The long awaited return of a 330GTC arrived last week. It’s a car that was sent out for paint a few years ago, and it’s finally done!

The first time this car was painted, it came back to me with some issues that I wasn’t satisfied with. The paint shop we used was in transition with painters, so I had no choice but to have them push through with the work. It’s very hard to pull a job from a shop mid-stream without loosing a lot of money and time, so we stuck it out. Unfortunately, this required sending the car back when I found problems with the paint. Luckily the owner of the shop agreed to make good on the problems, and repainted the car. A new painter was hired, and I was assured things would would be much better. So far, things look good, and I will start the assembly of this car in the next several months. I may have to disassemble it some more before I start putting things back on since the engine compartment needs some love!

The last thing I needed to get done on SI330 I had at my shop before sending her home was to get the front end aligned. You can get pretty close with alignments using a tape measure and some string, but I wanted to check my work with a machine. I have a Dodge Dealership next to my personal shop, and I decided to give them a shot at the alignment.

I spent more time working with getting the right alignment specs and arranging to have me drive the car onto the rack than it took to do the alignment. When using a new shop, there is always a balance of trust and scrutiny with the way they take care of a car. It takes just a second of carelessness by a shop worker to damage a Ferrari, but then again, they take care of other customer’s cars all day long. It’s a fine line between giving them professional space, and being a nudge.

TomYang.net Monterey Cocktail Party

This year’s party has moved away from Quail Lodge to a house in Carmel-by-the-Sea generously co-hosted with the Coady Family. It will held on Thursday the 23rd of August starting at 6pm. If you’re in Monterey for the car weekend, I would love to have you come. Please contact me privately for details: tom@tomyang.net

My plans this year is to attend the Quail show on Friday, Concorso on Saturday, Pebble Beach on Sunday. Somewhere in that time, I’ll head to the track, preview the cars at the auctions, and squeeze in a few meals. Reach out if you want to meet up!