Melbourne: Owner reunited with rare classic Ferrari after it was stolen

A Melbourne man has been reunited with his rare Ferrari hours after it was stolen thanks to this one deft move.

The Melbourne owner of a rare Ferrari was reunited with his stolen car within an hour of posting it online thanks to the power of social media.

Cameron Smith left his workplace about 5.30pm on Monday, only to find his beloved red mid-1970s Ferrari 400 missing from the carpark.

He called centre security, police and his insurer but thought it was “never going to be seen again”.

“It’s not a very common car, there’s only maybe 300 or 400 in the world, so you don’t see them very often,” Mr Smith told 3AW Breakfast with Ross and Russel on Tuesday.

“I certainly thought this one was gone.”

Mr Smith sat at home, poured himself a stiff drink and thought it was out of his hands until he had a thought to reach out to social media.

He contacted a car club and a friend, whose business has a wide following, and the friend posted it on his Instagram.

Within half an hour, his friend sent him a screenshot of a text message from a man called Tony, claiming to have seen the car in a carpark in Clayton.

Mr Smith at first thought Tony was “having a lend”.

“Ten minutes later, I’m in the car talking to this guy Tony and he said ‘100 per cent mate, it’s your car, same rego and it’s sitting down there now’.

Tony sent his cousin down to sit with the car to ensure it wasn’t stolen or moved again.

Mr Smith joined him soon after, in his pyjamas, waiting for the police to turn up.

“I was sitting there having a drink thinking I don’t even know how I’m going to get to sleep tonight, I was pretty annoyed as you can imagine,” Mr Smith told the radio show.

“I reckon from time of going on social media and me getting a call saying ‘this is your car’, it was less than an hour.”

The Ferrari was found in the basement of a large carpark with its ignition barrel drilled out but otherwise seemed in good condition.

Conveniently, it was parked in front of a CCTV camera.

The car is now in the police compound waiting to be checked for fingerprints.

Originally published as Melbourne: Owner reunited with rare classic Ferrari after it was stolen