Recent Chasing Cars Episode.............

asphaltgambler · 10-28-2011, 05:56 AM

...........what a great story............profiling a guy in New York, who is now 85 and finally decided to sell his beloved Ferrari Lusso. Wayne was there to pick it up.

Seems the guy was vacationing with his wife in Italy....1967 and on a whim picked up a local rag and found a used Ferrari for sale. Guy goes to the dealership, says the salesman takes him for a ride at rediculous speeds on the local freeway.

They get back and negotiate a deal for $4500/USD. Back then that is about what a new Corvettte would have cost. Then it costs him another $1K to ship it over. Once here him and his wife drive the h*ll out of it every chance they get. So much so that over time he ends up servicing or rebuilding almost every mechanical part including a repaint. Most of which he did all by himself.

You can see the sadness in his eyes as he recalls story after story about his wife and him would drive it all over and crowds would gather to look at it.

Fast forward to present. His wife died @12 years ago, he can no longer physically maintain the car and it sits in a tiny 1-car garage.

He is convinced to sell it by a friend, and it seems, partly because he needs some $$$ for his remaining years. As the car is loaded into the trailer and Wayne starts to close the ramp door you can see he is tearing up. Wayne sees this and pauses closing the door..................he says "You want to take one last look before I close it?"................

Too much emotion for me ..........................reminds me of my father

HardDrive · 10-28-2011, 06:16 AM

Life is fleeting. I'm sad for the man and the loss of his car....but he did own a Ferrari and drive the snot out of it......he must have had some rare and amazing moments in his life that few men have experienced.

Thanks for sharing.

asphaltgambler · 10-28-2011, 06:58 AM

For me the funniest part of that segment was when Wayne asked him why the hood was so beat up? He said he rebuilt the engine himself and after getting it running late at night, he closed the hood and set off down the garden state parkway.

In his excitment he had forgotten to bolt the hood down and it flew off. Once back at his house he noticed the hood was missing (his words) so he gets back the car and slowly re-traces his drive all the while looking for his hood. He does eventually find it and discovers someone had run over it! - he sets the hood back onto the car and drives home slowly!!

Can you imagine that?? effin lusso hood laying in the road and someone runs over it....!!

85eurocarrera · 85eurocarrera's Garage

I liked when Wayne asked him to stand back and supervise the pushing of the car, and he responded "you can push it back into the garage".

I agree that he got his enjoyment out of that beautiful car.

Baz · Baz's Garage

Haven't seen this one but I do enjoy the show. Thanks for the head's up - sounds like a great episode!

I agree with Hard Drive - he does have some great memories and can know now the car is going somewhere else to be cherished....and driven hopefully!

asphaltgambler · 10-28-2011, 09:17 AM

Prolly the best episode yet........

sm70911 · sm70911's Garage

A really good, and sobering episode. Overall I've got new respect for WC, thought he handled the whole thing well. If I was going to have a Ferrari a Lusso would be the one. It is just a beautiful car.

tchanson · 10-28-2011, 10:26 AM

Thanks for the heads up.

Looks like the next broadcast of the episode (Season 4, Episode = "A King in Queens") on Velocity (what used to be HD Theatre) is Saturday, 10-29 at 10:00PM ET.

Tim

pwd72s · 10-28-2011, 10:40 AM

I can understand the emotions the old guy went through...

VincentVega · 10-28-2011, 11:03 AM

I watched it the other night, good show.

I wondered about the tr4. Seemed like a nice car, but 50k??

nut11 · 10-28-2011, 11:48 AM

I'd be curious what Wayne paid for it. He said when refurbished, the Lusso could bring $800K.

87 blk coupe
11 GTI coupe

Don Ro · 10-28-2011, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 85eurocarrera

I liked when Wayne asked him to stand back and supervise the pushing of the car, and he responded "you can push it back into the garage".

I caught that one, too. He really was fighting reality.
Sad.

edgemar · 10-28-2011, 12:13 PM

hopefully he'll do a sympathetic restoration

asphaltgambler · 10-28-2011, 12:26 PM

There was a recent episode of "whats my car worth" and one was a beautiful Lusso ruby red w/tan interior that the guy had owned almost since new. At the auction it brought @$730K and the buyer said he was prepared to go higher if needed..............

daepp · 10-28-2011, 01:29 PM

It was a very emotional episode.

But what a great buy - he got the enjoyment Ferrari intended, and the appreciation will pay for his remaining years... and then some!

Doug E · 10-28-2011, 01:38 PM

Great episode ... hard to believe that car was tucked away in that garage all those years. Neat guy and neat story. Definitely sounds like he enjoyed it !

Anybody know if WC bought it for himself or a client ? Will be interesting to see what it goes for once the resto is done.

NutmegCarrera · NutmegCarrera's Garage

Take a look at Wayne's website.
There's one very much like the car from the show. Same color, and restored.
However, the milage looks fishy - so probably another example.
Price upon approval...

No flames, please - as I know little about F-cars. Perhaps it isnt a lusso?

1964 Ferrari 250GTL at F40 Motorsports in Portland, CT