Showcars or drivers? | FerrariChat

Showcars or drivers?

Discussion in 'Vintage (thru 365 GTC4)' started by teak360, Nov 10, 2004.

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  1. teak360

    teak360 F1 World Champ

    Nov 3, 2003
    10,065
    Boulder, CO
    Full Name:
    Scott
    I have been following thread about the PF Coupes, part of which discusses drivers vs showcars. When I got my PF Cab I had every intention of turning it into a concours showcar. I have now changed my mind, I will have the wheels and chrome redone, bodywork and paint and probably the interior. But none of this will be done with the intention of winning any points.
    I love driving the car too much to worry about having it be too good that I will be concerned about when and where I drive it.

    I thought you might want to hear about the story of one of my drives in the 250 GT PF Cabriolet in the Rocky Mountains in November. I took off last Friday morning for a short cruise because the weather was so beautiful here that day and my flight to Costa Rica wasn't until the afternoon. I started up a local canyon road and went a few miles and then decided to turn off on a side-road because there was a red Mazda Miata in front of me and he turned there.
    That turned out to be no fun because he drove like someone who should be in a Mercury Montego or something. The Miata turned off after a few miles so I kept on going up. I could see the continental divide from my road in the forest and it was snow covered on a cloudless day, very beautiful. The pavement ended and the road turned to gravel with a little ice here and there but it has recently been graded very well so it was very smooth. I was cruising up the mountain.
    The engine in this car is great and so is the transmission. I came to Peak to Peak highway which is up pretty close to the divide, then turned north. The road has perfect pavement and there was hardly any traffic. I was now running the car to 7,000 rpm. It ran pretty strong for being at over 9,000 ft altitude.
    Since I didn't have much time and had probably gone too far already I soon turned back down, at a little town called Ward where all the hippies from the '60's live. It really looks like a rural Alaskan town, abandoned school buses as homes, heavy equipment in front yards used as flower planters, etc.
    I was coming down the canyon and pushing the car pretty hard when it started to feel a little loose in the rear, a little oversteer.
    Well, I new what was happening, a low rear tire, but wanted to believe I could make it home before all the air went out. Well, the oversteer got bad real fast and I pulled off on a dirt road and could hear the last bit of air as it left the Pirelli for good. The tire was really hot and I hoped I hadn't ruined it.
    I was so glad I had a spare. I opened the trunk and pushed on the tire. Flat spare. Damn man, time is going to run out. I jacked up the car a little to let the weight off the flat and walked back to the main road to wait for somebody to come by. I didn't have my cell phone, but they don't work up there in the canyons anyway. I waited a long time before ( guess who?) an old hippie in a pickup stopped and asked me if I wanted a ride. He was about 60 years old with beads in his long hair, a huge gray beard and an indian dream catcher hanging from his rearview mirror. He had so much junk piled up in the passenger seat he said "hop in the back". I spent the next half hour (with my sore body from falling down my wooden stairs last weekend) riding down the mountain in the back of a pickup. He let me off two miles from my house because he had to "get to work". I wondered where the hell he worked.
    I called friends and family from a payphone and no one answered so I walked home. Using my compressor I filled up an air tank I have and waited until my oldest daughter came home. While I was waiting I left a message for one of my friends in Costa Rica. My daughter showed up at the house and we drove back up together. The flat tire on the car wouldn't hold air but the spare would. I got out the mallet that came with the car and whacked the knockoff. The hammer broke on the first swing. Now we had to go back to find a mallet at the hardware store, they didn't have lead but they had cast iron with rawhide on the face. Good enough. The next problem was to remember which way the knockoffs unscrew on the driver's side. Should they tighten under braking, or under acceleration? I figured under braking since these older cars usually braked harder than they accelerated. That was wrong, they tighten under cruise, which is the same as acceleration. I whacked it the wrong way for awhile, then the right way for awhile and got the wheel off. Spare on and back down the canyon to home.
    It was a long day, I missed my flight for my friends 50th birthday party, but it was a beautiful day in the Rockies and that 250 engine is one sweet piece of machinery.
     
  2. Teenferrarifan

    Teenferrarifan F1 Rookie

    Feb 21, 2003
    3,098
    Media, PA
    Full Name:
    Erik
    Great pics and it appears the weather couldn't have been any better!! Congrats on fixing everything and it appears you kept a cool head throughout the whole situation.
    Erik
     
  3. tritone

    tritone F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Dec 8, 2003
    6,864
    On the Rock
    Full Name:
    James
    Scott --

    FANTASTIC!
    I couldn't stop smiling as I read your anecdote. I picked up my laptop and went out to the shop next to my GTC to finish the story! (I know it was reading along with me). Now I'm really inspired to move that 2000 pound boat motor out from behind the GTC and do what you did; throw caution to the winds and just go.........
    Great story, thanks much.

    james
     

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