Whilst this Italian classic might look like it’s been immaculately cared for since it left the showroom, it actually has an interesting story to tell. This 1974 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS was stolen and buried in the garden of a house in South Central LA. Four years after its burial, it was discovered by some young kids who were playing and digging in their garden. The car was in a terrible state and was returned to the insurance company. Despite its condition, the car’s current owner Brad Howard bought it in the late 1970’s and had it restored to how it looked originally. Brad has no plans on selling his prized car, and said: “For a car that got painted over 40 years ago, it’s still holding up pretty good.”
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MotorTranscript
00:00Unique, sexy, fun.
00:05What you have here now is the same car that was underground for a good almost four years.
00:13I had brought it back to what it is today.
00:24I like to drive it in the hills. I like the perkiness of it, the steering capability.
00:28In the cornering, it's incredible.
00:30This is a 1974 Dino.
00:33While this Italian classic may look like it's been immaculately cared for since it left the showroom,
00:39it in fact has an interesting story to tell.
00:45I was told the owner of the car had bought the car for his wife for her birthday.
00:51But just days later, the vehicle was stolen.
00:56Four years passed, then new homeowners made a surprising discovery.
01:02It was a big drought in L.A. for almost four years.
01:05It started raining and the kids were playing in the backyard, hit the back of the tunnel,
01:09then they brought in the police and unearthed it and supposedly that's how it was found.
01:13Brad bought the car in the late 70s and it's been in his care ever since.
01:20Everything was intact except the front windshield.
01:23They hit it with a shovel. It had a splatter mark on it.
01:27All the other windows in the car itself, front, back, even the chrome, all the settings,
01:33all of the trim around the front and the back, all of that's original.
01:37I have two wheels on there that are original.
01:40When I got it, I bought the same wheel for the car, which is the Campanola Dino wheels.
01:46Even in those days, I about passed out when I bought them.
01:49I think I paid $500 a piece for a wheel.
01:55The interior was dry and the leather itself was actually still quite nice.
02:01It actually was in good shape.
02:03A lot different than what people would assume a car would be that would be underground for that long.
02:08The paint job that was done is the same paint job that I had done in 1978.
02:13I haven't touched it up since.
02:15And after four decades together, there's no chance of Brad and his Dino parting ways now.
02:24I had many people, friends of mine that always wanted to buy the car and I said,
02:27I didn't buy the car to sell it.
02:29What you have here now is the same car that was underground for a good almost four years.
02:37I had brought it back to what it is today.
02:40Kind of preserved underground.
02:44A car that's been painted almost four years ago.
02:48Still holding up pretty good.