Note the wonderful memories of Frank Butler has about his car (Jan.'05):

"I bought the car in Paris from a used car dealer affiliated with the Ferrari garage there, and located right behind it in the St. Cloud area. That was mid April 1958 and the car had the equivalent of 15,000 miles on it. Previously, I had a MB 190 SL that I picked up new at the factory in Sindelfingen (by Stuttgart). My first drive back home from Paris was a little tough as this was the first car I had that you had to double-clutch (and a very stiff one too!!). It steered like a truck, no power steering in those days. Anyway, I was tired out by the time I got home in Verdun. We went to all the races within driving distance such as LeMans, the 1000KM races at the Nurburgring and Spa, the GP´s at Nurbergring, Spa, Riems,Monaco etc. A spring leaf broke one time on the way home in the left rear and I had to back off and drive a little slower until I got home and got it replaced. Found out from that experience that you have to keep an eye on those Houdaille shocks as the tend to leak out the fluid to the point where they just don´t work anymore. Have to top them off periodically with a real thick fluid. I used to get about 16-18 MPG on the autobahns (not flat-out) and around 10 MPG around town. You also had to avoid traffic as the car boils over if you get hung up in traffic. The thing has no regular thermostat, just an adjustable by-pass valve that you have to change for every variation in how you intend to drive it. In ´59, I repaired the carb´s as a couple of springs were broken and they needed cleaning out. Also had leaks in the oil radiator and gas tank. Replaced the ignition wiring and installed an air-horn. In 1960, I took the Ferrari to Maranello and had some work done on it and got it re-painted firehouse red (as a Ferrari should be). In 1961, I sold the car as I had bought a MB 300SL and couldn´t handle two cars. I sold it to a guy named Ed. Gaus and a year later, he took the car back to the states with him to New Jersey.