Very few names come up when it comes to restoring neglected Ferraris. Scott Chivers is one of them. He’s popularly known as “Ratarossa” and has built a reputation for finding Ferraris and breathing life into them. He’s always loved these Italian sports cars, and the inspiration came from playing Out Run video game on Sega and watching Miami Vice. On a recent VINwiki upload, he tells an interesting story about buying a rare Saudi Prince’s neglected 1983 Ferrari BB 512i.
If you love something, you’ll do anything within your reach to get it. Chivers has some of the most insane stories about trying to buy Ferraris. Most of these quests often start with a picture in his inbox.
“In mid-2020, I had a number one, chart-topping DJ send me a voicemail saying he knew of a Ferrari that would absolutely fit my channel,” Chivers said.
The Ferrari in question was a Ferrari BB 512i that wasn’t far from where he lived. He did a background check, and everything checked out. After meeting the owner, he discovered the car had been parked for close to 16 years.
It was a rare one-of-one 1983 Ferrari BB 512i, with only 6,420 miles (10,332 kilometers) on the clock. Ferrari built 1,000 of these, 42 were right-hand drives, and this particular unit was the only one in white.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. This Ferrari Boxer just looked completely neglected. It was covered in moss. I’d never seen anything like it,” he explained.
According to the owner, the Ferrari BB 512i’s first owner was a Saudi Prince who lived in London.
Naturally, Chivers wanted to save the Italian sports car, but the owner was adamant about selling it. He had bought it in 2006 and had only driven it for a month before parking it for good.
According to Chivers, car dealers and private owners had shown up at his door, some with bags full of money, but he’d made up his mind never to sell the car.
Something undisclosed happened to the owner of the car, and the Ferrari was taken to a Police Station (for protection perhaps), but when it came back, some parts were missing. It didn’t go well with the owner, and he decided to sell it.
His proposal was £80,000 ($94,206) and he was gracious enough to accept a partial payment of £50,000 with the promise of paying £30,000 ($35,327) in two months.
That’s just a tip of the story. We recommend watching the video for the best part – the restoration.
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
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