You know what it’s like when you go to look around a house as a potential new home — there are all kinds of weird features that you think about changing, tweaking or taking out completely. But what if you were looking around a place and unearthed a rare supercar hidden there? Would that get the chop as well?
That’s exactly what happened at one California home, which was listed for sale by realtors Dana Bambace and Kimberly Ward. When the pair first inspected the two-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Santa Cruz, they uncovered a vintage car hidden under a dusty tarp in the garage.
But, as The Sacramento Bee reports, this was no ordinary car. Bambace and Ward had just unearthed a 1963 Ferrari 250GT Lusso, one of just 350 built by the Italian marque. As the site reports:
“The fast luxury automobile, which was found in pretty good condition, was cleaned up — and now may be worth nearly as much as the refurbished house.
“The Ferrari and the home were owned by the late David Downs, a “brilliant” scientist who worked at Lockheed Martin, according to Ward and public records. The sellers, who inherited the property from Downs, their uncle, did not realize he still owned the valuable car.”
According to local news site Lookout Santa Cruz, after Downs’ death in 2022 the house and car were passed to three heirs, who “had no intention to hold onto the valuable ride.” As such, Bambace put them in touch with classic car broker Andy Grundy, who inspected the Ferrari and confirmed that it was the real deal – and added that it ran well and was ready to drive.
While the car needed very little work doing following the find, as it had reportedly been re-painted and was getting an engine rebuild “within the last 15 years,” the same wasn’t true of the house.
Since the Ferrari was found and removed, the Santa Cruz home has been heavily updated. This includes the installation of a new kitchen, bathroom, updated flooring throughout, and the three-car garage has been renovated. It’s now listed for sale for almost $2.5 million.
The Ferrari, meanwhile, is expected to sell separately for between $1 million and $2.2 million. So, if you had the cash, which would you take?