Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, 29 July – 02 August 2009
Sunshine and showers were the story of the 2009 Ferrari Club of
America National Meet & Concours, which this year was based at
the elegant Ostoff Resort & Spa and the picturesque undulating
Road America track in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Fortunately the
showers were of short duration, with the first arriving just as the
concours judging finished on the Thursday morning, thus all
entrants were judged evenly. For the most part the weather was
very warm, bright and sunny, although the Saturday started on
the cool side, and there was some precipitation. As mentioned
the concours was on the Thursday, with three days of track
action at Road America on the Friday through to Sunday. There
was also a “treasure hunt” touring rally on the Friday, which took
in lunch at the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, before
wending its way back to the Ostoff in the late afternoon.
The event highlights were the celebration on the “Boxer” series of
cars, plus the 25th anniversaries of the GTO (288) and the
F333SP. A special treat and surprise for attendees was the
appearance of the 375 America Vignale Coupe, chassis # 0337
AL, on which Heinrich Kampfer from Switzerland had just
completed a full restoration. The car looked stunning in its original
yellow and beige duo-tone colour combination, making its first
post restoration showing en route to the Pebble Beach Concours
d’Elegance in California, and was justly voted overall Best of
Show.
Early Ferrari models were generally thin on the ground, but others
of note were the very original
166 Vignale Coupe, chassis # 045 S, recently imported to the
USA from Italy,
the dark blue 340 America Ghia Coupe, chassis # 0148 A, of
Jack Thomas,
the 250 GT Coupe, chassis # 0943 GT, of Todd Hensley,
the 1957 410 Superamerica Pinin Farina Coupe, chassis # 0715
SA, of Chris La Porte, and
the spectacular pale blue 500 Mondial Scaglietti Spider, chassis
# 0556/0446 MD, of Admiral Robert Philips.
250 GT models in the concours included
a 250 GT S1 PF Cabriolet, chassis # 1475 GT,
a 250 GT California Spider LWB, chassis # 1451 GT,
a 250 GT SWB Berlinetta, chassis # 1905 GT,
a 250 GT 2+2, chassis # 2367 GT, plus
a pair of 250 GT Lussos, chassis #s 5081 GT and 5287 GT.
There were a trio of F333SPs in attendance at the track, chassis
#s 033, 036 and 038, plus a quartet of 512 BB/LMs, chassis #s
26681, 29509, 35527 and 38179, together with a replica built on
chassis # 22255, both at the concours and at the track. There
was also a good selection of various “Boxer” road cars, with the
last 512 BBi built, chassis # 52935, of Phil & Martha Bachman,
with only around 500kms on the clock from new, taking the Best
Road Car award, whilst the 512 BB/LM, chassis # 38179, of Jim
Fuchs, took the Best Race Car award.
Keith Bluemel
08/2009
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