Houston to Toronto | Page 3 | FerrariChat

Houston to Toronto

Discussion in '308/328' started by pgarossino, Jul 30, 2010.

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  1. MS250

    MS250 Two Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa

    Dec 10, 2003
    26,665
    Full Name:
    Avvocato
    Paul, im in tomorrow for 4:30 - 5pm , waiting on Jay, ^ gerrit you around ?

    you need help to diagonse tomorrrow morning, you are close by to the shop we use, let me know
     
  2. PV Dirk

    PV Dirk F1 Veteran

    Jul 26, 2009
    5,401
    Ahwatukee, AZ
    Glad your visit with your Dad was what you wanted it to be. Good luck with the cooling system.
     
  3. pgarossino

    pgarossino Formula Junior

    Nov 19, 2009
    307
    Houston Tx
    Full Name:
    Paul G.A. Garossino
    Turns out to be a false alarm as I expected. Today when I saw the temp jump again I reached up and tapped the temp gauge in the dash. As soon as I tapped it the temp immediately dropped to normal. Looks like either a sticking gauge or an electrical contact issue. Good news. Something I can take care of when I get home.
     
  4. pgarossino

    pgarossino Formula Junior

    Nov 19, 2009
    307
    Houston Tx
    Full Name:
    Paul G.A. Garossino
    Great, that will put us there just before dinner and folks can come out after dinner for a look. I met up with some car guys at a local pub yesterday and they invited us over to Big M Burger joint afterwards where a local car show will be going on. Looks like it might be fun as they would love to see a Ferrari presence there. If you guys have time for a burger afterwards it could be a laugh.

    See you tomorrow,
    Paul
     
  5. Toronto308

    Toronto308 Formula 3

    Sep 8, 2006
    1,008
    Toronto, ON
    Full Name:
    Esteban
    #55 Toronto308, Aug 6, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    A bunch of us came to meet Paul and hear about his drive up from Houston, and to show some more cars to the residents from his dad's home. Afterwards, Paul invited us to Big M's where there was a local Show 'n Shine. The Fcars drew some interest as there was mainly American metal on display though, notably, the UK was represented with a DeLorean and Canada was also there with a Bricklin (sorry, no pics). It was a pleasure meeting Paul and his wife. We wish them a safe trip home.

    Pictures below include.
    1. A show at Paul's dad's residence
    2. JayGT4's car
    3. Toronto308 car
    4. Big Red's Testarossa
    5. pgarossino's 308
    6. earthboundmisfit's Mondial
    7. Recovering after eating homemade onion rings, steak on a kaiser, and milkshakes! (n.b. Big Red ate too fast :p )
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  6. Earthboundmisfit

    Earthboundmisfit Formula Junior

    Aug 7, 2009
    886
    Ontario
    Full Name:
    Steve
    It was nice to meet you guys tonight.

    Paul, have a safe return trip. It sounds like a great journey.
     
  7. David Jarrett

    David Jarrett Karting

    Sep 21, 2006
    240
    Chatham Kent
    Full Name:
    David Jarrett
    Great thread.

    Although my Dad is in pretty good health (at 88) I took him on a short tunnel run in the GT4 a couple of weekends ago and he loved it.
     
  8. MS250

    MS250 Two Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa

    Dec 10, 2003
    26,665
    Full Name:
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    your a funny man Toronto308 - great seeing you , most italians eat fast when there hungry ;) - w need to go back to Big Ms before snow hits.

    earthboundmistfit - great meeting you as well out in the east end

    Paul , have a safe trip back home, and glad to have been able to meet you and your lovely bride and your dad, he did look happy to see you and everyone..... Great color combo on your car , one shade of gold in the sun, another in the dark, truly refreshing seeing a 308 that isnt RED :D and that brown dash looks great. Safe travels back home.

    PS - did you win any free gas money on those tickets ? ;)
     
  9. Jay GT4

    Jay GT4 F1 Rookie

    Oct 16, 2001
    4,995
    La mamma dei fessi
    Full Name:
    e sempre incinta
    I was looking for this in the Toronto thread!

    Paul, great meeting you and your wife along with a fantastic car. I just love the color...don't ever paint it red!

    All the best and have a safe trip home.
     
  10. pgarossino

    pgarossino Formula Junior

    Nov 19, 2009
    307
    Houston Tx
    Full Name:
    Paul G.A. Garossino
    I really want to thank the TO guys for a great time. We put on a nice show for two venues and made some long lasting friendships. I write better notes when I am not on this phone.

    At the moment I am stopped got lunch in Ft. Wayne Hoping to catch Jim online. No luck so far but I just started lunch.

    I'll post some more when I stop tonight.

    Ciao,
    Paul
     
  11. jimshadow

    jimshadow F1 Veteran
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Feb 19, 2006
    6,262
    Indiana/North Carolina
    Full Name:
    JIM
    #61 jimshadow, Aug 9, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    I was in a Ferraris and Friends planning meeting and saw 2 calls come
    in from Houston, TX....had to end the meeting quickly because I figured it was Paul. Luckily, I just caught him before he gave up on me. As it turns out, he was about 5 minutes from my house and on my way home. Caught him at "Sara's Restaurant" and he followed me back to my place where we admired each others Ferraris and had a beer.
    I'm glad I caught you Paul! I hope your next leg to St. Louis was a good one. I look forward to a few more reports from the road!
    As it turns out Paul and I share an acquaintance. Its a small Ferrari Brotherhood!

    Here are some pics I snapped during our short visit.

    JIM
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  12. david

    david Formula Junior

    Feb 21, 2001
    810
    Northwest
    Full Name:
    david
    Hey, I just stumbled on this thread. What a great road trip. I think these cars tend to run better and better the longer the trip goes. And it's really cool that you got to give your dad a ride. Easily worth the trip. I'm going to be in Toronto in a few weeks. I've never been there before and I've heard it's a pretty fun city. Looking forward to it, although unfortunately I'm not driving there like you did.

    david
     
  13. blainewest

    blainewest Formula Junior

    Aug 26, 2005
    729
    Kelowna, BC
    Full Name:
    Blaine W
    You know that color..at first it seems very odd but damn it grows on you. I now think your car is absolutely gorgeous. Great trip by the way.
     
  14. MS250

    MS250 Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Dec 10, 2003
    26,665
    Full Name:
    Avvocato
    good journey Paul - you close to home as yet ?
     
  15. BigTex

    BigTex Seven Time F1 World Champ
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Dec 6, 2002
    79,407
    Houston, Texas
    Full Name:
    Bubba
    I think it's a great color....

    It's 19 hours from Houston to Indy, non stop.......he's stopping in St. Louis?????
     
  16. ferrariartist

    ferrariartist F1 Rookie

    Feb 21, 2003
    3,564
    East of Toronto
    Full Name:
    Grant Thomas
  17. pgarossino

    pgarossino Formula Junior

    Nov 19, 2009
    307
    Houston Tx
    Full Name:
    Paul G.A. Garossino
    Thanks Steve,

    It was a blast meeting you guys. Thanks for coming out and bringing your very nice Mondial.

    When I next get up to TO I'll ping you guys again.

    Paul
     
  18. pgarossino

    pgarossino Formula Junior

    Nov 19, 2009
    307
    Houston Tx
    Full Name:
    Paul G.A. Garossino
    Hi Big Red,

    Nope, didn't win anything on the tickets. Looks like the car that came in just in front of me won something as my ticket ended in 08 and the winner of some stuff was 07. The half pot win went to Chris, the owner of Big M, and he donated his winnings to the cause which was good.

    Take care and I'll give you a shout next time I am in Toronto.

    Paul
     
  19. pgarossino

    pgarossino Formula Junior

    Nov 19, 2009
    307
    Houston Tx
    Full Name:
    Paul G.A. Garossino
    Thanks Jay,

    I'll definitely be leaving it Oro Chiaro. I love that colour combo.

    Catch you next time I am in Toronto. I want to "hear" that GT4 of yours again. What a wonderful exhaust note!!!!!!

    Paul
     
  20. pgarossino

    pgarossino Formula Junior

    Nov 19, 2009
    307
    Houston Tx
    Full Name:
    Paul G.A. Garossino
  21. pgarossino

    pgarossino Formula Junior

    Nov 19, 2009
    307
    Houston Tx
    Full Name:
    Paul G.A. Garossino
    #71 pgarossino, Aug 12, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Hi All,

    First off let me say a heartfelt thanks to all the F-Chatters who chimed in over the span of my trip with offers of lodging, beer, parts, help and of course camaradarie. While the driving force for the trip was to check off "Ride in a Ferrari" from my Dad's bucket list, I did truly enjoy meeting you all.

    When I pulled back into the driveway I had piled up 4128.7 miles on the odometer!! That is about 700 more miles that I figured, but well worth it. My valence took several big hits and will need some touch up as a result. The rest of the car took it quite well. The thing is so aerodynamic that no much else gets a direct hit and for once I didn't crack a windshield on a journey!!!

    I have included a shot of my Dad in the car and one more of the odometer as I parked last night. Dad did get a very big kick out of the whole thing. Every time his head snapped back in the seat under acceleration I glanced over to see a very big grin on his face. He even remembered the drive from day to day which is quite something for him these days. I was very happy with how it all turned out as you might imagine.

    I hit the blast furnace heat of summer going through OK and TX. I actually got soooo hot in north Texas that I pulled off the road and holed up in a La Quinta Inn for the day and continued on to Houston after 8:00 at night arriving at 1:30 A.M. The road temp running in traffic north of Sherman Tx, in and amongst all the 18 wheelers, was near 150F and I was running without A/C.

    Even when I left after 8:00 P.M. I overheated south of Plano and had to pull off for another half hour to let the pavement cool, the ambient temp drop another few degrees and the traffic die down. On the third try things went well. Once the ambient dropped into the low 90's I was able to cruise with normal water and oil temps all the rest of the way.

    I was disappointed in the car's ability to deal with the heat on this trip. I am going to check out my thermostat again and may consider beefing up the radiator and fans so that this doesn't happen again. In the mean time I will save my long trips for a nicer part of the year.

    Other than that though, and some issues with the fuel pump in the heat, the car ran very well. I used 1.5 quarts of oil on the whole trip. I am going to pull plugs later today and see if the carbon build-up on the pistons has changed at all. I bet things are a lot cleaner after all the high speed and WOT runs :)

    Signing off from Houston for now..........................

    Paul
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  22. GrayTA

    GrayTA F1 World Champ
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Jun 25, 2006
    15,130
    Deep South
    Full Name:
    PDG
    Glad to hear you made it back safely.

    I know we didnt get to meet up on this trip, but wherever I am my door is open for you or any other of my FChat brothers.


    PDG
     
  23. pgarossino

    pgarossino Formula Junior

    Nov 19, 2009
    307
    Houston Tx
    Full Name:
    Paul G.A. Garossino
    I PM'd you this morning on that one. Sorry about that. I just couldn't take the heat and decided on the most direct route home.....

    I will get up to Tulsa in the fall and will make a point of going through OKC and look you up.

    Ciao,
    Paul
     
  24. flyngti

    flyngti Formula 3

    Jul 16, 2009
    1,257
    Snohomish, WA
    Full Name:
    Eric L
    That smile on your dad's face sums it all up.
     
  25. aseweepay

    aseweepay Formula Junior

    Feb 1, 2004
    400
    Mid-West
    Awesome pics and story, thanks for sharing, Paul.....wish I had known you were coming through St.Louis, I would have tried to get a hold of you to offer a place to stay and cool off.....
     

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