I'd like to ask you, as a real participant in your Uncle's world, if you'd be interested in turning such an experience into a "poetic license" type historical screenplay. As a Dallas resident who has seen a few ups-n-downs with Deep Ellum, I think what you describe could be really compelling not just from the "car in an apartment" storyline but for the people who inhabited that sphere. Just a thought, thanks for chiming in by the way, was great to read!
Edit: Forgot to add my Dad's family was up 'n down California for a long time and I had some fun hanging out in Malibu with a Tio who was a Hollywood stunt man for many years. History is quite a trip.
Perhaps you already know this but Musso & Frank's is right around the corner from the 'Ferrari apartment' and is often mentioned in crime novelist Michael Connelly's stories. It's a favorite of a main character. If you enjoy reading about the history of this part of California, plus some unsavory and colorful characters, you should check out his books. 'Angel's Flight' is a particularly good earlier work by him. The book series is what Amazon's 'Bosch' series is based on as well.
He's extremely old school (i.e. a cassette tape answering machine) so I wouldn't be able to get a sample in any timely manner.
As in your uncle owned the car?
Anyway, what an excellent story and made all the more interesting by your comment.
My uncle is not particularly motivated by money or business ventures. He's lived a fairly quiet and private life and trying to restore and flip this car isn't really in his makeup.
I can corroborate 100% of this story.
My uncle, and that apartment, have a very interesting history. My grandfather purchased the building as an investment but it turned into a sort of crash pad for members of my family. My uncle ended up managing it after years of rebuilding jet engines in the Navy as a mechanic. He could rebuild anything by eyeballing a reference part, which was awesome when the ancient pluming failed, but misery when the ancient window treatments failed (ugly as sin and cheap/poor quality even for the 1960s).
One of the units was owned by a writer that used it as his personal library for an elaborate book and magazine collection. He lived there after retiring but prior to that would fly back and forth between LA and NY because it was cheaper and easier than relocating them and the associated increase in storage fees.
The apartment building is a block away from Hollywood Blvd and many of the street performers/costume wearers lived in the adjacent buildings. I would wake up and say hello to Captain Jack Sparrow and Spiderman on my way to grabbing a cup of coffee. In the late 70s through early 90s it was extremely sketchy and somewhat dangerous. I was a kid when they started cleaning it up so I don't have first hand knowledge of it but the neighborhood certainly still talks about it. The park that used to be next to the apartment was where drug dealers and prostitutes would market their wares. Eventually they bulldozed it and put in a fenced, well lit, park and daycare center as part of the Hollywood Revitalization and Redevelopment program.
My uncle decided to retire so he sold the building, split the proceeds with my aunt and grandmother, and moved out of Hollywood.
AMA!
Edit: Street View for those who want to walk the Neighborhood https://www.google.com/maps/@34.1031929,-118.335439,3a,75y,1...