Owner gets Ferrari back after paying %243 mil in tax

Bob Golfen
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 14, 2005 12:00 AM

The multimillion-dollar Phoenix auction of a rare 1967 Ferrari race car seized in a federal tax case has been canceled after the reclusive Florida millionaire who owns the car paid off nearly $3 million in back taxes.

The March 30 sale of the Ferrari 330 P4 race car, one of three in the world, was expected to attract wealthy collectors from all over the world to compete against each other in the unusual auction, which had a minimum bid of $2 million.

Ferrari experts said the P4 was valued as high as $10 million.

The car was seized in August by the Internal Revenue Service from a Scottsdale Ferrari business where it was being stored after a restoration.

The owner of the Ferrari, Orlando land developer Walter Medlin, who had been battling the IRS for about 20 years, owed $2,921,293 in taxes and interest to the IRS, according to Florida court records.

"The total amount he owed was paid," said Mark Horwitz, Medlin's Florida attorney.

Horwitz brought a certified check in the full amount to the IRS office in Orlando on Wednesday, he said, and was given a release for the Ferrari.

Medlin had the car picked up from a Chandler warehouse the next day.

"I'm sure there are a lot of disappointed people who wanted to go to that auction," Horwitz said.

IRS officials, citing privacy issues, would say only that the Ferrari sale had been canceled.