Alfa Canguro color snapshot needed--anyone photograph it at Villa d'este? | FerrariChat

Alfa Canguro color snapshot needed--anyone photograph it at Villa d'este?

Discussion in 'Other Italian' started by bitzman, May 30, 2013.

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  1. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    Feb 15, 2008
    3,287
    Ontario, CA
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    wallace wyss
    This was the one off dream car designed by Giugiaro that was shown at the Villa d'este concours in 2005. Need front 3/4 and rear 3/4. This was the car smashed when used in a PR stunt, and then sold to Gary Schmidt, a US Army schoolteacher from Germany, and then to a Japanese who restored it. I will trade use opf your images in a book I am doing for a print of my painting of the car, sized 11" x 17." (I'd use the painting but it's "soft" compared to a in focus picture).


    PS Does anyone know if the late Rob de la Rive Box is the one who owned it between Bertone, the coachbuilder, and Schmidt? Thanks for any info.
     
  2. Borzacchini Jr

    Jun 7, 2013
    23
    #2 Borzacchini Jr, Jun 9, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    The car was sold as wreck for less than 80$ without engine, gear and differential in 1974 from Bertone's junkyard to a German fellow that never restored it. Than to poor canguro happened Japanese miracle and here it is as new restored completely by CECOMP, for hell lot of money. Here are also the photos you need but I must say that I have no rights on them and/or I don't know if they are protected by some copyright. Good luck!
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  3. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    Feb 15, 2008
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    wallace wyss
    Is the one without the engine, showing frame after engine was taken out after the smash up, or have the bent bits been replaced already? Although Gary Schmidt was the name I heard, Iunderstand he was an American schoolteacher volunteering to teach US children dependents of military in Germany.I also heard rumor 2.)that he bought it from Rob de la Rive Box, a famous car writer and dealer in pictrures (though I didn't know he bought and sold cars as well) Do you know where the company is that restored the car? And what the ballpark figure for restoring it was?
     
  4. Mang

    Mang F1 Veteran
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    Jul 11, 2007
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    Mike S.
    Another amazingly beautifully styled car...looks fantastic from any angle.
     
  5. Borzacchini Jr

    Jun 7, 2013
    23
    #5 Borzacchini Jr, Jun 9, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    I really don't know in what order the autopsy was made. The car was collided violently and seriously damaged and left after the accident in the backyard of Bertone's factory for years, covered with plastic. I don't know in what state was the engine, a splendid 1600 from TZ 2 Twin Spark with 170 HP, but the fact is that the wrecked car was delivered without it, directly in the hands of “German” client without passages in the others hands. It is almost certain that there were no reparations made as there were no interests to preserve the car (?) so other vital organs as gear and differential were removed also. I don't know what engine is fixed in new restored car, as 1600 Twin Spark in TZ version was almost unobtainable. The Japanese owner restored it in “Centro Esperienze Costruzione Modelli e Prototipi” (CECOMP) in La Loggia near Torino (Italy) in 2005 so it was exposed at Villa d'Este show. I saw the car before the crash (in '65) and it was really a masterpiece though I always preferred TZ 2 (designed by Ercole Spada for Zagato) in aesthetic sense. The price of restoration is a kind of secret but you can imagine it, as also Alfa Romeo contributed in execution of works. Anyhow the final result is “top” one!
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  6. Walt Thode

    Walt Thode Rookie

    Jun 4, 2020
    1
    Since this is an old thread, I don’t know if there still is interest, but since I knew Gary Schmidt, I can add a bit. Gary was an American citizen who taught in the system of schools for dependents of American soldiers in Germany—and a Ferrari fan. As I heard the story, he saw the wrecked Canguro in a field behind the factory and bought it. He was never, on a schoolteacher’s salary, able to do much with it, and finally sold it to the Japanese buyer. Gary has long since retired, and died a few years ago, but his wife Annie is still going strong in Florence, Oregon, and can tell you more about what happened.
     
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  7. F1tommy

    F1tommy F1 World Champ
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    Dec 15, 2007
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    Tom Tanner
    I did read about how he got the car and was able to get some of the missing parts over the years. Atleast he was able to save it, or it might have been scrapped at Bertones scrapyard in the 1970's. Can you imagine all the stuff that got away and was scrapped over the years. Just look at the old pictures of the Auto Delta junkyard behind their old facility. And Ferrari's scrapyard in the late 1950's.
     

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