Volume 7, Issue 5 - September/October 2000

President's Corner

by marvin landon

due to several inquiries, i thought it would be interesting to all of you if i explain the history of the southwest region.

originally, our club was part of the fca pacific region, but it encompassed so much territory, that events could not be scheduled at locations easily accessible to everyone, which brought event planning to a minimum.

after purchasing my first ferrari, i called marshall leib, who invited me to come to a fca meeting held at cy yedor's house. to my surprise, only ten people were at that meeting, but we all shared one thing in common, we all shared a deep appreciation for our cars.

not long after, the pacific region gave our small group some seed money, and soon the southwest region was born. our officers consisted of cy yedor as treasurer, judd goldfeder as president, myself as track planner and jeff littrell, who promised and delivered the best newsletter in the fca.

we quickly adopted a philosophy that we felt would attract enthusiasts, who shared the same passion for their cars we did. we agreed to plan "ride and drives" and general outings to different locations such as restoration garages, racing facilities, concours, auto museums, as well as pristine body shops and paint specialists. we felt we needed to differentiate ourselves as the kick tire guys! we also agreed to hold down our club expenses so our events would be enjoyed without taxing our members to offset expenses.

to date, the cost of our newsletter is almost completely covered by our paid advertisers (bless you rose). thanks to demetri zafiris, who charges a fraction of actual costs, our office expenses are extremely low.

how do you measure success? i say by one member at a time. we've come a long way from a ten person bbq only six years earlier. club members, i am excited to report that we are presently 539 members' strong and adding new members every month. i am very proud of our accomplishment, which is backed by member satisfaction and continued sponsorship support.

i hope my story has given you a better insight as to the founding of our club. i would like to encourage every member to continue his or her support.

see you at our next event.

cordially yours,

marv landon
fca southwest regional president

Monterey Weekend

article and photos by wally clark

concourso italiano - a great showing of italian cars! maserati was the featured marque with sub features of a miura reunion and the 25th anniversary of the ferrari 308. schedoni was the featured italian artist.

the fca pacific region ferrari concours had over 250 cars! i've never seen so many 308's in one place! out of 105 judged cars, 65 took home awards. this shows the quality of the cars that were on display. ferrari show cars and pininfarina will be the features in 2001. don't miss it!

laguna seca - as always, there was a great showing of vintage race cars at the monterey historics. maserati was the feature along with f-1 cars from the 70's and 80's. the pacific region tent in turn 5 was a sell out and a great place from which to watch the races.

the auctions - there were three separate auctions this year where many cars and some record prices were acheived for their models. the ex-steve mcqueen porsche 917 and a 512 spider each sold for 1.2m dollars. carroll shelby's own cobra daytona coupe sold for $4,000,000; the alfa 2.9 coupe sold for $2.8 million and a ferrari p3 brought $5 million. were among the notable sales during the weekend.

pebble beach concours - the 50th anniversary of this prestigeous event. the lodge was also home to the blackhawk collection exposition of classic cars and the christie's auction.

winners at pebble beach include:

class m (ferrari)
1st 1952 ferrari 250 sport vignale coupe
     owned by lorenzo zambrano, monterrey, mexico
2nd 1957 ferrari 250 gt pinin farina cabriolet series i
     owned by john ridings lee, dallas, texas
3rd 1959 ferrari 250 gt lwb scaglietti spyder california
     owned by peter s. kalikow, new york, new york

luigi chinetti trophy
1957 ferrari 250 gt pinin farina cabriolet series i
     owned by john ridings lee, dallas, texas

most elegant convertible trophy sponsored by elegant set
1959 ferrari 250 gt lwb scaglietti spyder california
     owned by peter s. kalikow, new york, new york

class r-1 (maserati custom coachwork)
1st 1954 maserati a6gcs pinin farina coupé
     owned by david & ginny sydorick, beverly hills, ca. the sydorick's also won the road & track award.

the south bay area has recently hosted two fine events where ferraris were on display to the public. sunday september 10th, the palos verdes concours d'elegance was hwld at the new ocean trails golf club on the cliffs just south of the old marineland site.

over 190 cars were on display in this invitation only show, resulting in some specatacular entries. the ferrari class, which was organized by diana ciszek and don west, consisted of 25 beautiful cars of 23 differenc type, showing a complete range ofrom 1951 to 1997. the weather and gorgeous ocena views fromt the new site combined for a perfect day. this shwo should not be missed in the future. pebble beach may have some serious competition in concours.

the ferrraris were divided into two classes. the winners:

pre 1974

post 1974

Botanical Gardens Ferrari & Pantera Picnic

article by don west

photos by wally clark

on saturday, september 16th, just 6 days after the palos verdes concourse, our annual picnic with the south bay pantera club was held. as in the past, it was at the beautiful day at the south coast botanical gardens on the palos verdes peninsula. the cars were displayed on one of their large lawns, which had some shade trees and wooden trellis shelters. boy, these were certainly needed as it was a clear and hot day.

seventeen ferraris and twenty panteras showed up, along with their owners, wives, girl friends and children. although the clubs provided free soft drinks and snacks, most of the people brought picnic lunches and beverages of their choice.

this is strictly a social event with no judging involved, however most of the cars were in pristine condition. where the ferrari owners strive for "factory original" appearance, the pantera enthusiasts lean toward chrome or purple engines, with polished everything in the engine compartments. it makes for an interesting contrast.

both of these event were well publicized in sempre and we look forward to your attending these great events in 2001.

Santa Monica Museum of Flying

article and photos by wally clark

this is turning into an annual fca event! we had a large turnout of ferraris and the museum provided parking space inside the hangar for most of the cars, while the airplanes were moved out onto the tarmac.

marshall leib organized another signature event that was covered by nearly all of the tv stations. the museum advertised the event locally with an extra boost in attendance accounted to a timely insert in the aaa member magazine. which made the museum glad for the great turnout of spectators.

our thanks go out to marilyn mcpoland, director of programs at the museum of flying for a fantastic location and hospitality and to burger & fries for a great lunch!

Chariots for Charity - Santa Barbara College

article and photos by tom brockmiller

lexus was the sponsor benefiting united cerebral palsy and the college for this annual event organized by non other than our own fred bogardus. fred's venue of the college is possibly the most beautiful overview of the santa barbara harbor one could imagine. that, with the placement of the ferrari class being right on the bluff, provided a wonderful back-drop for the judging of our cars.

weather was sunny and warm with a total turn out of over 200 cars. an excellent mix of early classics, hot rods, motorcycles and race cars. a marvelous tented buffet luncheon was provided that was re-emphasized by fred's own generosity.

the ferrari club of america turned out a good assortment of cars. even murray cogan uncovered his rare and beautiful 400sa out for this one. wes hatakayama brought his 288gto recently having won at the fca annual meet in colorado springs. we were most proud to have randy reiss with his gorgeous 250gt cabriolet.

the winners were:

class a - 3 series cars,

class b - vintage cars,

thank you, fred, for another great event and the opportunity to drive our ferraris.

Inaugural U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis

article by andrew levy

david byrne once sang, "home is where i want to be," in the naive melody, this must be the place. waxing introspective, he probably yearned for a spot to rest his weary bones by the fire, a confident place to return time after time like a warm expectation. the history of formula 1 in this country has also yearned for that consistent fire, beginning in 1959 at the rough hewn flats of sebring, next at desert-based riverside, ca, famous leave turning watkins glen, n.y., long beach, south of glamour central beverly hills, the seedy streets of las vegas, motor city detroit, blue-eyed dallas, and finally, a few ill-timed races at phoenix ending in 1991. from east to west f1 has tried to find permanent status, a cozy place to call home. will tony george, the current patriarch of the indianapolis motor speedway, be the one to open the door and welcome formula one for good? only time will tell.

the u.s. grand prix is a must win for ferrari, being the truest test of speed, strategy, and brakes of the year. indianapolis will act like an isolated control experiment, none of the teams, cars, or drivers having performed on it aside from heinz-harald frentzen who did an indy special for speedvision in a stock mercedes. all variables will be at zero, all factors blank, come first practice friday morning. no car/circuit advantages, no driver/team preferences, just one huge test field roaring into turn 1, different than indianapolis has ever seen, running clockwise and turning 13 times per lap.

ferrari club of america members, 1,000-plus strong, have come from coast to coast and beyond to witness this prestigious beginning. the first event takes place at the eiteljorg museum housing native american art work from the south and pacific northwest. a collection of remington bronzes on the second floor is unparalleled, the most i've seen in one exhibition. the rest of the work is soft, rich, and impressive in stature, ranging from realism to panoramic impressionism. food and drink are plentiful and so is the ferrari camaraderie, more chocolate covered strawberries than you could shake a stick at. i hear applause from another room and investigate. it is phil hill and his son talking about characteristics of the track. like youngsters, we ask mundane, simple questions only to hear one of our racing heroes respond. i'm one of them. even as we leave, caterers are refilling platters over and over making sure we're all content.

we arrive at the american legion speedway post, ferrari headquarters at the track, and enter the hospitality tent. all seems usual 'til i hear the first sounds from the raceway. they are not even formula cars, porsche cup carrera's as i learned, but the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention. i fill a cup of coffee and decide to lap the grounds before the crowds arrive, 200,000 are expected. under the grandstands of this monument of sport, i can almost hear echoes of decades past going as far back as 1911, the first official race at ims. all the photographs i've seen, looking like family generational portraits, the racers i've touched, and the 50's indy highlights i've loved, all come bubbling to the surface in one overwhelming moment. the hairs on the back of my neck have not been seated yet.

i make my way to the long awaited indy straight, home of the famous "yard of bricks." here the cars will be full open at 16,000 rpm's pushing the mettle of mind, body, and machinery to the limit, going 208 mph on this day, before having to retreat to 75 mph at the entrance of turn one. i record the first sounds of practice on my dictaphone, and 12 hours later the chills return. it becomes astonishingly clear that a formula one engine is just 10 contained explosions every nano-second, harnessing fire, oxygen, and fuel simultaneously.

hospitality has put together a box lunch that is anything but that in name only. plentiful and tasty, a big sandwich, 2 s

Arizona Chapter Ferrari Tech Session

article and photo by peter carbonaro

the arizona chapter of the fca recently held a tech session at the new scottsdale ferrari dealership.

jim sommers, service manager, led the discussion which focused upon the evolution of the f1 paddle shift transmission and brought us up to date with the developments up to and including the 360. he had a 360 for us to view and he hooked it up the diagnostics computer to illustrate the depth of their ability to diagnose the system.

our members greatly appreciated the opportunity to see this impressive new facility and thank all involved for their hospitality.

arizona chapter members learned about many of the new diagnostic systems on new generation ferraris. contact peter carbonaro to learn about upcoming events in arizona 602-954-5801.