1954 250 Europa GT

Over the years Dad had several Ferraris. The first one he bought in 1962 when I was 5 years old and he owned it until his death in 1989. It was a 1954 250 Europa GT, serial number 0379 GT.

This car sat in our garage in Palos Verdes, CA for many years during the '60s while Dad was slowly rebuilding the engine. Eventually he finished the rebuild but the engine wouldn't start by cranking it over with the starter motor, so he rolled it down the hill in front of the house and popped the clutch. It started up but sounded awful. It was not running on all cylinders and ultimately he realized water had leaked into a few of the combustion chambers and severely damaged the engine.

Dad was so disappointed about the engine but a short time later Chuck Betz and Fred Peters offered to sell him a similar engine that came out of a wrecked car. Dad took them up on it and had the car back on the road in short order. Unfortunately dad gave them the original engine as a partial trade and they subsequently sold it to somebody else. Dad tried to by it back from that person in the late 80s when he was restoring the car for the Pebble Beach show in 1989, but he said they "wanted a fortune" for the engine and he decided not buy it.