Cavallino Pix - and the winner is?

Sorry for the long delay in getting these pix posted. I wanted to tell the story with a collection of pix that fit our adventure. It was a very challenging 3 day trip south but an easy 2 day trip back - - clear skies and light traffic. There's more to the story with a few technical twists in the 206/246 Technical Forum, Post #1, if you're interested. So, here's what your looking at:

#1 Chris Davis (aka, our very own "DetailGuy") finishing up the paint the day before we left for West Palm Beach, FL. I had completed work on interior, engine, everything underneath and all suspension/fenderwells. At this point I was either in the house packing or outside getting the trailer ready for its maiden voyage.
#2 The second day of travel--from Florence, SC to Daytona Beach, FL was hell - - 9 hours of driving in a torrential downpour. A squall line sat over I-95 all day. Not fun and we lost a lot of time. The third day (still wet) God thru in a tractor-trailer blown over by the wind, so we were parked on I-95 for 1 hour 15 minutes. An hour later we were battling heavy cross winds from the west which is not good when your trailer weighs more than the relatively short wheelbased pulling vehicle .
#3 We arrived at the Marriott West Palm Beach about 1:00pm on Friday, the day before the concours. We had planned to arrive late Thursday. Everything inside the trailer was damp from the heavy rain but that was not a problem. I unloaded the next A.M. and did last minute cleaning. The car was on the concours field by 9:00am
#4, 5, 6 - #4 shows all 5 Dinos that were in the class, all very nicely prepared. That's a 206GT in the foreground and I'm next to last. Judging was done by 3 very knowledgeable Dino Tifosi, each with a separate assigned part of the car - - exterior, interior and engine. It's quite rigorous but they only take about 20 minutes per car, then they compare notes and tally their points for your car. I can request my scores from the chief judge two weeks after the event. I know it's not a perfect car. I drive it! I'll fix whatever they took deductions for, a great way to keep the car as original as possible
#7 The silver chalice for Platinum in class
#8 The Tiffany crystal "Six Cylinder Ferrari Cup" which recognizes the outstanding 6-cylinder car on the field. That made the whole trip worthwhile!
#9 I had to take this shot on the way home 'cause it's kind of scary. That 18-wheeler is huge compared to my little rig! At times on the way down, I was doing 70 to 75mph in poring rain side-by-side with these guys. Why so fast, you ask? If these guys pass you with a 10 to 20 mph speed differential, it's like something literally pushing the trailer sideways. I decided to just keep up with them. As I said, scary!

That's the story. Hope you enjoyed it.

Bill
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Robert, I guess I really didn't say who won. Dah!! We did! The pix of the trophies were taken on our dining room table at home a couple days ago. The flags were the center pieces at the Sat night Awards Banquet. This is what made a very difficult trip well worth the effort. We are quite honored to have won such prestigious awards with a car we've owned and I've maintained since 1977. It now has 71,200 miles on the odo, 62,000 of which is ours. What a pleasure to receive this kind of recognition.

Bill

 

Thank you all for your kind words. They mean a lot from a group of true Tifosi! For you Dino owners and others interested, I'll be posting some "Lessons Learned" about my preparation on the "206/246 Technical" forum, things like finding/replacing a missing part on the jack, finding a missing tool, rejuvenating the belly-pan and what's immediately above it, restoring the stock muffler system instead of buying a new one and others. Check it out in a few days.

Thanks again,

Bill

 

Aw, shucks, when the ladies in my life start telling me all these nice things, I want to run right out and buy a basket case 355GTS and start all over again. Nah . . . on second thought, not a good idea. New 458 sounds better! Can you ladies lend me a bushel of 1000 dollar bills?