5/1/06
Noosa Ferraris
During my stay at Andrew's house in Noosa, we sneaked out of his house
and away from our families to see a shop not too far away. Carle will
be
doing the mechanical work for Andrew on his GTE that I photographed a
couple
of days ago. He's been working on Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Maseratis
for many years and is now working out of his house near Noosa. In the
first garage we saw, a customer's Series II 330 was sharing space with
a
Lamborghini.
The Espada is Carle's personal car that was showing off an immaculate
paint job. Whenever he has time between customer projects, he spends a
few hours working on restoring this Lambo.
Another personal project was this 288 GTO housed in another workshop.
Through the years, Carle has collected some of the body panels that
could convert a 308 into a 288 GTO replica, but this mechanic wanted
something a little different. A Ferrari front suspension was modified
to work with the wider body and a new rear suspension was fabricated to
fit a Porsche G50 transaxle.
Even though the transmission is from a Porsche, the powerplant will be
Ferrari, but instead of a V-8 found in 288 GTOs,
this car will have a 12 cylinder engine out of a 400 coupe. Although
there is a lot of work left to do on this car, I can't wait to see how
it runs when it's done!
Before we left, Carle invited me into his living room to see one last
thing. Carl has created what most of us dream of doing, and his wife
has been understanding enough for him to keep it! Under a piece of
plate glass is V-12 Ferrari motor for the ultimate gearhead coffee
table.
The rear of this engine was destroyed and made useless, so Carle found
the perfect candidate for this piece of furniture. His wife explained
that she
preferred this one over the former Lamborghini motor they owned because
that one included the gearbox! They showed me pictures of it after they
sold it to a Lamborghini dealer with at least five feet of
plate glass to cover the assembly!
Our stay in Noosa had come to an end, and it was time to head north for
our final push to the Great Barrier Reef. The Brents were fantastic
hosts, and we enjoyed every minute of our visit, and want to thank them
for a great time!
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