Volume 8 Issue 5 - September/October 2001

President's Corner

by bill inglis

dear fca members,

i would like to give the club members a few of my thoughts regarding my duties as your president.  at this time, i would like to take the opportunity to thank marv landon for his tenure as your president for two years. in the last 2 years, marv has enhanced this club with his organizational skills which has honed our club into a real organized entity, rather than just a bunch of club members going off on their own.  marv has made it much easier for me in the future as well as other members who are on the board of directors.  assuming the presidency is not an easy task, and i will certainly have to call on many of you to assist me in running the club.  there are few items that i would like to point out that i think need work. the foremost is the upcoming national meet in century city in 2002.  we are still working on sponsorship which continues to be fluid however we are optimistic that we are going to have an absolutely world class meet here in los angeles.

a few items that i would like to accomplish during my term are as follows:

1. build the membership (always a priority).
2. 2. attract younger members.
3. solicit new board meeting attendees who will then segue into board of directors later.
4. monitor the financial situation in the club to prevent the club overextending ourselves financially especially with regards to the 2002 meet.

we are entering an exciting new era in the ownership of ferrari automobiles, evidenced by the ride and drive to monterey.  i was struck by the number of drivers who were forty and under.  along with their enthusiasm, i think the ferrari club of america has much to look forward to in the future. 

bill inglis
fca southwest regional president

Picnic Under the Wings

museum of flying at the santa monica airport

article by tex otto 

photos by walter meyer and tom brockmiller

one of our fun annual events, offers our club the opportunity to temporarily  excuse lofty warbirds from the hanger at the museum of flying and replace them with ground hugging italian machinery.

marshall leib once again coordinated a fantastic display of ferraris at the santa monica airport facility. the open second floor mezzanine offered an inspiring vantage points from which to look downward onto the cars to study their aerodynamic shapes. all of the ferrari models take on a different attitude from this available overhead perspective. even though the lusso was created before a wind tunnel became an instrument car design, its hand shaped teardrop envelope looks as though this elegant personal aircraft is awaiting installation of its gossamer wings. outside the hanger basking in the coastal sun, 308?s, 328?s, 360?s and lamborghini?s look ready to take flight.

with exposure prior to the event courtesy of aaa?s westways magazine and live local tv news coverage, a lot of fresh faces were introduced to our club and learned a few things about the wide range of ferraris on display.

our thanks to burger & pie for the tasty lunch, one grand for their detailing clinic, and the dent medic for demonstrating their paintless dent removal.

marilyn mcpoland, director of programs at the museum offered her thanks to marshall and cindy and the fca southwest region for another fun event. july 14th, 2002 is on the calendar for next year?s event. we look forward to seeing you there.

Gathering of Exotics

art center college of design

article and photos by tom brockmiller

on saturday, july 28, a most ambitious and appreciated team of john aldrich and toby rohrbach, two graduates of the art center, introduced the first annual event known as gathering of exotics.  your club responded with about twenty five ferraris that were displayed on the grass in front of the beautiful art center main building.

following john and toby?s theme of a gathering, they invited a large and mixed array of sporting cars of all varieties, from lotus, mg, jaguar, smart, mercedes, bmw and even a genuine ?32 ford roadster. there were a lot of pleased car affectionados but the real show was to visit the working classrooms of the art center and seeing their projects on behalf of toyota, nissan,  and pininfarina, only to mention a few.  actually, seeing clay mock-ups with students working at their creative best was both interesting and enlightening.

following this tour we went to the center's auditorium where we were introduced to mr. ken okayama, chairman of the transportation and design department, where he presented a video of the art center and its many world class achievements. mr. okayama also discussed working with pininfarina on many projects as well as the spectacular "rossa" design.

a wonderful lunch was served where we all had a chance to mix with old as well as new acquaintances. we wish to thank john and toby for preparing such a fine exhibit of cars and placing us all at such a prestigious location. we will grow to expect no less from their second annual event in 2002.

thank you for the invite, my friends.

Please join us in helping the American Red Cross

the tragic events of september 11 changed our lives forever and remind us how fragile life is.  our hearts go out to those who have lost family and friends.  we will never forget the courage and sacrifices of the firefighters, policemen and people on the streets.  our strength, resilience and unbreakable spirit, and the support of friends around the world, will help us through the days and months to come.

please join us in helping those who have lost so much.  if every member contributed $20, we could raise $100,000.  write a check to the american red cross and send it to:

pat current
15812 radwick ln.
silver spring, md 20906. 

we will add those checks to funds recently collected at club events and send it on each week to the red cross so the money gets to where it is needed as quickly as possible.

those in need thank you very much.

Monterey Ride and Drive

article and photos by bill inglis

we had a large turn out at taft high school in woodland hills.  twenty-one ferraris of all years and models along with two cars of other makes arrived, eager to make a trip up the coast for a luncheon at café roma in san luis obispo.  it was a beautiful day and traffic was light on highway 101.  after passing through santa barbara, we took the turn off to lake cachuma and had a 15-minute rest stop at the lake cachuma recreational area. 

 we arrived at café roma around noon and were treated to a wonderful italian buffet luncheon.  after running out of food in the first 10 minutes, the food was quickly replenished and everyone was left satisfied.  mechanical trouble came about when robert biger?s car broke a clutch cable in the parking lot right in front of café roma.  if there had to be any trouble, this was a nice place for it to happen.  not to be delayed by such mechanical problems, robert immediately rented a car and drove to monterey for the festive weekend.  his car was repaired in santa barbara and everything is back to normal. 

about ten cars decided to go up highway 1 with the balance of the remaining cars taking highway 101.  i led the pack up highway 101 and it was uneventful and smooth sailing right into monterey and carmel.  i think we had the most participation we have ever had this year.  everyone seemed to enjoy each other?s company.  more good news is that we picked up a couple of new fca members who joined the club after the ride.

bill inglis

The Monterey Weekend 2001

article and photos by wally clark

the weekend started off with the friday concourso italiano at the quail lodge.  there were about 300 ferraris inside and outside and the pacific region did a marvelous job of getting all the cars inside parked!  the feature were ferrari show cars and pininfarina show cars.  many fca sw region members showed their cars and randy reiss won "best of show" with his fly yellow 250 swb berlinetta #3695.

saturday was track day and the feature at laguna seca this year was bentley.  in the paddock were two very special displays-both featuring phil hill.   a lot of the cars he drove were on display in a tent, and he actually drove a few on the track during the lunch hour to the delight of all the tifosi!  there was a great photo display featuring phil?s racing career, and for a time, he was signing autographs in the tent.  one of the sub features at the track was a vintage formula 1 race, which had a couple of ferrari f1 cars in it.  our own steve tillack entered his 1982 march f1 car and lost the brakes in practice and had an incident with a wall.  he slightly injured his collar bone, but otherwise escaped without serious injury.  there were the usual contingent of early ferrari race cars spaced throughout the classes.  one of the better races saw a 250 lm get out to a great lead,  only to be passed on the last corner of the last lap by a 427 cobra!

then there were the auctions, lots of them this year.  some highlights were the high prices brought by some very special ferraris.  one of the two existing 410 sport scaglietti spyders sold for 3.8 million dollars, the ex randy reiss 250 tdf sold for $1.2 million,  a competition daytona sold for $1.2 million,  and a "no reserve" 250 california spyder sold for $831,000.  there were also some no sales: a 512bblm, a 500 mondial and a 500 testa rossa.

pebble beach featured some pininfarina show cars and at the center of the field was the 1950?s fiat 642 transporter (ex richard freshman) complete with a display of 250 testa rossa?s on it.

first in class of the competition ferraris was jon shirley?s 290mm, which also won the dallas fca national. first in class for the pininfarina design class was the 250 pf special coupe #2821gt owned by lorenzo zambrano of mexico city. 

i?m sure i missed something, as there is so much to do and see on this weekend that it could last all week, not just three days!

wally clark