When one thinks of Savannah, Georgia, thoughts of historic buildings, seafood cafes, and a beautiful waterfront often come to mind.
Certainly not old sports cars.
But master car hunter Ernie Cabrera, who actually lives four hours away in Atlanta, has scored some terrific automotive discoveries in that seaside town. The semi-retired real estate investor has owned some very desirable sports cars in the past 45 years, including a Porsche 550 Spyder and a 1953 Porsche Cabriolet.
Cabrera’s first “Savannah find” was the 1958 Porsche 356 A Cabriolet he discovered in the 1970s. The car was a European delivery and went to Oregon before landing in Savannah. “I traded my 1961 sunroof coupe for the cabriolet,” Cabrera says. “The car had no rust, so I took it to a body shop to be restored.”
When it reappeared from the shop three years later, the body was cherry, but Cabrera had lost interest in the car. So he parked the disassembled convertible in his own garage, where it has sat for the past 40 years. He is only now beginning to complete that restoration.
And in 2003, Savannah yielded a second Porsche to Cabrera. “It was a 1957 Porsche Speedster,” he says. “The owner had died and his daughter was selling her dad’s assets in an estate sale.”
A friend of Cabrera’s, who was a member of the Porsche Club of America, had been contacted by the daughter, asking him how she might sell a car like this. That friend called Cabrera and they struck a deal. “The car had been sitting since at least 1990,” he says. “It was partially disassembled.”
Ernie Cabrera has had terrific luck with finding cool cars in just one city: Savannah, Georgia. He traded a Porsche 356 sunroof coupe for this Cabriolet back in the 1970s and still owns it today. ERNIE CABRERA
“In those days, fiberglass was the hero, so at some point, the car had fiberglass cloth applied over the entire floor. So moisture was captured under that and it rusted badly.”
But other than that, Cabrera says the car was fairly complete and cleaned up pretty well. “I just changed the oil, cleaned the carbs, flushed the gas tank, and it ran fine.” This Speedster was sold to a collector in Europe in 2008.
Cabrera’s third Savannah discovery was the 1961 Alfa Giulietta he bought in 2013. The same friend that told him about the ’57 Speedster told him about the Alfa. “The car had been sitting for a good 30 years in a barn,” he says. “The owner was too sick to work on it.”
This car also had fiberglass slathered all over the floors, but in this case, Cabrera credits it for actually having saved the Alfa’s floors. At some point the owner attempted to do a brake job, but got ill and couldn’t finish it. So Cabrera is still missing the brake shoes and return springs. “But when I put some gas in the carburetor float bowls, the car started right up and idled perfectly,” he says.
“The paint isn’t shiny, but it looks pretty good. Fortunately the car was never modified, so it’s still all original. I’m going to just leave it as-is and drive it.”
And if it should break, well, he knows where to find another.
Cabrera is particularly excited about this 1958 Alfa Giulietta he found in, you guessed it, Savannah. He has owned dozens of cool barn-find cars throughout the years. ERNIE CABRERA