I do think you'd Love a real Vintage Car. Driving something like this is something you can still feel hours later. Best Image Unavailable, Please Login
Now you have my curiosity piqued regarding the Khamsin. I'll start looking up the info on the model. Do you have a website to recommend for research? Thx for the correction on the Bora. It has been a long time since I sat in one and memory is a bit faded. I do remember it being a very comfortable ride for a car where the seat is just a few inches above the pavement. I thought it was a much smoother ride than the BB I had at the time. I think the Bora is a bargain in the marketplace......if you have the stamina to maintain and source parts for this 70s exotic. Right now still stuck on Fcars in my garage.
Yes Boras and Khamsins are great bargains right now and manage to combine fine handling with a much more pleasant ride than their front or mid engined counterparts from Maranello. There is an acknowledeged network in the US and Europe for parts for these cars, even if not as visible as the Ferrari one. I think I had you confused with Paul Tavilla a long time Ferrarista, like you, who lived in Plantation near Ft Lauderdale. with best regards, Marc
Great thread! I wish I had more to contribute: several years spent with a 1967 Alfa Romeo GT Veloce (1600cc / twin cam / Webers) and 1965 GT Junior (1300cc / twin cam / Webers). Are old Alfas properly classified as "old bangers"? Maybe not; too small. Both Alfas were a joy to drive, a 1979 635 CSi BMW Euro that I owned, not so much. Not very nimble, but a nice grand tourer.
I drove those Alfas for many years, they are definitely old bangers, though not really so old. They are great cars. Malcolm
Malcomb, Does not 40 years old qualify as an old car? For some reason I thought the concept of Vintage somehow suggested aged....like wines. )
Marc......that's six blocks due west of my house! The next time you come flying out of the south end of the tunnel, after the front tires bite take a hard left and stop by for a glass (or more) of Lambrusco Vecchia Modena. Jack
Jack, maybe you can bring a bottle to the Mountain Mille? And yes, forty year old Alfas are definitely "old bangers" Malcolm
Great thread! I wish I had more to contribute: several years spent with a 1967 Alfa Romeo GT Veloce (1600cc / twin cam / Webers) and 1965 GT Junior (1300cc / twin cam / Webers). Are old Alfas properly classified as "old bangers"? Maybe not; too small. Both Alfas were a joy to drive, a 1979 635 CSi BMW Euro that I owned, not so much. Not very nimble, but a nice grand tourer. Hi, Dennis - yes, the ALFA is 100% qualified, truly one of the finest cars I've ever owned. That and my 1967 Duetto (RIP) Bob Z. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Very nice area Rio Vista, used to bike through and photograph cars there, such as in this shot at Tarpon bend! Thanks for the invitation, maybe next winter if I come to Cavallino best regards, Marc Image Unavailable, Please Login
Very interesting thread... Having both a 330 GTC and a Stradale I can share a lot of the views expressed here. I love driving both cars, but in very different ways. The CS is absolutely spectacular on the track. It can be pushed quite beyond what you would think is possible for a "street" car and becomes almost brutal and violent. But driven on the street you can rarely if ever safely really get it into it's "zone". Rather you just smile for what you know and feel you and the car "could" do together. The 330 GTC on the other hand makes you smile for what you "are" doing right now. Just motoring around, noticing the craftsmanship in the cabin, The wood grained dash, the smell and feel of the old leather, the growl of the V-12, the positive metal "snick" of the shift gate. But you can pick up the pace and more readily get it into it's "zone" on the street. The growl of the V-12 turns to an intoxicating wail as it comes on cam as you run it up through the gears. The car comes alive and feels as if it's getting lighter and more nimble and begins to drift controllably exiting the corners on the skinny tires. It always impresses me how capable and fun it is to drive quickly. Ahhh.... I just talked myself into taking the GTC out for a ride!
JTL asked me to post these since he is even worse at nerding than I. It is unfortunate that the anti-friction windshield coating kept the camera from capturing dianes expression-I am certain she enjoys that" I think it is sliding toward the drop off" feeling and is smiling in these photos, taken at the "Carolina trophy Run 2006" Malcolm Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Another 'great thread' comment. I'm certainly planning to go older with the next 'third' car. Malcomb's yellow Daytona is always my favorite at the Bella Italia when he brings it.
Reaperman is God! Man, it is nice to know there is hope for the X'rs. Keep waving that ol' freak flag high! Listen, I'd love to know your thoughts on driving the pony cars v. the Ferraris (mandatory Ferrari content). I drove some of these cars back in the day; but while "they" say that memory is not the first thing to go (I forgot what the other thing was), I just can't pull up the data file. The only thing that sticks out is driving a '67 Vette. My buddy could crab the car sideways across two lanes of on coming traffic, make it through the break in the traffic island, lift and floor, leaving tire smoke and skid marks the whole way. He always said he would have beaten those Troopers if it hadn't been for that damn radio. Dale
I have tried to put the Old Banger theory into practice over the last 25 years by using them as daily transport .My Eurospec manual Khamsin ,used daily over 4 years, is beyond doubt the best reasonably affordable OB I have owned and I suspect just about the best front engined exotic ever .Beautifully made, as light and agile as any Lotus to drive,great performance and with one of the best sounding engines ever .Make sure it's a manual and drive it regularly as the Citroen hydraulics don't like sabbaticals-mine was utterly reliable over 50000ks.Ice cold air in the Australian summer tother Old Bangers have included a 7 Litre Iso Grifo - surprisingly good but for heavy undergeared steering which a subsequent owner fixed with a BMW powered rack; a Ghibli- pretty but drove like a Series 1 Land Rover;an automatic Espada (I know my own fault) which was pathetic below 6000rpm at which time the Chrysler Valiant gearbox would slurrrr into another one of its 3 widely spaced gears.A DB4 was more vintage but a great car, ditto a 3500gt .A trio of Aurelias during a Lancia phase, the best of which was a B24 Spyder America that needed another 50bhp but was an absolutely superb car nonetheless.Various XKs were too tight for the taller man ( I haven't given up on them though and will modify the next one to fit) and a 356 Carrera Speedster too complicated to contemplate. A pushrod Speedster was lovely as was my Guiletta Spyder. You may notice no Ferraris and I don't really have a good reason for that.Possibly it's because most of the above I could slide by my wife as curiosities rather than needless extravagance .I managed to get through my 1929 supercharged 6c 1750 Zagato as an "Alfa Spyder" (strictly speaking the truth) although she did recall Dustin Hoffman's one as a little more modern.My current driver is an SM Citroen, seriously weird but I have loved it for 4 years and 35000ks now . What should I replace it with.
Hello and thanks for the wonderful words on your Khamsin! Have you noticed the Khamsin discussion in the Maserati section? It includes owners from Europe the US and Australia like you: hope you share some of your comments there! best regards, Marc www.maseratikhamsinregistry.com
I've had the privilege of owning a 330GT 2+2 and a now a GTC/4. They are great fun on spirited country drives on the back roads of Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, keeping up with modern Ferraris although fast corners (body roll and squeeling tires) are a challenge. I drive the car as much as possible, even to work if I have a meeting out of the office. This summer I felt a long trip was in order and drove the C/4 1300 miles to Elkhart Lake, mostly on big Interstates, without incident. I had the the opportunity to spend quality time with it on Road America (albeit at an enforced 60MPH) again without incident. I quess I could do the same in my Volvo wagon, but I would not have the s..t eating grin on my face that I had during experience. Even my wife, who admittedly is not a caraholic, was thrilled riding in the car on the track. Federal rules, fuel issues, and population growth, are pushing us all towards cars that look like eggs and have no character. Bless my C/4!
I had my David E. Davis book out to retype something for Tom Yang's board, and I came across this, from the article which first inspired my interest in Ferraris, especially vintage ones. Mr. Davis is writing about his experience taking care of a friend's 250GT in the late 1950s.
I put 300 miles on the old crate (and I say that with admiration) 365 GTC No. 12149/5 Saturday driving to, participating in, and coming back from a low key rally. Other than a clutch pedal that might have been sticking a little (I had the feeling that it wasn't returning all the way up, but am not sure; it wasn't level with the brake pedal at times), the car didn't miss a beat. It rained on and off throughout the day, but the special light from the overcast sky and wet roads made for some great photos. The car really "pops" out of them! The shots below were taken by FChatter Bob Craig. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
