Saturday, March 23, 2019

Mini Road Trip This Morning.

Took a drive down to Erie, CO this morning to visit the Scuderia Rampante ("Raging Stables") restoration shop.

Yes, they mostly work on Ferraris.

This was a special event hosted by Hagerty, the company I have the Supra insured with.
I'm pretty sure I saw more Ferraris in one place this morning, than the total number I've seen in my life. F40's and F50's, a Lusso, and half-a-dozen or more 308's, including a rare fiberglass bodied one. The 308 (Magnum PI's car, if you don't know) was only produced with a FRP body for the first 10~12 months, and then Scaglietti, the coach builder who made the bodies for Ferrari, switched to steel bodies. The FRP bodied cars weigh about 350 pounds less, making them faster, and in greater demand.

The engine assembly room is just about "Clean Room" clean, and the work they do is absolutely first rate, from what I could see. They don't have an engine dyno, but they do have an engine test cell where they run the recently rebuilt engines through several hot/cold cycles, check it for leaks and funny noises, and then  do a break-in cycle to seat the rings.

And there were engines everywhere! 6 cylinder Dino engines, several V8's, and numerous, glorious, fabulous, V12's. Some were greasy lumps, some were just being taken apart, some were fresh out of the cleaning process but not assembled, and a few were on engine stands being carefully and methodically put back together.

I think I left several quart-sized puddles of drool around the shop!

Sorry, but I didn't take my camera, as there was no "camera policy" stated on the invitation, and I've been turned away from shops when I had a camera with me.

VERY enjoyable morning, and so far the car people are far friendlier and more enthusiastic than 95% of the alleged "Radio People" I've met since we moved here.

6 comments:

  1. Sounds like you had a good day. Always like to see a "clean room"... Been trying to get my granddaughter to embrace that concept, slowly making headway.
    What do you think causes the Radio People to be less friendly? I've found most everyone to be friendly here, as long as I never mention that I came from Calif. Plus I wear my puffer vest everywhere so they think I'm a native...

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    1. It was quite interesting and educational. The owner is a wealth of information, and we had a great time talking about not only the how, but also the why things are done a certain way.

      As far as the radio tribe out here, they're not unfriendly, but seem to be rather indifferent. Never had any hostility directed at me, but I just can't seem to connect with the ones I've met. Somebody suggested that maybe they weren't at my "level", and in talking to the car people I've met, I think that might be a big part of it. The Hams out here just aren't as "engaged" (one of my wife's favorite terms) as I'm used to seeing and working with.

      Delete
  2. A no, camera policy?

    That's some serious stuff, DRJIM. The 'how and the why' - devil in the details.

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    1. I ran into the "NO Cameras!" policy at a couple of places I went to see in SoCal.

      I don't think it would have been a problem at SR, but I didn't take the camera.

      I'm not a 'Morning Person', and getting up at 0700 on a Saturday leaves me a bit fuzzy for a while. If the event had been a noon-till-three event I would have put the camera in the car, but at 0800 I can barely find my coffee mug, let alone my camera bag!

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. :-)

      And they seem to be a lot easier to connect with!

      Delete

Keep it civil, please....

Annnnd.....We Got Zip.....

 Total snow was about 6~8", but half o0f it melted as soon as it hit, and we never had more than 3" on the ground at any one time....