Merged: 1950 166MM 0046M with Zagato body/University of Alabama

Thought some of you that keep track of things like this might be interested.

Article from University of Alabama web site:

http://uanews.ua.edu/anews2007/jun07/ferrari061507.htm

Article from todays Tuscaloosa News (local paper):

Thanks to a unique gift to the University of Alabama, a sportscar that once raced in Europe and Africa will eventually send students to college.

Sports car enthusiast Darrell Westfaul bought a Ferrari in 1966 while he was a student at UA for $1,500, the equivalent of about $9,300 today.

Forty years later, he sold the car for more than $1 million.

“Cars are an unusual gift," said Phillip Adcock, assistant vice president for development. “This is the only time I’ve ever been involved with one."

That’s because most cars, even antique models, aren’t worth enough to set up a trust fund that endows a scholarship.

But Westfaul’s car is not a run-of-the-mill antique roadster.

It’s a 1950 Ferrari 166MM Touring Barchetta refitted in 1953 with a body by Zagato, another Italian car company that refitted nine Ferraris.

Or, in layman’s terms, Westfaul’s Ferrari is smokin’.

“There was undeniably a coolness factor. I mean, I had a Ferrari," Westfaul said of the perks of driving the car around campus in his senior year. “When you’re 21 years old, that’s the greatest thing in the world."

Of course, as a racecar, Westfaul’s vehicle lacked amenities such as windows that could be rolled down or heating and air conditioning. Those were things drivers of the car didn’t need while touring racing circuits in the early 1950s.

It was raced three times in the Mille Miglia, or Thousand Miles, one of the more famous races in Italy the grand touring era of sports cars. One driver of the car won the 1952 Italian championship for its class, Westfaul said.

The roadster ended up in North America and changed hands before Westfaul bought it from another man in Tuscaloosa.

He had plans to repair and restore the car after graduation in 1967, and drove it to his parents’ house in Mobile, where he dismantled it.

But life and money got in the way, and for 40 years the car was moved from garage to garage. For the last 15 years, it sat in a warehouse in town, he said.

In fact, Westfaul never restored it completely, a task that would take at least $300,000, he said.

“It’s not something an individual could attempt to do," he said. “The best thing to do was to sell it to a professional who could."

But selling the car himself would mean paying a 28 percent capital gains tax. Giving the car to the university to sell, since UA can’t use a Ferrari. would substantially lower the charitable deduction on Westfaul’s tax return

After reading an article about a similar gift to UCLA, Westfaul approached university officials about setting up a charitable remainder trust.

Through the trust, Westfaul sold the car to a collector in Arizona who was planning to open a museum.

The money from the sale is managed by the university and invested. Westfaul gets an annual payment for the rest of his and his wife’s lives. When they die -- Westfaul is 63 -- UA gets what’s left to endow a scholarship.

“It enabled him to give an extraordinary gift that otherwise would be possible," Adcock said.

More than likely, at least the $1 million will remain in the trust after Westfaul dies, but it could be quite a bit more if returns are good.

“The university wouldn’t do something like this for someone who’s 40 years old because it would take too long," Westfaul said.

Charitable remainder trusts are common methods of giving, but they normally take the form of real estate or securities, Adcock said.

When set up, the fund could pay out $60,000 a year for scholarships, Adcock said. Preference will be given to student from Murphy High School in Mobile, Westfaul’s alma mater.

Reach Adam Jones at [email protected] or 205-722-0230.

 

Sold mid May 2007 thru three brokers to Bill Pope in Scottsdale/AZ. I hear US$ 1'375'000. For more than eight months I have tried to buy the car but the previous owner didn't want to listen to my SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER offer. Non-modified, authentic 166 MM Touring Barchettas with matching numbers go for more than US$ 2.5 Million now. 0046 M was not "refitted with a Zagato body" but Zagato added a Coupé Roof on the existing Touring Barchetta. Article is incorrect in saying that 0046 M ran 3 times in the Mille Miglia, the car was actually raced FOUR times in the Mille Miglia: 1950, 1951, 1952 and 1953. Original owner was Italian designer Nuccio Bertone (YES!).
Marcel Massini

 

Please share a picture...

 

0046M
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Here are the pictures from the University of Alabama's web site in the link I provided. The last picture shows a 1966 U of Alabama parking sticker when Darrell was a student here.
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Wow, what a jewel! Thanks for sharing the story and thanks to Marcel for the corrections.

 

This one's never going to challenge the original body for overall beauty, but it's truely wonderfull. A winner all the way! Thanks for sharing the pictures.

 

Very nice car in beautiful confition, what a pleasure to see that, thanks for the details concerning your marvellous engin, and pics.

 

What a beauty of a car.

Such a wonderful provenence - there couldn't be much better - thanks Marcel as always! I really howled as I imagined a college student at my Alma Mater driving a Mille Miglia competitor between classes and hitting on coeds at the library..

I wish I had a Ferrari when I went to Alabama 10 years later...to me the student parking sticker really brings a smile.

 

what a wonderful idea and act of giving back! amazing twist of fate for the Ferrari. neat-o!

 

Sorry, but it's not only a roof added but also a big work around the nose and rear.

 

Alabama loses a great Ferrari. It was underbought, too (Bertone's personal racer with documented race wins!).

 

I was involved in the sale of 0046M, and Darrell, the other brokers and the seller were great to work with, and I think everyone was happy all around.

As far as value.......something is worth what buyer and seller agree on.

If anyone knows of another 166MM, I need one.

I have a 250SWB, a Lusso, a very sweet Daytona Spyder, and for the more modern buyer a McClaren F1.

 

Dino
I hope your seller took the advice he was offered re the gift.
Is your Lusso the same one as Sheehan is offering.
Details on the others? prices? years? colors? etc etc

BTW is a McClaren F1 some kind of kit car version of a McLaren F1?

 

He ended up doing what would work for him.

That Mac is a 'special' version! I'll email you on the other stuff........
How's CA? Its just 'lovely' in PHX. I think that I saw your house melting!

 

Originally Posted by Marcel Massini:

"Sold mid May 2007 thru three brokers to Bill Pope in Scottsdale/AZ. I hear US$ 1'375'000. For more than eight months I have tried to buy the car but the previous owner didn't want to listen to my SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER offer. Non-modified, authentic 166 MM Touring Barchettas with matching numbers go for more than US$ 2.5 Million now. 0046 M was not "refitted with a Zagato body" but Zagato added a Coupé Roof on the existing Touring Barchetta."

My post in response:

I was also one of the brokers involved in the sale of this 166 MM. Several high-pressure brokers had talked with Darrel in the months before we started to wortk with him. Several of these brokers "offered" the car to the International market and many of them had no authority to do so. The going price was $2.5M.

When we started working with Darrell, we determined that the highest price paid for a 166 MM Barchetta in recent months was $1.9M and that was for a totally restored car. Darrell's car was admittedly not in that condition. We spent months working with Darrell as he set up his trust arrangement with the U. of AL. In exchange, he signed a 90-day exclusive arrangement with us. When the trust was in place, we started to discreetly put the word out worldwide that the car was available. Anyone who was interested in buying the car could have contacted us or Darrell as all the people in the know kneww whose car it was. If Marcel had a buyer for $2.5M, he could have bought the car and made a $1.0+ profit on the deal. In actuality, we had little interest in the car until we came across the ultimate buyer who was specifically looking for a 166 MM that was somehow involved with Zagato.

In this business, you always hope for the right seller, the right car and the right buyer. In this case that surely happened. Look for this car to be featured in Ferrari-oriented media in the future. It is an amazing story. One of the things that I was able to do was to find a period image of the car at a race at Harewood Acres in Canada in 1956.

Terry Godbout
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The sad part is the red paint, Kevlar, carbon fiber and epoxy resins oozing under his many garage doors.

 

Marcel,

Don't feel bad. I offered $1.5M for the car and was turned down. I heard it eventually went for $1.5M. Back when I offered $1.5M, the figure being thrown at me was North of $2M. Oh, well, win some, loose some.

Since the Zagato Coupe was actually just a Coupe grafted onto the Barchetta body, or so the research says, I was going to strip the roof off and return it to its original Barchetta body.

There is a decent Barchetta for sale in Italy for $1.7M or so. Pretty car. The owner is something else to deal with, but if you can deal with him, it's a decent deal.

These are wretched cars to drive, to steal a quote, but they are pretty.

Steve

 

I'm curious to know why the car still has 'Superleggera' on the hood and not a 'Zagato Milano' emblem.

If it were re-bodied, wouldn't Zagato take off Carrozzeria Touring's label?




Best
Jon

 

It was no longer on the hood when rebodied by Zagato and raced as such. So it was a later addition by later owner.

 

http://uanews.ua.edu/anews2007/jun07/ferrari061507.htm

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/07/09/old-school-alabama-grad-donates-million-dollar-ferrari/

 

what a great story. it is nice when everyone involved is a "good guy".it was also very nice to hear finally from marcel massini. if he gets this, welcome back. we have missed you. tongascrew

 

So I know this is an old thread but I'm the grandson of the man he bought it from for 1500. I was wondering what other information is out there about this Ferrari. I've heard it was 1 of 8 and that the other 7 had been wrecked. I was wondering if there was any truth to it . I do know that it recently sold to a collector in Germany for 5 million. Darrell told my grandmother about it. He approached her recently asking if she still had the original bill of sale and that he's writing a book about it. While it's all nice and good that he donated the money it bothers me that he took advantage of my grandfather like that and that he's living off the interest. Anyway thought I'd add to the conversation and see if anyone has anymore information about the car. Next time I'm at my grandmothers I'll look for the picture of my grandfather with it and the bill of sale.

 

Ferraris were just used cars back in the 1960's.

A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO that sold new for $18,500, only sold for $4,000 in 1965, but could be worth over $50,000,000 today. The rise in Ferrari collector values began well after your grandfather made the decision to sell.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_250_GTO

 

What's your grandfather's story about it?