Mr. Glickenhaus

Jim spent years of his life, thousands of hours, and millions of dollars "restoring" his purported chassis 0846, with the idea that the project would be a point of international intrigue within the automotive community, and an open invitation to every classic motoring event worth its salt on the planet. This board saw fit to spend - right or wrong - fourteen years and some 10,000+ posts calling him out essentially as a fraud and labeling his project a well-executed vanity replica. To be sure, he shares plenty of responsibility, as he continually pledged to produce some bombshell, ironclad evidence in support of his car's provenance, which never materialized. But it's very understandable why, whether out of sheepishness or his characteristic f-you-if-you-don't-like-me attitude, he decamped to more friendly car forums.

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/the-one-and-only-0846-debate-thread.423520/

On balance, I think it's a greater loss to this community, as it would have been AMAZING to have him post regular updates to his Modulo restoration. He remains one of the world's great Ferrari and classic car aficionados. Alas, I'm sure he gets plenty of vitriol and BS on Wall Street; no need to come to an enthusiast forum for extra helpings

FWIW, he was a total gentleman and scholar when I met him in person at Monterey a few years back. Most others with similar experiences say the same about him.

 

+1000

he always responded to my PMs

 

I agree with Wildcat's assessment and I've read through the entire 0846 thread as it developed. Originally on Jim's side I've shifted because of the evidence presented. The stubbornness on both sides of the argument really created a divide that couldn't be bridged and the forum is lacking because of it.

 

Ah, now I understand the 0846 inside jokes. I'm of no opinion on it, but the P4/5 thread was epic and interesting.

 

Yeah... it's really a shame we lost him here. He's alway a gentleman and enthusiastic to talk about his cars when he drives them down to the Americana Concours in Manhasset, Long Island.

 

Wow, I just did a quick skim of that thread. I'm sure he's glad to not participate in FChat.

 

There are more threads, but there's no sense in bringing up ancient history.

 

At its peak it would bleed into other threads and snowball. Jim would mention 0846 when it was loosely relevant to something in a particular thread and his detractors would pounce and derail the thread. I’ve learned so much in the Vintage section but for a while I hated going in there. Then it moved to other sections of F Chat.

 

Jim started out with a thesis for his car's authenticity that was shaky at best, but juuuust plausible enough to give cover to any enthusiasts who wanted to embrace the legend. (In short - and let's not start a whole thread on corrections here - he bought a replica from iconic driver/team operator David Piper, who'd allegedly been granted the right by Enzo to make three P4 replicas, only to find that one of the replicas delivered from the chassis maker actually contained re-used parts of the original wrecked/discarded 0846 chassis). On its face, it was good enough for those who WANTED to believe and needed something they could hang their hat on. And it was good enough for the organizers of many major car shows. In fact, at least for a while, Ferrari even listed him as the owner of rebuilt 0846 on their Owners web site. Jim showed the car locally, regionally, and internationally, generating news stories and viral video footage along the way. Then, he stripped an F430 to its bare chassis and spent $3 million commissioning Pininfarina to build him a RetroMod custom car that would reference the P4, to be called the P4/5. Ferrari was incensed by the misuse of its design trademarks and threatened to sue him for hurting the brand image. In classic Jim fashion, he told Luca DiMontezemolo: 1) F-YOURSELF, 2) You can't afford to take me on, and 3) Chill out because you'll love the result. Ferrari acquiesced to part 3, and his project inadvertently spawned what we now know as the Ferrari Special Projects Division. After all, when the company saw that loyal customers were willing to spend millions for a one-off, they no longer cared about corrupting their prouction designs, as long as the money went into their own coffers. In the end, Jim was SO invested in the personal brand he'd built around owning/restoring 0846, there really was no way he could back down and still save face. So he stayed all-in on his tenuous story.

To be sure, the historian scholars here had the facts on their side, but - given how righteously insistent Jim had become - they really spiked the football in shattering his narrative. Perhaps arguably, with $30 million in authenticity on the line for a future owner, the record needed to be set straight. But it was ugly. Forumers here took it upon themselves to seek out retired race engineers from Ferrari to give testimonial evidence disproving Jim's interpretation of the facts. They micro-analyzed individual rivets and welds and angles of chassis tubes in reams of period pictures using photo editing software. It became a mission, as though it would be an affront to their integrity as Ferrari scholars if they couldn't win the argument (and for the record, they ultimately prevailed in their rebuttal). They were academically right, but just couldn't seem to sleep unless Jim's glory had enough water dumped on it, and unless he was made miserable for having presented his car as genuine (never mind that he undertook a restoration worthy of Classiche, with correct parts, but just not an original chassis).

Sadly, all the noise surrounding 0846 wound up obfuscating the fact that Jim still owns some of the world's greatest historic race cars, the others of which have bulletproof provenance. And more importantly, he drives the **** out of all of them, on public roads, which is part of what's earned him such high esteem and street cred in the car community. But rather than just put an asterisk next to 0846, with the note that it's provenance was in dispute among historians, f-chat experts (who proved technically correct in their analysis) didn't want to let him have his nice fantasy, and ripped him down until he had no choice but to leave here. I suspect he'd be welcomed back with open arms if he returned to discuss the Modulo, SCG03, or any of his other current projects.

 

Just remain hopeful...

 

Also, to be fair to this forums other cherished experts who fell on the opposing side of Jim's argument, several expressed along the way that they'd have liked for him to be proved correct. After all, everyone loves a fairytale ending. But they also really, REALLY wanted to nail that fact-checking. Hard.

 

I enjoyed his P4/5 thread and the SCG car development thread as well. He always replied to my PMs and was very polite and helpful. I wish he still posted about his SCG cars, but I can see why he left.

 

It was an Enzo not a 430.

I agree with most of your sentiments. He's a cool cat living the dream and loves to share. It is a shame he's not here. I couldn't care less about 0846 and its provenance. I did get turned off by the Chinese fertilizer company he touted that turned out to be a scam.

 

yeh anyone who is willing to take an enzo and call it a do over is pretty cool in my book

 

He's got a ton of dough and a bunch of cool cars. Most would gladly trade places.

 

430 Scuderia.

 

The boos always come from the cheap seats...

 

Thanks for clarifying

 

He should do another Ferrari one off and name it F-THM

 

Wrong search here or even wiki, P 4/5 was an Enzo. The SCG was 430 based, different car altogether than the P 4/5.

 

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/430-scuderia-hood.496043/#post-144110157