You may remember that the entire collection went to Bernie Ecclestone who soon re-sold the sports cars on to John McCaw, who later re-sold some of the cars, All that happened between 1992 and 1998. There is no Obrist Collection since then. Today he owns a 330 America, 599 GTO, F12 TDF and an 812 Comp. Marcel Massini
Ah yes, i think i am confusing him with another CH collector whose name im having a hard time remembering now (But he had a few 250 repros..LM/Californias..) and had a website about his collection?
Sealed bid auctions seem to be the way to go lately... https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/ev22/sotheby-s-sealed---288-gto-evoluzione/lots/r0001-1987-ferrari-288-gto-evoluzione/1291901 Paul
Polished to within an inch of its life, I imagine it was never that pristine in period! I bet that will go for some serious money, not that we will ever know
Well they no longer have a contract with Ferrari. Pimping out older ones is one way to keep busy. Tightest panel gaps ever seen on a composite Ferrari.
None of the polished parts were originally polished, I recall inspecting 79888 at Larry Stroll's place in 2008 for a prospective buyer (LS kindly shipped it to attend our 288 GTO Reunion the following year) and at that point it was still pretty much original. This car is at the extreme end of what seems to be a tendency to over-restore cars in a non-authentic manner these days.
In my mind that is so over the top I cannot categorize it as a restoration. I think it landed square in custom land. A real shame that happened to such a rare and important car. A great many of those parts will never be returned to original. No different than people polishing the intake manifolds on 300SL's. One more that can never be stock again. Hardly someone I'd call a caretaker of history.
I just reviewed about 200 images from when the car was sold from DL to DR, and it looks like an entirely different car! Especially for such a menacing beast.
The funny thing is, even though this piece of automotive art is no longer in the finish that the artisan originally created, somebody's gonna pay up for it.
The point is that if somebody pays 10 Million $ for it, then it has to LOOK LIKE 10 Million $. Otherwise your friends will say "what, you paid 10 Million bucks for this piece of s**t?" Marcel Massini
David MacNeil told me a very similar story about his GTO. Swore it was true. Number was a little different.
I believe Michelotto originally built them for Ferrari? so why would they then bling it like that recently? I guess if the customer demands it then they are happy to do so and just cash the cheque.
But then why hasn't anyone bought it in the preceding months when the car was marketed quietly? Surely enough of the right buyers would have heard about it. Maybe they all shared the same opinion?
If you give us a list of the people they asked and what their pitch and price was maybe I can offer an opinion. With no information its just a guess and I don't guess. No serious collector is a likely buyer.
I'm confused. It seemed when you quoted Joe's post saying "but its (sic) true", that indicated that you agree when he said "somebody's gonna pay up for it." I said that no one's bought it yet and now you're saying "No serious collector is a likely buyer" (which sounds like a guess, except you don't do that ) Which is it? Will somebody pay up for it, or not? Or is the likely buyer just someone that's not a "serious collector"? FWIW, I do think the car will sell. With the sealed bid format, there is an urgency that didn't exist before. I believe a "serious collector" will recognize the opportunity to acquire one of the rarest modern icons and be willing to spend a relatively minor amount to correct any inaccuracies in the finish.
Read the words, dont read into the words. I do agree with Joe. Someone will pay, neither of us said what they will pay. How is that so confusing? The car is being offered in the public domain. It was offered privately with no sale. How much were they asking? Do you? If so please share and we might offer a reason. Who was it offered to? Serious collectors I would presume with no buyers. Is that confusing too? No your statement "minor amount to correct inaccuracies " is the tell. Aluminum cannot be unpolished. Originality cannot be reinfused. You clearly do not understand. It simply will not be a top dollar car. Might as well enter a Chip Foose restorod at Pebble. One of Americas big collectors sold an F40 this year in Monterey for a record price. I knew the car very well. It was orginal, original, original. It still had Maranello air in the tires. Thats what it takes to get attention and top dollar. Not a car that looks like Chip Foose built it then someone tried to unpolish it. Still confused?
The aluminium can be de blinged easily enough back to a dull, non mirror like look via various light blasting methods, the polishing process though will have smoothed out the high quality welding (lol) and what has now been seen cannot be unseen going forward Period photos of these cars make them look like they were thrown together in someones shed, but they were only prototype and test cars never meant to end up in the public arena at the time. That rough look cannot be replicated, actually using the car would tone down the Boyd Coddington effect though. It will sell and for big money, rich people need somewhere to store there cash for now, its a perfect place to do so. Maybe now its been fully Ralph Laurened he will add it to his collection.
Silly things like applying that yellow marker on the nuts and bolts, that car would have been pulled apart and rebuilt after every test outing with not a dab of paint in sight. https://www.***************.com/gallery/Ferrari-288-GTO-Evoluzione-87665.html Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
A good restorer can absolutely restore a car sympathetically to the same surface textures & finishes as existed originally, in this case there has been creative license exercised in applying essentially a hot-rod finish, an iconic Ferrari such as this one really deserved better. Returning this car to it's original guise would involve a not inconsiderable amount of disassembly and careful refinishing to replicate the original patina, meanwhile, you are right, simply using the car would mellow the shiny bits and bring them back closer to their original status.
No question it would sell for big money, its too rare not to. Just not what either an all original or properly restored car would. The difference probably not a huge percentage of the starting price. I have never seen a highly polished fabricated or machined piece brought back and looking correct. Sharp edges are gone forever, welds like on the oil catch tank will never look correct. Fabricators certainly do exist that can make perfect copies but they will be copies. Castings will never be returned to original look.
As they say they can only be original once. When 79888 attended our world-record attendance GTO Reunion 13 years plus ago, I loved it for it's brutal rawness, in other words, it actually looked like the FIA Homologation Group B Ferrari racecar it was intended to be, here it is at our event all those years ago https://www.flickr.com/photos/joesackeyclassics/albums/72157621971617959
