Walt Medlin’s collection will be auctioned at Monterey by RM

http://www.autoweek.com/car-life/classic-cars/a44131115/hurricane-damaged-ferrari-collection-headed-to-auction/

 

Here’s the list. Curious on guesses at sale prices:

• 1978 Ferrari 512 BB Competitzione
• 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB by Scaglietti
• 1956 Ferrari 250 GT Coupe Speciale by Pinin Farina
• 1956 Ferrari 410 Superamerica Coupe Series I by Pinin Farina
• 1967 330 GTS by Pininfarina
• 1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial Spider by Pinin Farina
• 1965 Ferrari 275 GTS by Pininfarina
• 1964 Ferrari 250 GT/L Berlinetta Lusso by Scaglietti
• 1971 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Berlinetta by Scaglietti
• 1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Berlinetta by Scaglietti
• 1968 Ferrari Dino 206 GT by Scaglietti
• 1960 Ferrari 250 GT Coupe Series II by Pinin Farina
• 1972 365 GTC/4 by Pininfarina
• 1966 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 Series II by Pininfarina
• 1976 Ferrari 308 GTB ‘Vetroresina’ by Scaglietti
• 1969 Ferrari 365 GT 2+2 by Pininfarina
• 1965 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 Series I by Pininfarina
• 1980 Ferrari 512 BB
• 1991 Ferrari Testarossa
• 1977 Ferrari 400 Automatic

 

I forgot about this story. Wasn't the IRS after him (the collection) for some time? Was there more and this is all that's left or is this everything?

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/news/massive-ferrari-barn-find-features-20-cars-lost-in-hurricane-charley.3196/

 

I don’t/didn’t know Walt but he and I had the same tax accountant, my friend the late John Kelly, known here as Big Horn. Walt was a real handful as a client apparently. He seemed to revel in playing an ongoing game of chicken with IRS.

 

The collection is up on the RM site now for the Monterey sale:

https://rmsothebys.com/en/home/lots/mo23#?SortBy=Default&SearchTerm=&Category=All%20Categories&IncludeWithdrawnLots&Auction=MO23&OfferStatus=All%20Availability&AuctionYear=&Model=Model&Make=Make&FeaturedOnly=false&StillForSaleOnly=false&Collection=Offered%20from%20the%20Lost%20%26%20Found%20Collection&TagLine=All%20Lots&WithoutReserveOnly=false&Day=All%20Days&TimedOnly=false&OneHubLinkOnly=false&AuctionedStatus=All%20Lots&page=1&pageSize=40&ToYear=NaN&FromYear=NaN

 

Walter Medlin, the owner of the "Lost and Found" collection going up on the block in Monterey was/is quite the character. Definitely an interesting and checkered past. Self made millionaire with reluctance to share with the IRS. Several stints in the slammer to boot. I believe he is still alive in the Kissimmee area today - tbd.

It's difficult to tell if he is the one liquidating the cars...or someone else. Quite a collection in any event...even if most are in scruffy and untended condition...and this does not cover the scope of special and valuable Ferraris that he has owned. Some of these are mentioned in the articles below.

Here's a few interesting links:

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2014/08/25/walter-medlin-kissimmees-internationally-known-ferrari-collector-heads-back-to-prison/

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c6bae638155120f31d78943/t/611141e90578764a602f3016/1628524263029/STT2021JulyAugust

 

Hmm that 275 used to belong to Jim Glickenhaus. Wonder if he'll go for it.

 

Looks like the offered cars, or should we say projects, will not be for those with lightweight knees or wallets, especially both Daytonas.

 

The one I'd go for is the 400 auto. The rest are old junkers.

 

I don’t have the bank account or the runway for any of them…..

 

contractor performing abortions!!!

 

Full pictures and descriptions here:

https://rmsothebys.com/en/home/lots/mo23#?SortBy=Default&SearchTerm=&Category=All%20Categories&IncludeWithdrawnLots&Auction=MO23&OfferStatus=All%20Availability&AuctionYear=&Model=Model&Make=Make&FeaturedOnly=false&StillForSaleOnly=false&Collection=Offered%20from%20the%20Lost%20%26%20Found%20Collection&TagLine=All%20Lots&WithoutReserveOnly=false&Day=All%20Days&TimedOnly=false&OneHubLinkOnly=false&AuctionedStatus=All%20Lots&page=1&pageSize=200

If I were in the game I would be tempted by the 1956 250 GT Coupe Speciale.

 

....... "Within months of Hurricane Charley, the IRS filed a $3 million tax lien against him and seized a 1967 Ferrari 330 P4 valued at $10 million." ......

chassis #? What became of this car? Already sold? when?

#0858? https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/posts/135415655/

pix with descriptions
https://silodrome.com/barn-find-20-historic-ferraris/?fbclid=IwAR11q6tDHV2VtEo0nnglkrHYJ2UXz3mUuY6A47zssoypO8wCgsJrnBmA8pQ

.

 

he should have recd the balance of the auction $ once the debt was satisfied.

 

Walter Medlin's 1967 Ferrari 330 P4 (or Can-Am? ) #0858

Walter Medlin at 2:25


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David Piper restores the Talacrest P4 (3,200 posts )
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/david-piper-restores-the-talacrest-p4.381798/

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This is all from memory, so don’t consider it confirmed, but wasn’t the car set to sell at the RM Maranello auction in 2009? I was at the Classiche shops the week before the auction and I believe the car was there then. This may have been when Medlin settled with IRS at the last minute. Again, I’m not sure…and I may have a different car in mind….but somebody here should be able to correct this if it’s not accurate.

 

As far as I know, if IRS sues for title* and the court grants it they keep any profit realized from liquidation.

*And I believe they’d have to have title to sell the asset.

 

today the car is in the Le Mans Museum
from next month It will be shown here
https://www.nationalesautomuseum.de/

but where is 166 Inter Berlinetta Touring 023S and 166 F2 / 246 Tasman 0014?

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

My memory is a bit simpler. Medlin is supposed to have offered the car around '98 but it was definitely on the market in '05/06 (Harley Cluxtons GTC IIRC) but at the last minute Medlin paid enough to the IRS to allow him to keep the car FOR THEN. The next payment must have come due in 2008/09 when it was offered at RM Maranello in May '09. Jim G posted he was going to $7 ish million for a car he claimed could never be a 330P4 again and the car failed to sell on the block. At this point its unclear who actually owned the car but it was at some point between '08 and '12 it sold to an owner connected with Talacrest who began advertising it publicly in 2012 and by 2013 it was being converted to P4 form by David Piper. And the rest is history

 

Separate incidents rather than payments from one tax lien.

Back in the early 90's I was visiting my friend who asked if I knew who Walter Medlin was, what his story was. To which I responded, "Of course".
Walter had asked my friend for a bridge loan for a short period of time to pay the IRS. The loan would be secured by 4675 GT. In the event that the loan wasn't repaid my friend would then hold title to that GTO.
I, of course, advised my friend to do it (because I wanted to see the car sitting alongside my friend's collection ).
He ultimately decided not to but Walter was able to make other arrangements.
I never got to meet him but the stories over the years paint a picture of someone who was quite adept at taking big risks and then working his way out of them. Not entirely unlike Karl Kleve in that respect.
'The last of the riverboat gamblers'.
GLWS. Will be interesting to see where things go from here.

 

Thanks, well at least I now know that I did spot it in Maranello in 2009.

 

slightly off topic, there was a Supreme Court case on this subject last week. It was related to governments seizing property for back taxes and keeping more than the taxes owed.

the governments lost. They can’t do that anymore.

 

That case involved a homestead, and I believe, a local taxing authority. I’m not sure if it applies to other assets or if it’s binding on the federal government.

 

I assume Walt is still alive?

 

Interesting that he bought the C/4 in 2011. So he was still buying Ferraris as of that time.