Can it be a Ferrari, or not?
04/04/2013
Actually, this would have been material for a book review. But the book has not been on sale for a long time and can only be found in second-hand bookshops. "May it be a Ferrari?" was the title given to it by Rob de la Rive Box, a car dealer, journalist and author. It was published in 1993 and contained around 200 vehicles with short descriptions and souvenir photos. In fact, all of these vehicles passed through the hands of de la Rive Box, some even several times. And it wasn't just Ferraris, but a whole range of more or less exotic brands from Abarth to Wikov, including Austro Daimler, Bizzarrini, BRM, Cisitalia, Cord, Delahaye, Elva, Hotchkiss, Hudson, Maybach, Nardi Danese, Osca, Siata, Stanguellini, Steyr, among many others.
The author introduced himself in the introduction: "May I briefly introduce myself? My name is Rob de la Rive Box. I was born in Bussum, Holland, in 1935. After the usual school education, I completed the automotive technical college. I worked for Ford in Helsinki and Amsterdam for a few years before coming to Switzerland at the end of 1961. There I worked as a customer service advisor for a car dealership in Basel ...."
Rob then got into the classic car trade somewhat by chance, when he imported six Bugattis from Czechoslovakia to finance his own Bugatti. However, this business developed in all directions, even if the profit margins and, above all, the prices of the vehicles were much lower than they are today. And that is exactly what this 150-page book is about.
For each of the 57 brands listed, Rob tells stories and anecdotes relating to the purchase and sale of the vehicles. Many chassis numbers and details are also mentioned, which may be of eminent interest to some collectors today.
Want some examples? Two Ferrari 250 GTOs (3705 GT and 3769 GT) are mentioned; they were difficult to sell in the early 1970s and changed hands for around 30,000 francs each. Rob was unable to find a buyer for a Porsche Carrera 6 in 1972, and chassis 906124 was sold to the USA in 1978. In 1977, Rob sold the Michelotti Triumph TR5 (a one-off) to an enthusiast for 4,000 francs. Rob also mentions a Lancia Flaminia Zagato with chassis number 824.00.1366, which he traded in for a Ferrari 250 GTE for 1,000 francs in 1974. Rob found the (presumably first) Bizzarrini P538 in deplorable condition on a hayloft 20 km outside Zurich. The (Lamborghini) engine was missing, as were the interior and many parts of the technology. The Ford GT/40 restored by Franco Sbarro with chassis number 1040 (participant in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966 and 1967) also passed through Rob's hands, at a price of USD 28,000, and he even bought two of the Mirage GT-40s in a double pack. And so it goes on and on.
What makes this book entertaining, apart from the informative texts, are the (entirely black and white) photos in the sense of family snapshots, even if the printing was not beyond all doubt.
So if you ever discover one of these books printed in booklet form at an acceptable price, you should grab it, because it has rarely been so entertaining to read the records of a car dealer.
