Back in January, Jalopnik senior editor Mike Spinelli came across a story about a mysteriously buried Ferrari Dino 246 GTS that was finally unearthed from a dry swimming pool back in 1978 when a couple of kids discovered it after digging around dirt in the backyard of an LA home.
After the LAPD got involved, it was soon discovered that the Dino had belonged to Rosendo Cruz of Alhambra, CA, who had bought the metallic green Dino 246 GTS (serial # 07862) back in 1974.
According to AutoWeek writer Greg Sharp, who investigated the story back in the 1980's, Cruz was a plumber that had paid $22,500 for the Ferrari Dino as a birthday present for his wife. Then, to celebrate their Dec. 7 wedding anniversary, Cruz and his wife drove out to enjoy a nice evening at the Brown Derby restaurant on Wilshire Boulevard. Unfortunately, upon leaving the restaurant, the couple discovered the car had been stolen.
Apparently, the thieves went to great lengths to conceal and preserve the Ferrari -- the Dino was mummified with plastic sheets as well as a number of towels here and there to prevent works from crawling into the intakes. No matter -- four years of underground neglect will easily destroy any car so it's easy to say that the buried Ferrari Dino story ended here.
When insurance investigator Tom Underwood came to appraise the damages, he saw all 21 layers of the Dino's paint eaten through as rust holes completely destroyed the car. What's more, since the thieves failed to roll the windows up all the way, even the leather interior was in a terrible state.
It's easy to say that the Ferrari Dino story ended here... except it didn't.
From 1976 through 1978, California had suffered a devastating drought, the drought that had cleared swimming pools across the state to later become the first known skateparks for the pioneering Santa Monica Z-Boys skateboarders. Given the dry and arid climate, the Dino was actually in much better shape than people gave it credit for. In fact, it was even salvageable.
Many people have expressed interest in purchasing the buried Ferrari but many offers were tentative and most backed out of the deal after realizing what they were getting into. Finally, the story ends with a young mechanic that had purchased the Dino himself to complete a staggering restoration. What's more, the plates that are registered for the Dino read "DUGUP."
So who is this young mechanic, exactly? Shortly after Jalopnik had run the story, the owner of the very Ferrari contacted Mike Spinelli.
The man, Brad Howard, had it ever since it came out of the ground. He tells Spinelli, "It's in awesome shape, let me know if you want to see it. I'm in the LA area and I'd be more than happy to get you straight there."
Sounds like an adventure too hard to pass. Closing the chapter on one of the most intriguing automotive mysteries in history, the Jalopnik team travelled to LA to meet with Brad and the Ferrari Dino and documented the entire odyssey. Want to know what the Dino looks like today? Enjoy the incredible video below!
