Italian Car Show, Vancouver, BC
June 19, 2011

The Italian car show in North Vancouver, BC was on Father's day as usual.  The NW region of the FCA made a weekend event with several members going up on Friday.

We went up Sunday morning in the 308 as we were continuing onto our place in Whistler after the show.

The last couple of times I've driven the 308, I had noticed a shudder in the steering wheel at freeway speeds.  It would go away, so I chalked it up to gravel in the tires from our driveway which would eventually get thrown from the treads.  On the way north, it was happening again, but more pronounced when braking.  When we got to the show, I noticed the the front wheels were dirtier than usual with brake dust.  So I think that the soft lines to the front brakes are breaking down inside and not letting the pads retract immediately.  I had the same thing occur several years ago in the 330.  So the soft brake lines are on the list to be replaced.

The venue is just great for a car show.  A large grassy area with a wide paved path to drive on.  It is held in Waterfront Park in North Van.  This is on the water across from the downtown waterfront in Vancouver.

   

Parking is difficult for those wanting to come and look at the cars.  However, Vancouver has a SeaBus that runs from the Sky Train station in Vancouver to Lonsdale Quay which is just a short walk from the park.  So it is easy to attend using public transportation.

One of the more interesting cars there was a RHD fiberglass 308.  This was a European car with a dry sump engine.  I imagine that there were only a handful built in RHD before Ferrari switched to the steel bodies. If you click on the write-up picture, you can read some history on it.

   

The Vancouver Ferrari dealer also brought a new 458 Italia.  I thought that it was interesting on how they fit the front plate on the car.

   

Here are a few other pictures from the event.

       

       

       

Even though the day was overcast, there was a good turnout with about 50 Ferraris present and perhaps a total of 200 cars.

From there, we went onto Whistler.  When we went to come home a couple of days later, I backed the 308 out of the garage and noticed that the right front tire was flat, not just low but flat.  This had happened a couple of times in my shop, but there I have a compressor and could just pump it up.  Then the tire would hold air for months, so I didn't bother to figure out what the problem was.  Well, no compressor in Whistler and the tire was too flat to drive it the five km to the only gas station.  So I ended up putting on the spare.  However, it is a 14" wheel while I have QV 16" ones on the car.  I expected some handling problems, but didn't notice anything even at freeway speeds.  This time I'm taking it to a tire shop and get the problem fixed for good.  I suspect either a flaky valve or perhaps a nail puncture where it is sealed unless the tire is parked at exactly the wrong spot thus stretching the hole so it leaks?

Note, I had fixed the jacking points a while ago so the jack would fit in properly.  However, since then, I went over a speed bump too fast and must have scraped that area as they were damaged again.

So three issues to resolve on the 308.