Garaged in 1968 and not moved till fall of 2011 for delivery. The old picture referred to in Italy looks like a right hand drive. The barn find car is left hand which would have required conversion after the picture was taken. The engine conversion was done professionaly so a steering conversion wouldn't be unusual at the Ferrari factory. Been trying to get the owner to show me the car for the last ten years. I've owned many rare cars, so knowing how rare this one was, I at least wanted see it! My picker cousin got wind of the car, end of story! Been crying ever since!!!!!!! Dave S. P.S. Didn't have the money to buy/restore it but just wanted to touch it one time, which I did at last. Will try to follow its' trail!
Previous owner says I'm wrong about L.H. steering and that the car is R.H. steering. Sorry, I only saw it briefly, (I'm at the back end of the car in the picture shown to load channel 5 video). At that time, prior to investigation of the car's history and demand value, I was not interested in a $35,000.00 Chevy powered Ferrari investment. Can't blame others for---- "IGNORANCE AND LACK OF INTESTINAL FORTITUDE" Dave
Car is slated for pebble beach in 2014. 2015 latest. Car is well under restoration Doubt I will post much between now and then. I am directly communicating with several historians, that have provided important photos and data, all that will assist in the restoration of this interesting early Ferrari.
Hey guys, first post here... My grandpa used to own an old Ferrari in the late 60's, however nobody in the family really knew what year or model it was. I decide to take the few photos we have of it and try to track down what it was. I couldn't really match it up with any of the cars I could find until I ran across an article about this 212 dragged out of a barn. Turns out this is THE car my grandpa owned in the late 60's, and sold to the person who parked it! The car looks almost untouched from the photo's I have of it from the time my grandpa owned it. I called Tom this morning and sent him these pics, but I figured I'd post them here as well, since this car seems to have disappeared completely from the 50's until the time it was dragged out of the barn! One day I'd love to sit in this thing! -Rob These were taken in May 1969 at my Grandpa's house in Davisburg, MI.
Looks to me like a tow point of some sort. When my grandpa picked up the car, it ran, however there was some issue with the rear end that prevented him from driving it. It was towed to the house, spent a couple years in the garage, and was towed away when he sold it. Has anyone tracked the history of this car? I've been talking to my grandma and my grandpa's brothers about what they remember, and it seems to have a bit of history. -Rob
First, WELCOME RIVMAN!!! Glad to see you here. I am sure that so many of the historians on this board who have posted already would be VERY interested to hear any story you might have about this car. Even those like myself who know nothing (compared to the giants like Tom Shaughnessy and Marcel Massini) LOVE to watch stories like this unfold. Glad to have you on the board!!! PDG
Many thanks for sharing those wonderful photos! I think all of us would love to be able to add the name of your grandfather to our files. After having been seen in Franco Cornacchia's shop in Milan in mid-1953 it seems to have disappeared. Presumably sold to USA at that point. Then it appears in the your grandfather's garage 15 years later. Anything you can add? Best wishes, Kare
O233EU/EL has one of the more perplexing provenances.Some guy called tongascrew had some thoughts on this car back in 2011 along with several much more experienced authorities.Your pictures certainly seem to show 0233. Now in my files I show this car as one of two going to Juan Peron and being stored in Argentina from 1953 -to 1987. Well we can throw his theory out.. For those new to this car it is necessary to go back to post #1 and go through the entire thread.The bottom line is that when doing this one finds out that a lot of questions remained unanswered. Now these pictures of yours seem ,at least for me, to complicate things even more. But for better or worse this is why we tune in every day.If there is anything else you can come up with on how grandpa came to own this car and who it went to when he passed it in would be most interesting. I am sure there are others out there who will have great interest in what you may have to say as well as there own theories on the subject. Thanks much tongascrew
Hey Guys, Thanks! The story I've been able to piece together from the recollections of my Grandma and my Grandpa's brothers is this: My grandpa ran a local "Junk" shop called the Whoopee Bowl in Davisburg, MI for over 30 years. He bought, sold, and traded pretty much everything under the sun. He was offered the Ferrari in trade for something, my grandma recalls the trade item being relativity worthless, but can't remember what it was. My grandpa's brother thinks he got the car from someone named Steve Blow. The history that they were told / remember about the car is: There were two built and raced in England One was wrecked, making this the last survivor It was previously owned by "Coo Coo" Marlin I'm not sure how accurate any of that is, it's been 40 years. I know when he bought the car it was towed over, and couldn't be driven due to an issue with the rear end. It sat a couple years undriven, before my grandpa sold it to a local guy that was a regular at the Whoopee Bowl. My grandma remembers that the sale price was very low, under $1000. Nobody remembers who it was, however the place it was found (Grand Blanc) is only about 15 miles from their house. I've also found a couple of photos that appear to be of this car online, that I didn't see posted earlier in this thread. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-aimnSuigppo/Up5P4cM_o_I/AAAAAAAAC7M/QtJosX0NFlo/s800/%2524%2528KGrHqF%252C%2521ksE9WGcm7%252BYBPZ10h7ezQ%257E%257E60_57.JPG https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-l_FyImI2K8k/Up5QE88EwMI/AAAAAAAAC7U/Z_3Z-ShVSWo/s800/0233%2520EU%2520Ghia%2520Auto%2520Italiana%252015041952%2520GIF.gif Hope this helps! I look forward to seeing this piece of my family's history come back to life! -Rob [email protected]
Thanks for adding color! It is true that one of the two built was very early on converted into a more sporty spider. Not a very pretty sight and I do agree that this turned the other one into the only one surviving. Best wishes, Kare
Re-reading my post I guess I forgot to put my Grandpa's name in there. His name was Donald “Don” Hopson. Thanks -Rob
Thanks much.Hopefully this may stir up more info and slowly but surely more missing pieces will come together. tongascrew
No. Restoration not completed yet. 2015 or 2016 perhaps, if invited by Pebble Beach organizers. Marcel Massini
Thanks Marcel! I hope to fly my Grandmother and myself out to see the car when it's complete. She always wondered what happened to it when my Grandpa sold it. -Rob
Hi Marcel - My name is Annette, and I am actually the daughter of Don Hopson (Uncle to Rob, who has posted here previously). I asked Rob to provide the url to your thread so I can see how things are coming. My dad's part in the story of this unique and presumably soon-to-be-beautiful car is very small, but it was his pride and glory for the few short years he owned it. We lost him in 2007, but he never forgot his Ferrari, often wondering what may have become of it. I would love to hear and/or see any additional photos or information you have on the car today. We were able to locate a few videos online of when the car was 'discovered' in the barn, and seeing the For Sale sign in the window in my dad's handwriting was awesome, like a little *wave hello* from him. Hoping you are having good fortune in the restoration, and very excited to hear anything new. Annette
Part of what I have on the subject is that John Mastroianni had the disassembled engine in the early 1970s and in 1990s sold it in that condition to William Dixon. Dixon then got the original gearbox from Richard Merritt in June of 1996.Later in 1996 the car was sold to David Castelhano who continued the restoration. 2007 Castelhano filed for bankruptcy and the car was sold in 2009 to Kenneth Roth of Newport Beach Cal.He then sent the car to Classiche to complete the restoration.I can only presume that any of these three plus Classiche may have a record on the internal engine #.Good luck tongascrew
Hey folks, It's been about three years since I stumbled upon this thread. Is the car still under restoration? My Grandma was asking about it last week, I was hoping to give her an update. Thank you -Rob