7/28/09
Road Trip to the FCA, Part II
On day two, we met General at his shop at about 10 am to pick up Sam's
C/4. General had laid out some glass cleaner and other cleaning
supplies if we needed them. After a brief visit, we were on our way out
to Indiana. Besides, General had a lot of sanding to do on his Chris
Craft!
Although he's a General by name and not rank, he still managed to lead
us on a wonderful tour of his shop! Thanks General and your friends in
the Cleveland area for making our stay so memorable!
A high cloud cover was a welcome relief from the heat of the day before
as we motored across Ohio into Indiana. The low hills of Ohio soon
turned into the flat farm land of Indiana. The clouds soon
turned into thunderstorms and were were met with some heavy downpours.
The wipers moved across the windshield, but did a barely adequate job
at clearing all the rain. Thank goodness for Rain-X! Drivers began
slowing down in the interstate
to about 45 mph with flashers on, so we joined them in a line. We
passed a small towel between passenger and driver to wipe up the small
leaks past the door seals in the heavy rain and spray.
We drove out of the rain in Valpariso, Indiana and to the university to
meet our third party of the trip. Todd Hudkins was going to drive his
GTE to the Ferrari meet, but also ran into a problem when preparing his
car for the show, so he met us with a daily driver. What was a simple
windshield gasket replacement for his car turned into a major problem
with fit and a hunt for the right gasket. With any luck, he'll have his
car for the Milwaukee Masters, but his car was sitting out the FCA
event this time.
After lunch, Todd led us into Crown Point Indiana to our final
destination of the night, Hilary Raab's house. Hilary Raab is one of
the
most revered names in the Vintage Ferrari community. His knowledge of
the history of Vintage Ferraris is matched by few people, and was built
from decades of relentless research, travel to the factory, and
collecting all things Ferrari. His personal collection of cars, parts
and artifacts are of legend, and we had a rare invitation to stay at
Hilary's house!
Walking into the door, we were met with a large table stacked with
oversize binders, and photographs. The research materials were evidence
of the heated discussion that occurred the night before with another
Swiss Ferrari Historian, Marcel Massini. With barely time to settle in,
Hilary showed us some of the records he was able to photocopy from
Pininfarina and Ferrari back in the late 60s and 70s! He explained that
back in his youth, his travels to Europe allowed him to stop by the
Ferrari factory in Modena. Some days he was allowed open access to the
Factory's records, allowing whole stacks of paperwork to be
photocopied! Much of these records are available today to the owners
when they are purchased from the Factory through their Classiche
Certification Program.
Mark Dempsey soon arrived in his 365GT 2+2 from Maryland. He missed
joining us in Cleveland because of scheduling conflicts, but was NOT
going to miss Hilary's house! He drove over 600 miles in one day
averaging 65 mph including stops! There were stretches of road where he
put the pedal down to over 90 mph to get to Crown Point IN, to meet us
at a reasonable hour. I was pleased to see Mark's Queen roll down
Raab's driveway safe and sound.
Hilary invited us to look up the records that
showed how each of our cars was originally delivered, but this required
several different
books. 250 series cars were filed separately from the 330 2+2s, as well
as the 365GT 2+2s. Hilary showed us how rare it was when a vintage
Ferrari was delivered as a red car, and the variety of factory ordered
options. It was fascinating to see all these hand written records kept
by the Factory from 40-50 years ago. Pictured here is Tom Kizer and Hil
Raab looking up the records to his Queen in one of Hil's garages.
Everything from a VIntage Jaguar to a newer Maserati Coupe were
represented in this collection of cars.
After perusing the stacks of records and a couple of garages filled
with spectacular cars, Hil led us into another room to
show us some more Ferrari material. As if I wasn't already overwhelmed
with what I already saw, the library was
beyond belief! In a room that was easily 30 feet long was
Hil's library. The shelves were filled with Ferrari books, manuals, and
documents. Everywhere you looked was another Ferrari related item from
Ferrari awards, to commemorative tokens. Steering wheels, exhaust
headers from a famous race car, plaques awarded from the Factory, and
piles and piles of Ferrari stuff filled every surface. I've seen some
pretty large collections in my dozen years of looking at Ferraris, but
in
this collection, everything was the best of the best! We all suffered
from visual overload, and it took some time to realize we needed to
focus only on small sections of the room at a time so not to become
over loaded. Two of Hilary's friends joined us in the library, and
recognized that familiar daze when they first witnessed this collection
themselves!
Almost as a quiz, Hil showed me a fitted wooden box with a special set
of tools, and asked me if I knew what tools they belonged to. I
immediately recognized one of the tools was Lampredi "Mouse trap"
spring compressor tool! François has the same tool hanging on
the wall
at his shop that was issued to him from the factory when he completed
his apprenticeship, but Hilary still had the box it came in!!
By dinner time, we piled seven of us into Hilary's mini van and headed
to a very nice Italian restaurant. Conversation was lively with our
favorite topic, and Hilary shared many stories about visiting the
Factory, and the small shops around Maranello. Coming back to the
house, we retired to the library to continue our exploration. Just as I
felt comfortable with the amount of stuff to absorb in this room, Hil
took
us downstairs to see the level below the Library! In a room the same
size as the floor above, the basement was filled with more display
cases showcasing his collection of pre war tin boats, or wooden boats,
or anything that caught his fancy during his travels. All of these
collectibles were neatly arranged in display cases. Any question asked
was expertly answered by Hil, with the history of the piece, and the
craftsman that made it. Mr. Raab was the collector of collectors.
We spent the rest of the evening talking more about Ferraris and Hil's
experience with the factory, and the differences between today and what
it was like years ago. Raab's insight to having such a long and strong
relationship with the Factory today was very
interesting. His views are helping shape my views of what the Ferrari
Factory is trying to do with the Classiche department, and where we as
Vintage Ferrari owners stand in its future.
I decided not to post pictures of Hil's collection as it would only
attract more interest in what he has, but if you try your best to
imagine what I described, then try to exceed it. At that point, you'll
come close
to what we saw! Thanks Hil!
Just a reminder, I'm looking for a
new Vintage Ferrari Project. If you have, or know of a restoration
project, please let me know. It would be great to restore another car
on this website! My E-mail.
Previous
Restoration Day
Next
Restoration Day
Home page