Barn Find 275 is Unveiled at the Cavallino Classic
Presented at the annual Cavallino Classic this year in Palm Beach, Florida, was this truly out-of-the-barn 275 GTS.
This very special 275 GTS, s/n 8009, after 45 years of seclusion, made her public debut on Thursday, January 26th, at the Palm Beach International Speedway. After two days entertaining all who came by to see it, this treasured Ferrari was more formally presented on Saturday in the main Concours event held at the beautiful Breakers Hotel.
The car was driven quite regularly through the weekend and showed up early that morning for staging in the show. Not long after being parked earlier that morning more than a few spectators noticed something nearly as interesting as the vehicle itself. At some point a local wild fox decided to climb under the car and proceeded to spend the better part of the day there in the shade. It remained there for many hours and soon had quite a following. The local Palm Beach Police, as well as the Breaker's own security, began to be alarmed by the large number of spectators clambering for a photo and it was
feared someone might be bit. The Ferrari was then stanchioned off with ropes and more security personal, which only ended up drawing more on-lookers. Eventually animal control was called in, the car walled off behind some temporary fencing and with the use of a large butterfly net, the rascal was captured, caged and taken off to Fox jail for the remainder of the day. Later that evening, I received a polite phone call from the local police stating that the fox had been paroled on good behavior and was released in the exact same area after sunset. It turns out he is a local Daddy fox and was simply trying to distract all of the spectators from disturbing mom fox and four baby foxes that were nesting just a few feet from where our Ferrari had been parked.
This 275 GTS was completed by Ferrari in early 1966 and was destined for someone named Paladini. In 1970, it was bought by a Gordon Logan and brought to the USA. It was sold to a second owner and then a dealer, ending up with the current owner in 1976, who then put it in long-term climate-controlled storage in 1977. So it sat untouched for 40 years until dealer Bill Noon was able to coax it free.
As a relatively untouched 275 GTS, it is a wonderful example of a preserved car, and can act as a touchstone for other 275s. The big question now is if the newest owner will preserve it or restore it. Stay tuned.
Information from Bill Noon at billnoon@symbolicinternational.com.
Images from Michael Gregg, and Peter Singhof at peter@classiccarphotography.de.
