Car Show Classic did a piece with Marcel Massini on the 212 at Mille Miglia. This is a great description of the history of the car from the master himself.

See http://carshowclassic.com/car-models/classic-car/146 for more.

It has been too long since I posted on the blog, the trip west to go on Rich and Jean Taylor’s Northwest Passage Rally kind of wiped me out and I am just now recovering. Here is the website to events that Vintage Rallies puts on, 2010 being the first year of the Northwest Passage through Idaho, British Columbia, Alberta and Montana. http://vintagerallies.com/index.html

I hauled a Mercedes-Benz 300SL and a Ferrari 400I from the North East out to the North West in the Freightliner M2, then drove 1500 miles following the tour in the truck with 2 brand new Porsche’s in tow as back up vehicles in case one of the 45 classic cars broke down. By the time I drove out west, participated in the rally and drove home I accumulated over 7500 miles 12 days.

Even though I have to keep up with the pack of high performance sports cars while driving a 33000 lb truck, locate parts and fix stuff on the side of the road, I have the best time on these events and look forward to the next tour in West Virginia!

If Nate can find his camera and email me photos of the trip I will post them in another entry.

This green MG was very impressive looking at Mille Miglia.

Chopard has been a long time sponsor of the Mille, so of course, the Chopard website has a wide variety of Mille Miglia related products, as well as a gallery, and a video. The Ferrari 212 0086E that we restored makes a cameo appearance at about 1:01 on the video. It’s just in front of the cream colored featured car, heading out of Rome in the morning of the third day.

Click this pic to get to the Chopard site, from there, click "movie."

Mr. Garfield organized a tour through our area last weekend and scheduled the participants visit our shop. It’s odd that all of the cars were 911′s, I thought there may be a few 356′s or front engined cars but most of them were heavily modified 911′s. There was a totally stock looking early 911 with an engine sound suggesting a displacement of well over 3.0 liters and a beautiful 1979 SC with a late model 3.6 liter and subtle modifications to keep the car on the ground at speed.

I really like this orange car

911 Orange coupe

Tour of Porsche

GPS Classic had a lot going on when we arrived in Soragna to uncrate the 212. They operate a shop very much like RPM, but in Italy. Within the shop are a large number of Ferraris, Alfas, Oscas, and about 5 vintage Formula 3 cars. During Mille Miglia, GPS Classic takes care of a number of cars. We followed the 212 0086E in our service vehicle, while the first of the GPS Classic vans followed a couple of the other cars.

Other GPS Classic posts are here: http://www.ferraricraft.com/2010/05/mille-miglia-day-0/

and

here: http://www.ferraricraft.com/2010/05/ferrari-250-mille-miglia/

The plate that RPM made for the 212 in Vermont. Looks just like the original.

These are 175/550-13 tires on Campagnolo wheels... these were some of the narrower ones. The big ones got into the 15" wide territory.

Formula 3 - I think this was a Manta. There were Loti as well, and lots of Cosworth bits everywhere.

There are a few of these racks.

The Mount Washington Resort - NH headquarters for the New England 1000

Just a few photos from the New England 1000 Rally that travels from Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, VT to the White Mountains of New Hampshire and a few nights at the Mount Washington Hotel. Days on the rally are spent driving some of the best roads New England has to offer, some like the Kancamagus are well known, while others are gems were built to fly a 911 RS down.

Peter Markowski and Marcel Mancini revel in their work on the restoration and accuracy of 0086E

Scrutineering at Mille Miglia is a great excuse for one of the best car shows in the world. To be eligible, cars need to be from 1927 to 1957 – the years that the Mille Miglia was run as an all out competitive race. Cars ranged from Bugattis, to Frazer Nashes, many Ferraris, and a flock of Gullwings – of course, many had raced Mille Miglia themselves.

0086E was unloaded from the trailer and brought into the building – immediately, photographers from all over the world surrounded the little Ferrari never seeming to let up. Peter Markowski and Marcel Mancini congratulated each other on the project and even the scrutineers were thrilled with the car, with many pats on the back, handshakes, and high marks.

Within minutes of bringing in 0086E, the phototographers emerged - and surrounded the car

Questions, congratulations, and praise

Every detail of the 212 is documented

In the mind of every vintage car enthusiast, the Mille Miglia may supersede heaven as the location of divine happiness. This lovely 250 GT Pininfarina Coupe was named 250 MM, short for the race it was designed for, the Mille Miglia. Even this carefully crafted and beautifully prepared car is not immune to the the throes of classic car ownership. The devil is in the details.

For the first time in over 50 years, these former Marzotto team cars are sitting side by side,  prepared once again to compete in the Mille Miglia.  Are these cars like working dogs, border collies or sled dogs who are anxious to work almost to their own demise or are they dreading the stress of the event?

The lighter red car is a Ferrari 340 America serial number 0030MT that belonged to my father, Peter Markowski for 35 years. He bought it as a worn out race car when he was in his late teens and restored over the course of many years then driving it for close to 100,000 miles. In the late 90′s our shop restored it again, overhauling the engine, transmission, brakes and other components. We performed a flawless pant job on the car and Peter sold it shortly after all that work was completed because he was not comfortable driving the car with reckless abandon as he used to.

The car sold to its current owner in Europe who disliked the perfection so performed some magic to make the car look more original followed by competing in many driving events which added some true “battle scars”.  My father was probably quite emotional seeing this old piece of his history next to a car that he and his sons built from the ground up.

A well known Ferrari historian is working to make arrangements to have the two cars shipped to the home of  Giannino Marzotto at Lake Como for a photo shoot and possible magazine article.  I hope this works out as Signior Marzotto may have some incredible stories of racing these cars in the early 50′s.

Ferrari Marzotto 340

Marzotto Team cars 212, 340 Ferrari