246 GTS #05794- A Blast From the Past

Back in the Summer of 1988, my then-wife and I were taking a ferry from England to Jersey in the Channel Islands. She stopped at a newsstand to pick up some reading material for the trip, and bought a copy of Harpers & Queen magazine, largely because the cover article was on Palm Beach and she figured that since we’d been there quite a few times she was likely to recognize some of the people and places mentioned. Halfway through the crossing she showed me a picture of a young guy standing in front a beautiful house with a Rolls Silver Cloud and a Dino Spyder and asked, “isn’t that Ferrari like one of yours?”. I did indeed have a 246 GTS at the time (#05828, a red/black chairs & flares US-version car), but what struck me was that I immediately recognized the house as being on Barton Avenue, just around the corner from The Breakers.
The caption named the owner as Steven Gallant (and showed the house number), so when we got home I wrote him, telling him that I owned a similar car, was in Palm Beach often, and asked if I could perhaps see the car when I was next in town. I mentioned that I had for some time cooperated with Denny Schue in researching and tracking Dino chassis numbers, and would appreciate knowing his car’s history. Well, a couple of weeks later I received a call at my law office in Baltimore from a Charles Gallant who, as it turns out, was Steve’s father (and about the same age as my dad) and the owner of the house and cars. He graciously invited us over to see the car and, to make a long story much shorter, we became friends with Charlie and his charming wife, Toni, and dined with them often when we were in town over the years, often joined by their younger son, Steve. At that time the car, dark red with tan interior, a/c and p/w, showed barely over 19,000 one-owner miles.
Charlie told me that he’d traded his Ghibli coupe for the new Dino in 1973 at the Ferrari dealer in Miami, having originally driven down to buy a Daytona. He found the Daytona too heavy to steer, but really liked the Dino Spyder and bought it instead. We shared many talks and a lot of correspondence on Dinos over the ensuing years, and we always enjoyed Charlie’s company- he was a real Renaissance man and a true gentleman, and Toni is a sweetheart. Always gracious, when Marc Sonnery was looking for a place in Palm Beach to photograph Paul Frame’s new yellow F-50 for the cover of Cavallino magazine one January, Charlie and Toni happily volunteered the use of their beautiful grounds when I called to inquire on Marc’s behalf.
When Charlie died a few years ago the Dino was still stashed in the garage in Palm Beach, having gone largely undriven for years. I recently learned from Steve, from whom I hadn’t heard in a while, that he was having Dino specialist Tim Stanford down in Ft. Lauderdale give it a thorough mechanical going-over, and that he’d just had the car painted and upholstered (in its original colors) to bring it back to its former glory. Sure enough, when I was down at Tim’s shop to retrieve the 348 Challenge car that I keep in Florida, there was Charlie’s Dino undergoing service. I hadn’t seen the car in years, but it certainly brought back some great memories. I’ve forgotten the exact current mileage, but I think it’s something like 23,000 original, one-owner miles- amazing!
Steve tells me that now that he’s almost finished restoring his dad’s car and completed the project (Tim says the car will be done in about two weeks or so), he may put it up for sale. I’ve got no agenda or interest here, but if he does decide to sell and you’re looking for a Dino, consider giving this one a good home. I’ve known it since 1988 and can vouch for the fact that it’s a genuine one-owner car (assuming you impute Charlie’s ownership to son Steve), and spent its entire life around the corner from the site of the Cavallino Classic. Steve hopes to have the car parked in the driveway of the family home in Palm Beach during Cavallino next month, so if you’d like to speak with him PM me and I’ll give you his number.

 

The car is now finished and just listed on FerrariAds. Hope it goes to a good home.

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