Car collectors often dream of finding a vintage automobile that has been tucked away in a garage for decades.
Barn finds happen on a regular basis but unless the car in question is something particularly valuable, they rarely get any publicity. For better or worse, it’s hard to imagine anyone giving media attention to a 1981 Renault 14 found sleeping in a Marseille garage since 1991.
The last heavily publicized barn find was an alloy-bodied 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL that was pulled out of a garage in Santa Monica, California, after spending forty years there.
A Michigan man has recently found a car that is even rarer and more valuable than the Gullwing Mercedes: a 1952 Ferrari 212 Inter Ghia Cabriolet. It wears chassis number 0233 EU and according to research done by Steve Ahlgrim, it was displayed at the 1952 Geneva Motor Show.
Information found on FerrariChat.com indicates that the car’s previous owner purchased it at a garage sale forty years ago. In it was a “for sale” sign handwritten on a piece of cardboard that read “one of a kind, 1953 Ferrari, alum body, Vet [sic] engine, tri power, 4-speed, $600.”
Bobby Goins from Grand Blanc, Michigan, spotted the car at an estate sale last month. It was tucked away under a mass of boxes and all he could see of it was the Ferrari emblem on the front end. At the time he did not know what model it was, or what it was potentially worth.
After removing the boxes, he found himself standing in front of a 1952 Ferrari 212 Inter Ghia Cabriolet. The car was 90% complete but had a Corvette engine under the hood. Against all odds, the original engine was found several days later in Wisconsin.
Goins did not mention how much he paid for the car, but he recently sold it to a Ferrari collector for $150,000. The new owner will fully restore the 212 and hopes to display it at the 2013 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
References
1.’0233 EU…’ view
