The
following was submitted by Erich Coiner about the trip:
I
just returned home on Monday from 5 days in car guy heaven at
the Monterey
Historics weekend.
We
left San Diego on Wed afternoon. Our little band was:
1 Tiger - Erich Coiner
2 Cobra replicas - Craig Wright and Chuck Miller
1 GT-350H clone - Dave Ham
1 Viper GTS - Jeff Hixson
1 03 Mustang Cobra - Chuck's son Mika
and a Saab - Minh Duong
The
day began very eventfully with me finding a flat front tire first
thing
in the morning. The tire store said the bead was shot and I need
a new tire,
but it would take a day or two to find this size. I ran home and
changed
tires to my spare set of street radials. Say good bye to the sticky
Potenzas
:( So much for getting some work done before leaving.
Dave the Mustang owner started his day with a dead battery.
Other
than some beastly hot weather the drive to Pismo beach was uneventful.
We went up I5 to Frazier Park an then too Mil Potrero over the
mountain and
down into the Central Valley. That is a world class fun road.
If you
haven't run it. Get there! and Do IT! Hwy 166 lead us into Nipomo
for a
well deserved dinner at Jocko's. It was there that we met up with
list
member Terry Packer. When he heard we were coming his way, we
exchanged
emails and agreed to get together to ogle the Tiger and swap lies.
We had a
great chat, and he extended an offer of tools and help should
we need it.
We thanked him and said everything is going great. He disappeared
into the
sunset on his motorcycle and we went in for one of the best steak
dinners I
have ever enjoyed. Jocko's in Nipomo is a local treasure.
After
dinner we got ready to head for our hotel. Dave fastback wouldn't
start. It just gave that infamous, Ziiiiingggg, Zinnnng, spinning
without
turning the engine over.
We left the car and went to our hotel and checked in.
The next morning at 7 am I called Terry's number. I know I woke
him up. We
asked for advice on finding the closest auto parts store. He said
he would
do some checking and call me back.
20 minutes later he calls and says he has found a starter at Carquest
and
they have it out on the counter. He loads up his vehicle with
tools, jackst
ands and comes to our hotel. He takes Dave to the store, picks
up the
starter, drives 10 miles back to Jocko's, jacks the car up, crawls
underneath and changes the starter. All of this for a guy he had
never met
until the night before!
THANK
YOU Terry!
This
list is such a huge asset to connect people, I love it.
We
were on the road by 9:30 and we made Carmel by noon to see the
Pebble
Beach Tour cars. The run up Hwy 1 was trouble free. The late start
meant
more traffic, but that just meant more passing oppotunities :)
The best
part was passing 1 Lamborghini and having his pal in front take
a turnout to
let us thru.
Friday
morning I found myself at Grandma's for a hearty breakfast. (Did
I
mention this trip involved eating as much as driving cars and
ogling cars).
Then it was time to head out to the Concorso Italiano, a socalled
festival
of Italian style. I had a pass to park the Tiger in their corral.
It got
me a great parking spot, but it did not save me from sitting in
some
horrendous traffic. I was in stop and go for over 1.5 hours. All
this to
cover just over a mile! The morning was cool and overcast, but
the vintage
Ferrari's were pulling over with steaming radiators. The Tiger
kept its cool
tho. My temp gauge got up to 210 and that was it.
Once in, the show was great. You see soooooo many cars that you
never see
on the roads.
Panteras, Mangustas, Lambo Miuras, Iso Grifos, Maserati Ghiblis,Fiat
Dinos
and Ferrari's. Oh yeah there were F cars.
After a while your eyes glaze over at all the red/tan cars. If
there was
one 308 there were 50.
The
Ferraris that were contemporaries of the Tiger were my favorites.
Lusso's and 275 GTBs .
Saturday
was spent at Laguna Seca. I was able to park the Tiger in the
NORCaL Shelby corral. There were two other Tigers in their. I
never saw
their owners. Stopped in to say Hi to Darrel Mountjoy, Dan Walters
and Rick
Mueller. The Monster Tiger and LeMans Tiger were looking and sounding
good.
In the morning we took a pit tour. Our tour was led by Rug Cunningham,
vintage racer and owner of a Cunninham BMW in San Diego. We got
a lot
great history on a lot of neat cars.
One
person in our tour managed to drop his umbrella on the hood of
a Ferrari
GTO! Luckily no damage was done. Walking through the pits at the
historics
is so amazing. You see cars the won LeMan in 57, cars driven by
Phil HIl,
and Carrol Shelby. On and On.
This
year, Ferrari was the featured marque. Ferrari club of America
was also
holding their annual meeting, the week after the historics. This
meant that
an enormous number of significant Ferraris showed up. The highlight
of the
day was the last race. It was all Ferrari production race cars
from 62-66.
There were 4 250 GT Short wheelbase Berlinettas.
1 250 LM
and 20 250 GTOs.
Yes, 20 of the 34 GTOs made were on the race track at the same
time. I
doubt that 20 GTOs have ever been in one place at one time before.
I
stood next to the track at the exit to turn 2 (the Andretti hairpin).
The
sight and sound of all those V12s at full throttle was unforgetable.
Dinner
was at the Golden Tee restaurant. The Golden Tee is located inside
the Monterey airport terminal building. This is one of Montereys
best kept
secrets. The food is great, the portions are large and the prices
modest.
Best of all it was not crowded like most venues during Historics
weekend.
