FCA 2024 Annual Experience

Thanks to your Dad for not only the trophy but the entire idea. We really enjoyed the company of the 3 of you at our table and for your presence at the event. It made this years meet all the more special.

 

A labor of love. It was great being able to hang out w/ you and Leslie as well; I hope your energizer bunny spouse has recovered! She ran a hell of a Concours; that was an amazing number of Enzo-era cars on the field.

 

A wonderful tribute to a remarkable man. Many thanks.

 

Shes still focusing on the things that did not go right and I keep telling her no one noticed.
I will tell her.

 

In case you are not aware, the FCA and Ferrari (the corporation) are not exactly the best of friends. This might have been some of the reasoning behind scheduling Challenge at Indy right after the annual event. I live outside of Milwaukee, so we drove home Thursday morning, repacked and left the same day for Indy. However, many others from the area passed on Challenge this year.

 

lol

 

Ferrari really has very little if anything to bring. The vast majority of cars they have on display in the museums are on loan and not theirs to bring, assuming they cared enough to do so. They cannot just ship cars on loan around the world.

 

It's sad that the 12 Cilindri which was shown at Indianapolis this Weekend wasn't shown at the FCA. The cars were probably not even that far away. But as said above, it sounds like Ferrari and The Club arent on the same page..

 

True.
Plus Ferrari SpA like to own everything. Clubs (FCA) are not under their ownership..

 

Or at least dictatorial control.

 

Wasn't there a time when SpA wanted to impose a dress code on FCA meetings? I'm thinking of the picture of David McNeil in flipflops.

 

It may not be over.

 

Ferrari also doesn’t care. Even for their own events the cars they borrow are shipped and dealt with on the owners’ dime. The owners of these cars, particularly the vintage, share cars because they care about the brand. It’s unfortunate more support isn’t provided by Ferrari but that’s the way it’s been for a number of years at least that I’ve been involved in lending stuff for events.

 

A very high profile collector was asked and he loaned his Lampredi engined race car with important history for the Monterey event and was turned down when he asked for 2 tickets to the event.

 

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Thank you for that information. I did notice over the years they seemed to ignore the club most of the time, unless they wanted to try and control an event (like the Ferrari Literature show in Chicago that they did not like being at a dealer I understand). It would have been nice to have a few of the new special Ferrari's on display. I expected an SP3 at least, if not the 12 Cilindri but I have already seen the SP3 and the other car will be more common in a few years.

The event was fantastic, so no great loss without direct factory involvement. Their loss I am afraid!

 

Ferrari is trying to get the FCA to remove the prancing horse from their logo, despite express premission for its use from Enzo himself.

 

Thats the kind of thing that could make one of these guys sell their Ferrari and be done with it.

 

Part of the Ferrari “experience” is to be repeatedly kicked in the loins and to then come back for more

Ownership, maintenance, treatment, and on and on…

 

Collectors at the level I am speaking of understand Ferrari better than anyone and this comes as no great surprise. I was pretty close to this situation so I can speak about it some. These guys mostly like to share their cars, just look at the national meet. Its why they bring them. They understand very well they are the current caretakers of history. So the manufacturer of that history asks to borrow it (for their own benefit) and you know the transportation and the liability is all on you but you do it because thats who you are so you do it. You just hope there is some level of courtesy involved and you can at least get tickets to attend. Its a disappointment but not a surprise when you are turned down.

 

This was the fourth event I have attended and easily the most enjoyable. Here is a quick video I took on Tuesday evening.

 

Next year Charleston. Be there.

 

Now that this year is over and we're on to Charlotte we would like your input as to what you most enjoyed or did not like about this years event and if there is something else you would like to see as part of it.

 

Charleston SC or Charlotte NC?? A 200-mile difference......

Marcel Massini

 

Charlotte

Sept. 21-25 if I recall correctly…