Volume 4, Issue 2 - March 1997

Cavallino Classic 1997

by: steve tillack

the breakers hotel is just the right sort of place for a fine winter-time ferrari concours d?elegance

cavallino editor john barnes, classy guy that he is, chose the breakers as the sight for the cavallino classic. well done john. now, normally i don't need florida. living at the beach, i have all the sun and fresh air one could ask for. but it's been raining here since christmas! so we loaded up a few cars and headed for the other coast.

a few of the more modern cars at the ferrari concours d?elegance

not surprisingly, the classic has become an international "must attend" . this year japan was represented by mr.?s matsuda (340 mexico s/n 0228at) and sasamoto (250 swb comp). a smattering of brit's came over for a bit o' sun and for the first time a large group from the german club made the trek. all vowed to return (with cars and golf clubs) next year.

a unique addition to this year?s event was the tour de palm beach. a wonderfully bright, warm (and dry!) friday morning greeted 50 plus ferraris for a winding trip through the best neighborhoods palm beach has to offer -- "de tour" was long on opulent scenery. let me take this opportunity to recommend driving a 355, as my personal conveyance, a 45 year old race car, found the route a little short on open road and the all-so-critical air flow to the radiator.

all four of the remaining 125/166 spyder corsa(s) were on display and the undisputed high point of the show.

eventually everyone made it to lunch at the palm beach polo club, with the admirable assistance of the mop up crew provided by shelton ferrari. after lunch you had the choice of devoting the afternoon to watching the polo matches or subjecting your car to the detailed scrutiny of the coppa bella machina judging. the emphasis of the coppa is drivability and functional operation of all systems. the ?lose one point and yer'out? scoring really separates the sorted from the merely polished. in the opinion of your scribe the coppa bella machina should be mandatory for any serious concours competition.

saturday 5:30 am, show time! the day opened with a strong cool breeze, and cloudy skies, later clearing to a positively hot afternoon. when i arrived at the truck it was apparent that, as usual my crew of gary fergison and mike mccarthy had been up all night. thankfully their hard work would be heartily rewarded later in the evening.

another view of the earliest ferrari motorcars, the 125/166 spyder corsas.

the cavallino classic offered a ferrari for every taste. my personal preference always runs to the old stuff. was i in heaven? all four of the remaining 125/166 spyder corsa(s) we

President's Corner

this is it. this is the year of the cavallino and the 50th anniversary of the ferrari motor car. you had better get your mind, body, spirit and ferrari prepared for a wide variety of events. you will note in our calendar that we have an extravagant assortment of events planned for the year. we hope that among them all you will find a choice that best suits you. rodeo drive - april 19th - is going to be the show-of-the-year and an application appears elsewhere in this newsletter. you will also get a personalized invitation from mr. gian luigi butoni, president and ceo of ferrari north america.

plans are to have five new 550 maranellos introduced at a private dinner presentation at the petersen museum on friday night, the 18th of april. sempre ferrari will advise you of the details as we get closer.

in the mean time, things ferrari are really looking great. you know we always talk about ?the club? but now i mean all things ferrari. the f355 product is truly successful, with the california stores being first in the country in terms of sales. there is the promise of a follow-up success with the 550, a car that already has a waiting list.

the bottom line is that even those of us older vintage people get affected by the ferrari hype that permeates our arena. but, even with all of this new stuff, there is still the ever-loving, caring and proud owner of the vintage ferrari, the cars that truly have history. some boast of documented ownership and others are just so rare that you feel honored to be in their presence. would they ever present a new model without showing the past and progressive history? never.

i know that may sound foolish, but when you really like the cars and what they represent in history and what they are today, it?s pretty hard not to get excited.

and that?s my cause for now. get excited with me. we are observing history in the making. the year of the cavallino, 1997. truly the year of the 550.

thanks for your membership,

tom brockmiller

Playing Softball in Dodger Stadium -- FCA Track Event at Las Vegas Speedway

by: jeff littrell

we're only the second car club to run at this new facility and we used a combination of the high-speed oval track and the fine in-field road course to make a challenging 2.48 mile, very fast road circuit.

upon arrival at the track, we were able to the giant concrete bowl that makes up the facility. after signing two waivers with real security guards, we felt like real pros as we drove through one of the three tunnels under the banking and onto the in-field. even though it is still under going further construction, the place is impressive. there are lights all around the track, hundreds of them. there are real garages, real big garages with professional signs above the doors which can be changed to indicate the names of the teams using them. inside are painted floors and a zomboni-like waxing machine for keeping them polished. there are covered pit garages too. even the bathrooms are first-rate with rows of stalls and sinks with hot and cold water and even mechanics hand soap.

if you've raced at any of the local tracks you can appreciate how welcome these amenities are. i guess it just goes to show that the money in motorsports in america is in ovals. pretty soon we'll have the new penske track in fontana too. after more than a decade of willow springs we are suddenly graced with a plethora of new, fine racing tracks to choose from.

as mentioned, the turn out was good, with over 50 cars in attendance, but the ferrari contingent continues to be miniscule. at this event we had three ferraris: roger moore's testarossa, joel quaid's 348 ts, and denise stillman's 328 gts.

other fca southwest region members showed up in their daily driver brand x cars. this included: jeff littrell and his mazda rx-7, doug hayashi and his acura nsx, doug ota and his bmw m3, and paul porteous and his bmw m3. not a bad showing but we'd love to see more of you out there. don't be scared off by the rest of this article.

you've probably already noticed the pictures. the event was not all fun for everyone. most people had a great time but there were a few mishaps to dampen the enthusiasm. unlike road circuits like willow springs and buttonwillow that are cut into the desert in the middle of nowhere, las vegas international speedway is built out of concrete in the desert in the middle of nowhe

Oldtimer's Corner - 1973 24 hr. du Mans - Part 2

by: ed niles

all rights reserved

first, it wasn't just le mans. for the first time in history, the grand prix of monaco was "back to back" with le mans; monaco preceded the 24-hour event by one week.

next, we (chuck and carol queener and i) had been invited by the great french collector, pierre bardinon, to visit him at his famous country estate/race course/museum outside of aubusson before monaco. so let's start there.

pierre and his wife, yanne, are some of the nicest people you would be likely to meet, and pierre is a true ferrari enthusiast. that having been said, he has always been somewhat publicity-shy, as he is anxious to avoid the possibility of kidnapping, extortion, trouble with his workers (he is a wholesale furrier), or being inundated with requests from ferrari enthusiasts. so we felt honored to receive his invitation.

we arrived at mas du clos in mid-week, in the midst of a violent rainstorm. despite the rain, pierre and yanne were the most gracious of hosts, inviting us into their home (chateau or castle might be more appropriate) for a sumptuous dinner. it turns out that pierre is something of an oenephile, and so naturally we had a different wine with each course. by the end of the meal, chuck queener and i were feeling no pain. but nothing would do but that pierre show us his wine cellar. and in this case, it is literally a cellar, with the walls of the stairwell lined with rare and wonderful bottles and the cellar filled with case upon case of nothing but the best. from the cellar, pierre (who by now was also quite well straightened out) selected several bottles of fine old cognac. we went upstairs again, where he explained that the youngest vintage was what he called his "3l2". from that we progressed to the 5l2, the 6l2, and finally to that can-am master the 7l2.

when the party dragged on to the wee hours, and we were all falling down in our plates, chuck and i felt it was time to excuse ourselves. pierre and yanne had arranged for us to have rooms in their guest quarters, "down the road" from the main house. as i stepped out into the storm, chuck said, "be careful!", but it was too late. i'd already slipped on a wet cobblestone, and was prone by the time he finished his sentence! they say you can't hurt a drunk, and there must be some truth in that as i was able to get up and wend my way (more carefully) to my quarters for the night.

the next morning, pierre showed us his private race course, which is quite professionally built, and in fact is used by some of the teams for practice during the racing season. we also had a chance to look at his collection of ferraris, which at the time numbered between 35 and 40. technically, the collection was, and is, owned by the association collection mas du clos, but everybody recognizes pierre as the proprietor of this fantastic ferrari museum. he specializes in sports racers and sports prototypes, although there is a sprinkling of street models and, from time to time, several retired formula l cars. at this time (1973), the current museum had not yet been built, and the collection was scattered around in several buildings.

from mas du clos, near aubusson, (the tapestry capital of france), we journeyed on to monte carlo, the capital of the principality of monaco. the grand prix of monaco is something that i'm sure you have seen on television, and as a result everything looked quite familiar to us. but it was the people that made it interesting. while we were there, we met old drivers (pilotes anciens - i'm not making this up; they are assigned an arm band with that designation) including phil hill, tony brooks, carroll shelby, stirling moss, louis chiron, juan manuel fangio, huschke von hanstein, ba

Mark Dees

by: ed niles

i first met mark almost 40 years ago, when we were both young deputies in the l.a. city attorney's office. one of our mutual friends introduced us, saying, "you guys should get acquainted; you both like cars". in mark's case, that was an understatement. mark's taste in rolling stock was eclectic, to say the least. at the time of his death, he owned somewhere between 35 and 40 cars, ranging from buick hot rods, through indy cars, bonneville speedsters, to his 308 gt4 "project", which of course he never completed.

mark was bright, witty, and well educated (stanford). he selected his parents well, and as a result never really had to work for a living, although he practiced law for a number of years. one would think that he would travel in certain elite circles. he did, but he was just as friendly with anybody who had any interest in things automotive, no matter their station in life. in fact, he loved to be surrounded by his friends, who are legion.

most of us in the ferrari world restrict our interest to only the one type of car. mark was not only interested in everything automotive, but was a great train enthusiast as well. at the time of his death, he owned three rail cars, the most famous of which was the "san marino", the private rail car originally built for henry e. huntington. his other interests included horses and horse racing, and in particular long distance horse racing, a peculiarly punishing test of man and beast.

in addition to owning several interesting ferraris, mark made himself known to club members by sponsoring, for many years, an annual picnic at his family ranch in santa paula. he was an extraordinarily entertaining story-teller, and one memorable example is when he spoke to the ferrari owner's club about his exploits in the "baja 1000" in a citroen(!). when he told that story, i started laughing so hard that i was in danger of having "an accident", and as i ran to the men's room i could still hear the laughter of the crowd after every sentence.

mark had a penchant for biting off more than he could chew. he had always hoped to create a new estate on his property in santa paula, so that he could reinstate the annual picnics. sadly, it was another dream that will go unrealized.

mark was such a strong presence in the lives of so many, that it is hard to believe that he is gone. our sympathies go to his family, but those of us who knew him well must also give each other sympathy.

Buying an Older Ferrari - The Final Chapter

by: chris kantarjiev

she still has to go back to get her headlight trim rings (not back from the platers) and a few other niggardly details, but we all (body shop folks, too!) wanted to get her home and out of the shop.

330 gt 2+2 s/n 9161 looks even better than before. now if she?d only pass that blasted smog ii....

i changed the oil, did a quick tune-up, and took some short trips. we noticed a number of small things that still needed to be done. one of them was to readjust the alignment of the trunk lid to properly fit the new seal; this ended up being the cause of the flat battery, because the trunk light was always on.

one of the trips we took was back up king?s mountain road, to and past the accident site. my, but that?s a narrow road! i don?t know what i was thinking going up there at more than a crawl with that big car. that was almost certainly exaggerated by the fact that i had to remind myself to breathe most of the way up, but it is a narrow road, and i had to go quite slowly to not cross the yellow.

the following weekend we were meant to go on the abalone run with the fca pacific region, up to point reyes. we were really looking forward to finally being able to bring our ferrari along, rather than a brand x. unfortunately, she started fouling plugs during the week, and i couldn?t get the tune straightened out in time to be comfortable driving her on a four hour trip. more hopes dashed; i spent a frustrating day under the hood instead of a pleasant day behind the wheel.

in fact, that?s been the story of the car so far. her registration expired and she needs a smog certificate. i got her running well, but the emissions were way off. the guy i used to take her to has gone out of business. the guy down the street who tests our triumphs ran me through a couple of times... and then smog check ii went into effect. the next time i came in, he said ?we better do a test run first, you don?t want to get labeled a gross polluter?... and sure enough, we had that to worry about, too.

i called around to several shops that do ferrari work. they were all more than an hour?s drive away, or afraid to take on smog work for a car that they haven?t seen before. very odd - several shops all but told me that they didn?t want my business, even though i tried to make it very clear that it might take many hours to get to the point of running cleanly enough. smog check ii has folks scared.

between the lack of a valid registration and going back to the body shop for headlight rings and other details, we missed the monterey historics again. but even if we had rushed to get the cosmetics done, i wouldn?t have had enough confidence in driving the car to drive her down.

there are (sadly) some things about the car that aren?t perfect, but aren?t worth making so. for example, there?s a paint flaw (a small crack) in the hood just above the ?safety hook?. it?s not very obvious, it?s down in the color coat, and any repair would inevitably be extremely obvious. a few pieces got lost in the process - we?re still looking for them or replacements. given how long the car was apart, this is not a big surprise.

now to try to work on the balance of time; she?s been in the shop longer than we owned her before the accident. she?s mostly been sitting for the past few months, waiting for me to have enough time to deal with the smog problems. she passed easily last time - all she really needs is a very good tune-up.

New Ferrari Colors

by: dave steven

it contains actual sheetmetal plates (approximately 8?x10?) painted with real paint and has a little cutout where a stitched and stuffed leather biscuit pops through to show how the leather compliments the exterior color. it also has carpet samples (not removable).

i had a chance to play with a kit a few weeks ago and here are the new choices:

• nero (black) 1240
• nero carbonio (met. black) 901/c
• canna de fucile (grey) 703/c
• argento nurburgring (silver) 101/c
• bianco avus (white) 100
• azzurro hyperion (met. blue) 517/c (lightest)
• azzurro monaco (met. blue) 515/c
• blu sebring (met. blue) 503/c
• blu swaters (met. blue) 513/c
• blu le mans (met. blue) 516/c (darkest)
• verde mugello (met. green) fq95-3674 (lightest)
• verde silverstone (met. green) fq95-3673 (darkest)
• verde inglese (british racing green) 606
• rosso monza (met. red - wine) 311/c
• rosso barchetta (dark red) 312
• rosso corsa (bright red) 300
• giallo modena (yellow) 102

black, grey, light grey, off white, creme, beige, tobacco, brown, navy blue, blue, green, red

sorry, no notes on the carpet samples.

anyway it sure makes one lust for something beyond red/tan!

A Little Humor

the pope decides to buy a ferrari to go for a drive. he invites two of his cardinals along and once on the "autostrada" he is quickly accelerates to 250 km/h and zig-zags in the traffic overtaking the slower traffic. he continues to accelerate when the first cardinal, white as a ghost from fright asks the pope to pull over and let him out.

the pope says to him "don't worry, jesus is with us". the cardinal politely repeats his request to the pope. the pope slows down and lets him out. the second cardinal is about to step out of the car, when the pope gives him a mean look, and the 2nd cardinal decides to stay. the pope floors it and gets to 300 km/h in no time, zig zagging and passing all the traffic. the cardinal kindly asks the pope if he would let him out, to which the pope replies "don't worry, jesus is with us". the cardinal suggests that if the pope doesn't want his new ferrari smelling of caca, that he lets him out. once again the car slows down to a stop and the cardinal gets out.

accelerating at lightning speed the pope has the speedo at 350k, everything vibrating, cars being overtaken left, right and centre when the the pope feels a tap on the shoulder. "who's that!?" asks the pope. "it's jesus, let me out of the car!"

Call To Action - Smog Check II

the pacific region newsletter ran a timely article on the latest development on the smog ii test as required by the state of california motor vehicle department for the licensing of your ferrari.

letter to the editor:

ca state senator quentin kopp has introduced a bill (sb42) that if passed would exempt cars 25 years old and older from ca?s smog check ii.

such a bill was requested by british car club members and others.

other states have started to copy ca smog laws.

many people have yet to face the new ca smog ii so they aren?t yet aware of how (unfairly) it makes the 25+ year old cars meet standards that they did not have to meet when brand new! i called senator kopp?s office and they said that the best way to help get this vital bill passed was to send/fax/contact his office or one?s local ca senator. sb42 should get voted on in the next 30 days.

thanks to hardy prentice for the above.

and further - as we go to press, judd goldfeder obtained the following information by calling senator kopp?s office:

it was just voted 6 to 0 that the bill should now go to the appropriations committee and will appear in the legislator.

you should write to your assemblyman and state senator asking for passage of sb42. call if you know them. this is a most critical time for action.

kopp, quentin l.
363 el camino real, suite 205
so. san francisco, ca 94080
(415) 952-5666

or

state capitol
room 2057
sacramento, ca 95814
(916) 445-0503

Real Men Drive their Ferraris

this is an open invitation, and challenge, for you to join a group of us that are driving our ferraris from los angeles to the national ferrari club of america meet in leesburg, virginia. the event dates are wednesday, may 21st through sunday, may 25th.

i will be driving my 1964, 250 gtl, lusso and my father will be driving his 1958, 250 gt, ellena. it should be noted that there are still a few of us high spirited and adventurous souls out there willing to enjoy our cars to the utmost and make an energized run to the other coast.

this will be a well organized event with appropriate overnight stops and all necessary precautions taken to insure our enjoyment and safety.

we will be departing from los angeles on friday, may 9th, allowing ample time to arrive at our destination.

the meet is being held at the beautiful lansdowne resort, 35 miles west of washington dc, and there will be a track event at summit point raceway. the theme is ?50 years of ferrari racing?. the full article and entry forms are in your national newsletter.

if you are interested or wish further details please contact: mike yedor at (deleted) or cy yedor at (deleted). (oh yes, real women can also drive their ferraris). if you are unable to start with us in los angeles, you can certainly feel free to meet us along the way. a detailed map will be forwarded to you if you have any further interest.

Ferrari or Ferraris

by: jeff littrell

he professes to be extremely annoyed anytime he sees or hears the word ?ferraris.? he claims that in italian ferrari is already plural. in italy they would say ?uomini veri guidano una ferrari.? the same premise applies to other words that end in the letter ?i?, such as ravioli. of course, he also shatters other common american misconceptions about italy. for example, he claims that fettuccini alfredo doesn?t even exist in italy. alfredo sauce is an american invention. i also suspect that he doesn?t fit the bill of the stereotypical italian lover but i didn?t want to question him on that one.

i?ve tried to explain that ferrari is enzo?s surname (as if he didn?t already know this) and therefore cannot be assumed to be both singular and plural. there is no way i can win this argument but i?m a typical stubborn american so i won?t give in easily.

the real point is that, as editor of this fine publication, i am responsible for the grammatical correctness of the content. how can i continue to publish ?ferraris? when i know it?s wrong? the problem is, i?m afraid that most readers would question the correctness of ?real men drive their ferrari? or ?he has a fine collection of ferrari.?

should i go for it or should i cave into the english idiom? call, write, e-mail, or fax your opinion (the numbers and addresses are on page 3). we?ll see how many of you actually read this far.

Classified Ads

for sale: 1977 ferrari 308 gtb (december 1977) 44,000 miles, new ferrari fly yellow paint. recently reupholstered interior with soft black leather, new carpet,rebuilt engine, new clutch, all new console switches and plates, alpine am/fm cd player, alpine speakers, alpine car phone, $15,000 in recent receipts. asking $30,000 us dollars. visit on the web at http://www.readynet.com/ferrari call: fernando mendoza, san diego ca,(619) 482-4679 (home), (619) 695-8220 ext 225 (work) or e-mail at: fmendoza@nunic.nu.edu

for sale: 1972 ferrari 365 gtc/4, all original black/black, 43,000 miles. great driver, last major service at beverly hills ferrari 120 miles ago. asking $69,500. daytime telephone (818) 765-6803. fax: (818) 765-6847. e-mail: mrchrome@mrchrome.com

for sale: 1987 328 gts s/n 68051 ? rare factory mountain blue/white. 26k miles. excellent condition. serviced to drive. $45k obo. options available: simpson beltsw/ extingusher, forward and rear laser and radar dection and jamming, stealth bra. beautiful. call lars: (310) 318-9333 pp.

for sale: 1970 365 gt 2+2 s/n 12625. 57334 miles. u.s. car sold from hollywood sport cars. three owners from new. fully documented rosso rubino/black. borranis xwx. new paint by ric leonard. leather, carpets, engine bay, underside perfect. winner newport concours. books, tools, records. $48,500 obo. contact richard: (310) 471-1760.

for sale: 1972 365 gtc/4 s/n 15771. 52057 miles. u.s car. fully documents. paint by bill decarr. red/black. borranis xwx. leather, carpets, engine bay, undercarriage excellent. winner at concours italiana. books, tools, records. $58,500 obo. contact richard: (310) 471-1760.

for sale: 1979 308 gt4 s/n 14600. 5600 miles. all original. red-black ?boxer? bottom. tan 1st place nationals fca 1992 and 1994. $54,500 obo. contact richard: (310) 471-1760.

for sale: 1975 308 gt4 s/n 09946. 43000 miles. race car. fly yellow/blue. full race cage, auto fire extinguisher. converted by berlinetta motor cars. electronic ignition, stiffened suspension, new konis, new yokohamma 008r, euro headers. club events only, never crashed. beautiful inside and out. $34,500 obo. contact richard: (310) 471-1760.

for sale: the following tires are available with less than 500 miles on them - as new condition. 2 - xwx michelin 215/70-15 (daytona front). 2 - xwx michelin 225/70-15 (daytona rear). 2 - xgt michelin 235/60-15 (daytona rear). make me an offer - tom brockmiller 310-530-1004.

for sale: daytona parts: transaxle, complete, rebuilt. $10,000. borgo nos competition high compression pistons: (12) $3,600. ring and pinion. nos ferrari stock 10/33 ratio: $2,850. marshall (818) 895-8133 days, (310) 836-3763 (fax)