Peter Helm

Thanks to Ed Niles, I spent a delightful two hours with Peter Helm this afternoon at a Starbucks near Gower Studios and he is the same incorrigible that I remembered him to be. Peter was to the early Ferrari Owners Club in Los Angeles what Bogart was to Sinatra's Rat Pack. I hadn't seen him since the early 70s.

I reminded him of a spin-out he executed in my path coming down Laurel Canyon and he reminded me of an 8mm film he made featuring a PF coupe, his California and my GTO on Mulholland Drive; G-rated except for the speeds involved. It turns out we both fled the cops in Topanga Canyon--he in the California, me in the GTO--to avoid speeding tickets, though not at the same time. There's more. We'll see how much of it makes its way onto the forum.

I don't know how it happened, but somehow I forgot to ask about the otter.