Monterey, 17th of August, 2015
Founded in 1962 the Ferrari Club of America is the world largest
owners club for the marque with the prancing horse. Looking back
to a long tradition since the early days of Chinetti importing the
first Ferrari to the US maybe no other country outside Italy
celebrates the myth of Ferrari like North America. Many of the
most important Ferrari both street and racing sports cars could be
found in the big American collections and with Ferrari being
featured marque during the Monterey car week highlighted by the
Pebble Beach Concours most of them were present anyway so it
was obvious that the annual national meeting of the club was held
by the Pacific region. Just as in 2004 when Ferrari was last
honored in Monterey the day after the world’s most prestigious
concours was reserved for the FCA Concours held at the Nicklaus
Club near the Laguna Seca racetrack on the way from Monterey
to Salinas giving the Ferraristi another reason to visit the summer
epicenter of classic car activities at the Pacific.
About 250 Ferrari were set up this morning at the golf course and
although certainly this included a large amount of modern cars
from the post-Enzo Ferrari era the display was still worth a visit.
Many of the older examples could be seen elsewhere during the
previous days and surprisingly a lot of cars entered the days
before did not make it to the FCA concours but the line-up still
impressed rounding off an action packed week. Sorted by type
the 8-cylinder cars ranging from the 308 GTB to the newest Italia
took the upper half of the lawn whereas the lower half was
reserved to the cars ranging from the early 166 to the 365-series
and the Dinos. One of the center displays was again a gathering
of many 250 GTE as seen during the Concorso Italiano two days
before but for those visiting the historic races at Laguna Seca
instead this was a welcome chance to look at this sometimes
underrated model. Less glamorous than the two-seater variations
of the 250 series the GTE was often used to build replicas of the
more sportive versions in previous years but the prices of the
entry level 3-litre Ferrari have risen in their slipstream.
Just next to the GTE display were a couple of the more sportive
derivatives including the 250 GT SWB, the GT Lusso and the
1959 GT class winning 250 GT LWB “TdF” (chassis 1321GT).
Following the 250 series were a couple of 275 GTB/GTS both in
2- and 4-cam configuration.
On the other side of the lawn was the most interesting part of the
concours with the early street and racing cars of the coach built
era ranging from the oldest car on display, the 1950 Ferrari 195
Inter Ghia (0101S), a pair of blue 500 Mondial including the
Pininfarina Spyder (0438MD) recently restored by Ferrari
Classiche and the Scaglietti Spyder (0556MD), both of them once
owned by Porfirio Rubirosa. Being in the same ownership for
about 55 years now the later also made an appearance on the
FCA track days the following days proving not only being
beautifully restored but also properly driven.
The importance of the American market for Ferrari could be also
seen in its appearance in the model name as in the 330 America
or the 400 Superamerica. Two of these PF Aerodinamico
designed cars were on display, among them the special
Superfast II. Built for the Torino Motor Show the car was
redesigned in the two stages to Superfast III and IV specification.
Already shown in Amelia Island at its post-restoration debuted the
car restored by Wayne Obry´s MPI shop in Wisconsin was one of
the stars of the concours with its striking white/black interior and
the characteristic front lights. Rumors said that the car will soon
be transferred to the Superfast III configuration to re-enter the
concours circuit.
After several hours of judging to the FCA regulations no less than
80 Silver, Gold and Platinum awards were given in front of the club
house before those entered in the Coppa Bella Macchina
competition were judged again to a very intensive check list
including a test drive with the judges on the passenger seat.
Although there were some different opinions about the sense of
this sort of judging for cars less than 20 years old (as this even
included 355 models) one could see that both judges and owners
took this very serious with the last test drives still on their way at
7pm. A final result will be given after the awards banquet on
Wednesday evening.
After almost two weeks in Monterey this small report on the FCA
concours concludes our preview galleries of the activities on the
Monterey Peninsula during what is often called
“Monterey-Madness” with way more events than one could visit
ranging from the Concours, Race Meeting, Parties to the
countless auctions selling the most important cars. During the
next days we will have a closer look on the different events with
more extensive galleries and after some research hopefully with
some more information/chassis numbers of the cars on show.
Although presumable the busiest time during the classic car year
there are few negative comments on the Monterey car week and
most likely most will be back to the next car week in August
2016.
Text & images … Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
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