The 1960s and ’70s was a golden era for automotive discoveries, a time when you could still unearth a historic Bugatti or Ferrari at the back of a village garage, long abandoned after mechanical woes or the passing of its owner. Among the most famous of car hunters is Italian Corrado Cupellini. Since the early ’60s, when as a student he discovered a sporty pre-war Fiat Balilla at the back of an aircraft hanger, Cupellini has found a remarkable range of important cars.
That first Balilla Coppa d’oro was soon purchased and, once fettled, taken to Sicily where Cupellini started an internship with Agip fuels. The cute little 995cc Balilla was used to explore the Mediterranean island, including taking to the famous Targa Florio course, and soon attracted the interest of locals. Cupellini would later return to Sicilian shores to search out many historic machines.
As his career developed, Cupellini settled in Bergamo where he started competing in classic car events, making his racing debut in an Alfa Romeo 1900 and later ambitiously entering a Fiat 128 on the Rallye Monte-carlo.
With the help of a friend who worked for Fiat, Cupellini began travelling around South America, to where many outdated Latin exotics had been exported. While visiting Lima, in Peru, he tracked down a Ferrari 250GT SWB. A deal
was done and, after the fuel tank had been flushed, the V12 started and Cupellini drove the Ferrari to the docks for shipping back to Italy.
The enthusiast would regularly return to South America in search of great cars. Highlights included a 1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa, which had been saved by a scrapyard worker who’d taken it back to his home near Maracaibo, Venezuela. Over the years the Italian would save many rare items from destruction, among them a stash of Ferrari parts that included a sectioned Grand Prix Dino chassis and a Lancia D50 gearbox.
As the discoveries were traded, Cupellini went historic racing aboard the ex-jean Behra Porsche RS61 that he had discovered in Sicily with second owner Gaspare Cavaliere, who drove it to 10th on 1963 Targa Florio. Cupellini would later race many fabulous Ferraris, ranging from a Dino 246 to a 206 sports-prototype, both of which he rebuilt from chassis remains.
As well as a host of competition Prancing Horses and Maseratis, Cupellini unearthed one of the greatest Alfa Romeos. In 1968 he pulled open the doors of a garage in a Rome suburb, and in the darkness he spotted the tatty but unmistakable shape of the fabulous Le Mans 8C-2900 Le Mans Coupé. With the help of his friend Count Giovanni Lurani, he managed to raise the funds to save the unique Touringbodied streamliner. The stories behind the discovery of several 300SL Gullwings in South America and their extraction from guarded compounds could inspire a novel. As well as exotic cars, Cupellini has found a number of famous Italian racing boats including the GP Ferrari-powered Antares II and the ex-count Agusta Maserati 450S-powered hydroplane.
Cupellini used a succession of increasingly dramatic tow cars to haul his discoveries home, including a Citroën CX converted into a six-wheeler with an extended flatbed, and an ex-scuderia Ferrari Fiat 630 transporter.
Thankfully, Cupellini regularly took a camera on his travels and recorded many of the exotics as found. Boxes containing more than 4000 negatives were recently discovered in the basement of his old garage in Bergamo, and more than 900 images from this remarkable collection now feature in Superfinds, a new book published by Porter Press International.
It’s hard to believe it today, but this sad-looking Mercedes-benz 300SL Gullwing had covered just 100km when an insurance company wrote it off. While travelling through Venezuela in 1972, Cupellini (pictured with camera in hand) discovered the abandoned wreck of the Mercedes in a storage yard in Caracas, where it had been sitting outside for 10 years
Perhaps the greatest discovery was the sensational Alfa Romeo 8C-2900 streamliner. During the early ’50s the one-off Le Mans sports-racer disappeared in the Rome area until it was found by Cupellini and his friend Count Lurani. Once the purchase was secured, the pair got the great Alfa running for the first time in 30 years but the cramped cockpit was almost impossible for them to fit into. A deal was eventually done with Colin Crabbe, another well-known car hunter who attempted to drive it back to England and sold it to Lord Doune. The Touring-bodied beauty is now one of the stars of the Alfa Museo Storico
Cupellini has unearthed several early Ferraris, including this 166 Touring Barchetta found in the south of Rome in 1970. Formerly a Scuderia Ferrari team car, it was sold to Giovanni Bracco who raced it extensively to become Italian champion in 1949. In the ’50s the 166’s chassis was shortened and an Alfa 1900 engine was fitted
Cupellini (pictured, on right) restored and drove many of his discoveries, including this Bugatti Type 30. Found near Bordeaux during the 1960s and restored by his mechanic in Bergamo, the dual-cowl tourer was later used on a road trip across Italy to Spain and back. More than 600 Type 30s were built by Bugatti, but fewer than 50 examples of the unusual 2-litre straight-eight model survive
Superfinds by Michael Kliebenstein is priced at £90, ISBN 9781907085895 (www.porterpress.co.uk)
When the GTA and Tipo 33 took precedence at Alfa Romeo after 1966, the beautiful TZ2 became a redundant racer after just eight had been built. Some continued racing in Italian events including this chassis, which was run by Swiss entrant Ottorino Volonterio into the 1970s with a distinctive colour scheme. Fresh from discovery, here it sits in Count Lurani’s famous garage
It’s hard to believe that a car so beautiful could become so unloved. Temporarily stored on a rooftop near Monaco station for security, this 1962 Ferrari 250GT SWB has just been shipped from Peru where Cupellini discovered it in 1978. The steel-bodied SWB was sold new to Eduardo Dibós, who raced it extensively including at Daytona in ’64. Once restored, the 250 became part of the Giuseppe Lucchini collection and was raced again in the ’80s
Cupellini has towed some amazing projects, none more so than this exotic double-decker with a Ferrari 206S Dino Spider balanced precariously on top of a Maserati 200S. The Dino is chassis 026, the Scuderia Filipinetti team car that burnt out after a practice accident at the ’67 Nürburgring 1000km. The remains were rebuilt by Cupellini and raced before being sold to America
A helpful local assists as Cupellini pulls the famous Antares II race boat from a muddy farmyard near Lake Maggiore. One of just three hydroplanes powered by Ferrari engines, Antares II used a ‘Motoscafo Tipo 700’ Squalo-type GP motor, and was raced by Swiss Augusto Schapira. The three-point hull design was influenced by American hydroplanes and built at Lauterbach boatyard. After careful preservation, it joined a French collection
Cupellini was amazed at how complete this Ferrari 166 remained, including its original 2-litre V12 engine. Just 10 of these early 166s were bodied by Stabilimenti Farina including chassis 033S, one of three cabriolets, which was found in a garden near Vicenza in the Veneto region of north-east Italy
Just imagine finding a BMW 328 at the back of a storage unit on your American travels! Several of designer Fritz Fiedler’s brilliant 2-litre sports cars ended up on the other side of the Atlantic after being acquired by US servicemen during WW2 and later shipped home. Unused for many decades, this 328 even had a walking stick left against the door