Volume 5, Issue 3 - June 1998

Pacific Palisades Ferrari Show II

the sun was barely up at 6:00 am on sunday, april 26, as the many volunteers began arriving in pacific palisades to organize the second ferrari show on the streets of this beautiful los angeles beach-front suburb. they came from fca, the palisades chamber of commerce, foc, explorer scouts, and plenty of local residents and business people.

then the cars started to arrive. first came the major exhibitors; steve tillack, with no less than two race vans and 8 cars, including a 212 export and a 340 america, (both of which are on the way to the mille miglia); the "sinclair" 212 export lwb, a former mm 2nd place finisher and the winner of the ?52 mm, a 250s; and #0622 500 mondial tr, just restored. ferrari of beverly hills and ogner motorcars displayed a total of 13 both new and historic cars; ogner featuring a "cut" 365 daytona spyder and a 250gto remake on a lusso chassis; ferrari of beverly hills with 3 f355?s, a 456gt and a 550 maranello. gt motors featured a display of the "before, during and after" restoration process. symbolic motors came up from la jolla with 6 cars including an f40 and a new 456gta,; a 355 spyder and a 348 spyder; a ?90 testarossa; and the ex-dick irish ?67 gtb/4.

then, the individual owner/drivers started to arrive: well over 100 of them. all told, 142 ferraris graced the palisades streets, which were blocked off courtesy of the lapd. and, as reported by them to the palisadian post, over 12,000 spectators came out on a beautiful sunday to admire the ferraris, enjoy the music, fashion show, food and entertainment, and patronize local businesses. every "entrant" who brought a car received a care package, which included a trophy, free lunch tickets for two (furnished by mort?s palisades deli), a bottle of mother?s wax for last minute touch-up, and a tee-shirt provided by ferrari of beverly hills. the cars were on display on 3 picturesque village streets on both sides of sunset boulevard for 6 hours, giving everyone ample time to ogle and take pictures.

due special thanks for the work it took over the past three months to put on this spectacular show are marshall leib and shin takei, representing the fca southwest region; david williams, mort farberow, mazi aghalarpour, roberta donohue, ed lowe and arnie wishnick (among others) of the palisades chamber. contributing greatly to the successful event were sponsor/participants gt motors, ferrari of beverly hills, ogner motorcars, tillack motors, ferrari owner?s club, and vivian?s boutique. and, fca?s own thank you to wally clark and bill inglis for manning the fca southwest region booth. earl gandel

pacific palisades ferrari show ii winners

fast, flashy and totally ferrari

an estimated 12,000 car enthusiasts came out on a perfect, sunny california day to see the 142 ferraris on display at the chamber of commerce-sponsored palisades ferrari show<

Oldtimer's Corner - Cycles

by: ed niles

i have this theory of cycles, see. everything in the world goes in cycles.

world economics change in broad cycles. the trouble is, most of us don't live long enough to perceive these broad cycles, nor learn the lessons to be derived therefrom.

governmental cycles are sometimes so grand that they span several generations. personal cycles, on the other hand, tend to follow the lunar orbit.

the list goes on endlessly. the stock market, housing surpluses and deficits, clothing styles, you name it.

right now, we're in a crazy part of a cycle involving automobile prices, especially ferraris. lord knows i'm an expert on this subject. i wish that i had retained about 95 percent of the ferraris i have owned in my lifetime, which in turn is about 95 percent of all the ferraris ever made! but then, i simply didn't have the foresight to see where i was in that particular cycle.

but this isn't a story about car values. we're supposed to be talking about lm's, right?

i once owned an lm. in fact, i twice owned an lm. the same one. so this is a story about the short but violent cycles through which that particular car travelled in the short time that i knew and loved it.

you know my philosophy; if there is a ferrari i haven't tried, i should try it. at least once. maybe more, if the first one was an okay car. i have owned about a half a dozen lussos and a like number of short-wheel-base berlinettas, so you can see where my fondness lies.

there was a time in my life when i had never owned an lm, so when one came up for sale in san francisco at a time in my personal economic cycle when i could afford it, nothing would do but that i buy it. i flew up to san francisco and met bob cooper of cooper lumber company who said, "here, you drive it and see if you like it." i probably didn't kill the engine more than three or four times before i finally got it rolling, and was then so intimidated that i tried to shift into 2nd at about 3500 r.p.m. garaunch! i discovered that the lm had a crashbox, and along with it discovered that the car was not accustomed to being shifted at 3500 r.p.m. the next time i ran it up to 7000 r.p.m. before shifting, and discovered that it slipped into the next gear as smoothly as a hot knife through butter. (or knife through hot butter? i never could keep my cliches straight.)

having thus convinced myself that i was truly a winning driver of world championship class, i immediately bought the car and took it on its drive home to los angeles. i soon discovered that lm's are very hot cars. this one was particularly hot. the rubber bellows around the pedals were all shot, so that radiator heat blasted in from the floor board. the water pipes running along the door sills didn't help either, nor did the sharply sloped windshield which let an extraordinary amount of hot sun touch the black upholster. the engine heat came right through the fire wall, locate immediately adjacent to my spine. as it turned out, this was the hottest day of the summer of 1967, so all in all, it was not your thrilling drive home.

but i did have a little diversion along the way. i picked up a black-and-white in my rear-view mirror, while travelling down 101. this car, number 5909, had been relegated to street use for a while, and had a speedometer attached. i carefully maintained my speed within the limit, and after four or five miles i saw the black-and-white ease off toward the off-ramp. i maintained my speed, however, and -- sure enough -- he came immediately back on the on-ramp. he did this to me no less than five times, but i was lucky smart enough to maintain my speed throughout the whole exercise.

i finally got the car home, and after several days of r

All the Way on Mulholland Highway

the highly successful ride and drive on a beautiful sunday

by: william g. inglis

believe it or not, it stopped raining on sunday, march 22nd, and we were provided with a spectacular sunny day throughout our ride and drive. we left the intersection of winnetka and ventura boulevard in woodland hills at approximately 10:45 on sunday morning with 21 cars and were winding our way up to topanga boulevard and heading south before the first car had a failure. an absolutely beautiful fly-yellow 246 spider blew an oil line in the first two miles of our ride. fortunately for all of us. jeff littman, who owns sierra towing, was following us with a flatbed. jeff has offered this service for all of our ride and drives free of charge. the fly-yellow 246 was whisked away, and we were again on our ride and drive with a new flatbed (courtesy again of sierra towing) following us through the santa monica mountains. unfortunately, about two thirds of the way to the pacific ocean, a pristine black 308 blew a lower water hose, and the second of jeff?s flatbeds did another emergency pickup.

the rest of the day was uneventful (we were running out of flatbeds). there was some tight driving through curves and beautiful scenic views of the green mountains and the pacific ocean. we also dropped off at the rock store and looked over approximately 150 road bikes of all types, including some fancy outfits worn by the riders. late in the day, we wound up at the sagebrush cantina and had self-preferred parking right in the front row, not far from another 50 to 75 harleys that were parked there for the sunday afternoon festivities. we had a late lunch and a lot of camaraderie, and i was very pleased to hear a lot of newcomers to the club say they really enjoyed themselves. we did not eat lunch until after 3:00, and a number of cars had to leave before lunch because of prior commitments. on the next ride, i promise to make luncheon arrangements that are more acceptable to all the drivers and their riders.

FedEx Championship Race at Motegi

by: earl gandel

as a follow-up to the tour of dan gurney?s all american racers by the fca southwest region in february, we decided to follow the team to their second race of the season in japan. (we had other reasons for going, but it makes a good story.)

the cart fedex championship race on march 28 was at a new track at motegi, about 100km north of tokyo. it?s the first oval track in japan, 1-1/2 miles, and the complex includes a road course, test track, a hotel, two museums, and a 1/4 mile dirt track that is literally a copy of ventura raceway! it?s a truly spectacular plant that makes some of america?s best look temporary. $400 million is the official development cost, but there are estimates that the real cost, to honda, its owner, is closer to $1 billion. carved out of the side of a mountain, motegi with its concrete and expensive wood look has a feeling of permanence more like a major airport than a race track.

qualifying speeds of 217 mph were comparable to miami/dade, another 1-1/2 mile circuit where the season?s first race ran march 15. the race was won by adrian fernandez, followed by al unser jr. and gil de ferran, and was an exciting one, marred slightly by a horrendous near-flip by bobby rahal. he wasn?t injured, but the car won?t be the same. the aar and arciero-wells teams didn?t do too well, although the reliability of their toyota engines greatly improved. (two races later at nazareth, pa, robby gordon finished a respectable 7th, so the toyotas are finally getting there.) it looks like america has a successful export to japan in oval racing.

but, the real story was the logistical miracle of getting 60 cars and all the bits, pieces and people it takes to support them to japan on 3 fedex 747?s ?then, back to long beach the next day, where they raced the following weekend! (sorry, there?s no ferrari news in this story, but we hope your automotive interests will stretch this far.)

Ferrari in Japan

by: shin takei

we all know there are many ferraris in japan, but to understand what?s going on over there a little background history is necessary, so bear with me for a few paragraphs.

as a kid born and raised in occupied japan, i was able to see a nation bring itself up from the brinks of war to one of the leading economies in the world. under the direction of the supreme commander of the allied forces, general douglas mcarthur, we were exposed to the american influence which has since changed forever the course of japanese culture as we knew it until then.

being a nation of islands, japan had been isolated for centuries and the culture goes back more than 5,000 years. until the arrival of foreign traders and commodore mathew perry in 1853, the nation had a self sufficient economy based on a staple of rice which was also a basis for taxation under the feudal system of the shogunate. this sufficient and stable period had resulted in a country way behind the rest of the world. with the revolution at the turn of the century by the emperor meiji came westernization of japan. but with the influence of foreign trade came yearning for the rare and exotic and the nation needed to import raw materials as well as commodities to feed its growing population.

the re-birth of the japanese empire brought on the industrial revolution and conflicts with the rest of the world. after embracing the western way of life japan had grown at a rapid pace and even beat the imperial russian navy at its own game in the russo japanese war. this lead to trade restrictions beings levied against japan from the rest of the empires who sought colonies all over the third world. needing rubber and fuel, and raw materials, japan also jumped on the wagon to establish colonies in southeast asia. as the power shifted from the imperial household to modern government, the military took a strong presence and control of the nation using the emperor as a symbol to rally behind. this lead to further complications with the rest of the world and eventually became the reason for their attack on pearl harbor. this brings us up to the defeat and the re-birth of modern japan.

thanks to that, i was brought up on gerber?s baby food and campbell?s soup, as well as kellog's corn flakes, just to name a few items available through the thriving black market, courtesy of the united states occupying armed forces. obviously cigarettes and liquor as well as appliances were available too. the black market prices were better since the g.i.?s purchased them from their p.x.s in their bases and illegally dumped them on the eager public. without this, we were relegated to rations of rice, vegetables and fish, a perfectly natural and healthy diet and cooked in hibachis since natural gas and electricity were not yet available to all areas.

all large conglomerates were disbanded and every citizen started a new life with the issuance of one hundred yen which was worth a little more than a quarter. my parents were both working hard like everyone else in post war-torn japan. however, the mood was upbeat because everyone started from scratch, and the constitution of japan, largely penned by the united states, had eliminated ownership of weapons, namely firearms and swords resulting in a safe environment. as the nation tried to pull out of the rubble, they were enjoying the first experience of democracy. many artists, musicians and writers came to light as freedom of speech and expression never enjoyed before were now legal

imbedded forever in the memories of those living in japan were the images of general mcarthur, tall handsome and not unlike a hollywood movie star. his corn cob pipe and rayban sunglasses became a trademark of the american style as we knew it at the time in japan. his popularity can only be eclipsed by the sudden and unfortunate removal from his tenure by president truman. not surprising, he remains

Shaken or Stirred?

by: jeff littrell

so you?re thinking about buying a new f355? well, ferrari has made your decision just a little bit tougher by offering you the option of playing michael schumacher with the gearbox in the new f1 model. you?ve read all the reviews, most of them glowing, but are you really ready to forego that traditional gated shifter? isn?t stirring that polished gear shift knob half the fun of owning a ferrari? is there any satisfaction to be had from just pulling a little plastic paddle? you bet there is.

i?m fortunate enough to be the new owner of a 1998 f355 f1 berlinetta and i found it to be quite a soul-searching experience whether to buy the f1 or not. the problem, as with most new car buying, is that you don?t really know how well you?ll like it until you?ve driven it for a while. hopefully, this little article will provide insight into the good and the bad of the f1.

there really isn?t much that needs to said about the f355 itself. it is one of the best performing vehicles on the planet. it looks great, the build quality is as good as ferrari has ever had (which was not intended as slam), it sounds great, and just does everything well. but what about that computer-controlled f1 gearbox?

first off, it is the same exact 6-speed gearbox as the manual transmission cars so there is no worry about the box itself. in the f1 it?s just controlled via a complex series of solenoids and electro-hydraulic gizmos and some pretty fancy software. i?ll have to admit to being a bit wary of first-year technology in something so complex but so far there has not been so much as a hiccup.

i?ll also have to admit to not wanting the f1 after my first test drive. here?s how it went down:

the first thing you realize is that starting off from a dead stop, like out of the dealer?s tight lot, the f1 is kind of like driving an automatic ? you just squeeze the gas pedal and it just starts moving the car. even though there?s no power-wasting torque converter and the f1 magic is truly slipping a normal single-plate clutch disc just like you would do with your foot, without the tactile feel it is highly unsatisfying, weird even. the salesman took me out in the car and it seemed pretty smooth and interesting but the shifts weren?t nearly as fast as i thought they could be. don?t get me wrong, it is a total rush not lifting your foot and just tugging that little bat-ear but i guess i?d been expecting the same engine note as the ferrari f1 cars. you know, whahhhhh, whahhhh, whahhhhh, brake, click, click click ? that?s up 3 gears and back down again. total elapsed time, about as long as it takes you to say "bye, bye, mika." the problem was, the f1 shifted more like whahhhh, power off, wait a bit, body comes forward off the seat, whahhhh, pushed back and off again. it certainly seemed to my egotistical mind that i could shift faster than that. i went home muttering about 0.20 second shift bs, told the wife it wasn?t worth it, and started shopping for a used berlinetta.

it wasn?t until a second test drive with a younger and more aggressive salesman that i realized the err of my, and the previous salesman?s, ways. during the first test drive, in deference to the equipment, we were both shifting at about 7,000 to 7,500 rpms. this is an insanely high speed for 8 pistons, 40 valves, and a host of other expensive mechanical items to whirl about but it?s still at least 1,000 rpms shy of what the f355 is capable of. and likes. more importantly, the software in the f1 is programmed such that if you take it to the 8,500 rpm redline it knows you mean business and it gets its business done in a hurry. but, shift it at 7,000 and its about as rough a shift as you can get out of the car because it tries to smooth things out but the engine and the car are moving so fast any he