any body know about a wrecked black daytona in denver area aroud 1990?

Chuck...

As per the FML:

On 20 March 1977, 12883 was listed for sale in the LA Times. Black with black interior, air, 18,000 miles. Listed by a private seller who only provided the following phone number: 213-277-4166

On 22 May and 24 June 1977, the car was listed for sale in the LA Times by Ferrari of San Diego, yellow with black interior, wire wheels.

S/N 12883 was also listed in the 1977 FOCUSA roster by Massimo Colombo of Turin, Italy.

In March, 1980, this car was listed for sale in the FOCUSA News by J. Anthony Polumbus of Denver, CO. Black with black interior.

This car came up for sale again in mid-1988, by Daniel L'Heureux of Minneapolis, MN. Started frame-off restoration and Spyder conversion, have factory Spyder spare parts (glass, top bows, etc.). Much work done, have run out of money.

This car was offered for sale in January, 1999, at Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, AZ. Red with black interior, Borranis, presented in essentially as-new condition throughout. Even door gaps, excellent cosmetics. High bid $127,050 including 5% commission. The car was sold (this information was found in the Sports Car Market).

The car was purchased by a couple in Utah; it had, at the time, 23,000 miles.

In March, 2000, the car was sold by the couple in Utah to a gentleman named Chuck (you?) in Corona Del Mar, CA. In August, 2001, it was entered in the Vintage Ferrari Concours at Concorso Italiano by that same Chuck dude.

The car was last seen at Concorso Italiano in Seaside, California; red with black interior.

Though I'm not certain, the red car closest to the camera could very well be yours as that picture was taken in August, 2004, at Concorso Italiano. I hope this helps.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Good to see it together in one piece after all this time.
Missing a few owners in the info presented. Robinson- Colorado Springs, Dedolph- Minneapolis, and a few more in Mpls I cant think of at this time.
Somewhere I have photos of the entire car laid out in the showroom of World Ferrari in Long Lake Minnesota as the boxes got emptied and inventoried upon the arrivial from Denver area. Quite a project as when I first saw it, it was a bare frame and a hundred or so boxes. Even the needles of the u joints in the steering shaft were all there but had to be found in the jumble of parts.

Dave

 

.amazing tale....thanks guys!!!

 

I have been trying to remember more details of the car from back in the 80's when we recieved it at World Ferrari in Mn.
Jim Robinson was Bob Donner's (512BB/LM, GTO, Comp Daytona) personal mechanic and knew his way around race cars. The Donners have a history of Pro Racing going well back into the 60's and hold numerous records at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb and Jim was a big part of keeping those cars in tune.
I am not sure how Jim ended up with the car but I do remember talking at length with him regarding the state of the engine and such. If memory serves me correct he had built the engine to Endurance Comp. spes and it was the only part of the cars that was assembled when we recieved it.
The owners of World Ferrari were Bob Bodin and Karl Dedolph. Bob Bodin was the owner of 3223GT, the first 250GTO and Bob Donner was the owner of the last GTO and are good friends. I am sure it is through this connection the the car ended up in Mn. and I am fairly sure the car was fliped here and not registered to either Bob or Karl. This is when Dan, who was also friends with Bob and Karl, ended up with the car.
At the time I was GM of World Ferrari (mechanic, janitor,.....) and we had just opened up our own body / fabrication shop led by an incredibly tallented fabricator and painter, Randy ???? who was responsible for much of the base work on the body. He fabed all the front wheel wells and firewall which was destroyed in the fire. I remember spending a good deal of time studying and fabing rear firewall to strengthen the chassis while that was at the body shop and working on brakes, suspension and drivetrain at the Repair Center.
As I remember the chassis, it came to us bare, with the rear clip / roof already cut. With the boxes of parts it also had a NOS Spyder rear clip that was used on the car.
Tim Traft might have been another owner of the car after Dan, just dont remember right now.

Dave

 

I have sent a few emails out to folks I know that might have taken photos of the car in process. I remember obtaining the carbs and stacks you mention and installing them. The engine never ran when I was involved in the project. At the time we were actively campaining the GTO, (2) SWB's and (2) TdF's at tracks around the country and it created a bit of a track car frenzy at the shop. Everyone wanted what ever they owned, hot rodded so to beat the next guy. The Daytona project was no different and was the reason for the extra gusseting / reinforcement where it would never show. I also remember drawing plans for a removeable roll bar for the car as I was just fabing some for the SWB's and TdF's. I dont believe I ever went past the drawing stage as I needed the top bows finished first.
Robinson was a pro, and when it came to your engine, I am sure he built it very well as it was for his car.
I only wish I would have had the insight back then to take more photos of all of these cars. At the time I simply didnt have the time nor realize the importance. I know many photos were given to Dan as progress was made. Have you contacted him?
I will start to dig through some of my old boxes of photos and see what I might have.

Dave

Dave

 

This is a great thread to follow...please continue..

 

The Randy I speak of was the person we hired to run and manage the World Ferrari Body and Fab shop. His last name will come to me in time. Randy had just finished a restoration on a famous 260 Cobra Comp car after which he came over to the World Ferrari gang and worked on the Daytona. At the time we were also in the middle of restorations on numerous Shelby's / R-Types, Comp Cobras and a DB4GT Aston. Actually that should help with the time line as the Aston was purchased and year or so after Aston was the fetured marque at Montery. Bodin was used to running in the front of the pack then (GTO and SWB) and Earl allowed the "Nascar preped" Astons to run slicks to keep ahead of the Ferrari's and maintain their show. A couple of months later Bob found his DB4GT project. Sometime in the late 80's.

If memory serves me correct, the name was Tim Traft that bought the car from Dan. At the time, Dan lived in Long Lake and Tim I believe was in Wayzata (both Minnesota). As I remember, Tim had sold his Daytona Coupe
shortly before picking up the partially finished project Daytona. Tim Traft had me stop by the house one day and I remember him cleaning out the garage and giving me a number of Daytona spares left over from the Coupe he had sold. He was in the process of moving, I believe to Florida.

Charred pieces of that car were EVERYWHERE in the rafters and loft at the shop. I knew we had to keep them but what a stink they created up there. I remember hoisting the engine to the loft one winter as well. I had a number of the 250 race car engines apart and needed the room on the main floor. I only remember it because I had a lengthly discussion with Bob as to how I would explain to Dan the damage to his engine if the loft collapsed (I had nearly the whole car in boxes stored up there). This goofy moment in time only sticks in my head because 0677 TdF and 3223 GTO were parked under the loft and the discussion scared the hell out of me.

Joan, Bob and David Donner are good friends. I will call Bob and see what memories he has of the car. Last I talked to Robinson, he had moved to Florida I believe and was Crew Chief on an Indy Car team. There were a number of my friends that were playing with the Indy cars at the time so I could be wrong with that. I am sure either Bob or David remember the local (Colorado) history of the car and can fill in the blanks.

I remember someone telling me that Segal had bought the car. Now I will have to try to remember the context and parties of that conversation. There were many discussions as to how many owners that car would have before being declared "finished".

Dave

 

I spoke with Guy Lender, a top flight mechanic that worked with me durning the project Daytona era. Guy remembered the names of the body guys involved. Rand (not Randy) Bailey and after that was Kirby McLaughlin who took over the body shop after Rands departure. Kirby was one of the "House of Color" master painters before he came out to run the World Ferrari body shop.
At the time we were painting all of Prince's gitars (first at the repair shop then at the body shop after it opened) and props for his videos as his recording studio was close by. Seems I remember Kirby painting a gold piano and car for some video while trying to work on the Daytona and DB4GT.

Dave

 

I will start a search for the pics I remember after the holidays. Guy says that Kirby is still in Long Lake area with his own body shop. Rand has fallen off the radar but I will see if I can find more info on him.

Dave

 

this looks like a very, very nice spyder conversion!!! i wish i could find one this good and w/ this much motor.

pcb