(in)famous fake F40 LM for sale

Roland's "Linder-Made" F40 is 84838.

However, there are some things about this car that should be known 80726, THIS car in the aforementioned links...

It was sold new to Baron Dr. Franz Mayr-Melnhof-Saurau of Graz, Austria. In the Spring of '93, he had the car returned to Ferrari for modifications to the roof to increase headroom. Immediately after, 03 June 1993, the car crashed and burned while Mayr-Melnhof was driving it on the Brenner Austrada in Italy. It was estimated that he hit the Armco* barrier at 250 km/h. His passenger and secretary, Count Johann Thun-Hohnstein, was instantly killed. Eleven days later, 14 June 1993, Dr. Mayr Melnhof died of his injuries.

*Is Armco a proper noun, and should therefore be spelled with a capital A?

Anyway, as the story goes:

Baron Dr. Franz Mayr-Melnhof took delivery of his new F40, s/n 80726, from the official importer Denzel in Vienna, Austria, June, 1989. Since he was a very tall Man he had the roof of his F40 converted ("heightened") with two double-bubbles (similar to Zagato!) by Italian shop Bachelli & Villa in Bastiglia in the Spring of 1993. He took delivery of his converted F40, 03 June 1993, accompanied by his personal secretary, Mr. Johann Thun-Hohenstein. The two men crashed, 03 June 1993, at 7PM, at a speed of above 280 km/h in very heavy rain. On motorway A23 of Malborghetto from Italy to Austria, between Udine and Tarvis, near Pontebba, Italy. His passenger and secretary died instantly, Mayr-Melnhof was severely burned (he had tried to pull his passenger out of the burning wreck), flown to a German clinic specializing in burns, but died a week later. He was 44 years old and at that time had been considered the richest Austrian. At the time of the accident
Mayr-Melnhof owned ten Ferraris.​

Then, as per Sheehan, 10 January 2001, he conceded that the car was "totally destroyed and rebuilt to LM specs and raced in the French GT series, in 1997, in France."

 

What an intriguing story about the double bubble roof, would love to have seen a pic of that car. Another Wwiss one off F40 a bit like the one with the cut down rear fin.

 

Marcel has full details (and photos) that verify the story on s/n 80726, just in case any genuinely interested parties want to get in touch with him about it.

Clearly the car has had a lot of money spent on it recently, so if the buyer knows the history, they can decide what it's worth.

-Ed

 

This car appears to have had a bit of a mystery past. According to the Sheehan article below

says it was recreated as an LM. The auction material from the infamous 2 Sep 2017 Salon Prive Silverstone auction where the car was withdrawn when its past came to light

https://www.silverstoneauctions.com/1989-ferrari-f40

only says that the owner *intended* to convert it to LM. Not found any pictures of the car in a modified state before it went back to standard - assuming it was converted at all.

Sheehan also says it raced in the French GT series in 1997 (FFSA after FIA gobbled up the BPR in 97). However, the only F40 of any kind that raced in that series is F40 GTE #88779 which is an original Michelotto car, and there is no sign of #80726 in entry lists of any races.

Could the great Michael Sheehan be wrong?

Any ideas?

 

http://www.racingsportscars.com/suffix/archive/Ferrari/F40/GTE.html?page=2
This website lists two GTEs (#86, #24) being entered in the FFSA championship in 1997 (3 rounds: Dijon, Magny Cours & Paul Ricard). Unfortunately, no pics or S/Ns available. I'll see if I can find more informations around.

 

Thanks for the useful info:
#86 is #88779 F40GTE (Schreiber /Jakubowski) as I mentioned above.
http://www.barchetta.cc/english/all.ferraris/detail/88779.f40gte.htm

#24 is one of the Ennea F40 GTEs that was a no show at Le Mans pre-qualifying and qualifying. Likely to have been of of 90001, 88779, 82404 or the 83405 conversion which were GTEs with Ennea at the time. I guess it doesn't matter since it was a no show. I don't remember any F40s that year, but instead a very nice pair of 333SPs

Having looked at every entry list for the French GT 1997 season, Sheehan's article looks mistaken about #80726 running in it.

 

How x

How can I get in touch with Marcel ?????

 

I'd simply PM him..........(do not forget to include your full name, full address, full contact details, email address, telephone numbers, everything!).

Marcel Massini

 

I hope you haven't bought the car...