Who was that rich customer of Coco's that he married? | FerrariChat

Who was that rich customer of Coco's that he married?

Discussion in 'Vintage (thru 365 GTC4)' started by bitzman, Feb 14, 2019.

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  1. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    wallace wyss
    I am trying to write a profile of Coco but there's precious little info on the net. I know he once was selling cars out of the showroom and a rich lady showed up and he not only sold her a car but married her. Who was that and what was the car? Any other juicy gossip I can put in?


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    COCO CHINETTI

    You can’t discuss the early years of Ferrari in America unless you mention Luigi Chinetti, a successful racer (won lemans three times) who moved to the US before the war, and started distributing Ferraris in the U.S by the second year of the marque.

    Luigi Chinetti died and the family gradually surrendered the US. Distribution rights (now owned by FCA) but Luigi Chinetti Jr., now 76, is still making waves in the Ferrari world.

    He started out at his father’s shop sweeping floors and eventually became a race driver for the team. He never won LeMans outright like his father but competed there several times. Most notably in 1971 where he finished 5th overall and first in class driving a Ferrari Daytona for his family’s N.A.R.T (North American Racing Team). He also had noteworthy placings at the 24 Hours of Daytona and the Sebring 12 Hours

    One of the funny stories told in a story called Luigi Chinetti Jr. Mr. Ferrari in Mixte Magazine says he had his father’s innovative sense. One day, according to the article, when a driver on his team blew the engine only hours before an event in which they were entered. “I went with my mechanic to the parking lot where we spotted a Ferrari identical to ours. We simply opened the hood, removed the engine and transported it to the pits. It was installed and we were able to race. Of course I left a note telling the owner to come by the garage on Monday morning and we would install a brand new engine. And that was that”.

    One of the things that happened when he was selling Ferraris is a rich young lady came to look at one. He sold her the car and married her.

    His racing ambitions sometimes conflicted with those of his father. Mixte Magazine wrote that when he borrowed a 250P from his father to race at the Circuit Mont-Tremblant, the car caught fire after driving through the flames of another car on fire. His father was not pleased.

    He became famous (or infamous depending on how you like the results) for coming up with new body designs to sell aged Ferraris that were not moving. One was a station Wagon (OK shooting brake) designed by an ex GM designer. Another was a central steering wheeled three seater , the 365P that he still has. Another was a Zagato designed car on a California Spyder but thankfully that car , in the hands of alter owner, has been returned to a California spyder body.

    He saved some of the cars raced by NART (North American Racing Team) between 1958 and 1982, and is legendary in Ferrari restoration circles for fighting a victorious battle with Ferrari Spa on whether the old race cars he was restoring --Ferrari 275Ps chassis '0812' and '0814--' in Italy when the factory claimed they were replicas and began litigation related to them, alleging they were not “real” but imagined. Coco’s argument was based on the fact that race cars change hour by hour during a race and none reflect the way they came out of the factory.

    One of my favorite pictures of him is a relatively recent one where he and his French Canadian wife, Jacqueline, are toodling about Italy in a restored 250P. A car worth what? $10 million? Though his family lost the right to be sole distributors of Ferraris in the U.S. decades ago, you have to congratulate him on keeping some of the old cars as their value goes through the roof.

    They also have a little place in Florida but he’s a Quebecer now.
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  2. Marcel Massini

    Marcel Massini Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Wally

    Get your facts right.
    The 3-seater 365 P is long gone……….
    And the 365 P Tre Posti surely was NOT Coco's design but rather Pininfarina's.

    Marcel Massini
     
  3. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    #3 bitzman, Feb 14, 2019
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2019
    The gullwing car is called a 365 P2 by Car Design News. CarStylingRu says Michelotti built it. That car might have been rebodied to stock looking Ferrari race car. Here's the Peak drawing of it The Ferrari 365 P Berlinetta 'Tre Posti' Didn't Sell For $23.5 Million a few years ago at a Monterey acution. But I thought that was the crown jewel of the cars Coco still has left to sell. What could it be rebodied as? I don't know if it was a complete race car before Pininfarina bodied it.
     
  4. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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  5. Jack-the-lad

    Jack-the-lad Six Time F1 World Champ
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    Luigi Jr's. first wife was North Carolina tobacco heiress Mamie Spears Reynolds. It was the first marriage for each of them. I believe the marriage lasted only a couple of years. She became known for her lavish society parties in Asheville, N.C., and later in Louisville, her second husband's hometown. I believe she died about five years ago.
     
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  6. 375+

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  7. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    I had a discussion with one of the same Reynolds family, Zak, on the phone, about his cars. I grew impatient as he went on and on so I begged off and hung up. Three days later I get a package. I open it up, Its a tape recorder. I notice there is a tape in it. I press "ON" and a booming Southern voice says "As ah was sayin',,,, "

    I believe he was killed awhile later flying upside down over his town in a small aeroplane dressed like an old lady...something he did tegularly
     
  8. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    More on Coco's wife that he met in the showroom and successfully managed to sell himself as well as a car to her. I don't know if he sold the Ferrari to her before they were married or once the knot was tied but, for the record, it was a lil' old two seater, coupe, manual shift, probably LHD and of course Ferrari racing red. Here's some facts on it, I didn't print the whole list of event appearances because I only needed to know who the lady was...and the list goes on and on to almost the present day...especially since it's owned by ultra enthusiasts, Brandon Wang

    from barchettacc.com
    4219GT 63/feb/05

    Rosso Cina/blu
    Date Result Event Driver # Reference
    63 - Mamie Spears Reynolds, Asheville, NC & Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA via Luigi Chinetti, NY, NY, USA
    - Mamie Spears Reynolds is the daugther of the former US Senator for NC, Robert Reynolds linked to the Tobacco industry, and Evalyn McLean Roberts of the McLean mining fortune and once owner of the famous Hope Diamond. According to contemporay newspaper reports she met Luigi Chinetti, jr. ("Coco") when she came to NY to buy a Ferrari race car for the upcoming Daytona Continental race from Luigi Chinetti, sr. As a matter of fact she and Coco married on 28th July, 1963 but were already divorced on 14 September, 1965.
    63/feb/17 1st OA 3h Daytona Continental Pedro Rodriguez one of the world's
    63/mar/23 13th OA
    4th GT3.0 12h Sebring Joakim Bonnier /
    John Cannon #28
    63/may - Beverly Spencer, Hillborough, CA, USA - paid $14.000.- ADDED NOTE He was a man despite the first name, came from car dealer family
    - white with blue stripe
    63/jun/09 2nd OA Laguna Seca, Monterey Frank Crane #9 250 GTO p76
    63/jul/21 6th OA Pacific Raceway, race 1 Frank Crane
    63/jul/27 1st IC Candlestick Park Raceway Frank Crane #9 C106 p28
    63-64 - raced in the US
    64 - George C. Dyer Sr., Hillsborough, CA, USA - paid $12.166.-
     
  9. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    Marcel is right. Peak did not design the Tre Posti 365p road car. PF did. But there is a Chinetti connection, Coco owns it and, back in the day, it was kind of a dog and hard to sell, I think Chinetti sold it at least twice and it came back when it was discovered by the buyers how impractical it was. Plus I find offputting the fact that one of the former owners was murdered (though in fairness after he'd sold the car) You might have seen it in the Gooding tent at Monterey in 2017. Though it didn't roll across the block, there's guesstimates on how far below the reserve the high bid came...

    68/late - Luigi Chinetti Motors, Greenwich, CT, USA
    97/aug/04 Meadow Brook Concours, Rochester Luigi Chinetti jr.
    97 Louis Vuitton Concours, Rockefeller Center, NY Luigi Chinetti jr. C103 p15
    00/sep/15-17 Goodwood Revival Meeting Luigi Chinetti jr.
    00/sep/09-10 Louis Vuitton Classic, Bagatelle Luigi Chinetti jr.
    01/jul/20-22 Brands Hatch Ferrari Festival Luigi Chinetti jr.
    04/aug/15 Pebble Beach Concours Luigi Chinetti jr.
    14/aug/17 - NS - Gooding & Co.'s Pebble Beach auction - highbid $22,250,000.- (reserve reputedly was $25,0mio)
     
  10. Marcel Massini

    Marcel Massini Two Time F1 World Champ
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    AGAIN: Coco sold 8971 in 2017. Privately. Not at auction. Car is gone.

    Marcel Massini
     
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  11. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    So a private treaty sale is really just a private owner renting a piece of turf at an auction to show their wares but then, once they have a bite, doing the deal privately. Too bad prices can't be posted publically once it's sold as a result of the ezposure but in this case knowing the "going price" wouldn't be that useful since there are only two PF bodied 3-seat Ferraris (Bud Keeeney's black car?)
     
  12. 375+

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    The car was a No Sale at the Gooding auction. It later sold privately, Gooding was not involved in the transaction.
     
  13. Marcel Massini

    Marcel Massini Two Time F1 World Champ
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    8971 sold 4 December 2017.
    New owner is from Mexico but lives in TX.

    Marcel Massini
     
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  14. cprob

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    Does anyone know what became of the Peak/Michelotti body when 0812 was restored ?
     
  15. Marcel Massini

    Marcel Massini Two Time F1 World Champ
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  16. 375+

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    Probably in the weeds behind the shop.
     
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  17. f355miami

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    Does Jaime Muldoon own the 365 treposti now?

    I just saw this gentleman driving the treposti around and accepting a trophy at Cavallino Classic 2022 for the car.
     

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  18. f355miami

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  19. Marcel Massini

    Marcel Massini Two Time F1 World Champ
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    This is NOT Jaime Muldoon.
    This is the owner of the Tre Posti 8971 and his name is Mr. Q.

    Marcel Massini
     
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  20. Mark Shannon

    Mark Shannon Formula 3
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  21. Edward 96GTS

    Edward 96GTS F1 Veteran
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    how long were they married?
     
  22. miurasv

    miurasv F1 World Champ

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    See post #5 here.
     
  23. 78bonanza

    78bonanza Formula Junior

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    I know I sat in it once when my dad and I were at Chinetti Motors.
    I was 14 but Mr. Chinetti pointed out my father should buy it for me now. His rationale was I could have a blond on the right and a brunette on the left when I got my license.
    My father , unfortunately, did not heed his flawless advice .
     
  24. wbaeumer

    wbaeumer F1 Veteran
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    Correctly: Mr. R. Q. who lives in Houston, TX.
     
  25. Jack-the-lad

    Jack-the-lad Six Time F1 World Champ
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    Anybody know why Wally @bitzman got the ban? It looks permanent because his profile is blocked.
     

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