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Sunday, August 17, 2008

08/17/08 Ferrari flambé - The Latest Ferrari Fire Involves A Greenwich 430 From Miller Motor Cars


Are Ferrari's The New Ford Pinto?

Here's A Picture Of Another Cherry Red Ferrari
That Also Caught Fire


The Dutch drivers of this Ferrari 599 GTB had stopped at some traffic lights when they saw smoke coming from the front of the car.

The smoke quickly turned into flames, and the driver and passenger made a hasty exit as the front half of the supercar was totally destroyed.

It's safe to say the damage probably didn’t polish out.


$150000 Ferrari goes up in flames in New City

Lower Hudson Journal news

Around noon today on Ridge Road, a salesman for a high-end car dealership was driving a Ferrari 430 to a prospective customer when the cherry-red sports car caught fire.

The driver from Miller Motorcars in Greenwich, Conn., got out in time to escape injury, but the car wasn't so lucky.

New City Fire Chief Mike Graff said that by the time firefighters arrived on scene, the whole back of the car - where the engine is located - was engulfed in flames.

"That's the definition of a bad day," Graff said.

By the time the fire was out, half the car was gone, with the front end still red and the back a mess of white extinguishing foam, blackened metal and carbon fiber.

"I think he was in a moderate state of shock," Graff said about the driver, who called 911. "It was amazing to see half of a Ferrari engine melted."

Miller Motorcars, which sells Aston Martins, Bentleys, Maserattis, Rolls Royces and Bugattis, listed a 2007 Ferrari 430 on its Web site in the preowned section.

The vehicle - a red, two-door coupe - has 1,568 miles on it, and visible through the rear windows - where passengers would sit in most other cars - it's all engine, a 490-horsepower V8. No price was listed, though Graff reported that the car was worth a cool $150,000, the operative word being "was."

Read more about this story tomorrow in The Journal News.

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FLASH BACK:

Before Richard Koppelman, the owner of Miller Motor Cars yells at the poor unfortunate driver of the latest Ferrari to go up in smoke, he should realize things could be much worse


Prestige Ferrari Dealership up in Flames...

47 Exotic Cars Destroyed in Fire
27 Ferraris burnt to a crisp in dealership fire.

A dramatic fire at the Ferrari-Maserati dealership Munsterhuis in Holland, saw nearly fifty rare and valuable exotic sportscars literally going up on smoke. Sunday afternoon saw the prestige dealership, which also includes Jeep and Konigsegg franchises, suffer a fire which quickly took grip. Fifty six cars out of the total stock of sixty were burnt to a cinder. The majority of them, forty seven in all, were exotic sportscars. Twenty seven Ferraris were destroyed.

Current models destroyed include the 360 Modena and Spider F1, Challenge Stradale, 575 M Maranello F1 and 612 Scaglietti. Famous past models include a 1971 365 GTB 'Daytona', a 1984 512BB, a 1990 and a 1991 F40, and a 1987 Testarossa. 308 GTB, 308 GTS, F355 GTS, F355 GTB, 348 GTS, 348 Spider, the list rolls on. Ten Maseratis were also fried. Other prestige sportscars to be destroyed include two Lamborghini's, a rare Konigsegg, as well as several historic racing cars.

A Dutch Fire Brigade spokesman confirmed that security precautions in place to satisfy the insurance regulations, which saw all the cars locked up, prevented the firemen from moving them, and with it the possibility of saving any. The insurance claim is expected to run into several tens of millions of euros. Joint owner of the business, Frans Munsterhuis Jr was at Monza for the Ferrari-Maserati 'World Finals' at the time of the incident, as the dealership's racing team were taking part in the Ferrari 360 Challenge races.

"I have not seen the mess yet," Munsterhuis commented. "My father and brother, with whom I built up the company, warned me not to come along. Mechanics and secretaries were crying at the flames. "Our life work has gone up in flames. All of our cars, and the customers cars were insured, but we have to start from scratch. We lost all of our collectables, unique photos, rare documents, signed books, the list goes on. Those are irreplaceable." This is the second major fire to hit Ferrari this year. Back in March a blaze at the Maranello factory destroyed several new prototypes, putting back new model development.

JOURNAL NEWS UPDATE:


$150,000 Ferrari goes up in flames in New City


By Ben Rubin • The Journal News • August 18, 2008

NEW CITY - Ever watch $150,000 burn?

Around noon yesterday on Ridge Road, a salesman for a high-end car dealership was driving a Ferrari 430 to a prospective customer when the cherry-red sports car caught fire.

The driver from Miller Motorcars in Greenwich, Conn., got out in time to escape injury, but the car wasn't so lucky.

New City Fire Chief Mike Graff said that by the time firefighters arrived on scene, the whole back of the car - where the engine is - was engulfed in flames.

"That's the definition of a bad day," Graff said.

By the time the fire was out, half the car was gone, with the front end still red and the back a mess of white extinguishing foam, blackened metal and carbon fiber.

"I think he was in a moderate state of shock," Graff said about the driver, who called 911. "It was amazing to see half of a Ferrari engine melted."

Miller Motorcars, which sells Aston Martins, Bentleys, Maserattis, Rolls-Royces and Bugattis, listed a 2007 Ferrari 430 on its Web site in the preowned section.

The vehicle - a red, two-door coupe - had 1,568 miles on it, and visible through the rear windows - where passengers would sit in most other cars - it was all engine, a 490-horsepower V-8. No price was listed, though Graff said that the car was worth a cool $150,000, the operative word being "was."

The cause of the fire is unknown, though it was not deemed suspicious.

What was left of the Italian sports car was towed back to Greenwich.

Reach Ben Rubin at bfrubin@lohud.com or 845-578-2420.




1 comment:

Harold Dill said...

As Tom Jones may have facetiously lamented if it were his little red conflagrant cavallino rampante -- "It's Not Unusual ...," and he'd be right!

You see, there are many uninitiated drivers that have all it takes to own one of Maranello's finest except requisite driving skill. After all, just because you can slap your black card on the table at Miller doesn't necessarily qualify one to pilot a land rocket like a Ferrari.

In the wrong hands Ferrari become lethal weapons. Similar incendiary incidents that totaled a 458 Italia and a 599 GTO at Nurburgring in Germany where two "quasi-F1 Ferrari pilots" speeding around the "green hell" circuit crashed and burned.

My advice -- Try a Rolls or Bentley next time with a good deal more armor to protect and preserve.

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