Carmel, August 14, 1998
The youngest of the three events
172 Ferrari
One owner for the last 30 years
Recently reconstructed
A reborn car
Rare road cars
Best of Show
Etceteras
The class winners
The youngest of the three events
Every year in mid-August, the area of Monterey in California with its golf courses,
palm trees and scarcely wooded hills turns into the Mecca for car- and oldtimer
enthusiasts.
Each of the three events taking place in just one weekend are worth the trip. The
longest tradition does have the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elégance that had
been hosted for the first time back in 1950. The premier of the Monterey Historic
Automobile Races took place in 1974 – then still on the racetrack of Pebble
Beach. The youngest event of the three is the Concours Italiano. The gathering of
Italian cars started its life in 1981 when the Maserati Club International (MCI) held
their annual Concours d’Elégance at the site of the Quail Lodge Resort golf
course in Carmel Valley (where Clint Eastwood used to be the mayor). The
followers of the "other marque from Modena" were so impressed by the
picturesque piece of land they did host their annual event there ever since. In
1987, the Lamborghini and Bizzarini clubs joined the MCI, and since 1991,
members of the Ferrari Club of America (FCA) take part in the Concours Italiano
as well. Since then the organizers of the show usually promote the Concours as
"A celebration of Italian style".
172 Ferrari
Year by year, the Concours Italiano has a particular theme. In 1998, Alfa Romeo
was the featured marque, but this did not mean that the other makes were forced
into the background. The turnout of Ferrari was tremendous and included almost
every common model from the 212 Export to the F50 and from the 550 Maranello
to the 355 F1. The official list of participants included 172 Ferrari entrants – many
of them had been invited by the regional area groups "Pacific" and "Southwest" of
the FCA.
However, this number did not include the cars brought to Quail Lodge by
commercial exhibitors. To name just one among many, the Symbolic Motor Car
Co. From La Jolla, California turned up with some very rare pieces from their
stock, including the oldest Ferrari present at Carmel, the 166 MM Berlinetta
Touring s/n 0060M.
One owner for the last 30 years
One of the highlights was definitely the Dino 206 SP s/n 018 – its participation in
the event was for sure a surprise even to many experts.
The Drogo-bodied spyder had been owned since 1967 by the wealthy Italian
privateer racer Leandro Terra from the Pescara area. Terra did enter the Dino in
countless races in the late 1960’s prior to hiding it away in his garage for years.
For this reason, s/n 018 is preserved in completely original condition; even the
stickers from the scrutinizing sessions of the 1971 and 1973 editions of the Targa
Florio are still on the car! This sensational car had been acquired by Symbolic
some weeks prior to the Concours Italiano.
Another open sports car that had come out of Symbolic’s showroom was the 333
SP s/n 019. This car took Giampiero Moretti and his team to 1st in the 1998 24
Hours of Daytona and in the 12 Hours of Sebring. After his participation in the 24
Hours of Le Mans, Moretti sold the car to Symbolic.
Recently reconstructed
Another undoubted highlight of the event was the 330 P3 s/n 0844, that might be
designated as well as a 412 P. The mid-engined prototype looks back on an
eventful career: s/n 0844’s life started in 1966 as a works car of the Scuderia
Ferrari. Afterwards, Ferrari sold the car to Luigi Chinetti’s N.A.R.T.; at that time, the
works cars differed in several aspects from the almost identical cars built for
customers.
For this reason, the designation was changed from 330 P3 to 412 P after the sale.
The N.A.R.T. entered the car in numerous races, and in 1967 s/m 0844 was part
of the legendary "photo finish" of the 24 Hours of Daytona. Late in the summer of
the same year, the roof of the car was chopped off during a substantial conversion
for racing in the CanAm Series. The rare car kept the outfit of a so-called "CanAm
Spider" for three decades. In spring of 1998, one decided to convert s/n 0844 back
to its original looks. At the Concours Italiano, the freshly reconstructed Berlinetta
was shown to the public for the first time.
A reborn car
Mike Sheehan and Luigi Chinetti, Jr. Showed up with another interesting car: 250
LM s/n 5149. Except the history, there is not too much left on the car that could be
described as original. S/n 5149 is the first of the 32 produced 250 LM, was shown
at the 1963 Paris Motor Show and was used for the homologation of the type in
motor racing.
In the hands of various owners, the car had a quite "exhausting" racing career that
did end with the almost total destruction of the car. In the late 1980’s, the car was
rebuilt in Italy to the specifications of the 1963 Paris Motor Show.
Rare road cars
An interesting Ferrari road car present at Quail Lodge was the 400 Superamerica
Coupé Aerodynamico of James Truitt. The car, which was formerly owned by Enzo
Ferrari himself, has two serial numbers, 3097SA and 4031SA. The car had been
renumbered by the Factory, probably due to exportation purposes.
Another rare Ferrari at the Concours Italiano: 250 GT Cabriolet Series I s/n
0811GT, one of just two right hand-driven examples built.
Best of Show
Many other 250 GTs, 275s, 330s, 365s, Dino and Daytona were present as well –
in short, almost every single production model since the 1960’s could be seen.
Several owners did show up with their automotive sweethearts on the podium to
present it to the jury. The majority of the Ferrari were entered in the "1998 Vintage
Ferrari Concours"; only one of them was eventually awarded with the Luigi Chinetti
Memorial Trophy – the lucky winner was Arthur Zafiropoulo with his 365 GTS/4
Daytona Spider s/n 17069.
Among the other prizes of note were the Stan Nowak Memorial Award for the most
outstanding GT Ferrari (275 GTB s/n 08225 of Ron Busuttil) and the Phil Hill
Award for the Ferrari of exceptional historical merit (250 GT Coupé Ellena s/n
0807GT of Cy Yedor). Of course there was also a trophy for the oldest Ferrari
which was awarded to Garry Roberts for his 212 Export Berlinetta Tuboscocca s/n
0141T.
Etceteras
Another important part of the Concours Italiano is a large swap-meet where huge
numbers of spare parts, literature and memorabilia are on offer. Definitely a place
to spend many Dollars, especially if one’s funds are not sufficient to buy one of the
historic race cars at Symbolic’s display or a new Ferrari at the display of Ferrari of
San Francisco. Talking about money: The entry fee for the Concours Italiano per
spectator is 35,-$. The price includes a color program that helps to keep up the
appetite for next year’s Concours Italiano during cold winter evenings.
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