Just a couple of weeks ago, RM Sotheby’s sold a crashed, burned and seemingly left for scrap 1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial Spider for an astounding $1,875,000.
What remained of the original body was crumbled and cracking. Corrosion was evident on the frame and bulkheads. There were no doors. The original 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine was long gone, having been replaced by an American V-8 at some point after the car was imported in the late 1950s. There was literally no interior—no seats, no floors, no steering column, no gauges and no controls of any kind. The car could have been considered a “shell” in the vaguest of terms, and certainly not a rolling one as it lacked wheels or even axles.
The 500 Mondial was part of “The Lost & Found Collection” of 20 “barn-find” Ferraris. The Italian sports cars had been part of a collection in a Florida warehouse that partially collapsed in a hurricane in 2004, when the cars were then moved to Indianapolis. Virtually untouched since, the collection was auctioned in Monterey.
On a positive note, the numbers-matching gearbox was included, as was a larger 3.0-liter four-cylinder engine. Perhaps most notably, and likely the reason why the car commanded such a high price, the original chassis plate that bears serial number 0404 MD was intact.
With its verified chassis plate, this car can be restored. Even Ferrari can do it via its Classiche department, which has the expertise to bring this car back to its original condition. A fair number of people have suggested that any restoration should be done in Maranello, as it would give credence to the car’s provenance.
While that provenance seems solid enough, the originality of the car does not go much beyond its frame, gearbox and chassis plate. That wrinkled, crumpled and all but destroyed body? Well, it’s not original. As the second 500 Mondial Spider produced, 0404 MD featured bodywork from Pinin Farina. Not long after it finished 14th in the 1954 Mille Miglia, the car was rebodied with the Scaglietti design that later 500 Mondials carried.
Given the quality of its workshops, I would expect a restoration of this 500 Mondial by Ferrari itself to be the pinnacle of such a redo. But would it be “real?”
How often have you seen an ad for a junked car — perhaps a car that was at one time rare and desirable — and the comments among car guys turn to the VIN plate or body tag, as if this one small piece of stamped metal can somehow add provenance to an otherwise complete car missing that tag? While the legality of such a swap is certainly questionable, the car itself can hardly be considered the real deal. Would you want to own a Dodge Super Bee A12 that had been a standard issue Coronet in a past life? What if Chrysler itself recreated the car the same way with that original tag?
Many years back, at a particularly swanky car show, a fellow pulled in driving an open Bugatti that seemed unusual. A nearby observer clued me in. The story goes that, over the years, the original car’s body had been separated from the chassis, with each major section ending up in separate hands. Since all of those components had some sort of legitimacy as a real Bugatti, each portion was somehow able to become a “legitimate” Bugatti, with the missing parts sourced or fabricated as needed. Was the story true? Had one Bugatti spawned two? It remains a possibility.
There are other stories in the old-car world, including the trope among some Jaguar collectors regarding the original Jaguar SS 100 3.5-liter: Of the roughly 120 made, some 200 survive, attesting to some enterprising builders who have likely converted SS 1 or SS 90 models to the more coveted SS 100.
There is no doubt that, following a multi-million-dollar, ground-up restoration, this car will certainly command the estimated $4 to $5.5 million that finished examples go for today, and it will have a great story to go along with it. Financially, it may even make a sound investment, but it certainly stretches the boundaries of the idea of a true vintage car.
