Old Lost Ferrari

Can anyone help identify this car?

At dinner last weekend I sat next to a rather elderly lady, and by happenstance we fell into conversation about old Ferraris. I was lamenting the sale of my well-loved Queen Mother, and she remarked that her husband had owned an old Ferrari in the early 1960's. She was pretty vague on the details, but she remembered that he'd owned it for a few years and sold it - in non-running condition - to a buyer in Chicago for about $3,500.

Here's all we know: the owner was Constantine Willis Coburn, who ran a thriving Surf Board business in Malibu, California. He bought the car maybe around 1960 and sold it perhaps four years later. She remembers that it was loud, hot, fast and pretty cool. Mr. Coburn is, alas, no longer with us. She thought that it was a 1953 production model.

Looks to me like a 250 GT LWB Tour de France, and, if so, could not be earlier than 1956.

She'd love to know what the model was and what became of it. Thinking about the car brought back fond memories of sunny days at the beach in Malibu, fast drives up Pacific Coast Highway and her Beach Boy husband.

Any help would be appreciated.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

shouldn't be tooo hard to track it, if the Lady's story is true, just NOT that many of those in LA back then....they bwere b"racing cars in those days, after all..

 

Only Coburn I knew of was James. It would help to know if it had one louver or three.

 

Ed:

I'll see whether she can find some additional pictures.

By the way, I have finally located a DVD of "The Racers." I believe you owned some of the cars used in that film. I'd be happy to send you a copy if you feel up to reviving memories of the "Golden Days of International Racing." Enzo Ferrari is portrayed by Lee J. Cobb!!!

 

Tony- Is your last name really "pancake" in German?

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

i suspect it will be only a few hours before the mystery is solved! i love these threads especially when they involve vintage ferraris!!!

 

1039GT?

 

There are too many alternatives for a crash damaged car with a badly repaired nose. Especially when owners aren't necessarily always too fond of the past.

Out of about 40 potential alternatives, I'd have a closer look at 0753GT. It surfaced in Illinois in 1965, but I have no idea where it came from or what it looked like at the time. It was raced through 1958, so it might have been damaged.

Best wishes, Kare

 

As you know, you Tifosi out there, the possible identies of the car in question are limited to the 18 3-Louver cars (of which 6 were imported directly to the US) and 29 1-Louver cars with covered headlights (also 6 imported directly to the US originally.) The VIN range for the 3-Louver cars is 723 to 895 and for the 1-Louver cars it's 897 through1335. Those imported directly to the US are as follows: 723; 753; 771; 773; 781; 893; 925; 967; 1127; 1139; 1141; and 1161. Those sold directly to California were: 723(?); 753; 925; 967; and 1139.

Now, the car may have been sold originally in Europe and then imported subsequently, and the covered headlights might have been added with an altered nose treatment post Factory, so there's remains some ambiguity.

But, the suggestions of 0753 and 1039 are certainly possibilities.

It appears that 1039 may have been sold to a private customer, Harcourt, who may have been in the US.

The known history of a significnat number of the cars that fall into the "possible" group will narrow the field further.

Again, thanks for the suggestions and accumulated wisdom regarding the TdF.

 

That nose reminds me of the Scaglietti Corvette

 

It does, but I guess installing a GTE grille is all it takes. Best wishes, Kare

 

I'd say late cars (1xxxGT) are out, because vent is located so far back in fender.

FWIW, 0723GT has spent all its life in Finland.

Best wishes, Kare

 

Ah, here are several more pictures back in the day. If you enlarge the color side view, it clearly indicates that this is a 3-Louver car, built in 1957 and 1958, one of 18. It's quite similar to one sold by Michael Sheehan, 0787, though the history of that car, sold originally to Papais in France, and with a known subsequent chain of ownership, would preclude its identity as the car in question.

Additional bit of data: the date stamp on the back of the color photo is February, 1970.

Please, more help!
View attachment Ferrari TdF.pdf

 

Is it possible to identify it through the California plate visible in the photos?
Jon

 

Does the date on the color photo indicate that Mr. Coburn owned the car as late as 1970, and didn't sell it around 1964?

 

Yes, I believe we have evidence that Con Coburn owned the car until at least 1970.

 

The man was known as Con Colburn not Coburn . I love the photo with the car in front of the Con Surfboard shop .

Does anyone have a picture of 0901gt before the front end was corrected ? I had several photos of the car when Jay Geils had it but can not find them .

 

If you can read the numbers there is a record.

 

Difficult to read but maybe WVC-077? WVE-077? or something like that. Photo of front easier to zoom-in and read than rear.
Jon

 

There are still too many alternatives, but how about 0773GT? First raced extensively by Arents, then back to Chinetti, then lost for many years and finally with Mike Curley in PA/USA in 1974. Even if restored very nicely, the grille looks lightly off-shape which might indicate it needed a new nose when restored... Front bumper does not look original either...

Best wishes, Kare

 

There is a guy who used to work as a mechanic at Ron Tonkin, who told me about owning a TdF in LA in the late 60s- early 70s and using it as his daily driver. Gerry was his name (can't remember his last name at the moment). I'm guessing it was one of these cars under discussion as well.

 

The license plate is a California "black plate" standard issue by the California DMV until about 1970. I read the plate number as WVC 077. I understand that the DMV keeps vehicle license records in perpetuity. Now, if I can ever find the DMV Office in Santa Monica open.... (California budget woes - not a topic for this thread) we should be able to get the VIN, in which case, the mystery will be nearly solved.

Other observations: the nose treatment doesn't seem quite right, and the covered headlights appear to lack the standard chrome surround. But, the side view does seem to confirm that it's a 3-Louver car, quite similar to 0787 sold by Sheehan, so the field is narrowed considerably to a sub-set of the 18 cars in that Series. Even without the VIN we can eliminate a number of cars with known history and documented chain of ownership.

 

Kare: The U.S. is 3000 miles wide, and in those days cars didn't usually travel that much. Curley was not a West Coast guy.
Donv: You are onto something. I remember Gerry, but can't call up his last name either. I even half-remember something goofy about the nose of his car. If it really is a 3-louver car, I think I can narrow it down to 747, 753, 771, and 787. Lyle Tanner might remember Gerry's name, or it would be in a very old FOC roster (which I no longer have). 0911 had a bad nose, but it was not this nose, and it is a one-louver car.

 

Thanks, Ed.

I'll work to track down the VINs you suggested. I quite sure it's not 0787, as Sheehan has documented the history and ownership chain of that car. You can visit the Ferraris Online Website for the data on 0787.

I'm hopeful that the DMV has access to the VIN through the California license plate number.

 

Thanks to Michael Sheehan, the mystery is solved. See new Thread: TdF 0753 Found