Monday 26 September 2016

Peter Ronald Fox - Australia - Ferrari 400 Automatic

I received these articles in my inbox today which was a great surprise. If you have any 400 story or 400 related information to be published then feel free to reach out to me.

I guess everything in these articles is a bit stereotype, it's all about wealth, luxury and throwing out large numbers. In one article the Ferrari 400 is worth 110.000 and in the next it's even 125.000. Reason he took the car was because his 3.5 million jet was not ready yet. It all reads like he was a fancy Playboy living the fast life and tragically dies due to a crash with his Ferrari.

It did reminded me of the previous owner of my 400, who traded it in for a new Testarossa, and also tragically crashed his Ferrari and died. (see blog: http://erwin400.blogspot.nl/2013/10/monday-22nd-october-car-owner-history.html). Unfortunately it's not unusual Ferrari's are involved with severe or tragic incidents. It does not take much to get such car out of control, especially when inexperienced.

I'm not sure if Peter Fox was a true Playboy but certainly he must have been financially well established. The 400 clearly isn't a flashy car nor a sports car (As indicated by the article), on the contrary I would say. Interesting to read it was an automatic as well. Typical all the very high heeled persons choose this option, ie Prince Bernhard, Freddy Heineken, just to name a few.

If there is any further supporting information on this 400, ie pictures, VIN, etc, then I welcome this of course.

Update 27-9-2016: Given the year this fatal accident took place and the fact it was a fairly new car it is expected his car was a 400i rather then a 400. The 400i might have serial number #32565 – azzurro with beige interior, RHD, and collected direct from the factory (as many Australians did to avoid tax, which it sounds like what Peter Fox would do..). Also, 32565 has never been seen or spotted, which could indicate an untimely demise. Any further supporting information or confirmation is appreciated.







Wednesday 21 September 2016

Sunday 18 September 2016

Ferrari 365 400 412 front marker light assy

Just adding this item as it's rare to see a NOS light like this. Also it does contain some references which might come in handy. Typical it's for sale in the States as well. It Always surprises me to see how much stock ended up overthere, even though this car was never sold in the USA.

http://www.ebay.nl/itm/Ferrari-400-412-RH-Turn-Signal-Indicator-Light-Assy-257-83-170-00-/131100924063









3-12-2016: And another one offered on Ebay

http://www.ebay.de/itm/FERRARI-365-400-412-NOS-TURN-SIGNAL-LAMP-ASSY-/132008785912

Ferrari part number 25583170 passenger side NOS Turn Signal Lamp Assembly. In original wrap and shipping box. Ordered from Ron Tonkin in Portland Oregon. This is a new lamp assembly never installed. The lamp is bright and clear. These lamp assemblies are no longer available from Ferrari.
Original cost was $2000.00






Saturday 17 September 2016

Finishing touch

Earlier this week I received these windscreenwiper nut covers:


Today I have put them on. Looks great. It's all in the detail!

Many Thanks Dedo!




Wednesday 14 September 2016

The horror, the horror

Today the following got posted on FB ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/8727831092/ )

http://www.aja911jlc.com/?p=31680





And if this wasn't enough another horror picture was posted in the comment field. At first I thought it could have been the same one. Then again, it has a vinyl roof and a crema interior:


Both however seems to be located in Japan ...



Sunday 11 September 2016

Ferrari 400 carb + manual for sale - Automobilismo D'Epoca

Guess what, a French reader notified me that the 400 on the previous blog is now offered for sale.
A bit pricey but it's a rare 400 carb manual version. As highlighted, only 147 of these have been build.

https://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/1016990054.htm?ca=7_s




Thursday 8 September 2016

Magazine : Automobilismo D'Epoca : Prima volta a Maranello Ferrari 400

The first Italian magazine article! How's that? (Grazie Paolo!). And I sense it's a very good one as it has contribution from Sig. Fioravanti. Any of the readers outthere who can translate this article into English please?

Now available in the download folder:


Tuesday 6 September 2016

BAT : Missing V12: 1979 Ferrari 400 GT Project

Just curious to see for how much this will be going for. Unfortunately I now see the Ebay listing is ended. At least you now can read the BAT comments:

http://bringatrailer.com/2016/09/05/missing-v12-1979-ferrari-400-gt-project/


Monday 5 September 2016

Classic & Sports car - Family supercars! Ferrari 365 GT4 2+2 - Lamborghini Espada - Maserati Indy

Now available in the download folder. A very good article about cars which I all like. Unfortunately one mistake about the designer of the 400 ... oh well.


Sunday 4 September 2016

Prince Bernhard Ferrari 365 GT4 2+2

A few times before I had written small blogs about the Ferrari's of Prince Bernhard. By now I have discovered a little more information and also spotted some small mistakes. I'm not going to provide the links to the other blogs, just search for it. As this blog keeps growing somehow I will add a section called 'celebs' and tag these blogs accordingly. As the title indicates this blog will be about the 365 GT4 2+2 owned by Prince Bernhard. Likely something known for the incrowd, this car got involved in a car crash. The second car was purchased in 1973, the exact date of delivery is unknown to me, with the registration number 17391. It got the Dutch license plate 87-BT-01. Some while back I was able to find two additional pictures about this car with both Enzo and Bernhard posing next to the car.





The picture is one out of a serie of twelve photos and taken in Modena on 20 or 21 November 1973.
Three pictures were signed by Prince Bernhard. This is one of them. It's is unknown to me who the third person is on this photo:


In the Dutch book "de automobielen van Prince Bernhard" the following picture from the same serie is published (sorry about the poor quality scan):


As mentioned, apparently these pictures are taken on the 20th of November 1973.

The actual car crash happened earlier in the year on the 19th of juli 1973. It was reported the car was fairly new and only had driven 1500 km so far. On the accident itself there are a couple of versions around, ie he got hit in a traffic jam, he got hit by a car in a roadcurve and the official (and more heroic) version: he saw the car dangereously approaching him and diverted the car in a ditch to avoid a collision but still got hit by the car.  Fact is, he crashed his car somehow during his holiday stay in Porte Ercole. To be precise the car accident happened in a nearby place called Orbetello.



The only Dutch online resource I could find regarding this accident:

http://www.digibron.nl/search/detail/013194a75468ec2e162c0d48/prins-licht-gewond-na-aanrijding

PORTO ERCOLE — Prins Bernhard is gistermiddag in Italië betrokken geweest bij een auto-ongeluk. Hij liep vlees- en snijwonden en enkele bloeduitstortingen op. Bij het ongeluk kwam de 21-jarige Italiaanse elektricien Roberto Present! uit Orbetello om het leven. Hij stierf aan een schedelbasisfractuur. Het ongeluk gebeurde op de tweebaansweg tussen Porto Ercolo (150 kilometer ten noorden van Rome aan de Tyrrheense Zee) en Orbetello. De prins en de Koningin houden vakantie in hun zomerverblijf De Gelukkige Olifant in Porto Ercolo. Prins Bernhard stond met zijn Ferrari- sportwagen in een file toen hij plotseling werd aangereden door de Italiaan, aldus een zegsman van de prins. Prins Bernhard trok zich het ongeluk erg aan. Hij stapte uit om zich op de hoogte te stellen van ''t lot van de Italiaan. Die werd meteen naar het ziekenhuis van Orbetello vervoerd. In de auto van prins Bernhard zat nog een ander. Diens identiteit was gisteravond nog niet bekend. Hij mankeert niets. De auto van de prins liep geringe schade op.

At June 14th 1974 the car got a new license plate, namely 83-DA-00. I was unable to find much more history on the usage of this car since. The car got eventually got sold and was bought by KC Jessen on 18-2-1982 but the actual handover only happened on 13-6-1983. According to the RDW register he's likely still the current owner.

When doing a little more research about the current owner I noticed he was also on Facebook. As such I left him a PM in order to find out more detail. Unfortunately my request remained unanswered. However one week later I got an email from his son. Apparently he found my blog (coincidental?) and commented on one of my blogs which had the picture of Enzo, Bernhard and the 365GT4 2+2. He mentioned they posses the photographs and the car since the eighties. He had fond memories about the car, when he was a young boy he spend much time on the backseat. The car was partly restored about more then 20 years ago and then was put away unfinished. The past weeks he was considering to fix up the car and get it ready to put it back on the road again. Perhaps that triggered him and resulted in finding my blog.

The text above was written somewhere in January 2015. Today, 1st May 2015, I got approached by a Dutch 365/400/412 enthusiast who does happen to be involved with a potential buy of this car. He was curious to know if I had any further supporting information about this car. Apparently the car has been put up for sale using a 3rd party: Hermes Consulting, their asking price is € 70.000. The car is currently registered at the Ferrari Club UK. I guess they lost their appetite in fixing it up. It also explains why recently I noticed on my blog stats some searches regarding this car (or more specific about Prince Bernhard). In any case it came to my attention that I again was wrong in my assumptions, something that I easily should have spotted using the register.

Bernhards first 365GT4 2+2 was having chassis nr: #17129 using license plate AA-13 and got crashed. Whilst I thought it was being restored (maybe it has?) a new one was ordered for him, having chassis nr: #17391 using license plate 87-BT-01 which later on got replaced by 83-DA-00. Perphaps the other one belonged to his first 365?


Update 5-9-2016 : Typical, after yesterdays posting the FB group "Les 100GT" (https://www.facebook.com/les100gt/) post this unique photo today:


I wonder where they got this from? Likely from the same source.

I can't stay behind, so here two more photo's from the same series: