Different Perspectives

Thanks, Dale. Those are great articles. I especially love the first one and the last one.

 

Hahaha.

Well, the other aspect that no one ever seems to discuss is that cars are perishable, which is why they require maintenance and restoration.

Funny story: Last year I was invited to a private Ferrari North America party at their Casa Ferrari. From what I could tell, it was for Corse Clienti, Classiche, and Supercar clients and a pretty interesting crowd. It was a lot of fun.

At one point I was talking to a pretty big collector from the northeast and he was asking about my cars and whether they were original or not. Well, first of all, none of my cars are that old but I explained that three are and the oldest one was completely restored. He asked about that and I explained that I prefer restored cars to original because back before this whole car collecting thing had all this money, the idea was to have the best version of you car as possible and if you could make it exactly like new and drive it and enjoy it for 30 years and then do it all over again, you should. There all kinds of advancements in paint and such that let you actually enjoy driving your car and keeping it in top shape and restorations help with that.

I expected him to disagree with me but in fact he said the opposite. He said that he thought that all of his original Ferraris (some from the 50's) were not really safe or fun. The ones he restored and uses put such a big smile on his face and he gets to use them regularly and it really makes the hobby a lot more enjoyable for him.

It just never made any sense to me that people would get so much money for these "barn finds" that were literally falling apart. People talk about the $685k manual 599 but it's the ridiculous barn find numbers that make me scratch my head about these old cars as "investments."

 

People on the "barn find" camp would argue otherwise; likening your reasoning to owning and paying an obscene amount of money for an original untouched Van Gogh versus one that has been "restored" and touched up...

 

I hear that argument all the time. But these are people who treat their cars like Van Goghs, too. They put them in a corner and look at them. I like something that I can get in and drive and enjoy. Different strokes for different folks. That's what makes the world go round.

It's not my place to tell them how to enjoy the hobby. However, I don't have to enjoy it the same way that they do, either.

 

I have a different perspective having bought 2 barn finds, actually at different Gooding auction. One has been restored ( but not yet seen except by very few,,) and the other, a non Ferrari, does not need restoration and will be kept as is, of course all mechanical have been done. For those who know I was the owner of the Ferrari Mondial 424 (564) MD who had the surface paint erased to reveal the original painting rather than restoring.

By no means I am a fanatic of barn find. But I am a fanatic of originality i.e. I would restore a car if no longer original, but keep it as is if it can be maintaind in this condition. I am also a perfectionist and as such I would rather do a full restoration starting from what I know i.e. A fully stripped down car, than assuming the previous restoration has been properly done,,without knowing.

So yes car should be enjoyed, the 100 points Gullwing was back to Mille Miglia the year, celebrating the 60 th anniversary of its original race, one of only 2 Gullwing with MM history in the middle of ,,a lot of 300SL,,the other being the W194 prototype,,and as my mechanic told me in Brescia, " have a look at the engine, this is the last time you will ever see it so immaculate. " and then we enjoyed 15 hours of non stop rain!!

I am not so much in concours, but happened from time to time, but the 300S Maserati that was second in class at the Maserati celebration at Pebble Beach 2 years ago will be at the start of Le Mans Classic.

In other words, even if car are restored to concours level, this should not prevent them from being driven and even raced if they are race cars. But still I prefer a perfectly restored car than an imperfect one, and I don't mind a barn find, provided it is complete and can be used as such or for a complete thorough restoration, but no religion of the barn find, nor of the car being a immobile piece of art.

PS: all my cars even the pre war Alfa Romeo with which I did 3 MM in a row and Pebble Beach last year and will also be at Le Mans Classic in pre war grid, all my cars are fun to drive,,,otherwise I would sell them asap. Safe is another issue, no seat belt , and no airbag,,,etc cannot be as safe as my 2 Toyota Landcruiser,,but it is all how you drive,,,the way some people drive at MM,,th would not be safe in a modern car either...

 

The Great Roberto!

 

The totality of legal fees generated in the last article must be astronomical since so many parties were involved and for so long and people kept coming out of the woodwork.

 

This is interesting, as all those items are very much perishable too
Nearly everything except gold and land is perishable in some way and it does not keep people from pouring in their cash.