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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