FCA 50th Anniversary Tour NW Region Dinner

The 50th anniversary of the Ferrari Club of America is next year.

A club member back east purchased a 599 GTB Fiorano and loaned it to the club for a year.  It is being driving one lap around America by members in the various regions, starting in Monterey in August, ending up in Elkhart Lake for the 2013 FCA annual meeting.

The car came down to the NW region from the Western Canada region last Thursday with a hand-off at Peace Arch Park at the border.  It turns out that we were on the way to Whistler on that day, but too early to see the handoff and there was no way that my wife was going to wait 90 minutes.  So the first I saw of the car was at Exotics at Redmond Town Center, a local cars and coffee event.

   

The various stops are detailed across the tops of the doors.

It looks like the RH side stops are out of order with the first set ending in Elkhart Lake that should be at the end.  But as you can see, Seattle was the sixth stop along the way.  In addition, the local members can get decals to put on their cars for a donation to Ronald McDonald House, the charity benefited by this tour.  I didn't want to stick them on my doors, so I purchased some magnetic sign material to use.  When I got ready to stick the decal onto the material, I found out that most of the decal is clear.  Since the substrate of the sign is white, I ended up mixing up some of the leftover paint for the car to color the background.  Then I used a pair of scissors to trim the sign around the decal.  At least this way, I have some more garage art.

   

The culmination of the Seattle section was a dinner at LeMay - America's Car Museum in Tacoma.  Harold LeMay ran a garbage collection company and amassed about 3500 cars in his collection.  I visited it several years ago before the museum was built.  The collection was stored in a number of buildings, with a lot just outside unprotected from the NW rainy weather.

   

Inside, it was cheek to jowl, filled full of cars, most in the condition they were bought with perhaps a good wax job.

       

Now the collection is displayed in the museum in Tacoma.  Of course, it is a rotating collection as there is not nearly enough space (nor restoration time) to display all of it.  The focus is mainly on American cars

Inside there are four levels of display space with wide ramps and more cars between each level.

   

By happen chance, there was a special Ferrari exhibit in the museum. 

Cars from various local collectors like Jon Shirley and Bruce McCaw were on display.

       

I was pleasantly surprised to see the fiberglass 308 GTB owned by my machinist, John Maloney, on display too.

Outside were the FCA member cars, all formed up in a circle around the 599 GTB.  People wanted to see the V12 in my 330, so as usual the hood is open.

   

It was a pleasant evening, good company and a chance to have my first look at the LeMay Museum.  For those automobile aficionados visiting the Seattle area, it is a stop worth making.