A Ferrari fished out of the Amsterdam Ij may find a new home at Artis in one of the many aquariums found at the zoo.
The car was stumbled upon by Amsterdam firefighters during a training exercise in June 2020. Since being fished out of the Ij on July 9, it has been sitting in waiting at De Ooijevaar, a scrapyard in Blokker in North Holland.
While it has been confirmed that the car will not be scrapped, however, it is also not possible to restore it to its former glory, and its future remains uncertain. According to Lowie Hoedt from De Ooyevaar, there have been a number of requests from members of the public to buy the wrecked car: “people wanted to buy an engine and build a coffee table from it, or they wanted to convert the rims into a decorative piece."
Hoedt told AT5 that the car should remain in Amsterdam, and revealed that the hope at the moment is that it will be used in Artis in one of the zoo’s many aquariums: “The best thing would be if the car could be underwater somewhere. After all, it spent 26 years there.”
The Ferrari was a 1980s model of the Ferrari Mondial. It was reported as stolen in 1987, and has remained missing for 36 years. While many buyers are keen to get their hands on this car, in its heyday it wasn’t considered one of the favourite Ferraris, with Hoedt describing it as the ugly duckling of the Ferrari family.
Source: AT5