it lacking.

But there are a couple of bidders who seem to know the reserve price, and for some reason they jump the price to the brink of reserve on the final day of the auction every time. This certainly appears to be "shill" bidding and I am surprised Ebay has not noticed.

Finally for some reason 3 bidders have won the car and then failed to pay. The last time the car was relisted within hours of the winning bid. How, pray, do you explain that? The winning bidder has longer than that to post the deposit.

If you want to use this forum to promote your car, you have to live with the result, good or bad.

 

Russ you make some very creditable points there, I was wondering exactly the same thing. Screams of shill bidding to ramp up the price to me! How long does a winning bidder have to post a deposit, Isn't it 48 hours if memory serves me correctly?

 

Looks like it made New York Post....

Man auctioning Ferrari claims it belonged to Nicole Simpson | New York Post

 

I am just reading this entire thread as the car is in the news for the sale. I was at this auction in Palm Springs in 1996 and was very taken by "JUICES" TR. To me it was the star of the show.

 

There is most definitely reasonable doubt here. I found it odd that the OP's father is the one that found the sticker...seems like the OP likely knew about the sticker the whole time and was fishing for responses to the proposition before he presented the evidence.

I also find it a little strange that the sticker happens to be yellow. It's the kind of color that makes you think "that would be the perfect sticker to put on my Ferrari's owner's manual to give it a litigous history." Also really hard to believe that there were only 2 white/tan Mondials that year --its a classic combination on any car...especially for SoCal.

And the OP also of course has motive to create such a history about his car...$$$. He must of known that NBS owned the same color schemed mondial when purchasing his, how else would he have made the connection?

Just playing devil's advocate.

Nonetheless, his story is probably true and in fact very cool. I like that it was discovered as a surprise and not infamously passed around as a celebrity car. If I had money to blow, I'd buy it for my wife......kidding!! I would buy it though, not only is it celebrity owned, it's a car with a serious history of serious drama. I'd rather have Nicole's car than OJ's car thats for sure.

 

Do we even know if Nicole's was an 87? Shame theres no way to access California DMV records cause the vin is linked to her name somewhere. Also a shame cause there are court documents out there from the lawsuit with the car specified possibly alongside a vin number.

 

The car on auction appears to have the same third brake light and tail lights as the car in the link from post #149, which is clearly displaying NBS's famous license plate.

Not sure what your motivation is here but it seems to be a looong stretch to insinuate that John started this thread so many years ago as a ruse, especially when he's apparently only asking $36k for the car.

John, is there any evidence of a repair just in front of the Ferrari script on the bonnet, where the cellular antenna was mounted on the car in the post #149 link? If so, that would be the final .5% of proof to me.

Best of luck with the sale. I'd love to have the car myself if I didn't alreadsy have too many cars. I suspect that price will seem very cheap in the future.