The Ferrari Dino 246 GTS remains a well-loved vintage exotic from the 1970s. However, while most of these examples live in comfy collections across the globe, one of these vintage Ferraris went on a wild ride. Back in the 1970s, a Dino was stolen and subsequently buried in someone’s backyard.

According to Jalopnik, this unusual story takes a wicked twist as a police informant provided extra information. Additionally, we’ll take a look at exactly where this car is today.

How does a Ferrari Dino 246 GTS end up buried in LA?

This stolen Ferrari Dino story began in 1978 as some children played and dug around in their house’s backyard. According to Jalopnik, the children accidentally struck something under the ground. The kids reportedly decided to flag down a police officer to investigate. Upon realizing that something quite sizable was lying dormant under the earth, a team came to dig it up.

According to Jalopnik, the Ferrari Dino was originally purchased back in the early 1970s. The car was supposed to be a birthday present for the owner’s wife. The Drive report that the original owner only had the car for about five days. One night, the couple went out to dinner in the car. Unfortunately, the couple didn’t find their car later that night and reported it stolen.

From the original theft, no one had seen the Ferrari Dino anywhere. That is until some kids accidentally found it, and it breached the surface once again.

The insurance company sold it at an auction

As you might imagine, the original owner’s insurance company paid out the value of the stolen Ferrari Dino. As the insurance company got possession of the stolen car, it subsequently listed the car for sale at an auction. Around this time, a man named Brad Howard tried to close a deal on some real estate. According to The Drive, the person Howard was negotiating with mentioned the car. At this point, Howard decided to purchase the car as part of the deal.

However, before we continue with this Ferrari Dino story, we have to revisit the original claim since there is a wicked twist. According to Jalopnik, an informant told the police that thieves never stole the car. The story goes that the original owner allegedly arranged to have the car stolen to collect money from the insurance company. Since the car never showed up, the insurance company paid the owner.

Thankfully, officer Dennis Carroll told The Drive that the people contracted to destroy the car couldn’t do it. Instead, the people involved reportedly tried to bury the Ferrari Dino to preserve it. This included taking some less-than-effective methods to preserve the car’s pristine original condition.

Where is this vintage Ferrari now?

Now that we’ve covered the big twist, we can turn back to Brad Howard because he still owns the Ferrari Dino. Howard told The Drive that he decided to get the Dino back on the road after receiving it.

The first step was to have a mechanic look over the engine. According to The Drive, the mechanic replaced three pistons and the rod bearings as well. From there, a painter resprayed the car in its original shade of Forest Green.

After decades of owning this Ferrari Dino, Howard told The Drive that the car had suffered no major mechanical faults. As a result, this buried Dino still lives on today.