Sheehan Speaks
by Michael Sheehan

European model F50 S/N 103794 was the 37th F50 built,in silver
metallic with a black interior and yellow seats.It was delivered new
on November 28,1995,in Austria to Jean-Robert Grellet.It was
resold by Grellet on December 19,1998,for 608,500 Swiss francs
(about $445,000)at the Brooks Auction in Gstaad,Switzerland,to French
dealer François Degand.Degand then sold the car to England.

On June 8,2001,this F50,now repainted in red,was shown at the
Bond Street Association-sponsored FOC UK meeting by its third owner,
John Hunt,a British property manager.In October,2001,Hunt drove the
car to Italy for a vacation.According to police reports,the F50 was stolen
from a supposedly highly secured hotel parking lot in Lake Como during
the early morning hours of Sunday,October 21.At the time,its odometer
showed 20,000 miles.
Less than 60 days later,in early January of this year,the same F50 was
offered by a well-known broker.The car now showed only 4,000 miles,
and was being offered for $420,000,which is about 5%below the going
rate.The hard top and case,the owner 's manual and other books,and the
service records were all missing.

Following my inquiry about the car,17 quality photos were supplied
by e-mail,showing the chassis number on the frame and steering column,
and the assembly number under the hood.There was no question this was
the same stolen F50,priced slightly below market,but not "under-mar-
ket " enough to arouse suspicions..The car was with a large exotic car dealer
in central Japan.When I mentioned that I believed this to be a stolen car,
the price was dropped to $300,000.
In the US,one might expect a swarm of law-enforcement agencies to
descend upon the dealership,with the car returning to its rightful owner and
the perpetrators being hauled off to the slammer.The rules in Japan,in my
experience,are different.
Getting a stolen car imported into Japan is relatively easy,as Japanese
customs officials don 't check serial numbers on imported cars against
Interpol records.Once in Japan,a foreign car can be registered with virtu-
ally any kind of paperwork,so local registration is another exercise in
rubber stamping.
Should a car be determined to be stolen,the local police are reluctant to
do anything to aid in its recovery.And there are no laws in Japan requiring
that a car stolen internationally be exported back to its rightful owner.So,
once in Japan,a stolen Ferrari is virtually unrecoverable.

Additionally,in my experience dealers there are masters at simply
ignoring a problem in the hope it will go away.If a dealer finds he unknow-
ingly,or otherwise,has ended up with a stolen car,he simply puts it into
a warehouse for a few years and waits for whatever token police investi-
gation might occur to die a quiet death.He then brings the car back into the
light of day and sells it without fanfare.
One of the local collectors commented to us,"Getting this issue re-
solved here is virtually impossible.Everybody (with their hands in some-
one else 's pocket)keeps at least one eye closed...The only hope is to get
an American lawyer who may be familiar with the way things are dealt
with here.But to be frank,even if anything should materialize from this,
the process will take a very,very long time."
The process of trying to recover this F50 has begun.The Japanese dealer
network has been advised that the car is stolen,thereby making it more diffi-
cult to sell;the Japanese police have been notified,if for no other reason than
to put some token pressure on the dealer who has the car;and a Japanese law
firm has been engaged,to put pressure on the police and the local DMV and
auto dealer licensing agency.Obviously,the company that originally insured
the F50 when it was stolen has a great interest in this process.
Consequently,if offered a car by a dealer outside the US,exercise due
diligence before sending your money.It wouldn 't be much fun to spend
$420,000 on an overseas-sourced F50,only to be greeted at US Customs
by insurance company agents who would bestow heartfelt thanks upon
you for getting their car back as they have it seized and trailered away.