By Pete Gaines
Have you been in the market for an undrivable, unfixable totaled Ferrari 599 GTB? Got an extra $50-100k burning a hole in your pocket? Today’s your lucky day.
Four years ago, soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo – then of Manchester United, now of Real Madrid – crashed his Ferrari 599 GTB into a wall while showing off to friends in a Manchester tunnel. Since then, some enterprising Frenchman has, I guess, been sitting on it in hopes of selling when the time is right, and four years after the fact is apparently that time. Soccer fans are nuts, so obviously some schmuck will overpay for the damn thing and some garage owner in southern France will make a ton of cash. The world’s a funny place.
The French owner initially tried to list the car on eBay last year, but eBay junked the auction for a security concerns and a “lack of provenance.” The owners claim they gave it to the auction site, the auction site claimed they never got it, lawyers got involved (eBay is, after all, an American company), and now the auction has been given a green light (and the owner got a nice chunk of change from eBay for all the hassle).
In other words, if you’ve been wanting a mangled Ferrari 599 GTB that did most certainly, proven-ly, definitely once get crashed into a slab of Manchester concrete by a famous soccer-er (soccer – the game with the round ball that you kick around, in case you were curious), your day has come. You can rest assured that The Hooniverse will always keep you up to date with any and all eBay insanity.
Jeff Glucker
I'd sooner own the slab of Manchester concrete than some hothead's broken toy.
Drivetrain is in the back. Engine swap ideas? You could make the world's trolliest GT40 replica.
Fiero?
With the worst Fauxrarri body kit you can find.
599? No it's not… It sits back kinda far, so it might be unharmed though…
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/GX9EqZY.jpg" width="500">
Bah. Friday. I cannot read. I actually looked at Wikipedia and read "RMR" for the layout, and when I look again, it seems two of the lines on the first R have disappeared leaving only an FMR (which is what my vague memory was, so FML). Since it's a front engined prancing pony, the whole thing is probably not worth a red cent.
I always remember because there's one that shows up to the EuroSunday meets in Portola Valley. He always pops the hood, so I got a pretty close look at it. What you can see of it anyway… There's so much plastic, it looks like a trunk floor…
This one's engine could still be good. The engine in my Volvo is from a car that was tweaked more than this. It could help that the engine mounts sheered off as they were supposed to, and pushed the motor back. Intercooler, oil cooler, and radiator were trashed of course… But I digress. This one is probably salvageable.
Suicidal shifter kart.
It may still have a usable drive train. I was being a jerk about Ferrari parts costs. If the engine itself needs any parts…
True… Could probably pick up an LS2 for the price of the radiator…
Oh, and for your idea, here you go: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/3663840234.ht…
I right there at the moment. Want me to pick that up for you on the way home?
Ooh, sort-of want, actually. Go ahead and drop 'em by. Just realize my wife will kill both of us.
Nah, she'll probably just leave you. Then there will be more time/money to work on the truly important things in life.
…such as a project GT40.
Looks like a badly abused Hot Wheels car with those mags and Redline tires. Some of the creases look too sharp for a GT40 and that rear window glass looks like it's just laying on the body. Still, it is fiberglass…
That'll buff out.
How many penalty laps does that work out to if I LeMons it?
My guess is zero, plus they'll offer you some of the bribes left by the other teams.
So, by soccer you mean football, right?
/European
Nope, /RoW
And by RoW you mean North America and Australia?
Football as in Association Football – played in every country in the world AFAIK – ergo RoW – Rest of the World.