Article on Bloomberg News this morning. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-03/is-this-the-most-valuable-car-in-the-world
New York news people have no clue where anything is outside the NY city limits. They are the most ignorant people on TV and where 50% of America gets it's information.
I googled the reporter. He went to college in Colorado and grad school in Chicago before more grad school in NYC. So while he works from NYC, he is not some drone who has never been outside of NYC. Preston Henn started his business career in North Carolina and had business in other places in the southeastern US before the Swap Shop became the dominant focus of his empire. He was not a Florida and Florida-only businessman anymore than you are a Texas-only businessman (as if you never had your shop in California). He made a glaring error in reporting with respect to Mr. Henn's locale. It had nothing to do with whether he was based in NYC any more than had he been in LA or any other major city. The reporter is a financial news writer. They know nothing about the world of vintage Ferraris that you inhabit. They know what they're told and as you and I know, frequently make what we would consider to be ridiculous mistakes based on knowing zero about that which we know considerably more. Not all of us that live here are from here. I'm from the midwest, have lived in 8 states and visited 46. In my experience in 12 years living here, new yorkers (and by extension, the new york based news program reporters- local and national) are no more or less ignorant of other places than any other americans. Big city people can tend to be more focused on the place where they live but this holds true for other American big cities as well. Not solely an NYC phenomenon.
I had the honor to share a balcony with Preston at the Chåteau Élan Hotel at Sebring for a Ferrari track event. If you go there, always ask for the top right corner as you can see most of the track from there. Anyway, he told me his story. That they had drive in theaters in NC, and when those started to fail, he did what everyone else did, he followed the Sun down to FL. Those must have been optimistic times with wide open vistas, little traffic, wooden boats, and Ferrari GTOs where the new race cars. So he did what he knew, and brought up defunct Drive In theaters that where not worth much. Now they are worth a fortune in the land alone. I think he has 100 acres right there in Ft Lauderdale? I think he was one of those people, like most very wealthy people, who sleep little, and are always focused on the ball. I received email replies at odd times in the early morning. There were stories of stacks of cash like bricks in the Swamp Shop office, and traffic only second to Disney. I heard there was so much cash, there where stories of off shore cigarette boats with cash from other deals. None of it true of course. He said of his car, that he drove it like a grocery getter early on. And said he had no idea it would one day be worth all of his other cars combined. What a cool guy and interesting character. It must have been a very interesting life indeed, lived full throttle.
It would seem the problem with this reporter, and with many today, is they do not research or verify stories themselves. They only go with what is given them, and that is sad. No true reporting, only repeating. That is more a product of the elitists snob mentality prevalent in that profession today. Perry
Disagree completely. What you're describing is how it was done and how it should be done. I believe what's changed- and where the problem lies- is news media being subsidiaries and 'profit centers' of larger corporate structures. When newspapers and televised media do away with staff and/or positions and require fewer people to cover the same amount or more work, the work suffers. Investigative journalism suffers. In depth reporting suffers. I could go on. It wasn't always this way. You and I have standards of expectation based on knowing how it used to be. I don't know about you but I'm a Generation X person. I remember the real news anchors and real reporters. And for the record, I'm a capitalist. I have a bachelor's degree in Finance with a minor in Accounting from a good school. I have worked in one form or another in the business world my whole life. I'm not some anti-corporatist. That said, not every business needs to be a part of some massive structure whose only metric is its performance on the S&P 500.
The article states the Swap Shop is in Ft Lauderdale. Where was he born? Maybe Atlanta? I'm not sure what a 300 GT is though
Dave, Agree completely with you. I am also a gen Xer. Seems the kids these days, by and large, do not know how to cope with adversity. Too bad. It was a different world back in the day. Perry
I had a nice conversation last night with a young woman who is a millennial and she spoke of being on the cusp of early and late millenials, and the distinction between the two. No doubt technology having a lot to do with it. I don't know what the future holds with all this generational change but I'm glad to be around and along for the ride. Bringing it back to Mr. Henn, I applaud his commitment to his car-related passions and give him the proverbial tip of the hat for recognizing early on how special 6885 was. I remember reading Dyke's coverage of the "GTO '65s" in Cavallino and he painted well the picture as to what made those 3 cars so special. Certainly based on competition history, 6885 stands at the front of that pack by a wide margin.
I disagree with some of this post 1) I have it on good authority that the Bloombeg journalist in questionhas has exposure to vintage Ferrari with his father owning a 250 GTE for some time 2) I think people in the finance world totally get the asset inflation story that has dominated our hobby since the GFC
I just left the Swap Shop and saw the car along with everything else. Wow, what a collection and right in the middle of what could be the most tacky place in FL. Does anyone know the story of when he acquired it and what he paid for it? Image Unavailable, Please Login
He bought it in 1969 from Harley Cluxton when the car was stored in Lake Forrest Illinois. I think you will find that is nowhere near the most tacky place in Florida
15 July 1969 Florida title issued in the name of Preston Henns wife Betty D. Henn of Pompano Beach, FL/USA. See also the highly detailed book about 06885, available from Blurb. Marcel Massini
.....and the engine was assembled earlier on February 10, 1964 according to one of the factory sheets.