Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / The Forgotten Ferrari: How Chassis 3589 Found Redemption

Transcript

The Forgotten Ferrari: How Chassis 3589 Found Redemption · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

• 0:00
  As part of Ferrari Fridays, William Ross from the Exotic Car Marketplace
• 0:04
  will be discussing all things Ferrari and interviewing people that live
• 0:07
  and breathe the Ferrari brand.
• 0:09
  Topics range from road cars to racing, drivers to owners, as well
• 0:13
  as auctions, private sales, and trends in the collector market.
• 0:30
  Hello everyone and welcome back to the Ferrari Marketplace.
• 0:34
  I'm your host, William Ross.
• 0:36
  I appreciate you guys downloading the episodes.
• 0:38
  If you already, uh, have been downloading, I noticed we're getting some activity.
• 0:41
  So, which is awesome.
• 0:43
  I apologize for the delay in getting more episodes out.
• 0:47
  I've got about 20 different things going on right now.
• 0:49
  So I get a little absent minded and setting up a schedule so
• 0:52
  I could come and record these.
• 0:53
  So again, my apologies.
• 0:55
  So I'm getting a couple of things kind of wrapped up and taken care of.
• 0:58
  So I should be able to squeeze these in a little more frequently, hopefully
• 1:03
  every week or so instead of, I think it's been almost two months, if not,
• 1:07
  maybe more since I've done my last one, I think it was July to my last one.
• 1:11
  So I apologize for that.
• 1:12
  That's just me.
• 1:13
  I've just, you know, I'm terrible with my time management.
• 1:15
  I got to get a little more better than that.
• 1:16
  I got to start putting a schedule up and whatnot.
• 1:18
  So I know I kept on previous episodes.
• 1:20
  Oh, Hey, I'm going to take care of this.
• 1:21
  I'm gonna take care of that.
• 1:21
  So, but.
• 1:22
  I know it, that's me.
• 1:23
  I know I'll get situated though.
• 1:26
  Again, just be patient with me.
• 1:27
  We'll get a schedule out.
• 1:29
  Cause one thing I want to kind of, uh, hit on is, um, one of the
• 1:32
  things I'm working on is actually I teamed up with some individuals and
• 1:36
  we're kind of consolidating all my projects, websites and whatnot that
• 1:41
  I have under one umbrella website.
• 1:44
  And the exotic car marketplace.
• 1:46
  com.
• 1:47
  And so we're going to have like the fire marketplace, Porsche
• 1:50
  marketplace, Lamborghini.
• 1:51
  So I, I have all these other entities out there that kind of work on and do it.
• 1:54
  So we're going to put them all under that umbrella and make it a one stop shop.
• 1:56
  We're going to have a lot more different types of podcasts on there.
• 1:59
  Tune up the guys from garage riot.
• 2:01
  Uh, I got a couple other, uh, entities coming in to not only provide content,
• 2:06
  but maybe, you know, potentially help sponsor the site and whatnot.
• 2:08
  So, and get this thing to grow.
• 2:10
  Cause we kind of want to be a one stop shop for everyone.
• 2:13
  You know, exotic hypercars, you know, your Ferraris, Lamborghinis,
• 2:16
  Koenigseggs, whatnot, that kind of stuff.
• 2:18
  And you can get on there and find news, everything like that, and
• 2:21
  find your, what you're looking for.
• 2:23
  And just go on there, just hop around all the different places in the internet.
• 2:27
  You can just hit one website and you'll be able to find a
• 2:28
  lot of different things out.
• 2:30
  And potentially have down the road also like listings and whatnot for used cars.
• 2:34
  Either you're from dealers or private owners.
• 2:37
  However, we want to get us up.
• 2:38
  So we're getting that kind of little worked out.
• 2:40
  So Yeah, I appreciate it.
• 2:42
  And I hope the sound on this is okay.
• 2:44
  So I'm adjusting a few things again I'm not no expert with this so I'm doing my
• 2:48
  best but now onward and upward to the episode for today Today, we are talking
• 2:54
  about the infamous Abandoned 250 GTO.
• 2:58
  That is chassis number 3589.
• 3:02
  This is a very, very well known GTO because the fact is it sat abandoned on
• 3:07
  a trailer and a lot of people don't know where it was abandoned, but it was in
• 3:10
  North Royalton, Ohio, which is basically about 15 minutes from where I live.
• 3:15
  So anyways.
• 3:16
  It's got a very interesting story behind it and why it
• 3:19
  was sitting there for so long.
• 3:20
  It's kind of a heartbreaking story of why that was sitting there so long like that.
• 3:25
  So it had nothing to do with the negligent owner.
• 3:27
  It just has a, there's a tragic story behind it and just something that
• 3:31
  really kind of stuck and struck a chord with this guy in regards to
• 3:34
  not be able to do something with it because he blamed himself and you'll
• 3:37
  understand why once I get into the story.
• 3:39
  So anyways, let's talk about the story first before how
• 3:44
  it ended up in that field.
• 3:46
  Well, anyways.
• 3:47
  3589 was built in 1962 in Maranello by Ferrari, obviously in 1962
• 3:55
  and for about 9, 000, you know, you think, well, that's cheap.
• 3:59
  Well, you know, actually back then that was a lot of money.
• 4:01
  Now, again, this was a strictly race car.
• 4:02
  I mean, yeah, you could drive it on the street, but at least
• 4:04
  things were built to race.
• 4:06
  So anyways, it was, you know, raced a lot by Ennis Ireland,
• 4:09
  uh, several other individuals.
• 4:11
  You know, we didn't like having any Le Mans glory, any like huge, like.
• 4:14
  Big wins, you know, meal meal or anything along those lines, you
• 4:17
  know, nothing long as I, but, you know, the car was well taken care of.
• 4:20
  It wasn't like completely demolished.
• 4:21
  It wasn't, you know, any tragic like the cup that one G two or someone died
• 4:25
  in it, anything along those lines.
• 4:27
  So, but, you know, it had a good racing life and, you know, had some
• 4:30
  great drivers behind it, racing it.
• 4:32
  And then it was, you know, owned and, uh, it was being raised
• 4:35
  by Rosebud racing out of Texas.
• 4:37
  Who's the entity and the people that were racing this car.
• 4:41
  Now, I don't know if they were the ones that they campaigned for
• 4:43
  in this Ireland or what have you.
• 4:45
  But all I know is that's who had the car at that time when it was
• 4:49
  donated to the Texas high school.
• 4:51
  Now everyone knows that, you know, the.
• 4:53
  Just sitting there.
• 4:54
  Could you imagine that in the late sixties, you have your high school shop
• 4:57
  class, you're working on Ferrari, two 50 GTO now granted back then the stigma and
• 5:02
  everything behind a two 50 GTO really wasn't it is what is today, you know,
• 5:06
  that car was worth maybe, you know, 1500 bucks, three grand at that point in time.
• 5:10
  Again, it was washed up throwing away race car, you know, it was something
• 5:13
  that wasn't going to be utilized anymore.
• 5:15
  So it's life was done.
• 5:17
  And so there really didn't have any value to it, and people just didn't look at
• 5:20
  old race cars with the way they do now.
• 5:22
  You know, especially at that time, everything was transitioning to rear
• 5:25
  engine stuff, so, hey, it is what it is.
• 5:27
  So, anyways, the high school had that car for some period of time,
• 5:31
  let them tinker on it and whatnot.
• 5:32
  Now, step in the gentleman from North Royalton, Joe Cortian.
• 5:38
  He had a rental car business called Motor Cars Masculine.
• 5:42
  Now this, this rental car agency, They rented out Ferraris, Lamborghinis,
• 5:49
  Porsches, Timotasso, Mangustas.
• 5:53
  You know, they had 275 GTBs.
• 5:55
  You know, they had everything.
• 5:56
  I mean, it was obscene what this guy would rent out.
• 6:00
  And it wasn't all that expensive to rent these cars.
• 6:03
  That's what the crazy part about this is.
• 6:05
  It was relatively inexpensive to rent these things.
• 6:07
  Could you imagine that?
• 6:09
  Walking into your Hertz thing.
• 6:10
  Hey, can I rent a 275 GTB?
• 6:12
  Yeah, it ain't gonna happen.
• 6:13
  But this is what this guy did.
• 6:14
  And this is in Ohio.
• 6:15
  Taboo.
• 6:17
  So anyways, so Joe operating his business and what have you, he
• 6:21
  acquires a GTO and he has it.
• 6:22
  Well, one winter, because anyone knows in Ohio, obviously come winter
• 6:28
  time, you're not driving these cars on the street, because obviously
• 6:31
  all the snow, what have you, and the roads aren't very prime for operating
• 6:36
  Ferraris, and it just doesn't happen.
• 6:40
  So the car was in his garage.
• 6:42
  It was on the trailer.
• 6:43
  It was sitting there and Um, somehow, and this is kind of gilded, the window
• 6:49
  was down and snow had accumulated inside the car and what have you.
• 6:55
  Well, unfortunately, one day his young son was out in the garage playing and playing
• 7:02
  around the car, playing on the car, hey, you know, he didn't know what it was.
• 7:07
  He unfortunately fell in through the window that was open and broke
• 7:11
  his neck, suffocated and died.
• 7:15
  Obviously, Joe was completely heartbroken about what happened and his son
• 7:20
  passing away and in this car and he blamed himself for it because he felt
• 7:26
  it was his fault that his son died.
• 7:29
  You know, blamed himself for many, a long, long time in regards to,
• 7:35
  you know, causing his son's death.
• 7:37
  So basically, he put the car up on a trailer, parked it out in the field.
• 7:41
  And basically, done, you know, had it.
• 7:44
  Well obviously as the subsequent years go by, as these cars gain in value, and
• 7:48
  people know about this car, people that know, hey, in the Ferrari world, that are
• 7:52
  in the industry, in the market, you know, kind of know where a lot of these cars are
• 7:56
  at, and who owns what, and what have you.
• 7:58
  Joe would get constantly bombarded, people stopping, obviously this was
• 8:03
  pre internet, so it wasn't emails like that, you guys would physically go stop,
• 8:06
  knock on the door, and the hat's torn.
• 8:07
  So anyways.
• 8:09
  You know, people just stopping by constantly.
• 8:11
  So any day, anyway, one day, this one gentleman from Ohio's named
• 8:14
  David Nelson, you know, he knew of the car and he dealt with these
• 8:18
  types of cars and what have you.
• 8:19
  And obviously, you know, Person he was wanting to buy this car So they're on a
• 8:24
  road rally and they were in the vicinity of North Royal to one day And he says I'm
• 8:29
  gonna stop and a couple of people with her all like freaking out because they think
• 8:32
  they're thinking themselves that oh Crap, you know Dave's gonna get himself shot.
• 8:37
  You know, this guy's gonna come out with the shotgun by the lines crap.
• 8:40
  So They're like what the hell again hurt to ask so they get there to the house
• 8:45
  He goes up knocks on the door and Joe answers And just a couple of niceties and
• 8:49
  small talk and Joe fine just come down says let me guess You're here about the
• 8:53
  250 GTO And there's like no, I want to talk to you about your business yet You
• 9:00
  know, you're the guy that owned motor cars masculine, right and Joe's demeanor
• 9:04
  and attitude changed completely And because he wasn't asking about the GTO.
• 9:08
  He's asking about Joe himself in regards to the business.
• 9:11
  So You know, he was like enthusiastic about talking about, so they talked for
• 9:17
  a long time, not sure how long, but they chatted for a long time on his porch.
• 9:21
  And at the end of the conversation, Joe was like, Hey, you know, here's my number.
• 9:25
  Anytime you want to talk, Hey, you know, give me a call.
• 9:27
  We'll chat, blah, blah, blah, in the whole nine yards.
• 9:30
  And you know, they struck up a friendship because David approached it the right way.
• 9:35
  He showed his interest in the person, not in the car.
• 9:39
  And that was a great way to approach it.
• 9:40
  So a little tip for anyone out there that's kind of barn find hunting to
• 9:43
  look for cars, 17, don't just come out and ask about the car right away.
• 9:47
  Find something more interesting about the owner of the house, something
• 9:49
  like that that's separate from the car and work your way up to it.
• 9:53
  You're going to get a lot farther in trying to acquire that car by taking that.
• 9:57
  Approach then just by blatantly jumping right out and asking about the car because
• 10:02
  trust me You're not the first person that stopped and asked about that car.
• 10:06
  So anyways So they create this friendship, you know, and they obviously talk
• 10:11
  quite a bit and so back and forth for like a couple years You know this
• 10:17
  time not really even discussing about hey, I want to buy the car David.
• 10:20
  It wasn't an approach Just hey, they had a friendship.
• 10:22
  They talked bullshit a lot and stuff like that Well, one night they were
• 10:26
  out to dinner, and let's see, this is for some of the old timers that
• 10:30
  watch this, they were at a Chi Chi's.
• 10:32
  And that was a Mexican restaurant back in the day that was all
• 10:34
  across the country, very popular.
• 10:36
  Food was alright.
• 10:37
  I remember going there because they always had that fried ice cream
• 10:39
  that they had, it was really good.
• 10:40
  And it always bathed me how they made that fried ice cream.
• 10:43
  How do you take ice cream and have something on top of it
• 10:44
  fried and not melt the ice cream?
• 10:46
  But anyways, pretty neat trick.
• 10:47
  So, anyone out there that's listening, I don't know if anyone's been to Chi Chi's,
• 10:51
  but I used to go there all the time.
• 10:52
  I don't know, it was pretty good.
• 10:53
  I mean, it wasn't true authentic Mexican food, but hey, it is
• 10:56
  what it is back in the day.
• 10:57
  So anyways.
• 10:59
  They're sitting at the Chi Chi's and Chi Chi's were kind of dark back
• 11:02
  then, you know, kind of that, that effect that a lot of these restaurants
• 11:05
  had, you know, keep it kind of dark, whatnot and blah, blah, blah.
• 11:08
  So they're sitting there, they're having dinner and what have you.
• 11:10
  And Dave's got his couple of young kids there.
• 11:12
  I think one was five or six years old.
• 11:14
  He was saying another one was like just a newborn and what have you.
• 11:16
  But anyways, so they're having dinner and all of a sudden, you know, Joe just
• 11:20
  comes out and, you know, I asked Dave, he says, Hey, do you think I'm nuts?
• 11:23
  Do you think I'm crazy?
• 11:25
  You know, Dave's like, what do you mean?
• 11:26
  Why?
• 11:26
  You know, because about the car, the GTO.
• 11:28
  Dave's like, no, I completely understand in regards to why it has such a
• 11:33
  meaning and sentimental value to it.
• 11:35
  I mean, I get it.
• 11:36
  You know, I'd be the same way.
• 11:38
  I mean, your son tragically passed away in that car.
• 11:42
  And, you know, the history behind it.
• 11:44
  And, hey, you know, you kind of blame yourself for it because you
• 11:48
  think you were the reason for that.
• 11:51
  So anyways, they talked a little bit more and, you know, David brings up the
• 11:54
  idea says, well, tell you what, Joe, it's what, you know, what was important to
• 11:58
  your son, you know, what was your, some things I got talking and basically says
• 12:01
  son loved Notre Dame one go to Notre Dame.
• 12:04
  So that was a big thing for his son.
• 12:06
  So David come proposes like, say, well, why don't we do this?
• 12:11
  We'll find the buyer.
• 12:12
  I'll get a buyer.
• 12:12
  That's not a problem.
• 12:13
  We'll sell the car.
• 12:14
  Then let's set up a scholarship.
• 12:16
  We'll get an annuity put together and set up a scholarship in
• 12:19
  your son's name at Notre Dame.
• 12:21
  And Joe loved this idea.
• 12:24
  Thought it was fantastic.
• 12:26
  So what did they do is they agreed to that.
• 12:28
  So David sets it all up.
• 12:30
  They get the transaction done.
• 12:32
  And to this day, that scholarship in his son's name is still there at
• 12:36
  Notre Dame and still going strong.
• 12:39
  I don't know how you look up scholarships and whatnot and what's available at
• 12:41
  Notre Dame, but If you want to look it up, uh, Cortian and I'm not, I'm
• 12:46
  not sure how it's set up in there.
• 12:47
  I tried to look, but that's not my forte.
• 12:49
  So anyways, that car, um, the scholarship is still going strong and it's case.
• 12:56
  I want to say basically kind of saved Joe's life because according to
• 13:00
  David, you know, some years down the road, he ran into Joe's other son.
• 13:05
  And he really thanked profusely to David because it basically
• 13:10
  gave Joe back his life.
• 13:11
  You know, he's, you know, traveled more and he felt that weight
• 13:14
  really off his shoulders because he finally basically forgave himself
• 13:18
  in regards to what was going on.
• 13:19
  So his son was just over the moon in regards to what David was actually able
• 13:24
  to do for him, which is phenomenal.
• 13:26
  So anyways, so the car got sold to a collector gentleman that was in New York
• 13:31
  and they weren't going to do much with it.
• 13:33
  They had the car.
• 13:34
  And I think they only bought it for like half a mil, maybe 500,
• 13:38
  600 grand, something like that.
• 13:40
  And I, again, I don't know what they did something to it or they had anything to,
• 13:43
  you know, what they did mechanically, restoration wise, I don't know.
• 13:47
  Um, I tried to find that out and I couldn't really find much on it, but only
• 13:50
  a couple of years later, it was bought by the current owners, the Steiger family.
• 13:55
  So, and I believe they paid a little over 2 So that's a healthy return for that
• 14:01
  individual that bought it from court.
• 14:03
  The end, I'll tell you that that's not a bad return on your investment there.
• 14:08
  And it's that short of time.
• 14:09
  So anyways, this tiger families own it since then.
• 14:12
  Now they took it upon themselves to do a complete nut and
• 14:14
  bolt restoration on the car.
• 14:16
  I'm pretty sure.
• 14:18
  They went through the extreme on the car and at the time they acquired, I
• 14:21
  believe it was, you know, still painted red when they acquired it at some point
• 14:24
  in time, it had gotten painted and being a race car back then, they didn't matter
• 14:28
  paint because they're, but they had it repainted back to its original blue color.
• 14:31
  It's a real dark blue.
• 14:32
  It almost looks black when you see it, but it's actually super, super dark blue.
• 14:37
  It's gorgeous, gorgeous.
• 14:38
  And being a right hand drive GTO, it's on the rare side of GTOs.
• 14:44
  I mean, it's rare as it is being a GTO, but.
• 14:46
  This thing is even more rare because it's a right hand drive one.
• 14:49
  So anyways, they've had the car ever since.
• 14:51
  And God bless them.
• 14:52
  They campaign it.
• 14:53
  They take it around.
• 14:54
  They showcase this car a lot in places.
• 14:56
  You know, they utilize it.
• 14:57
  They exercise it.
• 14:58
  You know, I applaud the individuals that own these cars.
• 15:01
  Like Nick Mason.
• 15:02
  Big fan of Nick.
• 15:03
  You know, he's got an awesome collection.
• 15:05
  But he exercises and uses this car.
• 15:08
  There's a great video.
• 15:09
  I don't know if on YouTube you follow Jody Kidd.
• 15:11
  But she did a great video with Nick's wife.
• 15:13
  Where they took the car out that GTO out in another car and they went to
• 15:17
  lunch somewhere and Nick's wife is she's a heck of a race car driver.
• 15:21
  I'll tell you that kudos to her.
• 15:22
  She can handle and drive a car.
• 15:24
  So She's no slack behind the wheel.
• 15:26
  That's for sure.
• 15:27
  But they get that thing going and that's such a glorious sound that v12 Oh my
• 15:31
  god, it's just it's just sounds gorgeous.
• 15:33
  It's just music.
• 15:34
  It's a symphony So anyways star your family currently own it and
• 15:38
  so they've says what I mean 30 plus years that they've owned that car
• 15:42
  and that car is probably never going to leave their family They have no
• 15:46
  reason to sell and they're not hurting for money or anything like that.
• 15:49
  So it's a it's a great story It's kind of a sad story, but it's got a great ending
• 15:53
  to it regards Hey, the car was you know, actually saved and brought back to life,
• 15:57
  you know, it's sad what happened to Joe's son because of that but that gives you
• 16:03
  the story and the history behind Chassis number 3589 sitting abandoned in a field
• 16:09
  for 20 plus years in North Royalton, Ohio.
• 16:13
  So anyways, I appreciate everybody listening.
• 16:15
  This is kind of a short one.
• 16:17
  Um, just kind of wanted to give a little background on that because I
• 16:20
  know that's kind of a, that photos of that car sitting on a trailer get passed
• 16:25
  around quite a bit on the internet.
• 16:26
  People really don't understand or know the story behind it and why
• 16:29
  it was sitting out on that trailer for that long period of time.
• 16:32
  Guys like, how could somebody do that?
• 16:34
  Well There you go.
• 16:35
  That's why.
• 16:36
  So again, I appreciate everybody listening and I will put a link to the new umbrella
• 16:42
  website that got going on out there and I got another thing I'll put down another
• 16:46
  link to it to the Rockin Revs They've got a new event coming together putting
• 16:49
  together here in Cleveland for next year down the North Coast Harbor It's gonna be
• 16:52
  really a lot of fun benefiting Make A Wish and Island Safe Harbor Animal Sanctuary
• 16:56
  So, hey, again, I appreciate everybody listening, share it, and I should have
• 17:00
  another episode coming out, hopefully next week, and debating what to do it on.
• 17:04
  So, kind of, uh, jumping around in regards to how I want to approach this.
• 17:08
  I'm thinking of doing it on the Triposte, the three seater, with the center
• 17:11
  seating position that they made two of.
• 17:13
  Love that car.
• 17:14
  So, anyways, again, I appreciate everybody listening.
• 17:17
  You guys take care, have a good one, and we will talk soon.
• 17:20
  Peace.
• 17:25
  This episode has been brought to you by Grand Touring Motorsports as part
• 17:29
  of our motoring podcast network.
• 17:30
  For more episodes like this, tune in each week for more exciting and educational
• 17:34
  content from organizations like the Exotic Car Marketplace, The Motoring
• 17:38
  Historian, BrakeFix, and many others.
• 17:41
  If you'd like to support Grand Touring Motorsports and the Motoring
• 17:43
  Podcast Network, sign up for one of our many sponsorship tiers at www.
• 17:48
  patreon.
• 17:49
  com forward slash gtmotorsports.
• 17:52
  Please note that the content opinions and materials presented and expressed in
• 17:55
  this episode are those of its creator.
• 17:57
  And this episode has been published with their consent.
• 18:00
  If you have any inquiries about this program, please contact the creators
• 18:03
  of this episode via email or social media, as mentioned in the episode.