Long Lost Cars Of Celebrities (Apart From Maharajas) Unearthed!

[gearhead2]

I am not sure if there is the above topic has been covered elsewhere, but it struck me that (with the permission of the mods) it would make an interesting thread - not just the usual maharaja Rolls-Bentleys etc, but cars of other celebrities as well. I could not find a similar thread elsewhere, so thought of starting one here.

I came across the following recently while surfing :

https://barnfinds.com/ian-flemings-bentley-r-type-found/
https://www.gullwingmotor.com/1953-bentley-r-type-c-2495.htm


Apparently, Ian Fleming (the author of the James Bond spy yarns) had ordered the above Bentley R-type for his friend Ivar Bryce, who was said to be the inspiration for the character of Felix Leiter, the CIA spook & Bond's friend. The car won its class at the 1971 Concours d’Elegance and thereafter went into hiding in Hollywood

The car, the Bentley R-type Continental fast-back coupe of 1953, was certainly one of the rarest & most elegant examples from this bespoke brand.
The bottom photo is Ian Fleming's car. From the uncleaned state of the car it looks as tho' the photo was taken immediately after it was unearthed!
I am adding a couple of other photos of restored R-types to give a more worthy idea of its graceful lines!

I hope other members too can contribute photos & write-ups of celebrity cars lost & found!

 

[Nanofreak]

Re: Long Lost Cars Of Celebrities (apart from Maharajas) Unearthed !

I am not sure if there is the above topic has been covered elsewhere, but it struck me that (with the permission of the mods) it would make an interesting thread - not just the usual maharaja Rolls-Bentleys etc, but cars of other celebrities as well. I could not find a similar thread elsewhere, so thought of starting one here.

I came across the following recently while surfing :

https://barnfinds.com/ian-flemings-bentley-r-type-found/
https://www.gullwingmotor.com/1953-bentley-r-type-c-2495.htm


Apparently, Ian Fleming (the author of the James Bond spy yarns) had ordered the above Bentley R-type for his friend Ivar Bryce, who was said to be the inspiration for the character of Felix Leiter, the CIA spook & Bond's friend. The car won its class at the 1971 Concours d’Elegance and thereafter went into hiding in Hollywood

The car, the Bentley R-type Continental fast-back coupe of 1953, was certainly one of the rarest & most elegant examples from this bespoke brand.
The bottom photo is Ian Fleming's car. From the uncleaned state of the car it looks as tho' the photo was taken immediately after it was unearthed!
I am adding a couple of other photos of restored R-types to give a more worthy idea of its graceful lines!

I hope other members too can contribute photos & write-ups of celebrity cars lost & found!

Thanks Shashank Sir, for starting this unique thread.

Besides the phoran gaddis of phoran actors, we can see lots of our desi actors, who had well maintained, and some used during shoots of period films.

Feroze Khan was an ardent car lover, who used them in his films like Apradh, Dharmatama etc. Rajesh khanna and Hema Malini also had a good collection, her period cars were used in SRK's om Shanti om.

Regards
Vinod

 

[gearhead2]

Re: Long Lost Cars Of Celebrities (apart from Maharajas) Unearthed !

Thanks Shashank Sir, for starting this unique thread.
Besides the phoran gaddis of phoran actors, we can see lots of our desi actors, who had well maintained, and some used during shoots of period films.
Feroze Khan was an ardent car lover, who used them in his films like Apradh, Dharmatama etc. Rajesh khanna and Hema Malini also had a good collection, her period cars were used in SRK's om Shanti om.

Regards
Vinod

Hello Vinod - you are right! Lots of celebrities (actors, playwrights, authors, academics(yes, them too!), tycoons, political dictators & other scoundrels!) had a fondness for cars. Some of them had good taste, while others were indiscriminate in their collection!

Ah.....if only fate had decided to give me that Aladdin's Lamp....

 

[gearhead2]

Re: Long Lost Cars Of Celebrities (apart from Maharajas) Unearthed !

Another well-known 'lost & found exotic' is the Pegaso Z102 ‘Cupola’ reputedly owned by President Trujillo of the Dominican Republic and also raced by his son in some international events. It disappeared from view in 1962 after Trujillo’s assassination in 1961 and surfaced again in the mid-90’s (see quote below).

Chassis: 0102 150 0121
The featured Pegaso is the second Z102 fitted with the so called 'Cupula' coupe bodywork by in-house coach-builder Enasa, and the only known survivor.
In 1954, it was campaigned in the Carrera Panamericana road race. Trujillo retained the car until his death in 1962 but it did not resurface until the mid-1980s when it joined Peter Kaus' formidable Rosso Bianco collection. At that time the car was painted an altogether more understated silver. In 2006, the Pegaso joined the Louwman Collection and between 2009 and 2015, it was completely restored to its original configuration. The work was ready in time for the 2015 Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este.
https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/chassis/450/Pegaso-Z102-BS-2.5-Cupula-Coupe-0102-150-0121.html
https://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/lost_marques_pegaso

(As per Wikipedia :- “The Trujillo era unfolded in a Caribbean environment that was particularly fertile for dictatorial regimes.[Note 4] In the countries of the Caribbean basin alone, his dictatorship was concurrent, in whole or in part, with those in Cuba, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Venezuela, and Haiti. In retrospect, the Trujillo dictatorship has been characterized as more exposed,[clarification needed] and more brutal than those that rose and fell around it)

 

[gearhead2]

I came across this extra-ordinary nugget while surfing & I wasn't sure what to do, since I couldn't check if it had appeared here in our forum earlier.

With your permission mods, I'll try & upload it here. It is almost beyond belief that a couple of school-boys digging for treasure in their back yard (I've done it with my cousins when we were small, but we never found a thing!) would come across a an original Ferrari! - and no ordinary Ferrari either. They dug up an original & ultra rare Dino 246 GT, in almost perfect condition! Yes, I was just as skeptical, but read on!

https://www.sliptalk.com/buried-ferrari/

 

[gearhead2]

^^^

I felt that posting a write-up on classic cars without a photo is sacrilege! - so here goes, I'm attaching a couple of photos of the incident as the car was being dug up & also of the restored car :