DOES ANYONE RECOGNISE THIS BRITISH FORD CAR FROM CALIFORNIA - OWNED BY MOVIE DIRECTOR

[JohnStokes]

Hello All,

A car has come up for sale in New Zealand, which appears to be genuine and have an interesting story.

The car is a British-made 1961 Ford Mark 2 Zodiac convertible. Good ones are few and far between.

Essentially, I understand it was purchased either when new, or very new, by the American movie producer Michael John Frankovitch - known as Mike Frankovitch. He sounds an interesting bloke. He started out as a football player, then got into acting in 1935. He married a British actress with the unlikely name of Binnie Barnes. That took him to Britain where, in 1955, he became head of Colombia Pictures. During his time in Britain he apparently began collecting British cars, especially the Ford Zephyr or Zodiac and Vauxhalls. He returned to the US in 1963, taking his car collection with him. (Apparently he then started collecting Edsels.)

This chap produced some pretty big movies - eg "There's a Girl in my Soup", "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice", John Wayne's last movie "The Shootist" - so clearly he had the spare cash to indulge in such a hobby. Apparently he displayed the cars in or near his home at Glendale, not far from Hollywood in Los Angeles. Sometimes he even drove them - but, not much! In mid-1999 the Zodiac was given a CA registration FORDGB but it looks as though it has never been on a car! Maybe it had another registration? I don't know.

Frankovitch died in 1992 and his car collection was sold. A New Zealander living up there purchased a couple of the Zephyrs and sent them here many years ago, where they went into storage. This particular car was recommissioned and put back of the road about 5 years ago. Sadly, that included a paint job - in original colours - and the car is now for sale. The owner is asking top money for it - so serious due diligence is required!

This is a long shot - but do any of the American viewers here who maybe have seen such old British cars around LA, or even know of Mike Frankovitch and his collection? I am trying to work out if all this is genuine!

Thanks in advance - John