212 EL body offered, which car did it belong to?

I have been offered this HEAVILY modified body which supposedly came off one of the 212 cars with a chassis number ending on "EL".

I have been looking through all the data for which car that could have been but no luck so far.

As the picture shows, it's in pretty bad shape but if it's indeed original, it might still be worth the trouble of saving it.

I'm not sure if it was originally a convertible body as the top of the rear and the doors seems to have been chopped so it might have been a coupe.

Anybody any suggestions who made this body (is it a Vignale?) and which car it belonged to?

Jack
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As said earlier: there seems to be a fine line between ´heavily modified´ and ´badly damaged´...

 

A little bit of information surfaced already...

Supposedly, the body is/was a 1952 Ghia coupe that originally was installed on chassis number 0205EL which is / was a 212 Inter and which at one time sported engine number 003S (!).

Most recent info that I could find on 0205EL is that it was located in Germany in 1999.

 

Can we settle at "EXTREMELY badly damaged + minor modifications" ? ;-)

 

It looks like the body may have originally looked like this: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/ferrarissime/MODEL/STRADALE/212INTER.html

 

that it would be not much more than building a new car around a real cahassis plate..

 

It might even be MORE work than building a new body.

What a shame that that is being done all the time when yet another beautiful 250 or 330 America is butchered to be turned into yet another freakin' GTO replica but that this one probably will never be restored to its former glory...

I'm even considering just buying it and just keep it the way it is right now as a kind of artefact.

Would be such a shame to see it deteriorate even more or, even worse, being completely destroyed when it has now survived for more than half a century.

 

What kind of price does an incomplete body hulk like that go for? Obviously if one stumbled across such a thing in a scrap yard in Bugwhistle, Nebraska, you could probably buy it for $50. What happened to the rest of it? Did those early bodies have a serial number tag on them anywhere?

 

Please do! At least it'll get cleaned up and sit in a garage or something for the next 20 years. Don't worry, it'll be worth rebuilding (building?) in another 50 years or so. In the meantime, what's one more chassis hull sitting around an enthusiast's place?!

 

Got any more pics? It looks like it mated with the backend of a tractor at some point and the front fenders were ditched to expose the wheels (think model A).

 

The owner wants me to name a price and I REALLY have NO idea where to start... (I'm under the impression that he doesn't know where to start either..)

Looking at what it really is... I would say the $ 50 that you mention seem a bit too much... in light of the fact that the chassis is still around and its "historical value", it might be a lot more than that. But how much? NOT a clue...

This particular "body" does not have ANY tags on it and I don't know if Ghia ever numbered them.

I have a Fiat 2300S coupe which body was designed by Ghia but which were actually built by Osi in Torino and I know that each panel is hand-numbered with chalk but that probably says more about Osi than about Ghia.

The owner released a little bit more info... the body was "modified" in the late 1950's to resemble a comtemporary british sports car...

To achive this, the front was modified so that it could take the front wings of a ca. 1934 Lancia Augusta!

The Lancia is a car that looks more or less like this:
http://www.autoreview.ru/new_site/year2001/n24/lancia_hist/800/Lancia_Augusta.jpg

How weird italians can go about when modifying cars...

Anybody any clues on what would be a realistic price for this hull?

 

Not yet. I'll be going down there to inspect it shortly. Will shoot some more while I am there.

The front fender have a little bit of a different story to them, see above, Lancia Augusta.

 

My standard offer for any automotive hulk that an owner won't even go to the trouble of protecting from the weather is $300. The owner will then feel that the offer is not enough. (In other words, he SUDDENLY thinks that he knows exactly what it is worth.) Then the owner usually counters with a $500 price, at which point the deal is done. That's how I bought the body and chassis hulk of my '57 Corvette. And of course it never hurts to toss out the fact that it won't even roll onto, or off of, a trailer. I spent about 3 hours a few weeks ago unloading a '69 Porsche 912 with 4 FLAT tires and a rusty floorboard. Major pain.

 

The problem is that the guy knows EXACTLY what it is that he is offering and without trying to talk a '57 'vette down, I think this is a much rarer opportunity.

He revealed some more of the history of the chassis (or whole car if you want) as well (of which VERY little is known in public sources) such as previous owners etc.

It would be worth $ 500 to me as an "artefact" but I doubt if $ 500 will actually seal the deal.

 

Sttttttt! but if he counters with a $ 600 asking price, I would EVEN split the difference!

But to be honest, I have no clue of it's value. $ 500 is peanuts I think but considering it's condition...

 

What good is the history of the chassis if the chassis is long gone? All that's left is a body hulk. Kind of like saying, "I USED to be a millionaire." That was then. This is now. "Where's the chassis? Long gone? OK, I'll give you $650. That's top dollar. If that won't get it, throw it on E-Bay!"
(Then run away quickly as the cantankerous owner sets the dogs on you!)

 

It's hard to tell by the pic, but about all it seems to be good for is a template for another body...

 

I'd saw off the area around the grill, pound it out/straighten it up, paint it, stick an emblem on it and mount it on a wall. Aside from some damage it looks like the only original piece still on the body.

 

I don't know why anyone would really want it. It's like an original Nardi steering wheel with the cork rather than the wood rim, but bent with all the cork having dried up and fallen off.

To start with what is there and make a car out of it, and then to call the car a Ferrari is absurd.

 

OR if you find a hood you could turn it into a b*tchin' desk.

Artificial reef perhaps?

 

OH MY!!! Could I take off and start running away with that remark!!!
(But I think that I already did, a long time ago, in another thread.)

 

My guess is that it used to be the 1952 Geneva or turin Salon car by Ghia, s/n 0189 EL (according to Prunet the car was in the USA in the eighties).

Look at the similar windscreen and the rear fenders are ugly too.

Ciao, Peter

Edit: there is some confusion about the identity of the cabriolet I mentioned. It could be 0191 EL but that's a Vignale coupe now. Maybe an early rebody?

Re edit: that should be rebodied as a Ghia coupe, see attached picture (yellow/black car).
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