The planet is full of undiscovered secrets. Many of them are abandoned racing cars you can only dream about.
There are many stories about undiscovered treasures. However, what I’m going to tell you below is different. In most cases, these are stories about incredible fleets of true luxury in unknown locations, waiting for someone to find them. I wish I had the coordinates.
I don’t want Ferraris in my warehouse. The first story takes place in 2011 when a successful and wealthy U.S. lawyer receives tragic news: He has a serious illness. The man, passionate about luxury cars, had 13 precious treasures from the Maranello factory in his garage: Mondials, a 400i, a Testarossa, a Quattrovalvole 308, and two 328s, among others. After receiving the news, he makes a crucial decision with his fleet of cars, deciding to move them to a safe place and keeping them secret.
So, he contacted an acquaintance with a large warehouse, paid him some money in advance, told him he would pay him the rest later, and entrusted him with the Ferrari treasures. Months passed, and the lawyer’s illness worsened. The “acquaintance” didn’t receive any money, became restless, and made an incomprehensible decision: He took the Ferraris to a deserted field in Texas and left them to their fate. They remained there for over a decade, the time it took for the lawyer’s family to take possession of them.
This story came to light thanks to a Silodrome report. It detailed the condition of all the Ferraris left to their fate in a field on the day the family finally came to their rescue.
However, when they counted the luxury cars, they realized four were missing: two Ferraris and two Rolls-Royces. Maybe someone got there before the family. As such, to avoid a kind of Hunger Games over the missing cars, the family has never specified the area where they found the vehicles.
If you want a ghost Ferrari, go to Dubai. There’s no other place in the world with more fleets of abandoned Ferraris without owners. And not just Ferraris. Almost every supercar you can imagine probably has a unit gathering dust in the desert of Dubai. The reason? As Gulf News reported, some 3,000 cars are abandoned in the city annually. Dream cars that have been dumped in the desert by their owners.
There are many reasons for this tragic decision. The main one is debt. In Dubai, owing money is a crime, and the United Arab Emirates has no bankruptcy laws. In other words, if you owe money, you’re unprotected. This means that you’re in trouble if you miss payments on your car, credit cards, and mortgage. For many in this situation, abandoning their vehicles and avoiding jail is better.
Among the most famous vehicles are a Ferrari Enzo (apparently, the owner was a British expat who accumulated a lot of debt) and a Ferrari Mondial 8S (its manufacturer only made 700 units). There’s also the Acura NSK, found among garbage cans, and the mythical Jaguar XJ220, abandoned by its owner in the desert with just over 400 miles on the clock.
Due to the number of abandoned supercars, the government of Dubai organizes auctions from time to time to bring these gems back to life. It seems clear that this place has the most significant number of supercars abandoned to their fate.
Ferraris and Maseratis in a shed. This is another unfortunate story for car enthusiasts. There was an urban legend about a secret shed guarding a fleet of “true Italian” luxury cars that someone had forgotten about. Turns out it was true. Specifically, it had a Ferrari 365 GTB/4, a ‘74 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS, and a 1977 Maserati Bora Coupe.
The cars had been collecting dust in a Dallas dumpster for at least 30 years. The reason? It was never known, but after discovering this treasure, they found their new owners after an auction in California.
A Rolls Royce in Russia. The British manufacturer’s famous Centurion (Special Edition) model was found a few years ago on some railroad tracks in Russia. As in most cases, no one knows how or why it got there. At least it had a “happy” ending on this occasion. The vehicle was modified and and is now a fully modified Rolls Royce Phantom, which has increased its value to about $450,000.
The Lambo at the Hilton. There’s a great story behind this gorgeous brown Miura S that had been gathering dust in the Hilton Athens subway garage for 30 years. Apparently, famous billionaire Aristotle Onassis was such a fan of pop singer Stamatis Kokotas, the “Greek Elvis,” that he bought the Lambo from him in 1969.
Kokotas, a car enthusiast and race driver in his spare time, broke the V12 engine in 1972. Instead of taking it to the factory, he left this jewel on wheels in the hotel garage for three decades. The funny thing about this story is that few cared about the abandoned car. When the hotel’s reconstruction began in 2003, the Hilton staff moved the Lamborghini to another storage facility.
Ferraris in a barn. The latest story happened not too long ago when a man bought a house in North Carolina. He found a lost treasure in the barn: a 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/2 and a 1967 Shelby Cobra 427.
The cars were lucky because the house in an affluent neighborhood was about to be demolished. Both cars had been sitting in the shed for 27 years without anyone in the area knowing what was hiding under the dust.
Images | Silodrome | Motor Authority
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