Collecting Ferraris in a Michigan suburb....Photo by Chris Cooper. Click to enlarge.
By Pete Vack
Photos by Chris Cooper
It is the juxtaposition of a lower middle class neighborhood and modest house with the millions of dollars of machinery in the driveway that makes the following photos so stunning, unreal and unworldly.
In addition, the photos are not Brownie snapshots or early Polaroids but taken with a then-expensive Leica 35mm in the hands of Chris Cooper, a man with a good eye and steady hand. This gives a professional appearance to the treasures, as if someone knew that this was a sight to behold.
0224AT in another driveway. Back in 1967 or 1968, this Ferrari Mexico 340 Vignale Coupe, s/n 0224AT, was sitting in Cal Gleason’s driveway in Detroit. Cal was not a rich man, merely a man with good taste, recalled Eric Davison, who took this photo. This weekend Cal would have also been a very rich man, had he kept the Ferrari. It rolled off the block for $4,290,000, according to RM Auctions in 2011.
After seeing the above photo in VeloceToday, Cooper emailed us some time ago and wrote: “Saw your photo about the Ferrari Mexico and I remembered I had taken some photos of that very same car in 1970. My sister babysat for Dick Merritt’s son, Kendall, and I spent a considerable amount of time checking out the many neat cars Dick had acquired. I also house sat when he went on buying trips to Europe. Dick is a straight shooter and a prince of a guy. I have known him since 1962.” These and other photos we will publish later were taken by Cooper and used here with his permission.
The Mexico never actually belonged to Merritt but to collector Carl Bross. Photo by Chris Cooper. Click to enlarge.
Dick Merritt recalled that Cooper was a neighbor on the same block in Royal Oak, MI. “Not sure when that was taken, around ’69 or ’70 or so.” Merritt explained how the Mexico found itself in front of his house. “I was the pro bono curator to help Carl Bross assemble the world’s first Ferrari collection. That would have been in 1965 or so. I heard Tom Stewart had the car for sale and talked him into buying it, but I never owned it. Cal Gleason was a close friend who lived in the Detroit area. In those days everyone, including my now ex-wife, assured me that I was wrong to claim that old Ferraris were future collectibles, since there were NO Ferrari collectors. So I was determined to prove that was wrong. Next came Pierre Bardinon in France who started buying in around 1968-1969. When Bross died, Anthony Bamford swooped in and bought all the cars, except the F1 375 Indy car which Ernie Beutler and I managed to snatch for $20,000. Today it’s worth $3,000,000.”
Front view of the imposing Mexico, the same car that appeared on the cover of R&T. Click to enlarge.
There is another somewhat unique element here. Merritt is primarily known for collecting Ferraris. However, when we first met him, he expounded for a few hours on his latest purchase, a Kurtis 500; later we observed his Iso Grifo race car being restored, and on another occasion learned about his Sadler Mk 5. His additional forays into other historic cars have been relatively neglected. In the photos that follow, while the Ferraris are eye popping, they are just part of a collection which includes some extremely important American racing cars and engines.
Can you identify all the engines in this photo? Photo by Chris Cooper. Click to enlarge.
Identifying the Ferraris is an easy task, but of course it helps to ask Dick himself for verification. “The Vignale coupe is a 225/250MM 0266M, the GP is a 166 no. 06C, on the right is a 375Plus no. 0392AM, in the middle is the ex- Pabst 500/625 TR.” Said Merritt, “The tall engine is the world’s oldest Harry Miller engine, dating 1917. Then an assortment of HAL DO dirt track engines along with several Mondial, TRC, a Monza 750 and Monza 860. Also a Ferrari V-12 of some sort. About 10-15 Ferrari engines were in the basement of our tiny house, for lack of room in the garage, which I recall was 24 X 32 ft. In the front is a Miller 4-cam V-16.”
No doubt on this one...a SOHC Miller. But it is the very first Miller. Photo by Chris Cooper. Click to enlarge.
Merritt told us that tall engine is the world’s oldest Harry Miller engine, dating 1917. And that is essentially correct, but over the years more information has been made available about that engine. A Harry Miller recap: Miller began with a carburetor business, expanded to engines. The first Miller engine to bear his name was the one in Merritt’s driveway.
We’ll have more on the treasures of the Merritt driveway in a future edition of VT. Readers responses and help are welcome!
What a messy garage.
Be still my heart! More, more and more, please! Yes, Dick Merritt is a straight shooter and a prince of a guy, and the collective Ferrari world owes him a huge debt of gratitude for his efforts (and antics) in the past to help preserve the many Ferrari cars, engines and components that he has saved over the years. A tip of the hat to Dick, and I would love to hear more of the story. Thank you Pete for the words and to Chris Cooper for the photos.
It is hard to believe it in today’s environment, but there was a time when these were all just “used cars”. The Ferrari Mexico shown in the article Dick states had been owned by Tom Stewart. I knew Tom, as we both worked for Volvo in the early 70’s. Tom was a regional service rep. He really liked cars and on his farm in West Virginia, if memory serves me, he had lots of interesting “used cars”, like the Ferrari Mexico, a 3-liter Red Label Bentley, a OSCA roadster and numerous other interesting sports cars from the 50s…basically sitting in his front yard.
Tom also had his previous 6 Volvo company cars in his yard. Most of us purchased our company car at the end of each year, because the price was so attractive. The rest of us quickly sold them for a handsome profit. Tom must have forgotten that part of the tradition, he just lined them up like yard art. He was a kind and wonderful man. And he truly loved cars. It was nice to see his name in print!
What a great eye for history Merritt had ! I can’t wait for the follow up article to appear.
Great stuff !
I made it to Michigan a little later (1977), so I missed most of this–though I did know Cal Gleason and saw his car one or two times–along with Ernie Beutler and his 375 Indy car and Chuck Weiss’s 375 that had a Chevy engine in it (as I remember). I saw the latter car in John Clinard’s back yard in Farmington Hills at the first Italian Happening. Oh, and a bunch of Ferrari 250s such as a Series I Cabriolet, a Pininfarina show car, open-headlight SWB California, SWB Berlinetta–and a 275 GTB/C plus a bunch of Lamborghinis. There were impromptu backyard car shows frequently in our area. One featured a SWB Berlinetta, SWB California Spyder, Series 1 Cabriolet, 4-liter GTO, and two MG TCs among other things. Another “show” saw a Bugatti T37, 166 Barchetta and 250 LM, the aforementioned SWB Berlinetta and Series 1 Cab, plus a 512 M with a 7-Liter engine that was DRIVEN there and back home! Nothing out of the ordinary in Michigan at the time.
This such a great article.
I would love to own just one Ferrari from the 60’s , maybe one day.
At the rate prices are going, looks like I will need to wait a bit longer.
“as if someone knew this was a sight to behold” That was probably the biggest understatement on the whole internet that day you wrote that!
ANY SINGLE PIECE WAS A SIGHT TO BEHOLD. The first MILLER? a V16 Miller? Likely the most incredible racing motor ever built in the USA?
And ANY early Ferrari.
WOW.
Thank you for that.
Al
The ex-Franco Cortese single-seater (06c) reminds me of Pierre Bardinon’s Mas du Clos collection where it may still be. Thank you for that good and well deserved tribute to “Monsieur Pierre” and Dick Merrit, two invaluable forerunners of a regrettably indigestible fashion.
Very nice 🙂