| ||||
 | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
The World's Most Important Classic Car Show? The "Techno Classica" is hosted annually at the exhibition centre of Essen/Germany. The 14th edition of this prestigious show attracted about 820 exhibitors from 15 countries who displayed more than 2000 classic and exotic automobiles in eleven halls. The exhibitors are mainly from the classic car trade - dealers, brokers and auctioneers - but there are also many displays of private sellers and various car clubs. 46 Ferraris were on show (and mostly for sale) plus five cars in the Coys of Kensington auction. The undoubted star among the numerous Ferrari at the show was Hartmut Ibing's 250 LM s/n 6217. Regarded as probably the most original 250 LM except the example at the Musée Nationale de l'Automobile (former Schlumpf collection), s/n 6217 was displayed on the stand of Lukas Hüni. The Swiss dealer reportedly had it on show only and denied requests for the car's availability, but who knows…. Hüni also displayed a very nice 365 GTB/4 Daytona (s/n 15745) that was apparently sold at the show. Klaus Werner's Klassische Automobile is another well-established address in the classic car business. Klaus Werner displayed the spectacular 212 Export Berlinetta Touring "Le Mans" s/n 0112E and the 365 GTB/4 Daytona Competizione Prototipo s/n 12547. This was the first 365 GTB/4 ever to be converted to competition specifications on behalf of Luigi Chinetti for the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans. Although it does not feature the wide-body that is found on the later three series of competition Daytonas, it is still very spectacular and impressive in its NART-livery. Red Willow Racing of Duiven/Netherlands displayed one of the most interesting Ferrari at the show, the mighty 375 America Coupé Pinin Farina s/n 0317AL. Being one of only six 375 America bodied by Pinin Farina, s/n 0317AL was sold new in 1954 to Alois de Menzick-Zebinsky in Belgium. The Belgian aristocrat entered the car in various racing events, one of them being the 1954 Rallye de Genève in which he was co-piloted by Jacques Swaters. De Menzick-Zebinsky kept the car for more than 30 years and eventually sold it to Belgian collector Ennio Gianaroli. Today s/n 0317AL is still in wonderful original condition - the price for this "time capsule" was reportedly in the region of 600.000,-EUR. E. Thiesen KG of Hamburg is mainly known for classic Mercedes-Benz automobiles, but they have been offering an interesting Ferrari for quite a long time: s/n 0125EL, a 212 Inter that has been rebodied as a very Spartan spyder with Vignale-looks in the late 1980's. Originally, s/n 0125EL had been a 212 Inter Cabriolet Vignale. Its history is a little clouded - apparently its current body-design has nothing in common with the shape of the original Vignale convertible coachwork. Although it's eligible for events like the Mille Miglia, s/n 0125EL has been on the market for nearly 12 years, obviously still being a victim of the late 1980's / early 1990's overpricing. Another - this time lovely - Vignale-bodied Ferrari was displayed by Dutch dealer Jack Braam-Ruben of Maastricht: 212 Inter Coupé Vignale s/n 0179EL, a wonderfully flamboyant example for Vignale's spectacular body-designs of the early 1950's. The 250 GT SWB Berlinetta is definitely one of the most sought-after Ferrari models on the planet. With very few being on the market world wide, it's no wonder that only one example was present at the Techno Classica: Axel Schütte of Oerlinghausen/Germany displayed s/n 3401GT, a steel-bodied example that has a very recent historic racing pedigree with Franco Meiners. The price tag on the red with tan Berlinetta was 950.000,-US$. Ferrari's Formula One cars are a rare sighting on classic car shows. Nevertheless, French specialist company La Galerie des Damiers displayed Gerhard Berger's former F1 87 s/n 099. After having been a triple non-finisher in the 1987 Formula One season in the French, British and German Grand Prix, s/n 099 had been sold by the Scuderia right after the season to the former Belgian racer and collector Jean "Beurlys" Blaton. Two dealers displayed two different 250 GT Coupé Boano: Movendi of Cologne/Germany, displayed the superbly restored s/n 0547GT which had recently been imported from Italy. The car was described as one of the few alloy-bodied examples; the fact that s/n 0547GT is not listed in several sources as one of the alloy cars does not necessarily disclose this information as false. Interestingly, the situation is exactly the same with s/n 0575GT, the second example which is currently for sale through C. F. Mirbach Chiemgau of Riedering/Germany: The pale-yellow example, too, is said to have an alloy body. This has been modified, apparently for competition use. Additional air-inlets have been added to the hood as well as an outside filler. A certain Dr. W. Möller of Frankfurt, the car's owner from 1966 to the 1970's, claimed to have competed in several hillclimb events in the car, thus explaining the "sporty" modifications. Today, s/n 0575GT is in need of a total restoration - making the asking price of nearly 159.000,-EUR not looking like a special offer…. CPI Sportwagen of Mülheim-Kärlich/Germany and Berlinetta Motors of St. Ingbert/Germany were out in force with a large stand, offering not less than eight Ferraris. The oldest example was 250 GT Cabriolet Series II s/n 1797GT which is currently undergoing a restoration at Berlinetta's premises and that was displayed as an unfinished project. It was flanked by a red 250 GT Lusso (s/n 5251GT), a lovely white with red 275 GTS (s/n 06889) and a silvergrey 275 GTB/2 Shortnose (s/n 07473) that reportedly found a new owner at the Techno Classica. CPI also offered a lovely 400i Cabriolet, a conversion by the renowned company of Pavesi of Milan/Italy. Huberti of Düsseldorf/Germany displayed several Ferraris on behalf of Modena Motorsport: a lovely restored 250 GT Coupé Pininfarina (s/n 1123GT), a 275 GTS formerly owned by Ferrari-historian Antoine Prunet (s/n 07521) and an excellent 365 GT 2+2 (s/n 11533). A red 250 Testa Rossa Spider Scaglietti that was on display as well was easily identified as a replica based on a 250 GTE, s/n 3181GT. M.M.C. and Athané Automobiles of Paris/France had a joint display with four cars, Bernard Duc's 250 GTO '62 Replica being the most spectacular one. The 250 GTE-based example (s/n 4243GT) was available for 280.000,-EUR. A 365 GTC/4 and a 365 GT4 BB of Belgian origin were much cheaper, while a 288 GTO (s/n 52729), formerly owned by Italian enthusiast Emilio Cassinelli, was offered at 249.000,-EUR. By the way, another example of Ferrari's first "supercar" (s/n 54249) was for sale by German dealer Franz Prahl of Preussisch Oldendorf. YellowRacing is a rather new company run by enthusiast Jürgen Pyritz. As indicated by the company's name, most of their cars are yellow (no kidding!). The two yellow Ferraris on offer were a nicely done 250 GTE-based 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Replica by Allegretti (s/n 3737GT) and a restored 365 GTB/4 Daytona. The latter, s/n 15019, is one of the mysterious "A"-type examples, designated on the production plate in the engine compartment as "365 GTB/4 A" - interestingly, none of the world's famous Ferrari historians has ever been able to come up with a proven or reasonable explanation for this Ferrari-phenomenon. S.I.H.A. of Herzogenrath/Germany displayed a 500 Mondial Spider Scaglietti s/n 0424MD/0564MD. Sold new to French privateer François Picard, s/n 0424MD was later renumbered as #0564MD. After having been in the ownership of Jean-François du Montant in France for two decades, the car passed through various hands in recent years, but still sports its incredibly original condition - even the original French Blue lacquer can be seen through some cracks in the younger red paint! For the first time, Coys of Kensington held an auction. As already mentioned, there were five Ferraris among the various cars offered. The most interesting one was a nicely done, RHD 330 GT-based 250 GTO '62 Replica (s/n 7225GT). It sold at 171.416,-EUR. An F40 (s/n 89693) remained unsold, while a light metallic blue Dino 246 GT changed hands for 58.700,-EUR. A 208 GTB Turbo, imported from Italy, didn't find a buyer while a very nice dark blue Mondial t Cabriolet fetched 39.916,-EUR. Verdict As a verdict one could say that the rather high price level at the Techno Classica was surprising, especially in the current economic situation. Expensive Ferraris apparently sell better than the cheaper ones. High-quality cars are scarce on the market, and if there are any there are apparently buyers willing to pay a price that is slightly or even remarkably higher than one or two years ago. Click here to return to the Ferrari Happenings page.
|
