Video of 1954 Ferrari 375 Plus 0384AM shot by CG on 09.24.10 inside and outside Ferrari Galleria, Maranello, Italy. CG and ex-factory racer Allen Markelson viewed, photographed, and video'd the car while on display, and then while being moved away from the museum.
The Ferrari factory sold this car to Jim Kimberly in late 1954 after Ferrari had extensively raced it in the 1954 European racing season. Kimberly and Howard Hively raced it extensively in the American and Caribbean SCCA circuits from 1954 to 1957. On March 20, 1958, Kimberly sold this car to Karl Kleve, a Cincinnati, Ohio car collector and WWII Manhattan Project scientist.
While disassembled, the stripped down chassis of Ferrari 0384AM was stolen from Karl Kleve of Ohio in late 1988. Kleve passed away in December of 2003, age 90, while still trying to recover his stolen Ferrari. At his death, ownership passed into Kleve's estate. On October 27, 2006, the Ohio Probate Court ordered the ownership pass to Kleve's heirs -- his three daughters. Much of the car was not stolen, where it remains in Ohio to this day.
In 1989 the FBI made arrests. In 1990, two thieves pled guilty to Interstate Trafficking of Stolen Goods, revealing that 0384AM had been exported. Meanwhile in 1989, the stolen portion of Ferrari 0384AM surfaces in Brussels, Belgium. Belgium officials impound the stolen portion as "0384AM". Upon learning of this, Kleve seeks its return. In February of 1990, mysteriously and despite suspect paperwork with a $4,500 price, the Belgium officials release the impound on 0384AM. Jacques Swaters promptly appears as the purchaser of 0384AM for an alleged price of $100,000.
Swaters contacts Kleve in March of 1990 and offers to buy Kleve's title rights. Kleve refuses and then 0384AM disappears. It resurfaces a couple of years later in Swaters possession, restored and renumbered as Ferrari 0394AM. Kleve's subsequent recovery efforts are thwarted, and Belgian officials tell U.S. officials that they cannot find Kleve's car.
On February 12, 2010, Jacques and Florence Swaters file suit in Ohio, claiming Swaters' partner bought Ferrari 0384AM title rights and Ohio parts in 1999 from Kleve's private investigator. Swaters claims that his partner made two payments direct to the private investigator, totaling $625,000. Kleve estate documents show the price Kleve had offered to sell in 1999 was $2,500,000, and that the private investigator had no authority to sell or convey the Ferrari. FBI reports from 1999 show the value of Ferrari 0384AM to be $10,000,000. Swaters, a well known and former Ferrari dealer with access to the Ferrari build sheets, represents to the Ohio Court that from 1990 to1999, he was "confused" as to the car's identity, thus he chose the 0394AM number. Ferrari build sheets definitively show no such car was ever made with that chassis number.
As stated above, the matter is now being litigated in Ohio court.
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