VIN: the Sir Paul Vestey / Earl of Mexborough Ferrari F40 chassis 84104
History of chassis 84104
Chassis 84104 was one of the 78 F40s supplied new to the UK.
It was purchased by gentleman racing driver and serial Ferrari owner, Sir Paul Vestey.
In the late 1800s, brothers Williams and Edmund Vestey established what became a food distribution giant.
The Vestey brothers were pioneers of refrigeration, inventing an ammonia-compression plant that enabled refrigerated shipments around the world. Their company quickly expanded into the Americas, Europe, South Africa, Russia and China.
Such was the size of the operation that the Vesteys went on to create their own shipping line. By 1940, the family was considered the second wealthiest in Britain.
Accordingly, Paul Vestey was able to indulge his passion for fine motor cars from a young age. He purchased his first Ferrari from Colonel Ronnie Hoare at Maranello Concessionaires aged 21 in 1965 (a second-hand steel-bodied 250 GT SWB Berlinetta chassis 1993 GT).
By this time, Vestey had already begun to compete with a Lotus Elite.
In 1965, the Elite was replaced by a Jaguar E-type. In late 1966, the Jaguar was in turn superseded by an ex-Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 275 GTB/C (chassis 9035).
A year later, a 250 LM was purchased (chassis 6167) which was wrecked by David Piper on the ‘68 Targa Florio. Chassis 6167 was replaced with a second LM (6053) for that year’s Le Mans 24 Hours.
Throughout 1969 and 1970, Vestey variously campaigned his Chevron B8 (CH-DBE-71) and a Porsche 910 (020). He also raced Peter Sadler’s Ford GT40 and Porsche 911 together with the Nomad Mk3 of Mark Konig.
Following a couple of outings during the 1971 World Sportscar Championship (with Mike Coombe’s Lola T70 at Spa and Paul Watson’s 911 at Le Mans), Vestey effectively retired from serious competition.
Vestey then began to build up one of the most significant collections of high end motor cars to include some very significant Ferraris. In 1981, Vestey purchased 250 GTO (chassis 4115 GT) which was followed by the re-acquisition of his old 275 GTB/C. A 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione arrived in 1986 (2119 GT) along with a 250 Testa Rossa at the height of the collector car boom in 1989 (0738 TR).
Vestey picked his brand new F40 up from the factory in late 1989. He made the trip to Maranello with friend and fellow British Racing Drivers Club member, Andrew Fletcher, who was collecting his own F40 (chassis 84051).
Vestey’s F40 made the return trip to England on the temporary export plate EE 987 AK. He recalled:
"We had a great time picking the two cars up at the factory. Willie Tuckett and Andrew Fletcher were in the other one. We then drove up to La Reserve in Beaulieu - we arrived about five hours before Willie as he got lost in Genoa! Then up to the Georges Blanc at Vonnas and finally on to the coast where there was a gale blowing and our ferry crashed into the dock. It was a brilliant trip!"
84104 was UK registered PEV 1 on March 15th 1990. By this time, the car had already received its first service at Maranello Concessionaires.
Vestey sold the car to fellow collector, the Earl of Mexborough, in 1993. The Earl of Mexborough kept it until 2006, since which time chassis 84104 has gone through the hands of a couple more UK owners.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Sir Paul Vestey / The GPL Collection - https://www.thegplcollection.com/
