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Ever wish the TV show House Hunters had a special edition just for car nerds? Well, if they did, then this French-style mansion just outside Tampa would certainly be on the pretentious buyers’ list. With a price tag of $17.5 million, though, it’ll stretch the budget of even the most affluent part-time butterfly catcher or bespoke ferret sweater maker.
Built for RV sales mogul Don Wallace on the banks of Lake Thonotosassa, this 36-acre estate features a little bit of everything to keep the whole family happy—eight bedrooms, 26 bathrooms, and conveniently, a 20-car garage. The gallery-style automotive display is perfect for housing whichever seven-figure pieces highlight your collection at the moment, and the eight-turn personal track out back is perfect for showing off in front of your closest country club companions.
According to realtor Ed Gunning, who’s repping the house, the track was originally built by Wallace for go karts. That front straight is just 150 feet long, which is… short; by comparison, the front straight at a track like Willow Springs is about 2,500 feet long. But buy the place and you can put whatever you want on there via an access road that connects to the property’s 11,000-square-foot, pro-grade mechanical workshop (complete with body and paint facilities), where Wallace had cars in his collection fully restored on site. Just know that your track time will be limited to an autocross-style handling test with speed coming at a premium.
The main home is a four-story structure with hand-scraped, pillow-edged, acid-etched, custom-stained wood floors throughout. Other highlights for those who’d rather spend their time indoors consist of a 1950s-themed diner, a dedicated home gym complete with a saltwater pool, and a bowling alley. We don’t have enough space on the page to talk about every detail, but just know this type of luxury is only available to someone who’s spent their life building a recreational vehicle empire.
Stroll past the horse stables and you’ll find the aforementioned garage, which Wallace formerly used to store a quarter of his 80-strong car collection. His previous items included a McLaren F1 LM that sold for $13.75 million back in 2015, as well as a 1964 Ferrari 250LM that commanded $17.6 million. You know, about the same price of this whole stinkin’ mansion.
Twenty-six of Wallace’s cars were sold at Mecum’s Kissimmee auction last month, including the Slingshot Dragster, 1969 Dodge “Little Red Wagon,” and the famous ’67 Plymouth Barracuda Hemi Under Glass. Collectively, the price of his vehicles far outweighs the still-eye-watering cost of his Tampa-area home.
If hand-painted silk walls and endless automotive euphoria be your most desired pleasures, then why not consider this lot? You’d not only gain “one of Florida’s most significant homes to be built in the last century,” according to broker Mary Pond, but it’ll also save you from buying out a struggling race track. It sounds like a fair deal to us.
h/t: Robb Report
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