Millionaire car enthusiast David Lee spends US$1 million to modify infamous Ferrari Dino
Collector David Lee, who spared no expense modifying 1972 Italian sports car he bought for US$260,000, plans to upgrade and sell 25 versions – five each year
Classic car enthusiast David Lee, owner of the US$300 million watch and investment empire Hing Wa Lee Jewelers, in California – a business his father launched, exporting carved gemstones, from Hong Kong’s Wan Chai district in the 1960s before it relocated to the US in the 1970s – owns more than US$50 million worth of the world’s rarest vehicles.
Lee’s collection, stored in a garage underneath a nondescript shopping plaza 40 minutes outside central Los Angeles, includes models from Rolls-Royce, Pagani, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz.
Ferrari has seen [the modified Dino]; I’m sure they’ve seen it. But I didn’t ask them for permission ... I wanted to own something that is not what money can buy
However, it is his dozens of iconic Ferraris, including an Enzo, an F50, and F40, as well as multiple F12s, 250s, 275s, and 288s, that have earned Lee the most notoriety.
“When I was 29, I bought a Diablo VT, but it was always in the shop,” Lee says.
“I didn’t get to enjoy the car, so I bought a Ferrari 355 Spyder. Since then, I have focused on collecting Ferraris. I just had a love for them.”
An unassuming 51-year-old married father of two, Lee frequents the world’s most prestigious car shows, hosts big-spender dinners for Chopard in Geneva, jets to Asia and the Middle East to visit clients, and drives with friends who own high-performance Koenigsegg sports cars.
He can have whatever car he wants.
Yet that gets pretty boring after a while. “I thought when I get certain cars, I would be the most happy. And I was, for a few years,” Lee says.
