- Beautiful California coast.
Classic '62 Ferrari.
Monterey car show?
Perhaps the Concourse d'Elegance?
No this is the House of Muscle.
So you guys might be asking yourself,
Mike why do you have a Ferrari on the House of Muscle?
I mean it's not generally what you guys feature.
Well it's not generally, we never feature
stuff like this on the House of Muscle.
However if I kind of do this, drop a gear.
(engine roaring)
You know for some reason that doesn't sound
like a V12 now does it?
Nope.
Alright so let's talk about what's in this car right now.
This is the cool part.
So long gone, and I mean long gone,
is the original Colombo V12 that came in this thing.
In its place is, ready?
Wait for it.
(engine roaring)
A 383 Chevy.
Never mind what the valve covers say.
This engine, it's all bow tie small block.
Mechanically what are we looking at?
We're looking at a 1962 Ferrari GTE
with a 383 Chevy, a Tremec five speed, OK,
and believe it or not an 83 quarter rear
out of an old Chrysler with the flanges milled
so that they will accept the knock off,
real Barrani wire wheels.
That's pretty cool.
(engine roaring)
The beauty of an old car is that every old car has a history
every old car has a story,
every owner has a story about the old car that they own.
This one is very very interesting.
Because it has somewhat of a sordid past.
In 1960, the 250 GTE was released by Ferrari.
This car was Ferrari's first four seater.
That was huge.
Because all of a sudden now,
as opposed to just bringing your mistress on a date,
you could bring your wife and your two kids
and you could leave your mistress or your girlfriend
at home so like wives were a big fan of this car.
In fact it was a wife, and not a mistress,
who actually should be credited for finding this car.
And if you'll let me go in reverse for a second,
it's owner Gary found this particular Ferrari
the same way I used to find my muscle cars.
There was in fact a time where the internet did not exist.
And that to find out the history of a vehicle,
you actually had to do some research.
That meant going to the library.
That meant looking at periodicals trying to find
old magazine ads.
That meant actually doing your homework
as opposed to just clickety clicking clicking
on your keyboard.
- My wife and I had a habit of going out to breakfast
early on Sunday mornings back in the time where you look
for old cars in the Sunday classifieds
or community newspapers.
Sometimes we'd play a little game and she'd grab
the classifieds before I could get 'em
and she'd start ready off ads and ask me questions
about 'em and she said oh here's a '62 Ferrari,
you know what do you think?
She told me the price and I said oh it's a kit.
- Gary couldn't believe it.
He thought it was a kit car.
Because well that price was really really low.
But then it kept nagging at him and nagging at him
and nagging at him.
And like any good car guy, he said you know what,
let me call this number and let me go
take a little ride down to San Jose,
and see what this thing is about.
- It was about 6:30 in the morning by the time
we'd finished breakfast and I called the guy
and he said no it's a real car,
it's had an engine transplant and it's apart,
but you know everything's there.
Got there as quickly as we could and pulled up.
I saw it rolled out, the doors were off, the hood was up,
trunk was up, I could immediately see parts
of the tube frame and it was a real car.
Turned to my wife and said oh it's real.
And I went back out to the car to tell Patty
we'd bought it and there were cars lining up at the curb
wanting to see it so I think it was a good decision.
- And that was it, he owned this car.
The other thing, when this car was new,
it came with a Colombo V12 that made about 240 horsepower.
That engine propelled the car to zero to 60
in about eight seconds or so.
That car also made the top speed around 140 miles an hour
which was not bad for the day, in fact it was damn good.
The suspension was a double wishbone setup up front,
with a four speed manual and electronic overdrive.
Out back it was a soft live axle.
- They built about 950 of 'em.
It was intended to propel Ferrari from a specialty boutique
manufacturer of low production
cars to a mass market manufacturer.
Today 950 in a year sounds a little silly
but that was a big big jump for Ferrari.
- But what's crazy is that this
used to be a Ferrari parts car.
This is what the Ferrari ISTY would use as a donor car.
They would lake the motor and take the Colombo V12
and they would take the transmission out
and they would do transplants into like a 250 GT California.
Or a 250 GTO.
So many of these cars were basically
just stripped for parts.
- I never really actually considered putting a Ferrari
engine back in this car.
The original matching numbers engine,
the whereabout was unknown when I got the car.
I chased some leads down early on in my ownership
and all ran into dead ends.
And you know potentially if I'd found the numbers matching
drive train I might've considered that.
But the car had already been modified to some degree.
Because a V8 had already been installed.
My Dad picked up the project, took it on wholesale,
to really finish the car and make
it a operating driving car.
- It's when you start it up and the ear will tell you that
OK well something else is going on.
You know when you jump on it and you hear that burble,
it doesn't sound like a Ferrari.
It sounds like a hot rod, it sounds like a muscle car.
But a little different in that respect
'cause believe it or not,
about half the exhaust is still the original Ferrari exhaust
so you're talking maybe like a 1 and 7/8 inch pipe
as opposed to like a 2.5 inch that would be on a normal
kind of 383.
Oh but the thing's got grunt.
Got a lot of grunt.
When Gary got the car he said OK he goes well you know what,
we can have a little fun with this thing
and we can do it right and we can do it in such a way where
people look at the car and respect it.
And it's going to tell somewhat of a story of Gary's family.
- So I originally bought the car as a retirement project
for myself.
I literally bought it, put it in the garage,
threw a cover over it, rented a storage place,
which just ended up filled floor to ceiling with parts
and boxes and everything that went with it.
Dad had always been into airplanes, cars, trucks, whatever
and he called me, said what would you think
if you wanted to bring the car up and I can spend
a little time on it this winter?
The stage was sort of set.
- We know that this story has a very happy ending,
because well I'm driving it.
But Gary's pursuit of his version of a muscle car
doesn't finish with this one piece of Italian perfection.
He's a car guy and what does every car guy need?
Well that's easy, something big enough
to collect and carry his cars.
So let me introduce you to the super hauler.
(upbeat music)
- Super hauler was born from our desire
to have a personal transporter to move our own cars around,
to go pick up cars at other places in the country
and have it be a vintage looking vehicle
and at the same time, usable, comfortable
for long distance travel 'cause that's what we had in mind.
- Ladies and gentlemen, meet the super hauler.
The 1971 American LaFrance fire truck that was built
by Ben McCloy of Jack Dick Customs in Martinez California.
Now this isn't your normal everyday car hauler.
This is a 100% custom rig that was built because well,
Gary really didn't know what he wanted
as far as a custom toy hauler was.
And Ben, well he just knew how to build one.
(upbeat music)
- We had talked quite a few times about what kind of car
would make a good car hauler.
We came to the conclusion of the fire truck
being the beast chassis, weight, capability and engine.
- When Gary showed up to Ben's door,
he said a couple of things.
One of which, the hauler needed to be comfortable.
Two, it needed to have things like air conditioning,
and a stereo.
Three, it needed to be something that the world
had never seen before,
and something that was going to make people
just stop and look at it.
- We came back with that thing and really started
looking at what it was going to take to tear it apart,
make something different out of it.
It was overwhelming to say the least.
- It's just cool, it's so neat that they've just thought
outside the box like way outside the box.
And created a rig that just nails it on all points man.
- So we had this pencil drawing,
and this is what we're going to make the car.
Unfortunately it was a pencil drawing
and an artist's conception and making some of the features
that were on that drawing come to life,
got difficult at times.
And the only time Gary and I ever disagreed
was right here.
I made this the first time and it was a little too steep.
And then I made it and it was a little too round.
And we probably redid this one arch four times
before it was perfect for what he saw in the drawing
and what he fell in love with.
Which we just kept doing it until it was right.
- There were going to be a lot of challenges,
but he's famous for saying it's just a car,
we'll figure it out.
And he did.
- So powering the behemoth, is an 8V71T Detroit Diesel.
It makes 385 horsepower and over 1100 pound feet of torque.
Now is it fast?
Well if I nail it,
well no the answer is no, it's totally not fast.
This doesn't have to be fast,
you see you can get on the interstate with this thing
and you cruise it at a solid 65,
70 miles an hour if you like.
And the way that Ben and Gary set this thing up,
it's actually very comfortable to drive.
So inside, what am I looking at?
Well it's a beautiful custom interior.
That interior includes seats out of a 1973 BMW 3.0 CS.
It incorporates a beautiful suede head liner
with push on lights.
And now you even have cup holders,
I mean it has every amenity you can want.
I've never driven something like this before.
But I know that I want one.
While the super hauler is super cool,
ultimately it's not why I brought you here.
This is.
Gary's pursuit of perfection was never intended
to sit in a museum or a showroom.
Because Gary's a car guy,
and if you haven't figured out by now, car guys drive.
- To go find a derelict car that's one that
you've always admired and bring it back to life,
and then enjoy it, is, it's just a lot of fun.
I've had cars that were so picture perfect,
that you're afraid to drive them because you come in
from a drive and feel like you have to wipe down
the underside and you know life's just too short for that.
The driving is the most fun to me.
- [Mike] When he couldn't find a part, he made it.
When it was cold in his shed behind his home in Idaho,
he added more wood to the stove.
And when a language barrier presented itself,
he simply referenced the old Italian dictionary,
he kept by his side.
That was Gary's father, the man who helped bring
the old Ferrari back to life.
- It's just amazing.
I mean he was 80 years old when he took it on.
Two years later we were driving it down the road.
We hit a long straight stretch of deserted road
and planted the throttle, I dunno how fast we were going,
there was a grin from ear to ear like a little kid.
He just loved it.
- So will he ever sell this car?
No, this car is never going anywhere,
this car is going to be about lineage.
- My goal is that it stays in the family literally forever.
One of my sons has said he will take on the responsibility
to be the steward of the car for the rest of his life.
And so I'll transfer it to him.
He will maintain it, insure it, protect it, and preserve it
for the next generation.
And his job then is to identify someone
a couple of generations out that'll take on
the same obligation and preserve it.
So my hope is that a future descendant will be enjoying
this car 100, 150, 200 years from now.
- So here's the thing about both of Gary's creations.
On the one hand you have the super hauler,
this gigantic sea foam green car hauler.
Yes let's face it, it is a beautiful piece.
And then you have this.
This wonderful beautiful Ferrari.
Some people will say well is it all Ferrari?
And my answer to that is well yeah.
Is the engine American?
Yeah sure it is but here's the thing,
if I go in and I need a heart transplant,
does that mean that I'm not Mike anymore?
Does that mean that that new heart
doesn't give me life anymore?
The answer to that is no.
What Gary did with this was he gave it life again.
It's not languishing in a barn,
it's not languishing in a garage.
It's here at the beach,
in 60 something degree weather.
So here's the deal, is there anything wrong with this car?
Pfft, not a damn thing.
(relaxed music)
so just a reminder that episodes
of The House Of Muscle go live on Motor
Trend On Demand. Com about a month
before they go live on Youtube so head
on over there and check them out
This is Ford's big, old full-sized for 1960.
1960 Ford Galaxie Starliner.
love this thing
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