Magnum pi review article

I believe this link is for the first half of the article:
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15142347/ferrari-reinvents-manifest-destiny-pj-orourke-and-a-ferrari-308gts-archived-feature/

 

Here’s the other half:
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15142332/ferrari-reinvents-manifest-destiny-pj-orourke-and-a-ferrari-308gts-archived-feature-goodbye-karen-hello-the-road-west-page-2/

 

Some trivia;

The traffic jam he got caught in here in Birmingham was on Dec 29th 1979. That was football traffic for the Hall of Fame Bowl and the teams were South Carolina and Missouri, Not Alabama. I went to the game that night. I was 11 and I always thought it was cool that the Ferrari was driven not only thru my city but just past my house.

Of course I didn't see them or even really know much about Ferrari then, but that car and that show ended up having on helluva impact on my life beginning about a year later in Dec 1980

 

They used 3 different 308's in that pilot episode and I have always held out hope that this car was the one used in the opening credits.

If I had enough money and enough luck I would hire whoever it took and cost to research that 56E478 plate and get that VIN. Surely there must be a folder stuck in a box in a basement of DMV archives in Hawaii with that info.

 

I have reread that story so many times; fantastic writing, epic journey.

 

What is fun is reading that article not knowing what was up until the last paragraph. That was me first time I saw it.

 

If you are serious Tommy I know a guy who many have the information. If it is for fun I'd rather not burn the favor.

 

It's for fun only so better not burn the favor.

But if you ever do get it, PM me. I really would like to know. As in really.

 

We talk from time to time so next time I'll ask. We are talking about the 2 valve cars correct? I know he had the QV cars info.

 

This one. Based on that article in this thread, I have always believed it was a 79 model, not a 78 like so many say it was and I have always always always wondered if there was a way to trace that almost 40 year old license plate to a VIN.

Certainly that "Robin One" plate was just a prop but this 56E 478 I bet is a real plate. How could it not be?

If that car still exists, someone has it parked in their garage this very moment and has no idea what they actually have.
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Cant trace the plate but I know the guy who oversaw the cars during the QV years. Not sure he was around in the early part of the show.

 

PJ can make a story about drinking tea fun to read.

 

I took these pictures in Feb 1985. This may or may not be the one. 1 in 3 chance it is, I suppose.

The letter reads:

Sept 1, 1982

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

This letter is to verify that the 1979 308 GTS Ferrari with the chassis number 28525 is in fact the Ferrari used in the 1980-1981 production season of the television series "Magnum P.I."

Sincerely

Richard P. White
Transportation Coordinator
"Magnum P.I.

Anyone around here know anything about chassis 28525?
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In 1994 it was offered for sale by James Cox Lake Orion MI.

 

Great article. I read it about 10 years after it was originally published. The article was one of the two factors that prompted me to dream of some day owning a 308.

The other factor: when I was a teenager working in a car wash, I saw a 308. Here I was, working in a car wash in Silicon Valley, handling Corvettes, Porsches, BMWs, Jaguars, and MBZ all day long. We even had Rolls Royce's come through sporadically.

Yet, when I saw that 308, it struck me as something unforgettable, truly unusual, and spectacularly beautiful.





- Sam in Saratoga

 

Brian, this is really eye opening for me. That unofficial "Known Magnum Chassis Numbers" list that keeps circulating since forever, never includes 28525. I keep chasing behind it screaming that 28525 is one as well, only because I took a picture of that letter at The World of Wheels here in Birmingham 34 years ago.

I took what you told me today and emailed Jim Weed just out of curiosity:

On Thu, Jan 17, 2019 at 2:37 PM Tommy Cosgrove <[email protected]> wrote:

Jim -

Hope everything is going well for everyone up your way.

Can you check your records for a 1979 308 GTS chassis 28525 please? Only thing I have is

" In 1994 it was offered for sale by James Cox Lake Orion MI.".

I'm sure I will see both you and Cathy at Amelia!

Best,
Tommy Cosgrove

and got this back:

Tommy,

Thats what I have. No new info since then.

Dec 1979 Serviced by Foreign Cars Italia, Greensboro, NC. for P.J. O'Rourke, New York City, NY. 2,564mi. (FCI service)

Offered 1994 James M. Cox, Lake Orion, MI. Red with tan interior. Magnum P.I. TV car. paperwork, tools, etc. (FML 1905).

Yeah! We will be at Amelia!

Jim
Editor
CJ Publications, Inc.
dba Ferrari Market Letter
[email protected]
770-381-1993

So here is the cool part: Dec 1979 Serviced by Foreign Cars Italia, Greensboro, NC. for P.J. O'Rourke, New York City, NY. 2,564mi. (FCI service)

So that car I saw and emptied a half roll of film on when I was 17 was actually THE 308 in O'Rourke's story. We know three different 308's were used shooting the pilot (for example the car Magnum drives out of the estate when Higgins is shutting the gate is NOT the one he pulls over in seconds later and throws the roof off before smiling at the camera) and Universal probably burned thru a couple more over the course of the first and second season before finally moving to the 2Vi model in the third season. I just always figured the one I saw at that show back in 85 was just "one of many used".

Now I know which one it actually was and there is a one in three chance it is the car in that famous opening credit. Hard to believe that 308 has been in Birmingham twice.

I really want to locate that car now. Please keep me and this in mind as you judge, etc. I have a new project...

 

Now you know a little more.
Little by little.

 

Pretty darned cool revelation for you, Doc!

 

Good luck on your search, Tommy, I hope you end up with that one!