Road Trip with Tom Shaughnessy
Part 1
I recently purchased a '78 308 GTS brokered by Tom Shaughnessy. You may ask why I wanted a 'modern' Ferrari, but I fell in love with Ferraris because of the Magnum P. I. series which featured 308s as the car driven by Tom Selleck. I had been looking for a carbureted model for a while. Tom had placed this car in an eBay auction and I saw it there. Once I had purchased the car, Tom and I were discussing how to get it from San Diego up here to Seattle.
Tom had purchased a 1954 Europa here in Seattle and was deciding whether to have it delivered or come to Seattle himself and pick it up. It turns out that he had another car to deliver up here, so he decided to come up with his truck and car hauler. I decided that I would ride back down with him and drive the 308 home via Concorso Italiano and Pebble Beach. So that's how this road trip came about.
By the time Tom arrived at my house, he had already dropped off the GT40 (Safir production continuation car). I had hoped to see it as I really like the looks. It was a Mk II model, but with a Mk V (427 CI) engine. Nothing like 600 hp stuffed in a 2000 lb. body. Tom said that you didn't get into it, you had to slither in and it was scary to drive given the power to weight ratio.
The trailer did contain his newly purchased Europa (0351EU). It was essentially a one owner car. The previous owner, the late Stan Baker of Seattle, had bought it used in 1954 when the car was only a few months old. It was originally painted silver. The story (as told by Stan's widow) was that she wanted a white Thunderbird but Stan came home with this silver Europa. He had it painted the bone white you can see in the picture for her but she was never able to drive it. Stan put about 68K miles on the car in the 48 years he owned it.
The car is essentially original, having never been restored and only having the early re-paint done. The original set of tools, including the mechanics toolbox and all of its tools came with the car along with the complete set of original manuals. This car took a first place class award in the 1965 Pebble Beach concours and third place in 1990. What a great old car!
Tom picked up 4 boxes of heavy Miura parts, including a crank, liners, etc. that I had been storing for him. He had bought these on eBay from a seller in the Seattle area. It turned out that the person just lived 2 miles from my house, so he delivered them one afternoon. It worked out to be a no cost way to get them down to San Clemente.
Tom and I left early the next morning as there were a couple of planned stops and we wanted to get down near the Bay area in CA that night. First we stopped to pick up a couple guitars that Tom had purchased in Vancouver, WA. The next stop was at the Ron Tonkin Ferrari parts counter in Portland, OR. Tom, being mainly in the Ferrari parts business, had made arrangements to look over their stock and see if they had any NOS parts of interest.
When we arrived, the parts manager was out sick that day. After a few minutes discussion with the parts man on duty, we were allowed to wander the aisles looking for anything of interest. The best find was a few NOS ANSA mufflers hanging from the rafters at the back. Tom bought all of these. I found a lead hammer (for my 330 toolkit), a trouble light and a bulb container for my 308. I helped get the mufflers down while Tom drove the truck and trailer around. In Tom's typical fashion, two of the exhaust pieces were sold by the time we had them loaded in the truck.
The next stop was for the night in Willows, CA after a long drive through Oregon into northern CA. Beautiful views of the mountains with the topper being Mt. Shasta near Weed, CA.
We got off early the next morning as there were several stops planned. First, we picked up a set of Porsche wheels a friend had bought from someone near Willows. That person met us at the motel so we didn't have to do any driving around. This made for a total of 12 wheels and tires along with 4 exhaust sections and a couple of boxes of parts in the back of the truck.
The next stop was fuel, both diesel for the truck and gas for the Europa. When Tom test drove the car a few weeks ago, it had to be started using ether. It died about 3 blocks away on the way back home. They were able to get it pushed over a little hill and going again by popping the clutch. Then it died in the driveway and had to be pushed the last few feet. So Tom was worried about getting it started as it had been entered in the Art Design Car Show in Pasadena, CA the following day. You have to be able to drive the car to and from the exhibition area. So we put about 10 gallons of hi-test car along with some octane booster and dry gas in the tank of the Europa hoping that it would slosh around and mix with the old gas.
We stopped at Fantasy Junction's showroom so Tom could pick up a check (always a priority with Tom). They had a lot of cars there, including two 330 GTs for sale. I was able to take pictures and get the serial numbers from these cars.
As you can see from the picture, the place is packed cheek to jowl with cars. If I had wanted a test drive of either of the 330s, it would have taken a couple of hours of moving cars to extract them.
Next was the Saturday lunch with Patrick Ottis (famed Ferrari engine builder). Saturdays at Pat's revolves around the lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant. A whole group of people drop by in a variety of cars and everybody troops off promptly at noon. Tom rolled the Europa off the trailer and I spent my time wiping the drool marks off the paint. We were early so Pat could help get the car started. Tom hops in, primes the carbs with the electric fuel pump and the car starts instantly and idles perfectly. Pat kept asking Tom what he was supposed to help with. Actually there were a couple of gas leaks from the fuel rail that Pat tightened up. Tom and I re-attached one of the hood struts and springs that had come off. Then we put on the original wheels and tires (yes, original tires) that had come with the car. The owner had gotten a second set of wheels and tires for the 1965 Pebble Beach concours so the originals had been kept. We did drop 4 of the 12 wheels and tires and the two Daytona exhaust tips that Tom had sold. But we picked up two tires to be delivered to a friend in LA so the truck bed was still full.
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| Patrick's shop | Eric Zausner's Collection |
After lunch we headed over to the west side of the bay to look at one of Tom's barn finds. This was a one-off Europa with lots of important assemblies and pieces.
We spent better than an hour climbing over things, including a Fiat Dino, collecting various parts trying to figure out what was and wasn't with the car.
The next stop was dinner with a friend of mine in Gilroy, CA and then a long drive until midnight to get us close enough to LA to get to the car show on time.
Up early the next morning and off to Pasadena. We arrived at the car show a little early so there was plenty of time to unload and get positioned. Our level of detailing was to dust the car off with a towel purloined from the previous night's motel.
The Art Design Car Show wasn't a typical concours. Art Design is a well-known school that turns out many of the young automotive design engineers. So the awards were for cars with unique and lasting design rather than the usual classes and point system. Among the cars there were several Ferraris including an Enzo, a couple of Daytonas, a 246 GTB and an FX. I tried to get rid of the Porsche wheels and tires as the owner of the Dino was the one who had bought them. However my idea of two in the passenger seat and the other two tied to the rear deck didn't go over well with his daughter (who needed a place to sit) nor with the owner.
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The FX is one of several made for the Sultan of Brunei and is based on a 512 M chassis. A rather unique right hand drive car.
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The most unusual car was Jay Leno's roadster. It is powered by a 990 hp Brabam's M1 tank engine. The wheelbase is quite long with a horrendous turning radius. When the show broke up, we were ready to head right out, but Jay got out before us. However, there was a turn to get up to the parking lot and while Jay was backing and filling, we slipped by to get to the trailer quickly.
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From the show we went to Norbert Hofer's Gran Touring shop to look at a PF coupe that won a Platinum award at this year's Cavallino concours. As I'm restoring one, I wanted to see a fine example along with taking pictures of various detail items.
The next (and last) stop was to pick up the roof of the 365 2+2 that Tom had lent to an upholstery shop so they could see how the headliner was installed. Just one more thing to add to the collection of items in the bed of the truck.
Finally we arrived at Tom's shop about 5 PM. I spent a couple of hours looking for parts and collecting the missing pieces for the 308 toolkit. Among the other things, I got the A/C fittings from a burned 365 2+2 so I can put original looking hoses back on my 330 and finally get the A/C working. I tried to remove them, but they were too tight, so I just used the cut-off wheel on a grinder and simply cut the hoses and where they attached off so I had just the fittings. And for Buddy (330 GT SN 9667), who was giving me a hard time about not having the metal bands on my A/C hoses, I got the bands too!
Tom dropped me off at his house so I could spend the night. Then he had to drive back up to LAX to pick up his wife who had been out of town with the kids.
The next morning we met Marco Piehl (330 GT SN 9017) at the water tank (Tom's alternate storage location). There are a couple of PF coupes there, so I was able to look at certain things on those. One is sold, but I got a heat shield that I need off the other one. I also spray painted some cut lines for the section of the right rear quarter panel I need to fix up a badly rusted place in mine. We ended up back at Tom's shop so Marco could look at what Tom had there. I picked up a couple of voltage regulator cores that hopefully can be used to fix the one in Lowell Brown's 330 GT.
Then it was down to San Diego to meet with Marc, the owner of the 308 and get my new car. It was just as described with the owner being excited but sad to have the car leave. He had owned it for 22 years, so it was his baby. It is lowered 1/2" in the front and has a Euro spoiler. So I scraped the spoiler as I leave the parking lot to drive north. Not a very good impression to leave with the previous owner.
Marc on the left and I'm on the right
The first thing I found out was that the cigarette lighter was one of the drop in style where the cigarette goes in a hole in the center. So much for using the radar detector I brought with me.
I stopped back at Shaughnessy's shop as I had left one of the voltage regulators and there was one of the Everest wrenches missing from the toolkit. After picking up those items and putting on the top, I was off at noon to my friend's house in the Bay area.
I was just zipping along on I-5 until a backup before the 605 exit. It was stop and go. I kept watching the water temperature go up. When it got up near 210°, I turned off the A/C and opened the windows. The heater hoses were all replaced 18 months ago, but I didn't want to push the issue. Finally traffic cleared up and I had smooth sailing until the climb up to the grapevine. The only problem was that the driver's window switch is flakey. I couldn't get the window back up. Finally after about 30 tries, it did close so I could use the A/C again and cool off.
For those who haven't driven I-5 into LA, the grapevine is a long steep climb from the flats near Bakersfield over the range of hills to the north of LA. From the south, the road isn't quite as steep or long, but it's still a good climb. Three semi trucks had tangled and the right two lanes were closed due to a fuel spill. Several miles of backup and no place to turn around (nor a good alternate route even if I could have) as the north and south lanes are on both sides of a canyon. Again I watched the water temperature climb. First I turned off the A/C and rolled down the windows. When the temp kept rising, I turned on the heater and fan. It was about 100° F (~40° C) outside and I was quite hot in the car. I debated whether taking the roof off would be cooler with more air or would the sun just make me hotter. I elected to keep the roof on. The water temperature finally stabilized around 215° F. After an hour, I finally crept past the accident site and got back up to the 80+ speed I had been traveling.
Over the top of the grapevine, down the other side and into the valley where it was even hotter (105°). About 30 miles later, I heard this hiss behind my ear. Oops, maybe a radiator hose did just give up the ghost. I pulled over, turned off the radio and A/C fan. Then the hiss stopped. The water temperature was normal, so I suspected that an A/C hose had just let go. There were no obvious signs of trauma, so I continued on. After a few miles, it was obvious that the A/C wasn't working normally. I turned it off hoping (actually begging) that it had just iced up. After waiting long enough for any ice to have melted, I tried it again to no avail. So off went the A/C, down the windows, and fiddle with the heat controls to figure out how to get fresh (though hot) air on my feet.
As I suspected, a worn hose
I can tell you that 290 air conditioning doesn't work in 100+ heat. 290 air conditioning is with two windows down and going 90 MPH. Of course this was about 2 PM going into the hottest part of the day. I had no choice but to continue on as I had a flight home from San Jose the next morning. It was a very hot drive the rest of the way to Milpitas. When I finally turned off I-5 onto 152 to go over to the south Bay area around 5 PM, it started cooling off. I arrived at my friend's house around 7 PM. Not too bad of time for 500 miles in an 'unknown' 25 year old Ferrari considering the traffic delays I had.
Here it is parked in my friend's garage. I'm keeping it there so I can take it to Concorso Italiano and the Pebble Beach concours the middle of August. Then I'll drive back home with some of the Ferrari contingent from Seattle who are driving their cars down.
My flight home the next morning was uneventful (thankfully). It was good to be home and sleep in one's own bed. Three days with Shaughnessy were quite interesting, but I'm glad they are over. David Carte talked to Tom while we were on the road. David expressed his condolences to me having to ride with Tom for that long. The next day, David called back and Tom told him that I had given up and had Tom drop me off so I could take the bus the rest of the way.
I just ordered a window switch so I can fix that. I can't do much about the A/C until I get the car back here in Seattle as I don't even know where the leak is. But I'll be able to go up the coast and drive and stop early in the day to miss the heat if needed. The other item I need to address is to get power to the radar detector. Going up I-5 wasn't too bad bareback as there were always cars going faster than I was. However going up 101 through the redwoods will leave me exposed to a ticket without a detector since it's just a 2 lane road in most places.