"The Over the River and Through the Woods to a Fine Restaurant We Go" Ride and Drive

The Master of planning great driving events, Tino Mingori did another great job with 1995's final event. The weather Gods smiled upon the nine cars that met at the base of the Angeles Crest mountains on Sunday morning, providing great sunny weather like only Southern California can boast. After a little coffee at Lloyd's Coffee Shop, some introductions and distribution of the printed directions, the five Ferraris and four unmentionables (including one of those hot-rod-VW P-things) took off for a little spirited driving up the twists of the Crest.

Tino Mingori and Bill Inglis discuss the drive.

Tino and his lovely wife Lynn took the lead in their also-lovely yellow 275 GTB/4 and all the others followed. At Upper Tujunga Road Tino surrendered the lead to the more exuberant Jeff Littrell in his great-sounding 365 GTC/4. From there the gang traveled down to the town of Acton and on to the Agua Dulce area where, after a couple little rests, they regrouped at the historic Le Chene Restaurant in Saugus for a great brunch.

Parked beside the stone walls of Le Chene Restaurant are three of Maranello's finest, each sporting a highly descriptive license plate. Tino's "275 GTB4", Bill Inglis's "3 OOH 8", and Jeff Littrell's "V12 FUN".

Participating were Tino and Lynn Mingori, Jeff Littrell, Tony and Robyn Cottier, Bill Inglis, Rick and Jan Lesser, David Marks and Carol Lynch, Dennis and Linda Sullivan, Bob and Nitsa White, Russ Woodward and Sue Robben, and Cesar Chavarria. Cesar is a potential Ferrari owner who has longed for one of Maranello's finest ever since hearing his first Ferrari as a kid. In fact, he loves the sounds of the Prancing Horses so much that at one point he took off ahead of the group in his Mercedes only so that he could be passed at full throttle by the herd. He says the sound is as glorious now as it was then.

No tickets, no one lost (well OK, Jeff led part of the group astray for a while but they worked their way back), no mechanicals, no mishaps. Just good friends, good fun, and good food. A great way to cap off a fine Ferrari year.

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