Mike Curley

I know Mike owned some significant early Ferraris because I saw them a few times at his family's farm (we'd call it a "ranch" in Texas) back in the day. I knew Mike through audio- he was a wheeler dealer who was also a collector and pretty knowledgeable in a lot of diverse subjects. At the time, I was pretty young-- college age in the early '70s and visited Mike's place at least twice to see the cars. None were in "Pebble Beach" condition. I distinctly remember a competition car- at the time, I had very little knowledge of older Ferraris, and Mike pointed me to a wood block on one of the pedals that he said the driver used to compensate for a short(er) foot.
He was a character and I was sad to learn (after reading here that he was the source for another car) that he passed some time ago.
I thought I might ask if anybody has a clue as to the car I saw. (I have an old book, plastic bound 3 ring) which has some cars listed that I got from him- in fact, I think I bought much of his library back in the mid-nineties, when I talked to him last.
I also had a neighbor, Earl Heath, who was known for his Rolls collection, but who also apparently had a few notable Ferraris. FWIW, I grew up in Pittsburgh, where both Curley and Dr. Heath were located. (Actually, Curley was in Irwin, but close enough).
Bill

 

Thanks, that book will either be easy to find or buried in some box here. Will look and post accordingly. Appreciated.

 

OK, book must be buried in a box in the attic so I'll have to dig. Not sure what it was-it was a small plastic ring binder, not full size 8 x 11 or A4, probably from the '70s, I think it listed cars, vin numbers, etc. Mike had a lot of books. I had a lot of other books about other marques, including pre-war stuff. Got rid of some of it, very unlikely I got rid of that little binder. Will need to go archeologist but it's good. Will report when I find it, shoot a couple images and post here.

 

Thanks for this- glad you chimed in, Mike was a very interesting guy. I don't know about the Ferrari Post- this was a small red ring binder- I think it had the Cavallino Rampante on the cover- not sure without finding it, and was basically text, no photos that I recall. When I saw the cars on the two trips to his place, they were all in pretty rough shape visually- maybe just lacking paint, maybe more mechanical issues, but don't know. I remember his younger brother Denny, who was also his sidekick in the audio business.
I was thinking about him as a result of rejoining F-Chat recently. It was cool back in those early days (for me) when the cars weren't on the radar and mere mortals could acquire them. And the people who were into it (like Ed Niles) were interesting people. Don't know the Earl the Pearl reference. I do remember taking Mike out to another town to see a pre-war BMW at one point.
At the time, I was driving an MB 300 6.3 which my father bought and didn't like. It was a total sleeper. I was still a kid then.

 

Yep, your car got a lot of coverage here from what I can see. And probably won some awards for restoration, no?

 

PS: Just looking through the thread on your car again. Massive undertaking. You are a brave soul! What a project!