How Tim Fabrizio Became the Barn Find King: The Victoria's Secret Diablo Hunt

The Genesis of a Barn Find Hunter

• 💡 Tim Fabrizio never had a conventional job, starting in phone sales at 16 and quickly becoming a manager.
• 🧠 At 17, he interned with Rolex, working on watches, which he considers his only formal job experience.
• 🚀 Since then, his career has solely focused on cars, buying, selling, finding, and dealing with parts, leading him to the world of barn finding.

The Victoria's Secret Diablo Quest

• 🎯 The hunt for the legendary Victoria's Secret Lamborghini Diablo began when Ed Bolian mentioned it as a seemingly impossible find.
• 🔍 Fabrizio started with a VIN number and a name from Ed's PI, quickly realizing the name was outdated.
• 📈 A Carfax report led him to a 2011 auction in Indianapolis, contradicting the car's widely believed California location.
• 📍 A drone shot from the auction confirmed the car's presence and intact front end, despite a previous accident.

Piecing Together the Clues

• 🕵️ A YouTube video of a white Diablo, though low quality, provided a potential lead, with its uploader's other videos pointing to central Illinois.
• 🗺️ Fabrizio deduced the car was likely on the East Coast, not California, based on auction and video evidence.
• 💬 A Facebook post about a woman buying the "Victoria Secret one of one Lambo" at the auction provided a crucial connection.
• 🚗 Further research linked this woman to a large collection of vehicles, including muscle cars, and an airport bearing her name, suggesting a connection to a muscle car repair shop.

The Illinois Search and Discovery

• 🏠 Arriving in a small Illinois town, Fabrizio faced a lack of local knowledge about exotic cars, leading to initial defeat.
• 📞 A call back to the owner, who had found his note, confirmed the presence of a white Diablo.
• 📍 He visited the owner's property, finding the car in a barn, exactly as depicted in a 2013 YouTube video, still on a lift with wheels removed.
• 🤯 The owner revealed they bought the Diablo because her husband couldn't fit in her Z3M Roadster, and they never registered, drove, or even took photos of it.

Acquisition and Eccentric Owners

• 💰 After negotiating with the owner, Fabrizio secured the car for a price slightly higher than initially discussed.
• 🛠️ He assisted in reassembling the car, including fixing a brake caliper and maneuvering it off the lift due to its low clearance.
• 💥 A dramatic moment occurred when the owner's daughter crushed her finger in the car's hood while reassembling it.
• 🚗 The car was loaded onto a trailer, and Fabrizio learned about the eccentric previous owners: a tractor dealership owner who bought a tractor-shaped hot air balloon and the wife who bought the Diablo.
• ✅ The Victoria's Secret Diablo was finally recovered after years of being lost, a testament to Fabrizio's persistent barn-finding skills.