1/23/09
Cavallino Classic 2009: II

Friday began with meeting Gary and Suzy with their car to begin detailing the GTE. Todd Helme, the detailer, agreed to meet me at Bill Tracy’s house to spend the day getting the paint the best it could be. I met Todd last year at Bill’s house and was impressed with the work he did on Mark Dempsey’s 365GT 2+2. His website can be found here: http://belladetailing.com/

After a couple hours of cleaning, I left Todd with the car to meet everyone at Moroso. The plan was to meet at the center of the Paddock at 1pm like the previous years, but Moroso has gone through a complete renovation since my last visit. Tomyang.netters were probably scattered throughout the Paddock area looking for the old pavilion. I stood near Parker Hall’s tent hoping to spot some members of my forum, feeling bad about the mix-up. I lunched with the few people I found, and made the best of our little gathering. I promise to make next year’s meeting more organized!

After lunch I had to head back to the house for more work on 3553. Todd had completed the compounding of the car, and the wet sanding of a problem spot in the paint that he was trying to rectify. With the majority of the messy stuff done, I was able to get in and re-polish the wire wheels. With the short drive François and I did in Connecticut, and Gary’s Palm Beach tour the day before, the wheels were getting a little cloudy. Todd brought a complete detailing kit, so I had plenty of supplies to get my job done. Todd even had a box of gloves so I wouldn’t get black fingers from polishing aluminum. Thanks Todd!

As afternoon went into evening, Bill Tracy and his wife Lisa got ready for a dinner party they throw for South Florida Ferrari friends and people coming to Cavallino. The Tracy’s graciously extended their welcome to Tomyang.netters that RSVP’ed, so I was looking forward to seeing some familiar faces. Todd and I still had a ton of work to do even as the dinner guests arrived, but we pushed onwards. It was difficult at times to continue working while party goers stood over us with drinks and comments, but the positive response for the car kept me going. Todd and I both got a chance to join the party during a well deserved break, but we didn’t really finish the final detailing until late into the evening.

Now that the car was presentable, I needed to check one last thing on the list. The brake lights stopped working sometime between leaving Connecticut and arriving in Florida and I needed to find what was going on. One problem we encounter is the big temperature change in climate between NY and FL, so 40+ year old electrics can sometimes get temperamental. After jumping the two wires to check the circuit to the brake lights I found the lights burning bright. I got the sinking realization that the pressure switch on the rear of the master cylinder decided to stop working the night before Cavallino. Bill Tracy came out to see how things were going after the last few people went home. I told him my problem and the impossibility of finding a compatible switch, let alone replacing it at this late hour. Thinking out loud, I said the only way I could get the brake lights to go on without a working pressure switch was to use a toggle switch. Bill Replied, “I’ve got one of those!” That answer got me thinking of how to route a switch by the driver’s seat to turn on the brake lights when the judges asked for brakes. Technically, we would have working brake lights. After finding the switch, pulling the belly pan, and running the wires, I had working brake lights by 11:30pm. Talk about 11th hour repairs!

Sorry about the lack of pictures, but I was pretty busy. If anyone has any pictures of the Tracy party, or proof that I was actually working on 3553, I’ll try to post them on this site!

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.

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