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If you’ve spent any time checking out Jay Leno’s Garage then you may have heard of collector David Lee, owner of Hing Wa Lee Jewelers. A fan of rare exotic cars but he has a penchant for Ferraris. His collection includes an Enzo, an F50 and an F40. But it’s his latest purchase that’s been garnering attention as of late. Bloomberg just highlighted his million-dollar restoration of a 1972 Ferrari Dino.
About a year ago, Lee bought the black Dino for $260,000. His restoration took 3,000 hours of labor to complete. The work was done by Moto Technique, a body shop in Surrey, England. While Surrey is famous for being the home of McLaren, apparently they know a thing or two about Ferraris as well.
It wasn’t so much a restoration as it was an upgrade of the Dino. Think restomod in this case. He replaced the original 192-horsepower V6 with a new 3.6-liter V8. A new transmission was bolted up along with modern disc brakes. He added some fender flares, a carbon fiber see-through engine cover, and new rims. The interior sports oxblood leather seats, a new steel shifter nob, and even has a bholder for his iPhone.
Lee justifies his investment in the car, saying, “I felt like it was OK to put the investment in this, because there are enough people who can accept it. They are not all purists, and that is a change. That is a huge change.”
But this car isn’t just a show piece for Lee. He plans on making more of these and selling them on his own. He’s going to make 25 more of these at a rate of five per year to sell. He’s going to start taking orders this summer. “All these Saudi guys and guys from Europe and Asia are saying, ‘David, I want one! This is a great idea.’”
Of course, Lee’s not the first person to take restomods of old classic sports cars to the market. Singer has been restoring Porsche 911s for years.
No word yet on the pricing but you can bet, it’s gonna cost you.
