Volume 2, Issue 1 - January 1995

Oldtimer's Corner - Tony Parravano

by ed niles

when i returned from that grand week in monterey (and wasn?t it a grand week?!), i found a phone message from ron parravano. it turns out that ron, an attorney in carmel, is the son of tony parravano, a colorful figure among a cast of colorful characters in sports car racing in the mid 50?s. ron explained to me that he had been talking with peter sachs, owner of the magnificent 121lm which had been owned by tony parravano, and that peter had given him my name. ron said that some day he hopes to write a book about his father?s life.

ron?s call brought back such a flood of memories that i thought it might be worth sharing a few of them here.

when world war ii ended in 1948, the country was literally starving for many things: gasoline and tires has been strictly rationed, there were no civilian automobiles being sold, an acute housing shortage was developing, and many food items had been unobtainable for several years.

in the late 40?s, there were enough sports car enthusiasts that the sports car club of america (scca) was able to begin promoting a series of sports car races. the leaders of this organization, known in the press as "the westport pharaohs," felt strongly that the entrants of these races should be "sportsman owner-drivers." in other words, any hint of commercialism was abhorrent. on the left coast, however, there was a different feeling, and gradually the california sports car club ("cal club") took over the majority of the races. this climate was made to order for wealthy individuals who could afford to buy the latest ferraris and had the best drivers. john von neumann and john edgar both owned small stables of ferraris, sometimes running several of their cars in the same races. but none burst onto the scene so spectacularly, and certainly none disappeared so mysteriously, as tony parravano. who was this man?

i first met jack mcafee around 1949, when i was courting my first serious girlfriend, and jack was calling on her older sister. i remember being quite impressed that he would arrive in what we would now call a "t-bucket roadster," and he was barely 17. after the war ended, jack had his own shop, and one of the cars he took care of was a cadillac (a 1949 sedanette, if memory serves) owned by tony parravano. jack persuaded tony to let him run the car in the mexican road race, and tony was bitten by the racing bug. later, tony bought a ferrari 340 america ghia coupe (s/n 0150am) which jack drove to a 5th overall in the 1953 mexican road race. the car was essentially as delivered from the factory, although jack added a small louver at the front of each rear fender, to aid in the rear brake cooling, and mounted halibrand magnesium wheels. jack also drove the car, with some success, at local venues such as torrey pines.

tony parravano, dark, short and slightly built, had arrived in southern california after the war from chicago, with "mysterious sources of funds." southern california writers have always been fascinated by tales of the mob, since it never really got a strong foothold here, so many people were quick to put his chicago roots together with his italian-sounding name, and reached conclusions which may or may not have been correct. in any event, tony was obviously a guy who was highly motivated and was not afraid of success on a grand scale. his first major venture was in frozen foods, a concept that was just a bit before its time. after that misadventure, he began building tract homes around the suburbs of los angeles. already, he had focused on two of the things which southern california was most starved for: food and housing. and his hobby involved the third element - automobiles.

apparently, he did well as a building contractor; how could he not, when new homes were selling like the proverbial hot cakes? in an article in sport cars illustrated in 1957, pa

President's Corner

by: judd goldfeder

we?ve come a long way. less than a year ago a few of us met at cy yedor?s house and talked about forming the southwest region of the fca. the fca has, for many years, been the only national ferrari club and the only club endorsed by the ferrari factory but it did not have representation in southern california. it was time for that to change.

we are now incorporated and have 195 members who have paid dues to our region, of those 83 are new to the fca. during 1994 we sponsored several events, including rodeo drive ii, and had a strong representation at the national fca meet last august. each of our monthly meetings has had over 20 members in attendance and over 50 members attended meetings at ogner motors and the marconi racing museum. our success is due to a group of enthusiastic members who have generously given their time.

special thanks to:

• jeff littrell who has written and published 6 issues of the finest newsletter in the fca and nick paris for securing the advertisers who make publication of the newsletter possible.
• cy yedor for being there at the beginning, helping whenever needed and especially for handling the treasurer?s function.
• frank carlone, marv landon, and michael lederman for forming the racing committee and arranging a great schedule with the arosc in 1995. a special thanks to frank for being a one man band organizing the track event held with the 348 challenge at willow springs in july.
• murray and rose cogan for their enthusiasm and willingness to help.
• the ogner and marconi families for two memorable meetings.
• tom brockmiller, cris vandagriff, matt ettinger and marshall lieb for spreading the events committee.
• ed niles for writing articles when he swore "never again."
• gary bobileff for a "tech tip" each month.
• ron profili and the members of the fca board who acted as mid-wives and provided the seed money for our membership campaign.

1995 promises to be an exciting year with at least one event per month. the track committee has arranged for our members to participate in events with the alfa romeo owners of southern california. rodeo drive iii (tentatively planned for the spring) promises to be bigger and better than 1993. we hope to have every member participate at least once.

happy new year....keep on driving!!!!

Spinout on Highway 58

by: shin takei

the year was 1988, the month august and i was on my way to monterey in my 1966 275 gtb. it had been only four months since the passing of enzo ferrari and with that the market was already climbing out of control. ferrari fever was everywhere with prices going up every week. brokers were calling me all the time to see if i wanted to part with my car, they always had a buyer. my answer was always the same; i didn?t buy it for resale. of course in hindsight, if i had sold it then i could have bought it back at a bargain today. but i am in love with my ferrari and i?m glad i still own it today.

an impressive high quality car magazine called car graphic from japan had contacted me and was doing a ferrari special for their november issue. they would drive up to monterey with me, write an article on my car and even do a video for their tv program shown in japan. sounded terrific and just what i needed on top of the excitement i could barely hide.

driving my ferrari to monterey meant everything to me, just like it still does and, for that matter, does for everyone else who makes the yearly pilgrimage. after all, what?s the point of owning a ferrari if you?re not going to drive it? it is the equivalent of having the best bottle of wine at its prime and not opening it or having an art masterpiece and keeping it in the cellar. yet, driving an older ferrari long distance is always a concern. you can never predict what?s going to happen. so, the best thing to do is to be prepared. therefore, the car was packed with tools, fluids, car phone, and everything else that was needed for the weekend, including helmets and nomex paraphernalia. never mind that if something were to happen, i probably wouldn?t know how to fix it or it would require the part or tool i didn?t have. but somehow it gives you piece of mind to have tools along for the trip. at least you could satisfy yourself that you tried.

the car was thoroughly checked and prepared by bruno borri and luciano fabbio of modena sportscars and was running like a top. having the car tuned by the mechanics who won daytona 24 hours in 1979 gave me great confidence that the car would make it to monterey and back. at least i had bruno?s famous 50/50 warranty - 50 feet north or 50 feet south of his shop on la brea.

early friday morning, kato, the car graphic journalist, and i left los angeles. the car was packed to the gunwales with the aforementioned paraphernalia, luggage and his photo equipment. we had barely enough space left to squeeze in two evian bottles. to make the trip worthy of a good article, i laid out a plan to include some of the best sports car roads leading up to monterey. with that, we took the i-5 through the grapevine and down into the san joaquin valley. already the temperature was hot and with no air conditioning the heat was unbearable. added to the discomfort was the gas fumes always prevalent in these cars but, hey, we were driving a ferrari and we were headed towards monterey so we didn?t care. conversations turned towards the excitement of owning a ferrari to how fast i had driven the car, how many tickets i was awarded, and how the car attracts fans and bugs on the yellow paint. being an enthusiast himself , he was not the type to ask about gas mileage, how much it costs for service, or the current market value of the car.

we turned onto highway 166 west just after the 5/99 split before bakersfield. for as far as we could see the road was straight for something like 24 miles - a great place to test the top end but we knew that smokeys were waiting so we cooled it, saving ourselves from becoming a notch in his conquest. after what seemed like eons, we got out of the desert and turned north on 33 and hit 58 in 15 minutes. once we got onto 58 the two lanes turned into an area where much greenery appeared in the form of trees and bushes. the road was paved perfec

Tech Day at Ogners

tech day at ogners

on saturday december 10, 1994 ogner motorcars held a breakfast and tech clinic conducted by eric sanders, a technician at the dealership, on new oils, new gear oil, brake maintenance, and other owner related items.

the meeting was well attended with 22 members showing up bringing such road stars as 275 gtb-4 in yellow, one of the last super america?s, a daytona, and various trs, boxers, 328s, and 308s.

seen about were murray cogan, marshall lieb, robert white, tino mingori, mark dees, phillip brown, michael kainer, alan bishop, jim truitt, marv landon, don mader, and many others. although breakfast was new york city stage deli variety, the tech talk was all italian.

see the ad to the right regarding an offer for fluid changes with the new oils and filters to members at a very nice discount. this is just one of the ways that authorized dealers associate themselves with fca members.

michael lederman and eric sanders of ogner motorcars will be tech inspecting cars for the february willow spring alfa-ferrari racing event. please call michael lederman for any information regarding taking your street ferrari to willow springs. the phone number is: 818-884-4411. fax is: 818-884-8747.

Tech Tip - Brakes

by allen bishop

money, horsepower, brakes: you never can have enough.

"i remember the first time i went to le mans, it was 1954. ferrari was running the big 4.9 roadsters (the 375 plus). jaguar had the d-types, they were really advanced technically. near the end of the mulsanne straight, you could see how much the jags could out-brake the ferraris. god! the 4.9?s would thunder into the turn, downshifting with flames belching out of the tailpipes - this was at dusk during practice. while the jag - you could see their brake rotors through the dunlop wheels glowing dull red!" phil hill recollecting to the author some years ago (loosely quoted).

brakes are the most critical system in any car, especially in a car capable of the performance levels of a ferrari. yet, along with worn out suspension, i almost never fail to find deteriorated braking systems on the older ferraris that i work on. partly it is the fault of the brakes themselves - the components that make up the system are totally out of sight, except for the master cylinder and booster. even when new, parts such as calipers, pads and hoses are hardly designed to look soul-stirring in the way a v-12 engine is. that can spell neglect.

modern brake systems will continue to function under moderate driving conditions long after they have passed the point of no return. i have test driven several ferraris whose brakes did work, or seemed to. but upon tear down and inspection, at least some components were literally unrestorable. rebuilding a severely worn braking system, for me at least, is one of the filthiest, most utterly frustrating jobs i can undertake. yet under such circumstances, there are no shortcuts: each and every component must be completely rebuilt or replaced and the completed system tested and retested until there is no question that all is once again 100%.

on the other side of the coin, routine maintenance of a braking system that is in top condition is simpler than an engine oil change. minor fault diagnosis in a well-maintained system is also very simple.

what can you, the ferrari owner, do to keep the braking system on your car in top condition? if you are driving a new 348 or 456, insist that your servicing agency follow the factory?s recommended maintenance procedures. one note here is that recommended ferrari friction pad changes are based on far harder driving conditions than we do stateside, so there is some slack there, but that does not mean that the pads should not be checked regularly. uneven wear of the pads is often the first sign of problem.

if you own an older car, here is a list of checks and cautions based on my experience as a mechanic and driver:

1. if you have any doubts about your own mechanical aptitude, or don?t like to get your hands really dirty, don?t touch your braking system.
2. never allow an evident problem with the brakes to go untouched for any length of time.
3. conventional brake fluid is very corrosive even when new, and when "aged" is absolutely instant death to rosso corsa, or any other paint color if spilled on a fender.
4. i do not recommend the use of silicone based brake fluid in any ferrari of any vintage. if you want a technical dissertation on silicone based brake fluid, look elsewhere but be aware that it may void your warranty if used. you have been warned.
5. use only the best conventional brake fluids. castrol "lma" or equivalent.
6. flush, i.e., completely change your ferrari?s brake fluid, once a year, minimum. if you purchase a ferrari that is charged with the silicone stuff, do flush it, but you will have to retain silicone fluid in the system until overhaul time - then get rid of it.
7. if you elect to drive in a club speed event, thoroughly inspect your braking system prior to the event, flush the system, then

My First Ferrari

by gerald willburn

the first time i can remember having seen (or heard of) a ferrari was as a teenager in 1951. i saw a picture of jim kimberly driving briggs cunningham?s touring bodied coupe in an issue of road and track magazine. the race was in argentina. i fell in love with that photograph and hoped that someday i could own a ferrari.

the first time that i had a chance to ride in a ferrari was some years later in early 1959. i had just "graduated" from the u.s. navy and my wife, barbara, and i decided to trade our supercharged mg for a new morgan. we searched out rene pelendini?s local morgan dealership in los angeles, and there met lew spencer who was in the process of making a name for himself in local club racing. morgans back then, as now, were in somewhat short supply. the only car on the showroom floor was quite well blocked in and unavailable for a demonstration ride.

"not to worry" said lew. as an alternative, he offered us a ride in rene?s 212 ferrari. with barbara perched on top of the spare tire behind the two front seats, we motored out onto sunset boulevard. after a spirited drive through the hollywood hills, we arrived back at the dealership. lew said "the morgan performs about the same, but rides harder!" we bought a new morgan dhc. it was the start of a long love affair, but that is another story.

i spent the next couple of years road racing motorbikes on a ducati, winning a class championship in 1961, but then crashed heavily at riverside in 1962. having discovered my own mortality, as young men are sometimes wont to do, i retired from serious racing. one day in the fall of that year, i was visiting a friend?s morgan repair shop. in the rear was a lovely red ferrari coupe. it looked remarkably like the one i had fallen in love with so many years before.

"do you want to buy it?" my friend asked. "it is for sale and the owner would really like to sell it as it holds some bad memories for him." he introduced me to the owner and we were able to purchase the car. in looking through the papers and history of the car, i discovered that is was, indeed, the very same car that i had first seen in those photographs. the ferrari was the 195s touring bodied berlinetta, chassis 060mm which had run in the mille miglia and le mans. it had won its class at sebring and raced throughout the u.s. for several years.

i really loved that ferrari. i drove it daily for several years (you could drive old race cars on the streets in those days). barbara drove it to the market. for a while it was the only car we owned. unfortunately, some years later, we decided to buy a home and we had to sell the ferrari in order to make the down payment. today the ferrari would be worth more than the house! i have kept track of that ferrari off and on through the years. it went to england for a while (peter agg owned it), and now belongs to an australian. the last i heard, he was keeping it in italy.

barbara and i have owned several ferraris since then, but whenever i think of the 195 it is like a man remembering his first love. it grows brighter (and better) with the passage of time rather than fading from memory as so many things do.

about the author: gerald willburn is a long time ferrari (and morgan) enthusiast and member of the southwest region. he is an extremely interesting person to talk with so be sure to say "hello" next time you see him at one of our events.

Been Down So Long it Looks Like Up to Me

been down so long it looks like up to me

by: mike sheehan

for several decades exotic and collector cars have been both a barometer of, and an over-reaction to world economic and social conditions. pounded by high tax socialist government in the 1970?s, the english used collector cars as a hedge against high taxes, high inflation, and as a place to "park" very mobile money. meanwhile the italians, under siege by red brigade terrorists, used exotic cars as an effective way to take money out of italy. you couldn?t legally take money out of italy but, in the guise of a antique or collector car, you could drive it across the border into switzerland.

in the late 80?s car collecting reached a fever pitch for a multitude of unique and concurrent reasons. thanks to the fax machine there was, for the first time, an instant world wide market. the newly rich japanese, with a very strong "yen", entered the market for the first time. several million american, european and japanese baby boomers and yuppies simultaneously reached their 40?s, their "middle aged crazies", all while the world overindulged in an orgy of bank liquidity and loose money. if you had a pulse, you could borrow money! all this fed an orgy of speculation.

owning and/or trading in collector cars was a license to print money. speculators who didn?t know an aston martin from an ambulance or a ferrari from a fire engine were doubling their money literally overnight while long term enthusiasts looked on in horror. the frenzy lasted four years, from mid-1986 to december 1989, and then came the fall. collector car "values" dropped by a staggering seventy five percent in most cases.

all markets have a peak, all markets have a bottom; both usually only visible in hindsight. the collector car "market" is now "oversold!" any market, whether it be gold, soybeans, real estate, or ferraris can only be described as oversold when the prices drop a full seventy five percent from their peaks.

the ultimate example was a 1963 ferrari 250 gto, sold by the author?s company to a japanese collector in november 1989 for the highest price ever paid for a ferrari, a staggering $13,750,000 us dollars. this ferrari was resold by the japanese owner in september 1994 for $3,300,000, a $10 million loss!

now, almost five full years after the peak, the bottom is near and rationality has returned. the "market" is slowly returning to stability again - at far more realistic prices.

the collector car market is beginning to bounce back in the u.s. and germany. wealthy mexicans have entered the market with a vengeance and are the largest new group in the market today. collector car sales in japan and england are still, shall we say, "in the water closet." the following cars are well documented examples of what has happened to actual selling prices of various collector cars over the past five years, and illustrates models that are a good value for the money and are selling well today.