68 replies to this topic

[TerryS]

For 38 years the owner of this Ferrari P4 chassis# 0858 was Walter MEDLIN, a 70 year old reclusive property developer from Kissimmee, Florida, a mad Ferrari collector.

Medlin has been in trouble with the law for many things including performing abortions, marijuana, illegal guns etc, etc. his biggest problems over the years has been with the US IRS for unpaid income tax. He seems to have spent a lot of time in jail and may be in jail at present. He makes a habit of letting the IRS repossess car/s, and awaiting until the final minute, then paying and getting the car back. In the meantime the auction of the car has been advertised, so many frustrated punters.

In 1990 the IRS took 2 Ferraris valued at $20m to recoup $540k. He paid at last minute.
In 2005 the IRS took the Ferrari P4 valued at $10m to recoup a $3m bill. Again he paid at the very last minute.

He made a lot of money selling some of his land for Walt Disney's Disney World resort.

He was very secretive and media shy, however his cover was literally blown away as a result of Hurricane Charley in August. 2004.It hit his Florida lake side home very hard and blew a shed completely part. In that shed were 18 Ferraris, including a Ferrari Dino single seater, and an Indy car and a Studebaker Avanti. They were estimated to be worth $50m. They were now completely exposed and attracted enormous attention as clearly visible from a major highway running past.

Fortunately the P4 was in a separate warehouse and was not damaged. However from pictures it was very jammed in between between another car and a wall.

It is very interesting to look at the value of these cars in their day and ponder what a buyer would pay today........

As noted, in 1969 the P4 was owned in Australia by David McKay's Scuderia Veloce team. McKay noted in his autobiography that he paid US$30,000 for the car. He would have had to pay another US$34,000 in duty for it to be kept in Australia for longer than 12months. To avoid this before the year was up he sold it to Aussie Paul Hawkins to race in a South African series.

It is not known why Medlin sold this wonderful car after 38 years of just sitting in a shed?

[Jack-the-Lad]

Walter Medin and I had the same tax accountant for many years, the late John Kelly, C.P.A. John was a great guy and serious Ferrari enthusiast and collector. He taught me a lot about Ferraris and I was able to help him a little bit with Porsches. But don't misunderstand...John was not the cause of Walter's tax problems. That was all his own doing.

I believe I saw this car being fettled at Ferrari Classiche's workshops just before the RM auction in 2009. If so, it was in CanAm bodywork as I recall.

[Michael Ferner]

Medlin has been in trouble with the law for many things including performing abortions, marijuana, illegal guns etc, etc. his biggest problems over the years has been with the US IRS for unpaid income tax. He seems to have spent a lot of time in jail and may be in jail at present. He makes a habit of letting the IRS repossess car/s, and awaiting until the final minute, then paying and getting the car back. In the meantime the auction of the car has been advertised, so many frustrated punters.

In 1990 the IRS took 2 Ferraris valued at $20m to recoup $540k. He paid at last minute.
In 2005 the IRS took the Ferrari P4 valued at $10m to recoup a $3m bill. Again he paid at the very last minute.
 

 

Repo works!

[TerryS]

Repo works!

Translation please?

[Ray Bell]

(Re)possess the cars and the bill gets paid...

[Jack-the-Lad]

Strictly speaking it isn't a reposession, at least in the American usage. It's a government seizure.

/pedantry

Edited by Jack-the-Lad, 14 May 2016 - 18:58.

[Ray Bell]

That's why I put the 're' in brackets...

I am hoping that Michael had been loosely referring to the 'Repo' shows on TV.

[Michael Ferner]

No TV here, but I'm familiar with the term from a movie (https://en.wikipedia...(film)]Repo Man. And thanks for the clarification, JtL; from Terry's post I presumed the meaning to include government seizure.

Edited by Michael Ferner, 15 May 2016 - 16:04.

[TerryS]

Walter Medin and I had the same tax accountant for many years, the late John Kelly, C.P.A. John was a great guy and serious Ferrari enthusiast and collector. He taught me a lot about Ferraris and I was able to help him a little bit with Porsches. But don't misunderstand...John was not the cause of Walter's tax problems. That was all his own doing.
I believe I saw this car being fettled at Ferrari Classiche's workshops just before the RM auction in 2009. If so, it was in CanAm bodywork as I recall.

I understand the tax position. Your accountant correctly calculated the tax liability but Medlin was not predisposed to paying it.

When the car was readied for the RM Auction in May 2009 it was in Can Am format, the only visible change appears to be the addition of thin blue and white stripes as it ran in the Can Am. The car did not sell at auction due to not reaching reserve. It was subsequently sold privately to an undid led buyer for an undisclosed price.

This buyer commissioned David Piper to "restore" it as a P4, which he did based on original technical drawings that Ferrari had supplied.

This created a lot of controversy as to whether it is now only a REPLICA of a P4.

[Jack-the-Lad]

Terry, do you know if the car has ever been certified by Ferrari Classiche? I would think their decision would settle the authenticity issue, but I imagine the controversy would rage on, just as it does with 0846.

[Doug Nye]

Classiche "would settle the authenticity issue"....?  Hmmm.  

 

DCN

[TerryS]

For more info on Medlin I suggest you Google "Walter Medlin Ferrari". There are umpteen sites listed there.

If you are game then click on "images". But a WARNING.....This will be very depressing for Ferari lovers.........

[Jack-the-Lad]

For more info on Medlin I suggest you Google "Walter Medlin Ferrari". There are umpteen sites listed there.
If you are game then click on "images". But a WARNING.....This will be very depressing for Ferari lovers.........

Why couldn't he have been obsessed with Bricklins?

[TerryS]

Terry, do you know if the car has ever been certified by Ferrari Classiche? I would think their decision would settle the authenticity issue, but I imagine the controversy would rage on, just as it does with 0846.

I'm pretty certain this car would not qualify. The new owner requested David Piper to create the complete new P4 body using the engineering drawings that Piper had obtained from Ferrari.
Therefore the new body was not actually built by Ferrari, and to qualify I understand a carhas to be as it left the Ferrari factory.

Edited by TerryS, 21 May 2016 - 16:18.

[Jack-the-Lad]

You're correct, of course. It could not be certified with replacement bodywork.

[TerryS]

It is interesting to see how much "controversy" that Piper's work has created of building a new body to make the car look like a P4 rather than the Spyder body with which it left the factory.

On the following site alone there have been 3,088 posts. A lot are the usual drivel, but there are obviously strong feelings on whether the car is now just a REPLICA P4.

http://www.ferrarich...lacrest-p4.html

Closer to home see this TNF site from about post #60 down.

http://forums.autosp...i-330-p4/page-2

[TerryS]

So far on this thread there have been a lot of words and photos of this great car. What about sound I hear you ask?

If you want to hear the beautiful sound of a Ferrari V12 racing engine then click on here and go to the second video down the left hand side. Marvellous..........

http://talacrest.com....asp?NewsID=101

[Peter Morley]

Classiche "would settle the authenticity issue"....?  Hmmm.  

 

DCN

 

Surely they would do so, once any 'non-original' components have been replaced by brand new ones and the requisite fee has been paid...

[SJ Lambert]

The Hawkins period