7/10/10
Southern California Cars and Coffee and DGR Party
I arrived in Southern California to meet Tom Wilson and Zac Dugger to
prepare for a weekend of Ferrari activities.
Even though we had a big party to host at DGR Performance in Oceanside,
California, we stopped by the "Cars and Coffee" event held in a parking
lot an hour north off the freeway. Its concept is a gathering of car
enthusiasts that starts at 6 am every Saturday and usually breaks up by
8:30am! Even with it's short duration, the amount and variety of cars
that attend is impressive.
It's a big "cruise in" with no real structure except for car guys to
come out early before the demands of the weekend take hold. Neat cars
like this V-8 powered Austin Healey join in the gathering.
Some guys try to come down enmass to park together like this collection
of Alfas. A large collection of Porsches parked in an adjacent area.
The only Vintage Ferrari I found at the event was this 365GT 2+2, but
the owner was not with the car.
I loved seeing all the personal touches these owners had done to these
cars.
I found neat things like this rumble seat in the back of this Mustang
coupe.
There's not a lot of leg room back there, nor would it be easy for
ingess or egress, but the idea was interesting.
Another car that really caught my eye was this nicely done Buick
Riviera that was for sale. At $15,500 dollars, it seemed like a good
deal considering the level of detail and modification!
The level of enthusiasm shows in what guys bring to this event. A VW
transport owner brought this Volkswagon powered agriculture pump to
share with the spectators. It's a perfectly working unit that starts
with a hand crank. I'm sure thousands of these pumps were used all over
the world, but to have one today in such original condition is becoming
a rariety.
After about 90 minutes at the Cars and Coffee event, we headed back
south to prepare for the DGR event that started at noon.
By lunch we had a nice colleciton of cars in the parking lot, spanning
40 years in Ferrari history. Lunch was served, and all sat down to a delicious meal of Mexican food including tasty Fish Tacos!
The event was a very casual affair, and the owners had a great time
swapping stories and showing their cars. I was honored when Randy Ema
of the Duesenburg world drove up in a nice grey GTE! I've seen Randy on
many appearances with Jay Leno on various pre-war restoration projects,
but who knew Randy was a Ferrari fan! I was invited to see his shop
after the weekend, so look forward to reading more about the visit
later!
Ron Karp from Karp's Brake Service came down with other craftsmen to
share their knowledge and expertise. I recorded some of his
presentation, so look forward to hearing what Ron had to say about
resleeving.
Zac of DGR Performance discussed his job at restoring a Vintage
Ferrari, and used a near perfect example of a GTE that recently won at
Cavallino to compare with Tom Wilson's GTE that needs the same
treatment.
Painters, Body guys, and Detailers were all available to help owners
understand the process and what they can do to help. Where else would
you find three GTEs spanning the spectrum of condition at the same
time?
As
always I always love more looking at cars apart than all together and
done, and Zac did not disappoint. A 206 Dino was brought over from the
metal shop to show the progress on this restoration.
As I always say it's sometimes a shame to have to cover up all this craftmanship with paint!
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