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Monterey with Wyss

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By Wallace Wyss
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Note: There are three sidebars (short features) to the main article so be sure to click on the banners to read them all.

I cannot resist Holy Week even though it costs a lot of Money. The challenge is seeing how long you can last without spending it. I have some advantages, being a member of the media which allows us a few crumbs off the table of “The Automakers”. Increasingly the Detroit and foreign automakers have looked at the demographics of the visitors to Monterey that week and discovered, oh-my-God they have found the last people in America with change jingling in their jeans.
[Read more…] about Monterey with Wyss

Sidebar: Vallelunga and Promises Unfulfilled…

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One of two DeTomaso Vallelungas to appear at Concorso this year. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.

By Wallace Wyss
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

At the 2011 Concorso Italiano, there were no less than two, count ‘em, two DeTomaso Vallelungas. Few of the show-goers realized what they were, because for most Americans the only DeTomaso car they know is the mid-engined Ford powered Pantera.
[Read more…] about Sidebar: Vallelunga and Promises Unfulfilled…

Sidebar: The Italian American Cobra

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Made In Italy--under the nose of Enzo Ferrari. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.

By Wallace Wyss
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Yes, five out of six of the Cobra Daytona coupes, first commissioned in 1964, were bodied in Italy. Which makes them as much Italian-American as, say, the Dual Ghias which were Chryslers bodied in Italy.
[Read more…] about Sidebar: The Italian American Cobra

Sidebar: The XNR and a Barn Hunter’s Dream Dashed

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The XNR in its full glory. The author long lusted after this car, figuring only he remembered it was pictured in ‘National Geographic’ magazine in Kuwait. Well, someone else obviously found it and restored it. Pebble Beach show program says the owner hails from Beirut. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.

By Wallace Wyss
Color Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Car hunters find their barn finds in various and sundry ways.

One of my ways is to commit to memory cars I see in magazines and file away mentally the last known location.
[Read more…] about Sidebar: The XNR and a Barn Hunter’s Dream Dashed

Ferrari FF Design Critique

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By Wallace Wyss
Rear photo courtesy Ferrari Media

OK they don’t call it a “shooting brake” but…

At the Geneva Motor Show, Pininfarina introduced the new FF, which they call “the fastest and most versatile four-seater in Ferrari’s history,” and also proclaim it as the brand’s first four-wheel drive model.

Designed by Pininfarina in cooperation with the Ferrari Style Centre, they claim that “the car’s forms and volumes achieve perfect harmony between the car’s sporty spirit and its extraordinary versatility.”

[Read more…] about Ferrari FF Design Critique

Ferraris on the Road

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Mike will wear red and black but if you want him to wear a Prancing Horse, well...

By Wallace Wyss

To Sedona in an e-Bay Ferrari

In my experience both here and abroad, the Ferrari world is a sea of pristine well-cared for finely-fettled cars, whose owners seem to hover near them at every car show, dreadfully fearful some interloper will touch their car.

Then there’s my high school friend, Mike, a retiree from the Phoenix area.

His 1979 Ferrari GTB has seen better days. The paint is a bit rough (Mike claims that he had seen worse paint jobs, but they were done with a brush), the leather seats have popped their seams so there’s sponge rubber showing, there’s a piece of fiberglass hanging down somewhere at the back, the engine is dirt covered, the air conditioning compressor is missing, the tires don’t quite fit.

But, to his mind, it’s perfect. Why? Because he drives it. [Read more…] about Ferraris on the Road

The Return of DeTomaso: BlandblandBlandblandblandBland and more Bland

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Not bad for a crossover, but terrible for a De Tomaso. Courtesy Pininfarina

With a tip of the hat to Monty Python, we can’t help repeating ourselves over the exciting Pininfarina De Tomaso Deauville which was introduced at the Geneva Auto Show last week.

By Wallace Wyss

Just when you thought the name “DeTomaso” was dead as an Italian marque, it’s back. And guess who designed one of the first new proposals for the once-defunct Italian brand? Chez Pininfarina , who showed a new Deauville prototype crossover at the Geneva show.
[Read more…] about The Return of DeTomaso: BlandblandBlandblandblandBland and more Bland

From the Golden Ferrari 599 Aperta

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The 540 Aperta is it appeared at Villa d 'Este. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.

By Wallace Wyss

Let’s say you have more money than God and way back you saw an old Italian movie that had a sexy car in it. The movie was by Fellini and the car, as near as anyone can tell, was a special by Fantuzzi, and/or originally installed on a racing chassis. [Read more…] about From the Golden Ferrari 599 Aperta

Design Critique: Ferrari 599 Before the Aperta

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599 GTB: Cleaner and more beautiful than the Vette. Photo Ferrari Media.

By Wallace A. Wyss
A commentary on the Ferrari 599 GTB , introduced in 2007, and its subsequent versions.

Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
When Ferrari sought to design a new front-engined car to replace the 575M Maranello, they wanted to have one that would be a comfortable grand tourer, and yet incorporate what they call “cutting edge downforce “figures, i.e. stay glued to the ground. Hence the long hood, sloping downward into a built in front spoiler. [Read more…] about Design Critique: Ferrari 599 Before the Aperta

Design Critique: Ferrari 599 SA Aperta

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The new Aperta, meeting with mixed reviews. Photo Ferrari Media.

By Wallace A. Wyss

And now, the third iteration of the streetable 599, following the GTB, the halfway new “ Handling Gran Turismo Evoluzione”,and the GTO, introduced last April, is the Aperta, or “open” 599.
[Read more…] about Design Critique: Ferrari 599 SA Aperta

Beauty As a Liability: The Ferrari Lusso

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lusso-11.jpg

By Wallace Alfred Wyss

I remember visiting a guy in Newport Beach about 20 years ago who was a Can-Am racer who had just bought a Ferrari 250GT Lusso. I felt sorry for him because , as far as Ferrari 250s go , that model was known at the time as strictly a boulevard car with no racing potential, and therefore little investment potential. [Read more…] about Beauty As a Liability: The Ferrari Lusso

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