On the road again - Robb's Ferrari Adventures

First thing I did today while waiting on the mechanics to wrap up their work was to install the clear lenses I had on my yellow F355. I love the contrast and love the clean look.

Robb

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Front 3/4 at twilight without direct sun.

The paint has been well taken care of in its almost 25 years. I can't wait to see the paint correction taken even further. It is already outstanding. Only 5 or 6 pin head marks that have been retouched previously. One faint scratch about a half inch long on the passenger side around the lock tumbler that I'll try to get filled in the right way. Today's work pretty much made it very hard to see, so I can only imagine.

The car has a front clear bra only applied to the first foot of the hood, front bumper and mirrors. It is due to be replaced but is not too bad. Just not really my taste because the cut marks are visible. I guess they had not perfected that way back...

The front windscreen surround is still black and is just reflecting the light from using a polarizer which cuts glare on different parts of the car and adds glare on other surfaces. The polarizer is a photographer's best friend for reflective surfaces. It assists in cutting glare and is useful in my architectural interiors, glass, and for many landscape shooters - popping clouds from the blue sky.

Robb

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Rear 3/4 again at twilight without direct sun.

The rear quarter glass window shows a repeated pattern on the glass because of the use of the polarizer on the lens as a tool to cut glare. You can mix and match use of the polarizer to cut glare without showing this pattern in the glass but you would get a different glare on the paint. You could use two different images to "photoshop" these areas to eliminate any of these issues but I felt like just showing what I see with the car through the lens and not turning this into a brochure or ad..

The car was built in January 1995 and originally delivered in April of 1995 with a solid rear painted grill. The challenge grill was added by owner #4. That will come in handy in Arizona with modified exhausts and sets off the rear very nicely. The original painted grill was misplaced. So I will add another solid grill and have it painted to match for possible classiche or concours... since it's always good to have original parts to be able to swap from your preferred spec back to oem.

The shields are metal by Yoshi - who we all remember. They were added also by owner #4. I like the shields because A. they were placed and aligned properly, B. the yellow accent is TRULY fantastic on the blue. C. they're not the puffy stickers... But we'll see if they stay long term. For now. yes.

I am owner #8 of a very esteemed group.

Fun facts - Owner #6 also was a previous owner of our Discovery Channel F355 Challenge car. Owner #6 also traded this blu car on... a Red 512 TR...

Robb

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Last facts for the night - Is it really 3:40 am.. hmmm

The car was delivered with black brake calipers and solid disks. Owner #3 purchased a set of red calipers and drilled rotors from a Fiorano edition spider owner who had recently upgraded to the Challenge Car (f40) larger brakes.

I got in touch with owner #3 - a true car enthusiast who kept the original brakes in a box in his dad's attic, and he is sending them back to me to reunite with the car. I'm appreciative of his kindness and look forward to seeing him in Brooklyn, NY this summer for some good eats and a photography session with some of his other rare cars.

Owners #3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 are all also on Ferrarichat (some more than others) and I have touched base with them to get good background history on the car under their ownership. I have all the records on the car thanks to the previous owners. That's always very cool to have.

Owner #2 has a very colorful past - I'll let you all google his info once I add more info about the thorough history on the car - but it's definitely interesting... Nothing ever boring about Ferrari owners.

I contacted Owner #1 through the help of Dave Lelonek who had contacts with him and his star mechanic. Thank you very much Dave for your help in this area. The contact was truly priceless to me and the history of this F355.

The original owner of this car is Peter Kalikow. He is considered one of the most famous car collectors in the United States and custom ordered many Ferrari's including several one-offs from the factory. He was also kind enough to respond to my contact and questions on the history of the car. He is obviously a great Tifosi and the first Billionaire I have ever heard from. That's quite a bit above my pay grade. I'll reveal more facts about what I have learned from Mr Kalikow over time in this thread as I have time to post photos of some of the unique details of the car. They will make more sense with photos. My deep thanks to Mr Kalikow for his time.

Mr Kalikow indicated that he really enjoyed the F355 and ended up replacing it with a much more expensive 12 cylinder - a 456, which he indicated was not as much fun to drive as this car...

I hope I can entice Mr Kalikow to lunch in the blu F355 during the FCA annual event in Scottsdale this November. It will be on the grass for the concours.

Robb

 

Yes. This stop is on my favorite driving loop. Love the area. 5 min from my house in the canyons of the goldfield mountains and on the river.

This area is where the rafters park to get on their boats to head downstream.

Robb

 

Yes. He was owner #4

Robb

 

Today was a busy day. Had a Slowdown light on 1-4 come on last night and it stayed on. First one I’ve had on any of my cars.

Dropped power to the bank a few times on and off on the way home.

So headed back to the mechanics to track down.

Robb

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I knew there were going to be some teething pains getting the car set up back to snuff.

So we started with cleaning up the connections which had a bit of corrosion...

Image Unavailable, Please Login

swapping ecus and the vescovini box to a new unit. No change.

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Ended up replacing the thermocoupler.

Fixed the code and warning light. So I’m off to emissions to hopefully get it passed.

Robb

 

The afternoon ended on a high note with a passed emissions test - so now I can finally go get the car titled and reclaim my plates for the F355 that were temporarily held on my truck. I am looking forward to hitting my list of to-do items for the car. Now I can just enjoy improving the car as I go.

Made it back to the house and wanted to get some photos in the sun although it was a bit hazy today.

Here is the car in hazy sun on the darker side.

Robb

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

And here is the car on the sunny side (although again it was hazy today.). Who's with me?... . That's another great shade of this car's character.

You can see the red brake calipers really pop with this car. Generally I think yellow calipers are the best on a blue car but I do like these.

But because they were modified from the original black calipers, I have to decide whether to go back to the original black calipers for a classiche / concours or just go with what I enjoy the most - possibly switching back and forth a bit for the needed task to accomplish. It's only labor at that point... So we'll see. I obviously welcome your comments and input on keeping oem vs period and model correct although not how it left the factory... Again the brakes were changed by owner # 3.

Robb

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Another angle of the car in front of Fluffy one of our big saguaro's.

It's showing the color on the sunny side with a bit of shade thrown from some trees.

Robb

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

My yellow flag for the garage was a bit used up being out in the sun and wind for 8-9 months so I need to get a replacement. I'll have to get my flags back up and shoot a couple more of these photos with the flags on the garage because they really add the finishing touch for a photo.

Robb