The 'Other' Ferrari 250 GTO

[Allan]

There is a sequel to the story about the Hoare Ferrari 246 and it's reincarnation as a race car.
The late Mr Logan Fow and Briton Neil Corner struck a deal on the sale of the car which was quite simple. Mr Fow would ship the car and all the related parts to the UK and Mr Corner would pay for a brand new Ferrari BB512 which Mr Fow would collect from H.R.Owens in London. This deal was done under the then existing Tourist Delivery scheme and was arranged by the then New Zealand concessionaires for Ferrari the Torino Group of companies. Accordingly Mr Fow made arrangements to uplift the Ferrari and use it in the UK for twelve months, which the scheme required, and then ship it back to New Zealand.
The first problem occurred when the price of the car went up from that originally ageed to but this was apparently solved and the car was delivered to Mr Fow. So Mr Fow took delivery of his beautiful Ferrari in red and black withcream leather upholstery. Mr Fow lived in the UK for the required period working I believe at an exclusive boy's school. He then shipped the car back to New Zealand by sea, flew home and waited for his car to arrive. The car landed on the docks at Auckland and Mr Fow went to Customs in Hamilton with his baggage sufferance documents but for some reason they were unwilling or unable to process the clearance through that office.
This is where my involvement begins. At the time I was the Service Manager for the Torino Group and as such one of my responsibilities was to oversee the clearance of such vehicles from the wharves. Our Torino receptionist announced that I had a visitor and Mr Fow walked into my office. He had ridden from Hamilton to Auckland on a Honda step through and appeared in old yellow water proof gear carrying an open face helmet. He explained his situation and I sought the assistance of our in house customs agent. We then proceeded to go through the normal channels for clearing such a car and then discovered we had a major problem. It appeared from the documents we had that Mr Fow had not owned the Ferrari in the UK for the required twelve months and was in fact two days short and because of this was due to pay horrendous sales tax and duty before he could land his Ferrari. Mr Fow's explanation was that he had collected the car on a Friday and had returned to H.R.Owens the following Monday to complete the paperwork. Despite our best efforts with telexes back and forward to H.R.Owens with Customs keeping an eye on the proceedings that beautiful car sat in an Auckland wharf shed collecting dust and bird droppings. It was still there 18 months later when I left Torinos to start my own business. The car now resides in Dunedin and next time I am down that way will make a point of at least paying it a visit.
Allan

[Howard Wood]

Allan, the issues Logan had over importing the BB512 were further complicated by the nature of the sale transactions over the 246. In addition, at the time the waiting time for a new BB512 meant that most private buyers were paying a major premium if they wanted one. Neil Corner's connections with Ferrari circumvented that although the BB512 was only part of the whole transaction.

Without going into too much detail, the export of "Antiquities" regulations together with the restrictions on International Currency transactions which prevailed at the time together with the virtual unavailabilty of a new BB512 meant that NZ Customs were already EXTREMELY suspicious of a "school groundsman" (because this is what he did while waiting the 12 months to return with the car), dressed pretty much as you describe, wanting to customs clear a new Ferrari.

[Allan]

You are indeed correct Howard. My involvement as I said, was at the end of the story and while I had heard of some of the other issues at the time of the sale I was not directly involved. As far as I know, sadly, Mr Fow did not get to drive his BB512 in NZ.

[Howard Wood]

I am quite sure Logan never got to drive the car in NZ which is of course the sad part of the whole story. The bright side is that the Hoare 246 was preserved and returned to its original state(s).

The other sad part is that Logan who saw "Charlotte" as almost the ultimate road car was motivated to sell it to Neil Corner only because he saw the BB512 as an even better road car. Despite what Ferrari fanatics will tell you, the BB512 was really a dreadful piece, wouldn't keep cool or run properly in traffic, had Mack truck clutch pedal pressures and all in all would not have been much better than the Dino to commute in although at least it had a reverse!. I know Logan had to replace the clutch during the year he owned it in London.

[rogered]

I had a feeling that it eventually ended up with a machinary dealer in auckland. but as a kid i recall the rumour of a new ferrari "abandoned" on the wharf
Logan fow used to show us school kids how to make and fly kites.

[Oldfart]

I had a feeling that it eventually ended up with a machinary dealer in auckland. but as a kid i recall the rumour of a new ferrari "abandoned" on the wharf
Logan fow used to show us school kids how to make and fly kites.

Logan stood for a council position at Hamilton City Council, it may even have been mayor. He had a very large kite with signwriting something like "Fly your kite with Logan for Mayor" at Innes Common very frequently.
He was a man with a number of passions, caving, kite flying, collecting Mistral sports cars and of course the Ferrari. Far from being a "school groundsman" he was very wealthy, but it never showed. He was a great man to have known.

[Steve Holmes]

Thats an amazing story, re Logan. But quite sad. Why did he never drive the Ferrari in NZ? Did he just get tired of the whole battle and sell it, or did something else happen?

[Allan]

He claimed that he had owned the car for the necessary 12 month period and therefore should not have to pay the sales tax and duty that customs required. But as the car sat on the wharf it incurred demurrage (storage fees) and the price to clear the car was increasing all the time. I tried very hard to prove the 12 month period but to no avail. The car would then have been sold at auction to recover it's costs. I do not know who bought it or what kind of money it went for but the late Mike Booth who owned Continental Cars in Wellington at the time looked at it with me and estimated it would cost about $20,000 (1982 dollars) to bring it back to some reasonable condition. I do believe there were other issues involved in Mr Fow's decision not to pursue the situation but as these were only hearsay I won't go into them here.

[rogered]

so how long was it sitting on the wharf for Allan?

[Allan]

That I knew of at least 18 months.

[David McKinney]

Far from being a "school groundsman" he was very wealthy, but it never showed. He was a great man to have known.

Didn't he come into his wealth just before he bought the 246? Family inheritance, Golden Kiwi (or Art Union) or something?

[Oldfart]

Didn't he come into his wealth just before he bought the 246? Family inheritance, Golden Kiwi (or Art Union) or something?

His family was Turners and Fow a bit like the Waikato version of Turners and Growers, also Fows flooring. I think there was "old money". He had a very large house looking down over the Waikato river adjacent to the bridge which is in the middle of Hamilton (Claudelands Bridge, and a vague memory is that some of the land was sold for the bridge to be built, but that is a very vague one. In 1966 or 67 he was offered 5000 sterling + a brand new DB5 (?) might have been a DBS in exchange for the Ferrari and turned it down.
He was a highly intelligent man, bordering on ? but did some very irrational things at times.

[Allan]

I have seen his name on something that he has paid for or gifted to the Hamilton Zoo.
I believe he took the job as a school groundsman in the UK to keep out of the road of buses. He always reminded me of David Bellamy or vice versa.
While he was in my office the first time my boss walked past the open door and a minute later my phone rang. I was summonsed to his office to be asked the question "who the hell is that?" As has been said the most unlikely looking Ferrari owner one could meet.

[alanstanton]

It was an incredible experience to see this car converted. I think I learned more watching and helping Jum Hodder than the rest of my apprenticeship.One of the drawbacks to Pat Hoares decision to not modify the chassis was that the fuel tank was still in the center of the car and had to be filled from within the cockpit. It also did not have a reverse gear although later I believe somebody fitted a starter motor to use for going in reverse. When the car was finished Pat took the staff of Whinnies for a trip around the block I remember he went from Riccarton Rd to Blenheim Rd and was only in 2nd gear. The car was displayed at a car show at Canterbury Court when finished and it was George Lee's and my job to go around every morning to polish it.

[Steve Holmes]

Wow, that is a great story Alan! Thanks so much for contributing.

[alanstanton]

A couple of years ago I spoke to a chap [cant remember his name] who now has the original body. The story he told me was the lawyer who acted for Logan Fow took it as payment for the work he did trying to get it through customs. The lawyer then had problems with another client a builder who then took the body as settlement. I just cant remember where it is but it is in the north island somewhere. I think at some time it will resurface as he was thinking of what he could mount under it. One thing that did not go to Corner was the original mirrors off the single seater they were left at the trimmers George Lees workshop and many years later were mounted on the 375plus of Kerry Manalos while being restored at Auto Restorations.

[bt34]

A couple of pics I took many years ago..

[Spinaway]

Have just read thru all this thread and enjoyed it.
Sorry to revive this Pat Hoare thread but just a wee anecdote to add.
Back in the mid 60s in Temuka as a high school boy my mate and I were dead keen on building slot car tracks and slot cars etc. So we knew what Ferraris were, and they were pretty cool. But we had never seen one.
An advertisement appeared in a local magazine or newspaper advertising that there was a Ferrari agency opened in Christchurch and they were eager for business. This is about 1966 I am guessing. We thought wow! how come there are Ferraris being sold in Chch, just up the road, in little old NZ ... can’t be true. So I thought I would write to this company. I sent off a general enquiry letter just seeking a bit of Ferrari info, in a naïve manner I guess. Waited a few weeks, and expecting no reply, then this big envelope arrived at our house addressed to me. It looked very fancy and official.
Opened it up and it was from this Chch Ferrari importer company. Must have been Pat Hoare's company I guess.
There was a beautifully typed long letter outlining all the different model Ferraris that I could buy, delivery times, and prices etc. Included were 5 or 6 multi-page A4 colour brochures of the Ferrari models mentioned. I had all the information I needed to buy a Ferrari haha. My father gave me a flea in my ear for writing away wanting to buy a new car.
But included under all this new Ferrari stuff there were two colour pictures taken of a used red Ferrari parked in Pat Hoare's garden. And with the pics was a hand written note from Pat Hoare saying that he also had available this used Ferrari right now, and a few details on it, plus price etc. It looked magnificent to me, and it was the rebodied 246/256 of course. It was all dreamland stuff of course, but I could score a few points with my slotcar mate.
My teacher at school used to say that my writing was terrible but it must have been good enough to convince Pat Hoare !

Anyhow that died down, and maybe 6 months later a car show was advertised as being held in Timaru soon. And the star attraction was going to be a red Ferrari sports car from a Mr Pat Hoare of Chch. Of course this was the rebodied single-seater and the Timaru Herald had an article that gave a bit of background on its history. The car show arrived, and amazingly my Father wanted to go in to it to check out a new car (not a Ferrari). So I did get to go and have a look at my first Ferrari and spent all my time there checking it out while my father was doing exciting stuff like trying my buy a Morris 1800 without overseas funds.
However I did get to have some cool Ferrari pics to stick inside the lid of my slotcar box.
Des Spillane

[Steve Holmes]

Have just read thru all this thread and enjoyed it.
Sorry to revive this Pat Hoare thread but just a wee anecdote to add.
Back in the mid 60s in Temuka as a high school boy my mate and I were dead keen on building slot car tracks and slot cars etc. So we knew what Ferraris were, and they were pretty cool. But we had never seen one.
An advertisement appeared in a local magazine or newspaper advertising that there was a Ferrari agency opened in Christchurch and they were eager for business. This is about 1966 I am guessing. We thought wow! how come there are Ferraris being sold in Chch, just up the road, in little old NZ ... can’t be true. So I thought I would write to this company. I sent off a general enquiry letter just seeking a bit of Ferrari info, in a naïve manner I guess. Waited a few weeks, and expecting no reply, then this big envelope arrived at our house addressed to me. It looked very fancy and official.
Opened it up and it was from this Chch Ferrari importer company. Must have been Pat Hoare's company I guess.
There was a beautifully typed long letter outlining all the different model Ferraris that I could buy, delivery times, and prices etc. Included were 5 or 6 multi-page A4 colour brochures of the Ferrari models mentioned. I had all the information I needed to buy a Ferrari haha. My father gave me a flea in my ear for writing away wanting to buy a new car.
But included under all this new Ferrari stuff there were two colour pictures taken of a used red Ferrari parked in Pat Hoare's garden. And with the pics was a hand written note from Pat Hoare saying that he also had available this used Ferrari right now, and a few details on it, plus price etc. It looked magnificent to me, and it was the rebodied 246/256 of course. It was all dreamland stuff of course, but I could score a few points with my slotcar mate.
My teacher at school used to say that my writing was terrible but it must have been good enough to convince Pat Hoare !

Anyhow that died down, and maybe 6 months later a car show was advertised as being held in Timaru soon. And the star attraction was going to be a red Ferrari sports car from a Mr Pat Hoare of Chch. Of course this was the rebodied single-seater and the Timaru Herald had an article that gave a bit of background on its history. The car show arrived, and amazingly my Father wanted to go in to it to check out a new car (not a Ferrari). So I did get to go and have a look at my first Ferrari and spent all my time there checking it out while my father was doing exciting stuff like trying my buy a Morris 1800 without overseas funds.
However I did get to have some cool Ferrari pics to stick inside the lid of my slotcar box.
Des Spillane

Boy, thats a hell of a neat first post!

[Steve Holmes]

A couple of pics I took many years ago..

Your photos are amazing! Thanks for posting.

Here are a couple of beauties posted to our facebook page by Jim Short.