A Ferrari Weekend
(First Annual TomYang.Net Party)

The weekend started out with a posting on Tom Yang's message board from Yale Evelev suggesting a 'finishing off' party for Tom's 330 America and a going away party since Tom is headed down under for six months.

Since the party was planned for the NYC area and I live in Seattle, I didn't think much more about it.  But as the thread gained momentum, I looked into airplane ticket prices.  Not too bad, around $275.  I hadn't mentioned this to my wife yet, but she overheard a phone conversation with Lowell Brown where I said that I was thinking about going.  The discussion with her afterwards went something like 'The only way I ever find out what you're planning is to overhear a conversation.'  I thought 'Oh no, I just screwed my chance of going.'  However she thought it was a good idea.

A couple of days later Yale called and I mentioned that I was thinking of coming.  I asked the exact date and would he like a house guest for a couple of days.  A few days after that, Michael Greenspan offered his Connecticut home for the party and the date was set.  A final check with Yale and I bought my tickets.

I flew back on Friday, arriving in time to meet Yale and Michael for a fabulous dinner at Peter Luger's Steakhouse.  It's a good thing I was on west coast time as the reservations were for 10:45 PM.  It turned out that staying with the Greenspans was more convenient for everyone as they have a spare room.  I would have been making Yale's son sleep on the couch while I took his bed.  By the time we dropped Yale off after dinner and got back to Michaels, it was about 2AM (11PM my time).  That wasn't too bad, but I wasn't able to sleep in the next morning due to the traffic noise and light from the south facing window.

Yale had a full day planned for us on Saturday visiting various Ferrari places.  But first I popped out to the local bookstore to get a copy of Dorie Greenspan's Baking with Julia cookbook.  I hadn't realized that Michael's wife is a well-know chef and cookbook author.  Since I usually don't get anything for my wife when I go out of town, I thought that this would be a nice surprise.  Usually my gift resources would be the Ferrari regalia available at whatever car show I'm at.

We started over in NJ with Classic Coach, one of the few Ferrari certified auto body shops in the US.  Lots of cars there with everything from a Superamerica cabriolet (1945SA) to a couple of Enzos.  However no pictures were allowed.  Evidently every Saturday, their customers are invited to a buffet lunch and we were there at the right time.  So no wasted time for lunch.

From there we stopped by Gullwing Motors.  Only one Ferrari there, but cheek to jowl with other cars, most looking that they were just rescued from a junk yard.

The next stop was Nick Soprano's Motor Classic Corporation in White Plains.  A nice 275 GTB/4 along with a couple of 512 BBs plus a smattering of Porsches and other cars.

Then we went over to Domenick's European Car Repair, also in White Plains.  A real old time repair shop.  It could be moved to Modena and not look out of place.  There was a 275 GTB there, but under wraps.  The owner, Domenick, owns a 2HL 330 GT that he bought in the late 70s in Messina, Italy.

Finally we thought about running out to visit Peter Sweeney at Forza Motorsports.  But his place would have been another hour the wrong direction, at least an hour chatting and then 2 hours back to the city.  It was late afternoon by then and I was running on empty.

Sunday dawned early (again), but I was up for the party.  Yale picked me up in his 4HL 330 GT and we headed off to Connecticut.  After a gas stop, Yale left the driving to me.  This is the first time I've driven a 4HL 330 GT.  Right off the bat I noticed that the gas pedal was very stiff compared to mine.  Then as I pulled back onto the Merritt Parkway, I found the side mirror to be in an awkward place for me.  Further, the mirror is convex and there's a very short acceleration lane.  Just about the time Yale was going to say something I realized that I didn't have enough room to pull out ahead of the traffic.  After that everything felt pretty normal except that I would find myself reaching for the gear shift to shift into fifth rather than the O/D lever.  I guess I need to get used to that since my PF coupe (if I ever get it finished) has the same 4 speed transmission with overdrive.

We took back roads, but a little too much traffic to really enjoy the car.  No missed turns and we ended up at Michael's just before noon.  The signage when we got close was excellent, culminating with this one.

Everybody ended up signing it so Tom would have a memento of the party.

There were already two Ferraris in the driveway, Tom's America and Samuel Hallowell's 2HL 330 GT.

As you can see, Tom's car is still toothless.  He brought along the grille just so everybody would know that it does really exist and will eventually be on the car (but not before Australia).  He also has a seal leak at the right rear wheel, so he got shamed into cleaning it up.

Later a few more turned up including Jim Wickstead's SWB and Art Suckewer's 2HL 330 GT.

There was also a 328 and BB512, but even so, the newest car was almost 20 years old.

The Greenspan's home is beautiful and located just outside of a park on a lake backed up by a stone dam.

Tom received an award from Ferrari World and both Tom and François Sicard received awards from Yale for their restoration of the 330 America and stories done on www.tomyang.net.   

I actually remembered to take some 'people' pictures instead of just ones of cars.  Usually I'm trying to get people out of the way of the cars!

In addition to the fabulous feast that Dorie (remember she's the chef) prepared, Parker Hall sent up some 'real' Tennessee pulled pork barbecue.  I ended up getting more than my fair share of that.  I took some of the extra food back with me to NYC and had pulled pork sandwiches for lunch on Monday.  Parker also sent a supply of his new catalogs for everybody.  I had gotten one in Monterey a couple of months ago and someone asked what was different.  I replied that there were a few more items and the prices were higher!  Marie Meehan brought along a couple of plates of deserts.  In particular, her brownies were my favorite.

Tom Shaughnessy made up some T-shirts with the usual Shaughnessy humor.  You need to pay careful attention to the front as there are several points of interest.  I most liked the body type model of '250 TBD' - To Be Determined by whoever is building a replica based on this GTE's chassis.

I brought along a DVD of the Discover Science program featuring Tom S's barn find business.  A number of people watched it on Michael's big projection screen.  Shaughnessy was even seen in a coat and tie, clean shaven in some of the shots.

The longest distance Ferrari was Art Suckewer's that he drove up from New Jersey.  Yes, the BB512 had Florida plates, but it is based in CT.  I thought I would be a shoe-in for the one coming the farthest, but Tom Wilson snuck in at the last moment from San Diego.  Tom Wilson also brought a bunch of CDs for everybody with PDF files of a number of magazine articles on 250 GTEs.  The Meehan's had the most dedication in getting to the party.  They live in upper NY state and had an early season snowfall that they awoke to Sunday morning!

All in all, a great party.  I met several people who I've corresponded by email over the years and enjoyed a fitting send-off for Tom (he leaves Dec 8).

The drive back to the city was busy being a Sunday evening with the New England fall leaf colors in full swing.

Monday was a non-Ferrari day.  I went over to the American Museum of Natural History before catching the subway out to JFK in the early afternoon.

Four hectic days, but well worth the time and cost.  I'm already looking forward to next year when Tom is back (and the grille is done, right Tom?).

PS, Dorie signed the cookbook and my wife was quite surprised that I had gotten her a gift.  So I made a few points in addition to having a great time!