Hi,
Well, it's a beautiful early Fall day here in Minneapolis, 75°, not a cloud in the sky - perfect driving weather.
I just got back from having lunch with a friend who wanted to show me his new car - a 1965 Ferrari 275GTS Spider! One of 200 produced.
It is truly beautiful, Red with Black leather interior and Black top, Magnesium Campagnolo Wire Wheels. Under the hood lives a 3.3L V-12 w/ 6 dual Webers on top (mounted front mid-engine), capable of 383HP. Owen actually bought the car 2 years ago and just got it back from a full concours restoration.
Owen nonchalantly tossed me the keys after lunch and off we went. Started instantly, with a throaty rumble only a Ferrari V-12 is capable of (I don't know what Marranello is paying the guy who invented this, but it ain't enough). The clutch is a little heavy, but the gated 5-speed was butter smooth, a little long in throw, but from a time when these were built for
Men to drive.
At Owen's insistance we went to a suburb where the State Highway Patrol maintains a driving course and I got to use the WOW pedal - WOW!! The distinct mechanical sounds coming from the engine and valvetrain are truly amazing. The torque is impressive and the car eagerly runs to redline between shifts. 0-60 in under 6 and tops out at 155, same as my Esprit, but not really the same at all!
It was truly a priveledge to drive one of the best cars of all time from one of the world's greatest manufacturers, much better than anything coming from the Scuderia of late, they're great too, but not really in the same league.
I told him that Mrs. MNBoxster is gonna fall in love with it and he has
insisted that I come over this weekend and take her for a drive. He's going out of town so he said he'd leave the keys with the neighbor for me. It's her birthday this weekend, so I'm planning on taking her on a drive along the mississippi in it.
Boy I wish I'd studied as hard as Owen did in school so I could park one of these in my garage. As it is, Owen parks it next to his 1966 Fiat Dino Cabriolet - Ferrari 2.0 L V-6 Dino Engine (2nd Place at the Concorso d'Italiano at Pebble Beach in '04 -
http://www.concorso.com/website%20updates/images/big/winner_fiatdino.jpg ), 1964 Fiat 124 (pristine, 8k original mi.), '05 Catherham Seven (which we built together) and '96 1st Gen Grey Market (SUN Conversion) Elise (w/ Honda V-TEC engine). But, I guess it's good enough to just have a friend as good as Owen.
I've tried to post some pics I took of it, but the attachment function doesn't want to work. I don't mean to hi-jack the thread, but it is a '65 and from the same genre...
Happy Motoring!... Jim'99
Threaded Mode
