Project Info:
1955 Moretti 1200 Sport Spider, Chassis no. 5007, Engine no. 5007 (?)
Extract from its 2016 sale description
"In late 1954 and early 1955 Moretti constructed this particular car on chassis #5007 in Left Hand Drive configuration. They then used the car on their stand at the International Motorshow in Brussels – Belgium in 1955.
The car was on display with various other Moretti models. An important visitor of the Brussels Salon and the Moretti stand was His Royal Highness King Boudewijn of Belgium. He was pictured in front of the Moretti stand with several of his guests and guards.
After the Brussels Motorshow in 1955 it seems that car #5007 was sold in Belgium to a local fruit and vegetables merchant. It then probably remained in Belgium until 1962. It was purchased from the Belgian owner by Mr. Berkhout, the Dutch owner of the ENAG cars-workshops in Voorburg – Holland.
Mr. Berkhout imported the car into Holland and in July 1962 the car was road-registered in Holland with plate GK-99-46. When Mr. Berkhout bought the car it had been painted in red, but still had the original blue interior. Mr. Berkhout himself was a quiet strong-build man and could not fit himself easily into the nimble Italian sportscar. So his son Pieter Berkhout was the lucky one who mainly drove the Moretti. He even did recall driving this rare car in 1962 over the frozen Ysselmeer lake in Holland. They took part in a car event that was organized locally and as the Moretti was such a rare car it was chosen to be the number-1 car.
Mr. Pieter Berkhout was even able to provide the present owner of the car with a short black/white movie taken from the 1963 drive over the frozen lake! (N.B) See Below
"In 1965 the car was sold to another local Dutch enthusiast in The Hague. This new owner Hans Oosterbaan kept car #5007 in his possession until 2000. Hans Oosterbaan turned out to be a real car and Moretti enthusiast as he managed at a later stage to purchase also a rare Moretti 1200 Vignale Coupe.
Both Moretti’s remained in storage in his collection for almost 35 years. At one point Mr. Oosterbaan decided mid 1990’s to start a restoration on the Moretti 1200 Sport Spyder. He considered a befriended mechanic in England to be the right person to do a good and affordable restoration for him. Work did progress slowly and regretfully Hans Oosterbaan had to stop the project before it was properly finished. So the car did return to Holland and it was decided that it would be better to sell the car in its un-finished condition to somebody who could afford to do a proper job on this rare Italian car.
After trying carefully through his car-friends in Holland Mr. Oosterbaan was brought into contact with the man who would become the 3rd and present Dutch owner of this car #5007. This time it turned out to be a very positive situation for all parties as the new owner to be was a classic car restorer himself. He was able to see through the un-finished project and recognized that this project deserved a lot of effort, investigation and a proper ground-up restoration.
So the car was completely dismantled again and research started by contacting other Moretti enthusiasts, experts and collectors to obtain the necessary data and parts. As work on this car was of course limited to evenings and weekends and research needed a lot of time also it took almost 12 years before the car had been returned to its former glory".
The car was subsequentlyy tentatilvely sold at Rertromobile in 2016 Link
It is believed to still be in Holland.
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