Looking back at the Agnelli 375 America, vertical grille car | FerrariChat
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Looking back at the Agnelli 375 America, vertical grille car

Discussion in 'Vintage (thru 365 GTC4)' started by HistoryBuff, Sep 19, 2013.

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  1. HistoryBuff

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    #1 HistoryBuff, Sep 19, 2013
    I was looking back at the history of this car and saw that Wayne Golumb had it for awhile and sold it through European Auto Sales to the two professors for around $50K. I was wondering, it appears that Golumb was the first real collector (with a long range collector's view) who bought it, why he would sell it, or was it because about that time he had a much more historic Ferrari in sight, something like a 250GTO, etc.?Also do you think this car was "cursed" by having a oddball color combo of dark green with red roof so whoever did it over in original colors would have to do that color (though I think in those times, original color was not so insisted upon in restorer's circles).
    Love to hear an opinion.
     
  2. Marcel Massini

    Marcel Massini Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #2 Marcel Massini, Sep 19, 2013
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    First of all, it is Wayne Golomb, not Golumb.
    Secondly, Golomb bought it in 1979 and certainly was not the first real collector.
    Thirdly, the sales price on June 6, 1985, to Betz & Peters, was under US$ 39'000. Not around $ 50 K.
    Oh, btw, the chassis number is 0355 AL. Just in case.

    Marcel Massini
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  3. 275GTBSaran

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    #3 275GTBSaran, Sep 19, 2013
    Marcel- can you provide us with any pictures? Appreciated, thank you. E
     
  4. miurasv

    miurasv F1 World Champ

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    #4 miurasv, Sep 19, 2013
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  5. Marcel Massini

    Marcel Massini Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #5 Marcel Massini, Sep 19, 2013
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  6. raider1968

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    #6 raider1968, Sep 19, 2013
    Beautiful!
    Thanks
     
  7. DWR46

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    #7 DWR46, Sep 19, 2013
    I was and still am a friend of Wayne's. I rode with him in the car just after he bought it. It was very original, very tired and very fast. In that era, the Lampredi's were somewhat feared mechanically, as not many people knew how to make them run reliabily and the ability to easily make parts using computers was still far in the future. Wayne owned other Lampredi's and he felt they were more significant cars, so 0355AL left so funds could be spent on the other cars.
     
  8. kvisser

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    #8 kvisser, Sep 19, 2013
    I think you could point at Dick Merritt as one of the first collectors of vintage racing Ferraris. He scoured the country in the 60's looking for barn finds before barn finds were in vogue. I think many current collectors owe a debt of gratitude to Mr Merritt and his contemporaries like Admiral Phillips and others.

    regards

    ken
     
  9. camchain

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    #9 camchain, Sep 19, 2013
    The car is being driven over 1,000 miles in the Colorado Grand this week. It is stunning and running without so much as a hiccup.
     
  10. HistoryBuff

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    #10 HistoryBuff, Sep 19, 2013
    but I realize that there might have been some bargaining involved. Here's their listing:

    85/apr - offered for $49,950 by EAS, Costa Mesa, CA, USA
    85/jun/06 - Charles R. Betz & Fred Peters, Orange County, CA, USA

    It's always enlightening to get rapped on the knuckles by a steel edged ruler wielded by Herr Dr. Massini.

    But to go back to why the car was kind of an "ugly duckling" (beauty is in the eye of the beholder) has anyone ever heard why there was no trunk lid? I think the essence of the concept gran turismo is that you load your luggage and you drive off a grand tour. Which in this car was a tad inconvenient in that you would have to load from the inside for no reason.

    Still another thing, green body with red grille bars. Back in 1985 was it already de riguer in concours circles that a car, in order to be a Pebble Beach- level restoration, had to be restored in the exact original color it came in? It's a little bit too Christmas colors for me. Of course I am guilty of repainting my dark green GTC/4 rosso corso aka "resale red" so what do I know? The green really was an industrial tractor color.

    Harkening back to those times of the mid-'80s were people still passing up one-off cars whilst concentrating instead on those with well recognized bodywork like Daytonas and short wheelbases? It seems only in the late '90s to now are the one-offs being recognized as the ones that shouldn't have been passed up (there's one I would still pass up, Greg Garrison's 400 convertible by Scaglietti, that car will never be recognized as a great classic) I am asking this because, as I reach my twilight years ('d say Golden years' but that phrase is such a crock) , my mind fogs over on what the mindset was in the '70s, '80s, '90s and aughts (or is it "oughts")
     
  11. Vincent Vangool

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    #11 Vincent Vangool, Sep 19, 2013
    I like it.

    Out there for a horsemobile but it does have some cool one off features.
     
  12. VIZSLA

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    #12 VIZSLA, Sep 20, 2013
    Maybe its a period artifact but the faux wood(?)dash looks out of place in such an otherwise elegant car.
     
  13. Marcel Massini

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    #13 Marcel Massini, Sep 20, 2013
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  14. Ashman

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    #14 Ashman, Sep 20, 2013
    I've seen this car a couple of different times, the first, I think, being at the Louis Vuitton Concours at the Wollman Rink in New York's Central Park several years ago.

    I really like it because of its unique styling and history.
     
  15. raider1968

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    #15 raider1968, Sep 20, 2013
    Great pictures
     
  16. Marcel Massini

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    #16 Marcel Massini, Sep 20, 2013
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    New York Concours d'Elégance, Wollman Rink, Central Park, NY, 2nd October 2005.

    Marcel Massini
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  17. dmj

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    #17 dmj, Sep 20, 2013
    Well... this car might be the inspiration for Rowan Atkinson to order a 456 GT in BRG with red interior... a car since recently in a collection here in Croatia. Have to admit that I'd prefer Agnelli's one to Mr. Bean's, though...
     
  18. 400iGuy

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    #18 400iGuy, Sep 20, 2013
    For a car with such a complex front design the rear is very simple.

    I saw this car years ago at Concorso Italiano with blue paint cracked like the desert floor and peeling off. I have photos but heaven knows if I could ever find them.

    Al
     
  19. merstheman

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    #19 merstheman, Sep 20, 2013
  20. davidgoerndt

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    #20 davidgoerndt, Sep 20, 2013
    I believe this car also was on display at the Cavallino Classic both in unrestored and restored form.
     
  21. Ashman

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    #21 Ashman, Sep 20, 2013
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  22. HistoryBuff

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    #22 HistoryBuff, Sep 20, 2013
    I know here I am criticizing a car design some decades later but I see no reason why they painted the grille at all instead of having chrome. The only vintage car I came across lately that had no chrome was an Alfa made for a German office during the war when chrome was hard to get so they had a good excuse. I know there's a way on the computer to change the color of a car so you can see how it looks in other colors but I don't know how to do it but it's hard to love this car in its present green & red paint schme, maybe if it were all silver with a chrome grille, it would look a lot different. Now I see why at auto companies, they sometimes go to the trouble to paint a car and upholster it and then do it all over again in another color. The car can look completely different. Most recently I was bowled over finding a picture on Google Images of the Two Rotor Corvette XP-897 , Pininfarina body, in gold when I had only seen it before in silver or red. It looks different in each color.
     
  23. tongascrew

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    #23 tongascrew, Sep 20, 2013
    And guess what. Even Barchetta has all this correctly. I may surprise some how much Barchetta does get right. I am reviewing all my individual s/n files from 2007/8 and for many there is some nice new info both in Barchetta and other sources. Trust me, second sources are still important. tongascrew
     
  24. Lowell

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    #24 Lowell, Sep 20, 2013
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    Here is the car at the Willow Springs race trace in California in March 1999.
    Note the flaking paint.

    It was driven on the track. I believe the driver was an owners' son.
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  25. Dave330gtc

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    #25 Dave330gtc, Sep 20, 2013
    I remember having correspondence with Mr. Golomb around late 1984 when it was for sale for $27000 or so. I really wanted the car and he described it very accurately as needing mechanical freshening etc. etc. I didn't think I could afford to do that at the time. I bought a nice PF Coupe instead. For me this is the car that got away and I think of it often. Every time 0355 AL appears somewhere I remember back and kick myself again.
     
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