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Carol's first love was horses, and she started taking riding lessons when she was
ten years old. Here she is at the age of 18, on her own horse, Eclipse.
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Despite her love of horses, cars were still an important aspect of Carol's life. She started to
date boys who had street rods, muscle cars and motorcycles. Reading car magazines, it became obvious
to her that the car to have was a Ferrari. Her sixteenth birthday loomed. She thought about what she
wanted. Finally, she decided to ask her father if he would go test drive a Berlinetta Boxer at a
local Ferrari dealer. "I had been lusting after one for a long time. I though it would be pretty
cool just to have one parked in Dad's garage where I could drool over it in person. So that's all
I wanted for my birthday-not to drive it myself-but just watch Dad drive it." "That's a no brainer,"
thought Tom. He wished all birthday presents could be like this, and on her birthday, went down to
Newport Imports for a test drive. But Tom disliked the Boxer. At 6 foot 3 inches, he just couldn't
get comfortable in a car designed for the standard Italian with short legs and long arms. "Even
so, it started something with Dad, and a few weeks later during a tour of the Ferrari factory, he
called my mother to tell her he had fallen in love with a redhead, and would be bringing her home."
That Testarossa was the first in the state of California, the second in the U.S. and is still owned
by Hollfelder. Needless to say, Carol did not get the keys every Friday night. "I think I drove it
once, on the way to a meeting in Palm Springs. That was it."
Although she didn't have her own horse until she was seventeen, this did
not stop her from accumulating a lot of ribbons. Carol was determined to
compete in the Olympics.
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Bea was more lenient. She had two Tigers and two Alpines, and usually let Carol drive whichever one
was running. Of course Carol had to ask permission to use the Sunbeams. "The one, and first time,
I borrowed a Sunbeam without asking, some woman in a HUGE Lincoln Continental nailed me as I was
coming out of a parking lot. I had to call my Dad-all six foot three of him--- and tell him." She
and Tom didn't always get along when she was growing up, but it was largely due to conflicting
wills. "I have never been the rebellious type. But my interests have always been just outside of
the mainstream. And I found school very frustrating, much to the dismay of my parents."
Those who achieve often find school intolerable.
For Carol, High School was miserable. Carol and
structured learning didn't mix. And Carol was a
particularly stubborn strain of the Hollfelders. "I was
horrible in school. I am very bright, learn very
quickly, but I admit that I have an enormous ego. I
just hated the factory like educational process. I
barely graduated from High School, only doing half
the work. I was lucky that I had a few teachers
who let me squeak by." College was in her parent's
plans, but not necessarily in Carol's. To be strapped
to a desk all day with a strict schedule for another
four years wasn't exactly what she had in mind.
"Probably not the smartest decision I've ever
made," she adds.
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