Being build by passionate craftsmen in Maranello in 1962 it
was one of the few right-hand drive 250 GTOs. Because of this, it obviously
went to the United Kingdom where it debuted at the Goodwood race track in the
hands of Mike Parkes. At the end of the 1962 European racing season it was
shipped to the 'new world' and got the chance to leave behind the miserable English
weather and race in a nice soothing Caribbean climate. It ran a couple of races
in Nassau, Bahamas with Innes Ireland at the wheel and finally went on to race
in the 12 hours of Sebring in 1963. This is where the interesting bit of the
story starts.
After just 2 years of active racing it was pensioned off and
donated to a high school in Texas by the then owner, Tom O'Connor. It was used
in parades and shows but then, in 1972, it was sold by a sealed bid ($6500) to
a certain Joe Korton, who did not go on and drive it, as the average car
enthusiast would do. No, he put in a field next to his home on a trailer,
unprotected, all ready for the elements to munch it up over a couple of years.
The car wasn't hidden in obscurity though, some people sighted it and some
brave people even tried to make a photographic record of it. One person hiding
behind the alias of 'triumpnutter' told us:
"Got me thinking about my youth and how I remember
Kortan's yard, full of collectible cars just rotting away. I lived a few miles
away from him. I went to school with his daughter and she was on my bus route
thru grade school. I had no idea what the cars were at the time (I was in 8th
grade in 79 and watched that yard since I can remember), but we all knew they
were supposed to be really collectible. It was well known that Mr. Kortan was
not in the market to let them go, that he liked them just the way they were....
unprotected, just parked in the field or in the dilapidated barn, rotting away.
He had no interest in showing them to anyone. A few years back, the daughter
told me how she and her brothers used to sled ride down the hood of that
Ferrari when they were kids!"
He wasn't the only one to tell the world something about
this GTO, in the early 90s Innes Ireland described his encounter with Joe
Korton in an issue of Road & Track (which I noticed during preparing this
piece is alsoonline) like this:
"I heard nothing of the car until I was invited as
guest of honor by the French Ferrari owners club to its 20th anniversary of the
GTO meeting in 1982. I was horrified to hear that she had been sitting in the
field for years; I was unable to understand how anyone could possibly allow
such a thing to happen.
Finally I turned up on Joe Korton's doorstep, and, sure
enough, there was a 250 GTO sitting on a trailer in a field of long grass.
Although painted a dull red–by hand, it looked like-she still carried the
scrutineer's stamp on the inside of the screen from Nassau 1962 so I knew she
was 3589 all right.
Nothing would persuade Mr. Korton to sell me the car, saying
he was going to put her in order one day. But in expressing my horror at her
condition, at least I persuaded him to put her in a shed under cover (which he
did), and I extracted a promise that if ever he decided to sell, he would give
me first option (which he did not)."
Thankfully, a certain Frank Gallogly continuously stalked
Korton into selling him the GTO just before the 1980s classic car bubble burst,
nothing much came of restoring it, though, and it was sold on to a Swiss
collector with whom it remains to this day, restored and well. Fascinating hey?
Sometimes stories about chassis numbers are well worth exploring a bit further,
but most of all enjoy the photographs and then of course sob.
Photos were posted a long time ago on a forum by a certain
'El Wayne', so all credit goes to this guy.
source: http://www.theretromobilist.com/historic-racing/111-the-anorak-ferrari-250-gto-3589gt
by Kurt
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