Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Rare by Design - Superfast vs. 5000GT

[Brian Keegan (bks281]

I have driven a 500 Superfast, the very last one, s/n 8897. It was white, tan interior, RHD and the first owner was

Colonel Ronnie Hoare of Maranello Concessionaires. It had a wiper for the rear glass, and a lever under the dash

to the left of the steering column that would pop the left door open. Colonel Ronnie wanted to be a gentleman, but

didn't want to get wet doing it I guess.

The has a commanding presence and plenty of torque. I am right-handed and as such, I wasn't very smooth with

the shifting with my left hand/arm, but still, what a car!

Peter, I had the pleasure of meeting Bob LeFluffy in Vancouver in December of 1992. I worked for European Auto 

Sales & Restoration (Mike Sheehan) in Costa Mesa CA and Bob & Mike were dealing cars back and forth. 

  My mission was to leave SoCal on Monday afternoon and drive straight through to arrive in Vancouver before noon 

on Wednesday as that was when the Customs warehouse was closing for the Christmas holiday. Me and a coworker 

Gary were driving our enclosed single car hauler and towing a tandem axle car trailer. Inside the truck 

was a LWB California Spider previously owned by Brigitte Bardot (maybe 0937 IIRC?) that we needed to "export" to 

Canada and re-import the car as when it was imported to the US it was under a temporary bond. 

(I picked the car up at LAX when it was first imported. It caused quite a work stoppage.) 

  We were to meet Bob at the Customs warehouse, and he would assist in this process. After we took care of the Cal Spider,

we were to pick up a gold/gold 1964 Corvette coupe from Bob to bring back home. We had the primitive small suitcase 

sized cell phone and kept Bob advised of our location. We arrived a little after 6am and there was a car in front of the 

closed but well-lit Customs office and a snowplow clearing the parking lot.  A man got out of the car and walked towards us. 

I got out of the truck and said, "You must be Bob?" He stuck out his hand and shook mine and said, "Fairly Honest Bob at your service!"

"Fairly Honest huh?" I asked.  He replied, "If a guy tells you right up front that he's 'fairly honest', then you can trust him right?"

I still laugh about that!

After all the car stuff was over later that day, Bob said he got a hotel room for me and Gary so we could get some rest 

before the long trip back, but he was taking us out for a steak dinner first! He said it was great place and we'd love the steaks. 

"It's called the Leg of the Beaver" he said with a chuckle. Gary and I looked at each other with surprised looks on our faces.

Once we pulled up to the restaurant, I was curious to see the place. The sign said The Keg and Cleaver. "Um, hey Bob...?"

He was laughing his ass off. "I try to have a little fun with the touirists." he said. 

Sorry to hear of his passing.

---

From: Ferrari <ferrari-bounces+bks281=hotmail.com [at] ferrarilist.com> on behalf of Peter Rychel <dino308gt4 [at] hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, October 8, 2021 12:12 AM
To: 4redude <bks281 [at] hotmail.com>
Cc: The FerrariList <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Rare by Design - Superfast vs. 5000GT

 

The air cleaners did have FISPA logos embossed on the tops. Still looks better with the original single box.

 

I’d love to have a Queen Mary. When I first moved to Vancouver, there was a local auction company that specialized in classic cars. Run by a notorious and well-known character (the late Bob LeFluffy), he had a driver-quality QM that he tried to sell on numerous occasions. It got up into the $40K CAD range (this was the late ‘90s)... I was going to school at the time and couldn’t possibly afford it. Years later, I heard it eventually sold and is (maybe) in the U.S. now I’m quite sure it was S/N: 11877 although I may have misread it to be 11677. Bob passed away in 2009 and I was able to purchase a few documents/books from his estate. I don’t want to speak ill of the deceased, but despite his taste in cars, he was a car salesman through-and-through (notes tucked into one of the books revealed his cavalier attitude towards a car’s value in parts rather than as a whole).

 

This is a lovely example that I’d love to park in my garage one day:

 

www.mariobernardi.de - 1970 ferrari 365 gt 2+2

 

What was the experience like with yours?

 

Peter

 

Sent from Mail for Windows

 

 

From: LSJ via Ferrari
Sent: October 7, 2021 11:31 AM
To: PeterGT4
Cc: The FerrariList
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Rare by Design - Superfast vs. 5000GT

 

Thanks, I thought it was a good read with some great pics.

 

Peter, those are definitely aftermarket air cleaner assemblies which may provide a lot more hot air to the carbs. :)

 

Amazing that the 5000 was produced in bodies by eight different coachbuilders.

 

I can see the 365 2+2 argument, although I've already had one of those!

 

LSJ

 

 

 

On Thursday, October 7, 2021, 09:51:57 AM EDT, Luke Graves <buyer1austin [at] gmail.com> wrote:

 

 

A great and well written article! Thanks Lash.  The fact that the Aga Khan
bought one of each say it all!!!

-----Original Message-----
From: Ferrari [mailto:ferrari-bounces+buyer1=airmail.net [at] ferrarilist.com] On
Behalf Of Lashdeep Singh via Ferrari
Sent: Wednesday, October 6, 2021 9:05 PM
To: Col Luke Graves
Cc: The FerrariList
Subject: [Ferrari] Rare by Design - Superfast vs. 5000GT

Two mega-bruisers face off here.

Lots of BHP and speed for the early 60s!

https://www.forza-mag.com/issues/107/articles/rare-by-design
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