I’m sorry to say that I don’t know what this new Ferrari is called, is it the California? Does it have a V-8 engine? Anyhow, it’s kind of similar in proportions to this filthy 330 GTC which attracted the grit from cruising in the snow in the Appalachian Mountains last week. We had an amazing time in the Virginia and West Virginia corridor driving on unbelievably smooth and twisty roads for 1000 miles over 4 days.

My filthy hands contaminated many sinks in ultra plush hotels such as The Greenbrier in West Virginia and The Homestead Resort in VA. Last time we stayed at these places I preferred the Homestead but this time the food and experience at the Greenbrier totally eclipsed the Homestead.

The Greenbrier served an amazing vegetarian cannoli of which I don’t remember the details and the next night I ate a pistachio encrusted avocado with a light drizzle of lemon truffle oil and a few basil leaves. Super creative food Greenbrier chefs.

GTC and Ferrari California

Signs of things to come. Later we found 35˚F temps and 7" of snow

After a drive to Long Island to pick up cars, and Philadelphia to drop off an incredible Velocette Thruxton motorbike, we finally made it to Hot Springs, Virginia and the colossal hotel resort, The Homestead. The hotel is rich with history and while lobby alone is massive, a series of parlor rooms runs its length such that any small group can get away and feel as if they have their own private space. (Gallery after the jump) » Continue reading “Mountain Mille – Day 1″

Over the weekend Steve and I (Bill) headed with one of our customers to the Fairfield County Concours and Bonham’s Auction. We drove from the New Paltz area early Sunday morning, the Ferraris (250 GTE and 250 PF Coupe) caravanned to the event together, with the Steve and the Freightliner in tow, figuratively of course.

Stephan was a Concours Judge, which was as I found quite an honor. He worked to rate countless beautiful cars alongside the likes of Rupert “The Hawk” Banner, Bonham’s esteemed auctioneer, McKeel Hagerty, Dave Kinney, Wayne Carini, etc. Nice work Stephan. You can now find Stephan at the shop under his Fairfield County Concours “Judge” ballcap - commemorative gift with service.

On Facebook we’ve put up a gallery of pictures that I took when I either remembered to get the camera out or when my iPhone actually had battery life. The gallery is here – and a little teaser below. Make sure to “Like” us on Facebook so that our updates show up in your feed.

Bugatti Type 57

Wayne Carini's Leyland Bus

Dial-a-boost on the RUF CTR 1. This knob actually only varies boost from 1 bar to about 1.2 - not a huge performance increase but good to adjusting to the quality of different gasoline.

BMW 2002 Turbo

Me with the diminutive Fiat 600 that we bought.

As we’ve been traveling through the Canadian Rockies on Route 1, the Trans Canada Highway, Route 93 and other roads,  another group in Pre-War cars has been mixing it up with our group of sports cars. To see a 1911 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost “floating” along at 70 MPH is a sight to behold because it looks so effortless and elegant with the huge wheels and locomotive styling. This group is staying at the Banff Springs Hotel as we are so I am passing cards out to see if I can work on any of these icons. Sure, it would be great to see more of the inner workings on a Silver Cloud or on this Peugeot but  I’m more interested in getting some tips!

Peugeot Pre-War

Silver Ghost, Wrath, Cloud?

Rear suspension 1935 Ford Amilcar

While Steve and Nate are at Northwest Passage; both the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb and the historic Mt. Washington Hillclimb are all going on simultaneously. The vintage cars at Mt. Washington are rich with ARCA history. They are the reason the Climb to the Clouds is a prestigious event. I, Bill, am at Mt. Washington and have taken just a few pics with my iPhone while walking through the pits.

Take a look at the gallery here on the Climb to the Clouds Facebook page.

Here are some photos that Nate and I took of the Canadian Rockies on the Northwest Passage event. The mountains are so jagged and rugged, is it possible to hike them? I may go for a hike today as we aren’t driving anywhere and we don’t have much to work on.

Alberta, Banff

Lake Louise, CA, Alberta, Canada CA

Nate and I are on the Northwest Passage Rally with Vintage Rallies. (www.vintagerallies.com) Rich and Jean Taylor organize this event along with others such as the New England 1000, the Texas 1000 and the Mountain Mille. Nate and I are the support crew so we follow along in the two car transporter full of tools to keep everyone running and if their car breaks to where we cannot fix it, we wheel out a brand new Porsche 911 C/4 S or Cayman S and load up the broken car.
Here is our first “victim” a Lotus Esprit S/4S. SpritS4S. The owner was alarmed by a major coolant leak on the ground which was hard to locate since the engine is on a slant and you cannot see under the intake manifold. Nate and I decided to rip and tear and realized that a tiny water pump that circulated coolant through the inter-cooler was seized up and leaking like crazy.
This water pump hasn’t been turning for a long time so it’s odd that it started leaking at the beginning of the event but we decided to let him run the event without the pump working. The intake manifold gasket ripped a little but we put a heavy smear of RTV Silicone and the car runs perfectly, has completed the last 3 days like a champ!

Lotus Esprit

Esprit Lotus S/4 S

Intercooler Water pump

It may be an old interview, but it is still a good one. And wow those Ferrari prices have matured! This gets me thinking about a blog post I wanted to write about how the whole Ferrari community has matured based on the advertisements in publications such as Cavallino and Prancing Horse Magazines. 10+ years ago the full page ads were taken by big companies such as luxury watch makers and insurance  companies, but now you see full page ads taken out by restoration shops. It’s nice to see because restoration and repair shops work so hard to keep these cars running so to see that they can afford a full page ad seems like a great maturing of the entire Ferrari community… as well as the entire classic car community.

http://www.forbes.com/2000/12/11/1214vehiclesate.html

Car Show Classics also put together this engine bay porn from Mille Miglia. It’s a lot of detail.