Sounds a bit like the 288 GTO: Too valuable not to fix up again. Many GTOs were killed and restored. I believe only one is really toast.
Andreas, Does Evel Knievel still own his silver Daytona that was always in those pub shots before his jumps? Whatever happened to this car?... do not have vin. RocetBoy
My Daytona "registry" is very basic and doesn't list owners. So dunno. My GTO registry is a lot more detailed and accurate.
That's good point. I think it was Enzo was said that not all Ferrari owners are Ferrari drivers. Back before traction control, big fat tires, and ABS, I'm guessing that the incidence of wreaks was much higher than it is today for, say, Enzos as a group. Plus, if I recall, Daytonas were $25,000 cars back in the day. A lot of money for the time, but maybe only $250,000 in today's dollars. I'm guessing that few people driving a $700,000 Enzo run it anywhere near the edge. DrTax
Been there done that. Though my starting point was not that bad, take it from a guy who spent over a year trying to restore a daytona cosmetically...the cost never ends, and it is very frustrating to have to wait that long. I will never ever restore a car cosmetically again...I mean bare metal, total interior, dash, glass everything. While it is being restored, many other things go bad and it seems to be a never ending spiral. I am sure TS knows more about it that anyone. As for me, I doubt any parts of that car are salvegable. At least not in a good working condition. I am sure the brake calipers are all rusted, the engine is a mess, the carbs need total rebuild (if possible) etc...etc... Pay 150 K and buy one sorted out. It is much cheaper and much more of a pleasure that way.
Evel had Daytona Spyder (Spider?) s/n 14737. It was offerred but I believe did not sell at a 2002 Gstaad, Switzerland Ferrari auction and according to the catalog has been in Swiss ownership since 1988. The catalog also states that Evel bought it in 1971 and sold it in 1973. It is now red/tan.
Wouldn't it be horrible if somebody ended up with that ragged Daytona and actually tinkered with it long enough to get it running, then got it licensed and insured, then actually DROVE the car whenever they felt like it and enjoyed the experience! And they didn't worry about restoring it because it was already running. And they didn't care about the money involved because if they were worrying about money, they would have invested their money in real estate or the stock market. It always amazes me exactly how LITTLE most Ferrari buffs actually care about their beloved marque. When they see a diamond in the rough, they start crunching the numbers as if it were an IPO stock investment. If the numbers don't add up, they trash the car. Shameful! Good thing that all those "worthless, unrestorable" old race cars weren't trashed by "economically thinking" owners back in the 50s and 60s or all you vintage Ferrari owners would now be "civil war re-enactors" running around in an Alabama field going "bang bang" at each other as "politically correct" imitation "salt peter" poured out of your powder horn!
As romantic an idea sounds of bringing a car like this back you need to get realistic sometime, the old saying of "Making a silk purse out of a pigs ear" comes to mind, this car is gone, if it did get restored it would not be the same car anymore as everything would be re-fabed or new. Granted if Daytonas were worth $500,000 and up it would be worth doing
well, Arlie, it sounds like you should hang out at www.tomyang.net where we vintage 2+2 owners have nearly uniformly made economically irrational decisions to spend tens of thousands of dollars bringing low-value 2+2 vintage Ferraris back to life - most of us will never get our money out of them - but we fix 'em and drive 'em anyway. Personally, I think we're the ******* geniuses of the Ferrari world - I get to drive a 1960s 4.4 liter v-12 every weekend - no sound like it in the world
"This car is gone"??? How can you say that? IF we believe what the E-Bay seller says, the car has a body, a frame, an engine, a transmission, and piles of parts? So where has the car "gone"? Seems like an excellent project for somebody who actually wants to own a Daytona and is not interested in trying to convert an automobile restoration project into a financial investment operation. (But for what it's worth, since the car is in Japan and nobody seems to have actually seen it, it might as well be known as the "Flying Dutchman Ferrari" because it is basically a ghost ship that is doomed to sail the Cyber Seas.) And yes, I stop by Tom's site most every day. The mindset over there is much more "resto friendly" than here on F-chat, but activity levels are much lower.
This car is a classic case that has been debated many times before. Everybody SAYS that this car is too far gone because it needs some rusty sheet metal repair. BIG DEAL! What do guys do when they are restoring a REALLY rare car that has NO repro parts available? They hit the sheet metal shops and start doing some REAL restoration. This particular Daytona would be an excellent car to bring out the double standards among the Ferrarista. Everybody turns their nose up at it and says that it is "too far gone". But if that car went up for sale in THEIR home town, we would see half of F-chat sneaking out the back door with the title in their hand. It wouldn't last 1 day before it was sold.
I don't think their is a double standard it's just the seller wants way too much for the car, if it were located in the US and was offered less than $25k it may make a decent project for someone who knows what they are getting into but for $50k in Japan with a shady seller someone is asking for it. For someone highly skilled in body restorations that could do his own work it would work, then he would need to pay out some serious cash for the mechanical side, if you gave someone that car for free a normal buyer that is you would still spend more on a restoration that would take years from sourcing parts, etc., and still end up with a story car vs an original Daytona with a history.
Restoring to like new = huge expense But taking the car and making a fun driver would be much cheaper? (keeping in mind that cheap on a Ferrari is relative) Make a replica 365 road racer.... Like Roland L. did with his F-40.
Horsefly, I tend to agree with you in general - My car was a candidate for becoming a parts car when I bought it, I've brought it back mechanically which cost a lot of time off the road and expense to do so. I've left the old paint which enables me to enjoy the car without having to worry about parking lot dings. If you look on the 330 register, there are pictures of my car, 7919, while Christmas tree shopping (my wife insisted that I get the heater cores reconnected after that adventure). Someone with a creampuff wouldn't risk their paint on something like this. On the other hand, the Japanese eBay Daytona is unlikely to be brought back to be just a driver because of accident damage and extensive rust. If you get it far enough apart to fix the things you need to in order to get a driver, you might as well go all the way with it. So you can commit $150K+ for restoration, several years without driving it, and the original purchase price or just go buy a driver for around $100K or a show car for $150K. This project is only good for someone who wants to rescue a dead Ferrari, logic be damned. The final nail in the coffin is the questionable ownership history. If it is discovered that the car was stolen (if it was stolen, this not be discovered until after the restoration is complete) the new owner will have a real headache, likely resulting in the car being confiscated. Just my two cents, Art S.
From another Tom Yang board regular: Well put - I think we get the most enjoyment out of our cars. Drive anytime, don't worry about a paint chip or so, reasonable insurance rates, not afraid to get in and work on them, still get classic-Ferrari attention. In other words, we have our cake and also get to eat it, relatively reasonably.
These classic ferraris will always have value, don't forget the go-go eighties when these were being bid up to the sky. For under 50k it's well worth a gamble to buy and just hold. But this one might be a fraud.
