Forza
The last time I spoke with John Clay Wolfe, self-described car geek and founder of GIVE ME THE VIN, he was catching me up to speed on his new restaurant endeavor in Walnut Springs.
He’s partnering with Felipe Armenta.
Anyway, during that call he mentioned something about Adam Corolla. Kind of went in one ear and out the other.
Well, this week, we find out the comedian and Wolfe went in together to buy Paul Newman’s 1976 Ferrari 308 GTB, also known as the “Prancing Clydesdale.”
“This is what happens when two friends that are car geeks have a few drinks,” Wolfe says. “I knew about this Ferrari earlier this year and after seeing Adam’s collection at the National Automobile Museum in Reno, we knew this was the final piece to make the collection complete.”
The s/n 19595 was the first 308 GTB in the U.S. and was featured on the cover of Road & Track, Wolfe says. It was raced by Newman and sponsored by Budweiser.
The purchase includes the transport, both of which are on display at Wolfe’s GMTV Garage in Walnut Springs, a small town about an hour southwest of Fort Worth.
Wolfe’s GMTV Garage is the headquarters for the classic and collector cars division of GivemetheVIN.com. It’s located in a historical building constructed in 1905. It once served as a Ford dealership serving all of Bosque County, according to Wolfe. The renovated 6,000-square-foot space has a car museum, GMTV Garage offices, and the W6 Saloon. As an homage to Ford, the division logo was created using the same font style as the company.
In March, Wolfe and Richard Rawlings made news by selling a Hellcat-customized Humvee at the Barrett-Jackson auction for $825,000, a record for any full-size SUV category at the auction.
The Humvee also generated 154 million views on a single Instagram reel, making it one of the most viewed posts on the platform. That number has almost certainly increased since then.
Wolfe, a 2023 Fort Worth Inc. Entrepreneur of Excellence Award winner, is president and founder of GIVE ME THE VIN. Rawlings is founder of Gas Monkey Garage in Dallas.
Carolla, an ardent collector and a racing aficionado, has meticulously curated an unparalleled collection of Newman’s racecars over the years. Newman discovered his passion for racing while filming the 1969 classic “Winning,” which translated into a successful side career in motorsports. Newman's first race in the Budweiser Ferrari was at Willow Springs, a track in Southern California. The race was an SCCA National event. He was leading the race until all four tires began losing air, the result of the them having been improperly mounted. Still, Newman scored a third-place finish.
Through his venture, Chassy Media, Carolla produced the inspirational documentaries “Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman,” “Uppity: The Willy T. Ribbs Story,” and “The 24-Hour War,” which documents the battle between Ford and Ferrari for racing dominance at Le Mans in the 1960s.
“It’s a legitimate Newman race car. Some are a little dubious [like] he drove it one time for a celebrity race,” says Carolla, “but this is a Paul Newman car, I think he did eight races … a season in it. It’s a cool piece.”