sportVeloce
10-02-2003, 09:27 AM
For those that have not heard about this:
"$729,000 Ferrari Stolen During Test Drive
Sep 27, 2003 10:25 am US/Eastern
ARDMORE (AP) Where do you hide a $729,000 Ferrari during rush hour?
That's what police in the Philadelphia suburbs want to know, after a con man drove off with a red Ferrari F50 during a test drive.
The same man may have grabbed two lower-end Ferraris from dealerships in North Carolina and New York this year, police said.
The Ferrari F50 - which can hit 60 mph in less than 4 seconds and tops out at 203 mph - hasn't been seen since the Sept. 16 test drive at Algar Ferrari in Rosemont.
"One of these would attract attention anywhere, even in a crowd of Ferrari people," said Gerald Roush of suburban Atlanta, who publishes a Ferrari newsletter.
Police theorize it was hustled into a trailer and quickly shipped overseas for sale on the black market.
Ferrari made just 349 of the eye-popping Italian roadsters - described by one car-enthusiast Web site as "part Batmobile, part ballistic missile" - in 1995 to commemorate its 50th anniversary. It was designed to be a street version of a Formula One race car.
The thief, a nattily dressed man who claimed he had flown up from Atlanta and had a limo waiting at the nearby Acme, took the test drive without producing a license. The ID, he said, was in a wallet he had left with his secretary.
Claiming to be a wealthy businessman, he had called ahead about the car and produced someone else's proof of credit when he arrived, police said.
"He looked and acted rich. That's the type of clientele they get in there," said Lower Merion Det. Charles J. Craig, the lead investigator.
The car - No. 29 in the F50 series - had 4,700 miles on it and just one previous owner. The dealership had bought it within the past year, according to information from Roush, who tracks Ferrari sales, and the dealership owner, who did not want his name published.
The salesman first took the prospective buyer for a spin, then let him get behind the wheel. During the test drive, the man stopped in front of a gated Villanova neighborhood and asked the salesman if he would drive back to the dealership.
When the salesman got out, the thief sped off.
Police were summoned, but never spotted the vehicle. Detectives believe he had help.
"This took a lot of planning," Craig said.
Now they're looking for the con man, described as a middle-aged, 6-foot, slender white male with reddish-brown hair and glasses.
The description generally matches that of the supposed doctor who stole the other Ferraris.
According to Roush, who posted the information in his newsletter, a red, 1989 Ferrari 328 GTS was stolen from a friend's dealership in Greensboro, N.C., on April 26. The theft occurred when a man who had been in several times asked to drive the car around the block by himself, Roush said.
In Long Island City, N.Y., a red 1985 Testarossa was stolen from a lot July 15 when the salesman showing the car got distracted, Roush said.
Those models are worth $50,000 to $60,000 each, he said.
"They (Ferraris) are regularly stolen in Europe and Italy, because it's easier to export them to another country, but it's hard to get them out of the U.S.," Roush said. "You have to have papers."
The suburban Philadelphia dealer does not blame his salesman, who he said did nothing wrong.
"If you're a good con man, you're going to con intelligent people," Craig said. "They're sharp people up there, and they got conned."
http://kyw.com/news/local_story_269223834.html
mmm.. not too smart IMO. You cant even hang a piss without ID these days, let-a-lone test drive an F50...
"$729,000 Ferrari Stolen During Test Drive
Sep 27, 2003 10:25 am US/Eastern
ARDMORE (AP) Where do you hide a $729,000 Ferrari during rush hour?
That's what police in the Philadelphia suburbs want to know, after a con man drove off with a red Ferrari F50 during a test drive.
The same man may have grabbed two lower-end Ferraris from dealerships in North Carolina and New York this year, police said.
The Ferrari F50 - which can hit 60 mph in less than 4 seconds and tops out at 203 mph - hasn't been seen since the Sept. 16 test drive at Algar Ferrari in Rosemont.
"One of these would attract attention anywhere, even in a crowd of Ferrari people," said Gerald Roush of suburban Atlanta, who publishes a Ferrari newsletter.
Police theorize it was hustled into a trailer and quickly shipped overseas for sale on the black market.
Ferrari made just 349 of the eye-popping Italian roadsters - described by one car-enthusiast Web site as "part Batmobile, part ballistic missile" - in 1995 to commemorate its 50th anniversary. It was designed to be a street version of a Formula One race car.
The thief, a nattily dressed man who claimed he had flown up from Atlanta and had a limo waiting at the nearby Acme, took the test drive without producing a license. The ID, he said, was in a wallet he had left with his secretary.
Claiming to be a wealthy businessman, he had called ahead about the car and produced someone else's proof of credit when he arrived, police said.
"He looked and acted rich. That's the type of clientele they get in there," said Lower Merion Det. Charles J. Craig, the lead investigator.
The car - No. 29 in the F50 series - had 4,700 miles on it and just one previous owner. The dealership had bought it within the past year, according to information from Roush, who tracks Ferrari sales, and the dealership owner, who did not want his name published.
The salesman first took the prospective buyer for a spin, then let him get behind the wheel. During the test drive, the man stopped in front of a gated Villanova neighborhood and asked the salesman if he would drive back to the dealership.
When the salesman got out, the thief sped off.
Police were summoned, but never spotted the vehicle. Detectives believe he had help.
"This took a lot of planning," Craig said.
Now they're looking for the con man, described as a middle-aged, 6-foot, slender white male with reddish-brown hair and glasses.
The description generally matches that of the supposed doctor who stole the other Ferraris.
According to Roush, who posted the information in his newsletter, a red, 1989 Ferrari 328 GTS was stolen from a friend's dealership in Greensboro, N.C., on April 26. The theft occurred when a man who had been in several times asked to drive the car around the block by himself, Roush said.
In Long Island City, N.Y., a red 1985 Testarossa was stolen from a lot July 15 when the salesman showing the car got distracted, Roush said.
Those models are worth $50,000 to $60,000 each, he said.
"They (Ferraris) are regularly stolen in Europe and Italy, because it's easier to export them to another country, but it's hard to get them out of the U.S.," Roush said. "You have to have papers."
The suburban Philadelphia dealer does not blame his salesman, who he said did nothing wrong.
"If you're a good con man, you're going to con intelligent people," Craig said. "They're sharp people up there, and they got conned."
http://kyw.com/news/local_story_269223834.html
mmm.. not too smart IMO. You cant even hang a piss without ID these days, let-a-lone test drive an F50...