Once again the organization matched with the reputation as the leading fair for historic motorcars and automobilia. More than 193,000 –a growth of 6%- visited Techno Classica this year from April, 10th to 14th during its silver anniversary. 1,250 dealers filled the 20 halls with their booths. Even the Press Day was rather crowded…
Ferrari-wise it has been “the same as it ever was”, but with different players. One of the highlights has already been chosen for a report we did as a preview to Techno Classica, 0190ED, that was –as expected- displayed by E. Thiesen, but Techno Classica as well as Rétromobile are of a kind where you always can expect this to be the starter of a very interesting walkabout. 63 Ferraris have been on display or parked around the fairground, 10 % less than last year, but that is complaining on a high level.
RM provided us with three extraordinary cars again to promote their upcoming Villa d’Este auction and it is irrelevant if we saw the 340/375 MM PF Berlinetta with #0320AM in Paris already. The 400 Superamerica Serie I Coupe Aero made it easy spotting wise as the registration plate from Ohio is concordant with the car’s serial number, 3559SA. The car was delivered new in 1962 to a Mr. Marshall to the US. It is the 22nd of 25 Superamericas and is said to have been Red earlier before changing to Blu Sera with Cuoio interior. In 2011 it was shown by then owner Daniel Stanton on plates from Florida at the Cavallino Classico at Pebble Beach before showing up at RM’s Monterey Auction later that year, obviously purchased by someone from Ohio. Beside 3559SA stood a beautiful Rosso Corsa 250 GT Lusso with S/N 5275GT that obviously started its life being coloured in Marrone. The car shows at least ownerships in France and in the Netherlands.
Easy to overlook was a very rare car. One of the three N.A.R.T. Grintosa Spider, built by Bacchelli & Villa on 365 GT 2+2s, was on display. It is said that beside the car for Coco Chinetti, #12611, two further examples have be built and have been delivered to a father and a son in Germany, another rumor has it that #12515 was planned to be converted but never finished and remains in a box in Italy until today. The car on display with many other cars in the entry hall at exit East was #12605 that has been on offer in Germany for quite a while, however, to see one of the three in reality is a rare occasion.
Of the 63 cars spotted only 4 remain unidentified to date. One of those was a 365 GT 2+2 that was on display with Michael Goudsmit. Goudsmit had a very elegant 330 GTC -# 10885, in Avorio with Beige on display as well. The car was Blu Sera from the start and changed to Azzurro before it was fire damaged in 2009 and appeared in its current livery at the 2011 edition of Auto e Moto d’Epoca.
Very close to it Swiss restorer Auto Klassiker showed the second Lusso, #4555 in Grey met. with Beige interior and the 275 GTB/4 #10757. The car has currently swapped its original engine with #10777 so that both car now are matching numbers again.
The “business-stunner”-news came from our friend, Helmut Eberlein, who runs the official dealership in Kassel and is responsible for the German Ferrari Classiche Certificates. We already watched Dino 308 GT/4 #08912 ever since the car showed up in Helmut’s inventory as it was offered at a sales price of 90,000 € (approx 117,000 US$) whilst its sisters are selling in a range between 25,000 to 35,000 €. Matthias Bartz assumed the asking price is very much colour related as the Dino in question shows the very rare Verde Germoglio and guess what? The car was already sold for the asking price on the press day! Looks like we do not really need auctions to achieve record prices…
Eberlein’s display was somehow rotating in this edition of Techno Classica. Beside the Dino a yellow Daytona (#16591) was on display on the 10th. Close to it stood another rare colour car, #15087, a 365 GTC/4 in Arangio Vaguely. The other cars of Eberlein are worth mentioning as usual: 250 GT Ellena #0869GT, #1435 – a 250 GT Pininfarina Coupé as well as sister car # 1433GT. 246 GTS Dino #07991, the Azzurro livered 365 GT 2+2 # 12969 and in the center of the display 275 GTB #07991 made Eberlein’s display round. 07991 was the car that was displayed by Eberlein already last year when it was under restoration. Sure the most recent car was on display there as well, the new F12 berlinetta #191286 is the car that was featured recently in German edition of ‘Ferrari World’.
If you are around at Eberlein, there always is the Ferrari Club Deutschland in the neighborhood. This year they celebrated the 12 cyl. Cars and showed a 365 GT4/BB (#18119), a monospecchio Testarossa (#59187) and the last stage of the evolution, a F512 M (#100008). The other relevant German Ferrari-related club, the Ferrari Model Club had Dominik Farnbacher’s successful F430 GT2, #2830, on display.
The biggest surprise beside the N.A.R.T. Grintosa Spider, was Saturski’s display of an unknown to us 599 SA Aperta, #178291, the 90th car already that has been identified what seems to be somehow funny for a limited 80 cars production…
One favorite –even if it was the third PF Coupé on display- must be #1023GT, shown by Daniel Donovan in Grigio Scuro with a dark Red Roof.
And whatnot? The well known, already Paris displayed Inter Vignale Cabriolet #0227EL that will be offered by Artcurial’s Automobiles sur les Champs-Élysées, a Nero Daytona Enzo that was formerly Rosso Corsa (#106825), the 266th F50, shown by Automobilia, the Coys’ Auction cars we already reported earlier and the 250 GTE #3985 displayed by The Gallery of Brummen in the Netherlands.
CC Cars from Denmark irritated us shortly. They had yellow Dino GT #00998 on offer in Maastricht earlier this year and I nearly ignored the “new” 246 GTS #04770, but, as they are very keen and as it always is nice talking to them, a potential error by me was avoided. Two more Daytonas, both in beautiful colour, one in a similar colour to Blu Sera met. (#16047), the other one in Azzurro met. repainted from Blu Chiaro 106-A-38 (#13015), a true Vetroresina, #18889 and a Group 4-308, #21037, two Boxers at OMTS (#32437 and #42767). The only Ferrari in the Private Seller-area was the Black 308 GTS QV #56483 with a notable Bordeaux dash matching the seats.
A couple of more or less modern cars made the spotting list complete and pleasant anticipation of the 26th Techno Classica is growing already. See you all next year at one of the Ruhrgebiet’s greatest attractions.