Collector-Car Discoveries
1967 Camaro
Missouri resident David Abel wrote in about his Camaro, which has been in his family since new. He told us: “My sister bought a 1967 Camaro convertible new when she graduated from high school and drove it for several years, putting over 100,000 miles on it. After she got married, her husband used it for a fishing car; he even put a trailer hitch on it to tow his boat. After a few years, they parked it in their pole barn where it sat for the next 20 years.
“My son finally talked my sister into selling it to him, so we trailered it from Columbus, Indiana, to Florissant, Missouri, then spent the next two weeks cleaning it and get it in running shape. After a thorough washing and a sanding using 1,500-grade paper, we polished it, installed new spark plugs and wires, rebuilt the carb and brakes, and changed the transmission fluid. With a new battery installed, the engine started after turning it about three cycles.”
1958 Ferrari 250 Grand Turismo “Ellena”
Four years ago, Ed Montini of Gilbert, Arizona, found this Ellena-bodied 250GT Ferrari more or less complete, but torn apart and stripped down to bare metal, in a 40-foot container parked in the Reno, Nevada, desert. When Ed opened the trailer, he saw a disassembled Ellena body shell on a dolly, quietly rusting away. He also spotted six crates of parts that were removed from the car. “I opened every crate to see what was and wasn’t there, and there was about $50,000 worth of stuff missing: all the Borrani wire wheels, Houndaille knee-action shocks, the radiator, the front bumper. The original Ellena seats were gone. More importantly, all of the correct, numbers-matching driveline was there.” The previous owner had owned it since 1976, and had every intention of restoring it, until a combination of ill health and no time conspired. “He wasn’t someone to advertise,” Ed said. “It was strictly word of mouth.”
In the four years since, Ed has been treating it to a concours-quality restoration. The Ellena will be completed in time for an anticipated debut at the Ferrari Club of America’s national meet this year, to be held in Scottsdale in November. – JEFF KOCH
1951 Jowett Jupiter
David Burrows recounted the early days of the summer of 1987 when, at a British car show in Connellsville, Pennsylvania with his Morgan, he was approached by an elderly gentleman. “He told me that he had a 1951 English convertible stashed in a large shed at his home in nearby Irwin and wanted to sell it. Not knowing what it was, I felt anything fitting the description would be of maximum interest.
“Parked in a dimly lit shed was an almost unrecognizable car covered with a tarp and old paneling on the roof. The interior had boxes of oil cans on the seats, and the outlines of the steering wheel
