It was already the third car spotted that was the visual highlight. First car was a 330 GT 2+2 Series II at Lex Classics with the complete ownership visible, second car was already at Speed 8 Classics’ stand, a 308 GTB (#41211).
Ok, I agree, when all the experts and historians that stood up alarmed at once in my mind, moaning that the third one is awful crap. However, the camera smoothly surrounded the car –as it is a fact that it was a car- and how could I resist her? Speed 8 Classics’ displayed an TR recreation that is meandering through the web for quite a while, livered in dark Red with White accents accompanied by a Beige interior and said to have been built out of 250 GTE Series III # 4617GT that was delivered new by Garage Francorchamps in 1963 – and that’s all what is known. However, back to our luck: the car was sold on the show’s first day and removed from the stand. It was substituted by an unknown 365 GTC/4.
My “normal” way through MECC would have been the “Main Hall”, but this time, I decided to move right first and it was very obvious how many Ferraris have been on display that are related to the FIAT-era. I met Ferrari-expert and broker, Andreas Birner and, as this happens quite frequently, we always have a brief conversation about the market. We agreed that 328s are currently joining all those Ferraris that moved up in value. Andreas quoted that the “next big thing” should be the “special” 348s and #96227, one of the Challenge cars, once female driven in the 1994 season by Susann Stutz, at LM-Classic Cars should be one of it. The car was accompanied by testarossa #77058 and 328 #80804.
Several of the cars mentioned above crossed my way and you sure will find them pictured within our Slide Show. #06748, the Competition-styled Dino looked for a new owner again, this time with Jacobs Classic. The Oldtimerfarm of Alter is a dealer we follow quite frequently on the web and I was surprised to hear from the owner, that none of the cars on display was shown on their website before the show - hats off!
One of the most beautiful cars on display was 512 BB in Giallo at Angelmax, a distributor for polish material. The car was provided by the owner and the nice guy at Angelmax told me, that he belives that this car would not last long before it would be purchased by a new caretaker.
The Gallery of Brummen obviously showed the most Ferraris: tow Boxers, two 330, one of them being #6939, a rare Interim car, said to be the 6th example built, in a wonderful colour that reminded of Rosso Dino, a 250 GTE and the only unidentified car beside the Gobbone mentioned above, a 330 GTC in full Black.
Around the Hoefnagels’ display appered the next big lot of Prancing Horses, two Dinos, a cut Daytona and the Prunet-Book Daytona #12991 we recently saw with Eberlein of Kassel. Most interesting at Hoefnagels’ was the 250 GTE that clearly showed the Telaio # 2965GT but is obviously fitted with the Series III body of #4889GT.
Heijstee displayed the same two Dino he already had brought to Essen in December. For the second time in my life I saw the 550 Maranello based “rossa” and it has lost nothing of its fascination. It was displayed in a VIP-tent.
42 Ferraris on display is no bad result for the start of the year, once again a perfect warm-up for the upcoming Paris week. I blame it on the weather that only two owners visited Interclassics & Topmobil with their own cars, one in a FF and the other in a 458 Spider. Aston Martin drivers are obviously more used to those conditions; the parking deck seemed to be flooded by them.