The Great Adventurer Colin Crabbe

I was trying to look up if it was a D-type he found in Cuba but
found he had found a Ferrari as well.--a V12 TR spec engine'd Ferrari 500 TRC.



A british website called racecar.com says the car was originally sold by the factory and dispatched to the Cuban Racing Team, Scuderia Cuba. After a chequered history Colin brought the back from Cuba in the 1980's and in the absence of the original 4 pot - installed a 250 TR spec motor. Back in the 1990s he was offering it for seven figures.

I wondered what chassis number that was and if there's a story inprint on how he discovered and bought it--a story which tells how much he paid for it. I expect the four cylinder engine that was supposed to be in it was a lot more costly to replace than the V12 he was using.

I talked to Crabbe at Monterey one year but our conversation then was about a trip to Madagascar which doesn't involve Ferrraris (I'll tell you the story if anybody asks...)

 

I typed his name into Google and was refererd to a website called WPA (I thought that was the initials of the FDR era public works agency) but anyhow on this site they have amazing footgage of a light colored two seater racing on a race through the city streets from above as it spins out. It appears a body is lying across the hood of the car. See if you can open this website.

http://www.wpafilmlibrary.com/detail/disaster_at_cuban_grand_prix_after_fangio_kidnapping_fangio_kidnapped_cifuentes_drives_into_crowd_at_cuban_grad_prix/5e3f79f6-5550-a438-b47a-926b3a31c347.html

Maybe the car was impounded by the government after the accident and the car held so many years until Crabbe worked it loose some decades later. I know when Ford crashed some Ford GTs the wrecked cars were held at Holman & Moody for many years in case there were lawsuits, etc. Of course back then they also had a habit of burying cars that had crashed with loss of life (like Hansgen's car at LeMans practice)