The man’s wife, an actress who looked Scandinavian, called it “The Monster.”“You’ve come for the Monster,” she said. “Yes, I have,” I said. Meanwhile trying to figure out why she would call one of Pininfarina’s most beautiful Ferraris– the GTC/4– “The Monster.” I say “most beautiful” but the Italians, with their ever more refined eyes for body shapes (both women […]
Ferrari Hunters: A Novel
Our resident historian, who likes cars, discusses his one-off novel… I have been reading novels for what, 70 years? One series I fell in love with about 40 years ago was the ones by John D MacDonald, a WWII vet (Pacific Theatre) who had created a rough and tough hero who could get things done. That hero, Travis McGee, stars […]
The Official Ferrari Magazine Review
I knew of CAVALLINO, and Forza, both Ferrari car magazines, and enjoy them when I find them. But I had no idea of the existence of The Official Ferrari Magazine, apparently edited and printed in Italy; but also available translated into English. Now of course, it’s going to reflect Ferrari exactly the way the company wants since they are editing it. But […]
Ferrari Daytona: The Quintessence of Macho; but it took muscles to drive it….
EDITORS NOTE: In Part-2 of Wally’s tribute to the Daytona he recounts some other lesser known facts about one of his favorite Ferrari’s. See Also Part-1 The Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona is one of the great Ferraris of the ‘70s, which is ironic considering that, during its development, the concept of a front-engine GT car continuing to be a contender […]
Bobbi and the Berlinetta
In the beginning, Bobbi just wanted to keep Forrester, her one and only husband, happy. Forrester was an engineer, and even before they were married, Bobbi realized engineers were numbers types, not big on showing emotion. It was hard to tell when he was happy or sad. He was just Forrester. He had been her first college boyfriend, a senior […]
Barn Finder’s Dream Car
Take a look at that crude lash up race car – might be a purebred underneath? Now back when I first noticed Ferraris in the Sixties, I barely knew the different models, like 250 LM but they were changing hands at say, $7,000 because vintage racing hadn’t created the market yet, and communication (i.e. finding a mechanic and parts) was […]
Car Artist’s Favorite Ferrari 1966-67 P3/4
One of the great mysteries of endurance racing in the Sixties is why Enzo Ferrari, arguably the superior technician in developing race cars, couldn’t beat Ford at Le Mans in ’66 with the Ferrari 330 P3. It wasn’t for lack of trying. Ferrari had won Le Mans five times in a row, leading up to the 1966 battle. So they had […]
When the Big One got away…
Some race cars have resumes that show high points and low points, and for this particular car, the low point was a later death for its celebrity owner, who I had met when working at MotorTrend and seeing a racing Ferrari on Sunset strip six floors below. I ran lickety-split down the stairs and flagged the driver to the curb and offered […]
A Cast Aside Ferrari Concept Car Finds a True Believer…
The concept car is often what starts a new group of fans, waiting hungrily for the production model. Alas, sometimes the concept does not get the green light and it remains a one off. In this case, the Dino 206GT was indeed productionized but alas, most of the interesting features of one of the most interesting concepts built on its […]
Ferrari 250 SWB: Yes, people still drive treasures on the streets…
When I first moved to California in 1970 a few of the real cognoscenti were still driving Ferrari race cars, some still with numbers painted on from LeMans, on the street. Not so much now but only last week, in July, I spotted one at an informal car gathering in Malibu. But it is rare when you see a car that […]