massive heist of John Andrews' Ferraris

Stephen Mitchell interviews his long-time friend John Andrews about the theft of millions of dollars worth of John's Ferraris and other cars:

Stephen Mitchell: "I have known John Andrews since the late sixties and have written about some of the adventures we've had together with his Lamborghini Miura, his Ferrari 275GTB 6/C and his Lusso. Most notably, there was a magnificent drive in the San Bernardino mountains with John in his Miura, Matthew Ettinger in the Ferrari Breadvan and me in the GTO. Therefore, it was a shock to learn that thieves have systematically stolen twenty-eight of John's cars (and titles)--including those listed in the opening to this blog. Shortly after dismissing the 'night watchman' who had been living on the premises of John's 1 1/2 acre location in John's motorhome and who had recently acquired a new pick-up truck and a restored '55 Chevy, John's house was destroyed by fire set by an arson. The fire occurred after the 'night watchman' had returned unbidden to live surreptitiously in the motorhome and was subsequently ejected by the police.

It is not the average thief who targets for theft exotic cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollar--or millions on aggregate. Obviously, the cars cannot be sold openly in the usual channels. John's cars are being sold, however, by someone who has a book of names and numbers of people who are known to be able to afford such cars. Who would have a list of potential Ferrari buyers who could purchase a Ferrari worth hundreds of thousands of dollars over the phone, possibly from someone they know and trust? The interview seen here is the first step towards getting an answer to that question. I suspect we will find that the party in question is someone well known to Ferrari enthusiasts and, upon reflection once his identity is known, that his involvement will come as no big surprise. Those who end up with the cars will be required to disclose from whence they came and under what circumstances.

The photograph attached shows me with John standing in front of his house that was destroyed by fire last month. Click on the link below to see John's interview:"
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GL_4ihPhlQ[/ame]
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

28 cars on 1.5 acres?

 

Seems like the "night watchman" has some splain'n to do? Why was he dismissed in the first place? Sounds like John gave the guy a place to stay in his motorhome in the meantime there was scheming going on on how to rip him off. Definitely an inside tip off as who else would know exactly where the titles were that were stolen? They had to be in a secret spot, safe etc.? Careful who you trust especially if they don't seem to have their own shlt together. Either the "night watchman" or the owner know what went down, IMO. At any rate to lose your home to fire and then have your cars stolen would be terrible. Let us know the outcome as I think it won't be too tough to unravel this heist.

 

Robbed 28 times from the same property....How many times does John have to be stolen from before he either MOVES his valuables or gets BETTER security?!....Rob from me once...same on you...rob from me 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28....then whom is to blame?!.....Mark

 

Google John Andrews and I find NASA, model rockets and UFOs.
I practically quiver in wait to see where this one goes.

 

This will either go nowhere or the plot will thicken.

 

lol Yep.

And that will not include others that were not worthy of theft.

 

Strange interview

 

He's either not all there or in on some insurance fraud. 28 times is ridiculous.

 

I turned it off after a few minutes. I think I heard him say that the 330 was located out East, without the engine or interior. Any more information?

 

too bad they didn't make DVD's of the driving experience first.

 

To give context to the story can you tell us who John Andrews is ? Where his wealth came from ? Occupation ?

It helps to understand.

 

He mentions he worked for NASA as engineer in the video. I briefly think I heard something about making movies in the 60s....

Most cars didnt seem to be that impressive.

 

First may I say that I have had my possessions stolen before and although they may have not been worth thousands of dollars, they were mine, my sweat and toil were required to get them and I was not exactly pleased.
That said.
May I ask a few questions ?
1. With such a theft as this, was this reported to the major news medias ? It seems to be an ABC world news tonight headliner.
2. Why is this post written like an Alfred Hitchcock novel with a list of the usual suspects and one could only learn the ending to the story as long as they attended the dinner and the play.
3. Visually, 28 cars would be noticeable, either in a warehouse or stored outside and as each car disappeared, someone must have noticed the pile getting smaller,
4. Lets say 1 car per day, that would take a month, 1 car per week, that would take over half a year, how about all at once, 28 different drivers or 3 car carriers with a team of 2 working quickly.
5. As for the " will come as no surprise" , almost sounds like a well known local individual and if Ferrari enthusiasists know such a person then those same enthusiasts would know of their background in dealing with shady deals and as such makes out an unknown number of owners suspect and that seems highly unlikely because then we are all under suspicion and I really don't like anyone calling me a thief.
6. I've never seen a requirement anywhere that requires any thief or buyer of stolen merchandise to say where they got if from, its not like were talking about a couple of bars of chocolate stolen from the local five and dime, are we ?
7. So, where was Mr. Andrews when all of this was going down ? National Enquirer.

 

All things considered, I'm guessing it'll go nowhere....

 

+1

 

He says "I never got the file folder with the titles and the pink slips for maybe 30 cars"




*just guessing here, but THAT MIGHT BE A PROBLEM!


www.youtube.com/watch?feature=&v=7GL_4ihPhlQ#t=998s

 

If/when the saga is more investigated and fleshed out, it may be just that. The situation is too bizarre to not be followed up.

 

My family had some large metal sculptures stolen by a group led by the security guard (from a reputable firm) that we had hired to patrol the property at night.

It's amazing how you get used to seeing something, and don't miss it when you drive by. These were not small sculptures, and it took us a day or two to realize that they were missing.

The perpetrators were caught before long, after they tried to sell the pieces to various scrap metal dealers. I still remember the security guard telling me "there's people in my neighborhood who would steal stuff like this just for the metal" and apparently she was telling the truth!

 

That sucks. I'd imagine insider theft is quite common, particularly among big box retailers, too. I've seen highly suspicious ads on craigslist, for example, where the stuff is clearly hot. When you see new MacBook Pros, new in the box, for $400 they cannot be anything but contraband.

 

Ba-zinga!

I'm not sure it matters. He bought the cars years and years ago, when they didn't cost much - some of which he's owned since the '60s and '70s. There's some confusion, though, as to which one(s) he owned. He's associated with two 330 Americas, and two 275 GTB/6 Cs - one of which is alleged to have been owned by Sharon Tate, but Sharon Tate also allegedly owned 10409, which is a 275 GTB/4, and has never been associated with Andrews.

 

there's a Roman Polanski joke in here somewhere.

 

"Maybe chew your food a little, champ."

 

From the interview I came off hearing that it was Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys who owned one of the 275s, allowing Charles Manson to occasionally borrow --who then trashed the car. Manson then, of course, had Sharon Tate and many others killed after his vision for rock stardom proved fruitless.

But Andrews is a long-time friend of Stephen Mitchell, Matthew Ettinger, Peter Helm. I think, too, he knew Tom Meade, buying a car from him a long time ago. From the interview (if I recall correctly after having heard it only once), Andrews bought a NART Spyder from Hollywood Motor Cars (which I think = Otto Zipper, the NART Spyder being a 275GTB/4 with the roof cut off) that Steve McQueen brought back as he didn't quite like it. Andrews then bought it.

The concentric circles of lost history are many and dense. The Andrews story could be exploded and expanded into its own book, given the proper care and effort.

 

Thought he said the GTB/6 was owned by manson?