....right back at ya!


OK, so i must ask --- any Porsche stories while over in Stuttgart? As many know here i am huge into Porsche and love visiting Stuttgart as often as possible to soak it all in --- have you been? any photos? that would be really cool ~

 

You might enjoy this...

Stephen Mitchell interviews Ron Kellogg - YouTube

 

^ that is cool! Thanks for sharing that ^

 

Sometimes one comes across a 'match made in Heaven' and it is recognizable from a mile away. Eduardo Renta and his Ferrari 330GTC is just such a match. Elegant, well presented and capable of holding one's interest are qualities shared by the man and his machine. Before heading out onto Mulholland Drive, Eduardo and I sat and talked for awhile at the Starbucks near the top of Beverly Glen and it was immediately clear that he understands his car and its place in the Ferrari line-up. His appreciation for its signature, vintage elements runs as deep as my own.

As we steered the Ferrari onto Mulholland followed by the Elysée Wednesday TV crew (Chad Glass, Jeanetta Dumouchel and Sean Mitchell on this occasion) the sound of the robust twelve cylinder engine brought back all the memories that one would expect. It was nervous and ready to run like any thoroughbred should be--and as with most Ferraris, you are always going slower than it wants to go.

When the 330GTC was first reviewed in the automotive press, it was generally held to be the best all-around Ferrari of the day combining performance and styling in a well-balanced package. Bill Harrah, whose Modern Classic Motors was the Western States Ferrari distributor (he was also a Nevada casino owner), chose one as his personal transportation. In fact, I believe that at least one magazine used Bill's personal car for its road test. The GTC is essentially a 275GTB with a four litre engine and its own unique, more restrained, styling.

It is easy to think of the GTC as a two-seater version of the 330 2+2 with regard to design and, I suppose, that's an accurate assessment. However, there are subtleties of design that make it a sublime variation on the theme first penned by Tom Tjaarda for the Series 1 2+2. It benefits greatly from the foreshortening and the proportions are far more aggressive than the photographs imply. The rear tumblehome creates a dynamic entirely lacking in the 2+2 and along with the reshaping of the headlights and grill, when seen in person, causes one to reevaluate the design giving it an upgrade in esteem.

It was interesting to hear everyone's opinions about the car when we parked on Mulholland to admire the car and take photographs. Chad offered comments as an artist about the design elements, Jeanetta likened the chrome trim--absent from modern machines--as the accessories worn by a stylish woman and Sean liked the combination of Ferrari sights and sounds so different from those of modern offerings.

As for my own impressions, the 330GTC has all of the characteristics that created the Ferrari legend and driving it puts one in a different world in a way other cars just cannot. The Ferrari is an experiential phenomenon that exceeds the consideration of aesthetics and performance--it takes you places both literally and figuratively. Soon, I will post extracts of this episode of Elysée Wednesday TV so you can get a sense of this car in action.

I want to thank Eduardo for generously sharing his Ferrari with us. I want, also, to thank Richard Mitchell of Black Horse Motors for making the introduction.

 

PJ said...


Hello Stephen,

I found your blog few days ago and I'm completely stunned with your stories about your Ferrari GTO #3987.

Those videos at Willow Springs and Mulholland are astonishing and the passion that you put in your writing when the subject is the GTO is almost touching.

I'm writing you from Portugal, I'm a huuuuge Ferrari fan and I would like to know please if it's possible for you to write about the GTO # 3987 since the first owner to the present, if you know the full history, of course.

It would be very appreciated and make me dream for a little while.

Thank you in advance.

My best regards,

Paulo Vilela,
Braga
Portugal

Hello Paulo,

Below you will find a history of GTO 3987 as compiled by the Barchetta website [http://www.barchetta.cc/english/all....GT.250GTO.htm]. There are four errors/omissions I can point out. The first is the indication that a 3.3 litre 250LM engine was installed in 1966. This is inaccurate. The LM engine was installed during Dr. Stuart Baumgard's ownership which began in 1972 after he acquired the car from Alain de Cadenet. The second is that two owners are overlooked entirely. The first is Mark Slotkin who bought 3987 from Otto Zipper. The second is William Reinhart (I'm not certain of the spelling) who bought the car form Mark Slotkin. I bought 3987 from William who had over-cooked the engine. The date given as my acquisition--1965--is incorrect and I did not take ownership of the car until 1968 if I remember correctly. Finally, according to Marcel Massini, the original GTO engine removed by Stuart Baumgard was reunited with 3987 by Don Walker.

There may be other inaccuracies of which I am unaware.

Ed Niles makes a further correction to the Barchetta information:

"Otto Zipper was on Wilshire. Ferrari Reps of Ca was von Neuman, on Cahuenga."

This is a cut & paste from Barchetta:

62 - N.A.R.T.
62/oct/21 1st OA 1000km Paris, Montlhery Pedro Rodriguez/
Ricardo Rodriguez #1 Pourret p325, 326 1000km Paris p20, 23
62 - Mecom Racing Team, Houston, TX, USA
62/dec/02 1st OA 5 Lap Tourist Trophy over 2-litres heat, Nassau Roger Penske #85
62/dec/02 1st OA 25 Lap Tourist Trophy, Nassau Roger Penske #85 BSW p232, 233
62/dec/02 1st OA 5 Lap Governor's Trophy, Nassau Roger Penske #85
62/dec/08 5th OA 5 Lap Texas Classic race, Nassau Augie Pabst #85 C137 p55
63/feb/17 2nd OA 3h Daytona Continental Roger Penske #29
63/mar/23 4th OA
1st GT 12h Sebring Roger Penske/
Augie Pabst #24 250 GTO p72
63/may/25 1st OA Pensacola GT race Roger Penske #17
63/sep/08 8th OA
2nd IC Road America 500, Elkhart Lake Roger Penske/
Augie Pabst #7 C152 p51
63/sep/29 2nd OA 1st IC Lynndale Farms, Wisconsin Race, main Augie Pabst #2
63/oct/13 5th OA L.A. Times GP, Riverside Richie Ginther #211
64 - Otto Zipper Motors, Ferrari Representatives of Hollywood, Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, CA, USA
64/oct/11 5th OA Riverside, Los Angeles Times GP Richie Ginther

65 - S. Mitchell, USA
66 - with engine 6045 250 LM
71 - Alain de Cadenet, GB
72 - Stuart Baumgard, Encino, CA, USA +213-981-0883
77/aug
Pebble Beach Concours Stuart Baumgard

78 - Gaon & Stillmann, USA
83 - Don Walker, Dallas, TX, USA - restored
84/aug/23
International Ferrari Concours Don Walker

84/aug/25-26 7th Monterey Historic Races Don Walker

85 - Ralph Lauren, Long Island, NY, USA
02/jan/26 display XI. Cavallino Classic, class 16 Ralph Lauren

05/mar/16-jul/31 - displayed in the Fine Arts Museum, Boston, MA, USA

 

Serge Dermanian looked after the cars in the Ralph Lauren collection that were kept in Montauk. Here he writes about GTO 3987.

Stephen, regarding the 3987 GTO, I remember when I got the car ready for New York State inspection, after carefully checking brake pads, hand brake, all fluid levels, all lights, wipers, etc.

As a whole, I was not to satisfied with the overall condition of the fit & finish. I had noticed, that the roof line was not as a few others I had seen in the past! My first "joy meeting" with a GTO, was in the early 60s at Thompson race track were I was spending my Sunday afternoons with Mike Gamino and his mechanic Liberio Gerardi. The sight of that tall shift lever impressed me, and the sudden silence of a Ferrari, every time he switched off the engine. Wonderful memories!

Now, the test drive. The engine ran "fairly well" but the gear box had a major problem. You probably remember the reverse gear safety feature, which is a piece protruding under the shift gate; in order to engage reverse, when in neutral, you must push the shift lever down to pass this safety feature. It was designed to prevent going inadvertently into reverse when shifting quickly from 1st to 2nd. Imagine the fiasco!

That safety device was completely worn out, probably during extensive racing. It was no trouble for me since I had worked on and driven many of these cars. As a matter of fact,

I had the NART spider next to the GTO and that gate was OK.

The next problem was excessive play in the steering system, I brought the car back to the garage, lifted it to check the steering carefully but all tie rods ends were fine. The steering box was the reason.

I called my friend Geoff Holland in Vermont who had the parts, follower and bearings, in stock. I purchased the shift gate as well. Removing the steering box is an easy task, I had done many of them. After dismantling it, I replaced the worn out parts utilizing special grease with anti-corrosion agents. I filled the box with GLX 140 that I purchased from a trucking company. You should not use 80/90 hypoid oil.

After replacing the shift gate, I purchased a beautiful piece of mahogany (knowing how much Ralph Lauren loved this type of wood) and installed the old gate on the wood block and drilled holes for pens and pencils! On the front, I glued a Ferrari emblem from a key chain and underneath a piece of velvet. Then I mailed it to Ralph for Christmas.

Voila! A Ferrari pencil holder for his desk. If someone sees it on his desk, you will know were it came from!

Hope you like my comments,
Serge Dermanian

I do like them, Serge. Thank you!

 

When Elysée Wednesday member Scott McClure mentioned that he was driving one of his Dinos to Los Angeles, it got my attention in a big way. I had never driven one of these Ferrari-made 246 Dinos though I had long admired their shape and often marveled at the sound of that engine as one would pass by on the road. I liked its size, too. The Dino is compact--a go-kart for grown-ups, you might say. Scott gave me an immediate 'yes' when I asked if he would like his Dino to be the subject of an EWTV drive segment.

Our crew on this outing consisted of Larry Crane (Auto Aficionado), Jeanetta Dumouchel (a producer with me on the Carrera Panamericana documentary), Chad Glass (who executed the Carrera Panamerican poster and the cover and internal art for my GTO book--perhaps I should say 'our' GTO book) and Kira Gurnée (who is producing her own TV series, 'Corkscrew Adventures'). Scott and I completed the group.

We gathered at the top of Beverly Glen and discovered that a number of Ferraris were present--430s, a 512TR, a 308 Dino--but Scott's red Dino drew the crowd. Though a beautiful car in photographs, the Dino shares a characteristic with all the Ferraris I've ever seen--they are even more beautiful to the eye than to the camera. The voluptuous curves of this spider reward the eye and have an almost hypnotic effect on the observer. The obvious style references to the P4 race car are very well executed here.

As we motored out onto Mulholland Drive, it was quickly clear that Scott drives his car like a Ferrari factory test driver doing justice to the Prova Modena plate attached to the Dino. The gearing was ideally suited to the tight corners and relatively short straights of Mulholland. We could not have picked a better road to sample this car.

When I took the wheel, what impressed me most was the quickness of the turn-in. Placing the car on the outside of a corner, only a small movement of the steering wheel put the car right on the apex and the Dino sling-shots through the turn. The power-to-weight ratio gives the car all the performance one could want Mulholland and then some.

We all took turns at the wheel and behind the cameras--still and video--so the day's effort was collaborative in every sense. Larry Crane took some low-angle roadside shots of the Dino drive-bys that recalled some shots from Steve McQueen's film Le Mans. Everyone had a great deal of fun--it took a day or so to get the smile off of my face--and I am only sorry that my son Sean was not with us on this occasion, the victim of a changing work schedule.

I'll post video clips once they have been edited.

 

While talking with Kenny Lombino of the Ferrari Club of America on the phone, he asked if I knew Michael Adams. I did not. Kenny tells me that Michael is an interesting guy with some great cars and perhaps I'd like to do a shoot a video of one of his cars for the Elysée Wednesday TV drive series. Yes I would and so it was that we show up at Michael's house to experience his immaculate 275GTB.

Michael would have preferred we sample his 330GTS--his favorite--but the GTB has long been a favorite of mine and it has been decades since I drove one. It belonged to my friend John Andrews and it is said that John's car once belonged to Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys and had been driven by Charles Manson when he spent some time hanging with the band. It wasn't John who told me this but, if true, it makes for an additional connection to the dreadful night on Cielo Drive--Steve McQueen, Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring and that GTB.

Seeing Michael's GTB under the lights in his showcase garage, it could have been sitting in Otto Zipper's showroom on Wilshire at 26th Street back in the day as it looked brand new and flawless.
Making a tour of the car, there isn't a bad angle and I remember Brock Yates' write-up where he described moving a Captain's chair to different positions around a 275GTB so he could sit and contemplate the design from all angles.

When it came time to drive the GTB out of the garage, the ticking of the fuel pump brought back some very fond Lusso/GTO memories. The sound of the constant velocity starter motor completed the flashback. This GTB is a long-nose, single-cam V12 and it makes all the sounds one expects of a Ferrari engine with Weber carburetors, timing chains (instead of belts) and twelve cylinders.

Another vintage reference to the Lusso/GTO days is the view from the driver or passenger seat--one sees the finely sculpted hood and fender contours as they reach forward to a vanishing point. Mid-engined moderns don't offer this, the base of the windshield usually serving as the vanishing point with the front bodywork dropping immediately from sight.

Our drive took us down to the Pacific Coast Highway and up Sunset to Pacific Palisades Park. Continuing on Sunset, we completed the loop turning on Allenford and driving past Paul Revere where I went to school. I don't know which was more pleasurable--being in the GTB or looking at it from the chase car (Kenny's Maserati) and admiring this beautiful piece of industrial sculpture moving amongst the more prosaic automobiles.

Back home in Michael's driveway, Michael and Kenny engaged in some very entertaining banter that will be on display in the video excerpts when I post them. In the meantime, I offer my thanks to Kenny Lombino for making the introduction and to Michael Adams who graciously shared his marvelous GTB with us.

Jeanetta Dumouchel of EWTV was there to enjoy the car and shoot stills and video.

 

Ferrari 275GTB - YouTube

The video...

 

Ferrari 330GTC - YouTube

Here are some excerpts from our time with Eduardo Renta and his fabulous 330GTC.