For me, 2013 has been a year almost entirely devoted to restoring The Alfatross with few distractions or digressions. An exception was the Santa Fe Concorso. For most of us local car guys life was put on hold during the last week of September until the driving tours were over, tribute was paid to racing legend Denise McCluggage, cars were placed and polished to a fare-thee-well on the viewing field, and the judges verdicts were in. You can read all about it at http://santafeconcorso.com/about.html. We are now settling back to earth and the buzz is finally starting to fade.
In addition to taking in all the events and even managing to participate in a couple of road tours, I volunteered to help the Concorso organizers in the manual labor department, schlepping boxes, setting up tents for vendors and the like. Although physical work on The Alfatross stopped cold some very important connections were made and decisions reached. More about that later . . . .
I'm trying something new in this post: a short video. I hope it works! Let me know if it causes a problem.
Jeff Krammer signed up for this one and asked me if I wanted to ride shotgun. He said it was a tour designed by Denise McCluggage, so it was bound to be the kind of ride every sports car driver dreams about--and it would cover about 300 miles of twisty northern New Mexico mountain roads! Who could pass up an opportunity like that? With Jeff driving all I had to do was rubberneck and make scintillating conversation. Besides, I had never ridden in Jeff's 1974 2000 GTV Alfa.
Unfortunately--or fortunately, depending on how you look at it--the GTV developed an ominous vibration somewhere in the running gear and we had to take the Yellow Peril (my wife's 40-year-old Porsche) insetead. We were among the first to arrive at the 8:30 departure rendezvous with a full tank of gas and no idea at all of what to expect. As we waited, a McLaren MP4 glided into the parking lot, followed by a Ferrari Testa Rosa. Then some kind of new Porsche and a top-end Audi. What's going on here? We thought we would be joining a troupe of tired old "classics" like ours, but these arrivals are cars that cannot be driven slowly. They idle at 75 mph.
Once outside the city limits of Santa Fe the McLarens, Ferrari, Audi, and even the turbocharged Abarth Fiat 500 vanished ahead, but we soldiered on with the Triumphs and a '65 Pontiac GTO. Well, it wasn't a race after all. The day was perfect, the Targa top was out, and we had a great drive.
Thursday September 26th: the Big Cats Arrive
Having volunteered to help set up for the events at The Club at Las Campanas, I found myself under the direction of Beverly Little, one of the organizers, loading a U-Haul truck with supplies and equipment. It was promising to be a very dull day. On the way to the Concorso site Beverly spotted a pair of large, double-decker car transports headed the same direction. "It's the Jaguars!" she said, then "Follow them!" We made a quick detour to the unloading area where, for the next two hours, the transports disgorged 8 C-Types, D-Types, XKSSs (including Steven McQueen's!), 140s and 150s--millions of dollars worth of legendary cars. Then, out of thin air, equally legendary Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis appeared to oversee the unloading. What started as a day of drudgery became a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have my picture taken with Norman, surrounded by a pride of C- and D-Types!
Friday, September 27th: Two Events Paying Tribute to the Racers Themselves
There were two events this day, both designed to honor legendary drivers who made the cars and the races famous. The first was "Legends of Racing," a tribute to Denis McLuggage, during which Denise, Sir Stirling Moss, and Norman Dewis shared their experiences racing in the 50s and 60s. Various cars that Denise raced were on display. The event was scheduled to start at 1:00 PM. I got there a few minutes early only to find an animated discussion well under way and the meeting room completely packed with a long line out the door. I think the huge turnout for the tribute surprised everyone. The revelation for me was that not everything in Santa Fe starts late.
The second event, the Friday Night Gathering at the Santa Fe Air Center afforded hundreds of people the opportunity to meet Denise and the other VIPs, as well as Concorso entrants, and view vintage aircraft and some of the cars and motorcycles that would be judged on Sunday. An open bar and food provided by Chefs from the Southwest (http://santafeconcorso.com/Concorso_Chefs.pdf) insured that a good time was had by all (the fajitas were great!).
The halfway point in the tour was Los Cerrillos. Somehow, Tom and I managed to arrive first and savor the peace and quiet of a tiny, nearly abandoned New Mexican town on a quiet Sunday morning. Then, like Marlon Brando and his outlaw motorcycle gang riding into Carbonville, California in The Wild One, the other cars roared onto Main Street, one by one. Dust, oil smoke, rumbling exhausts, and gasoline fumes filled the air and shattered the peace--much to the delight of the small group of good citizens gathered there to witness the spectacle. It was a brief invasion and the only damage our Wild Ones inflicted on Los Cerrillos was to seriously deplete the water supply used to flush the toilets in the Visitors' Center.
In 20 minutes we were all gone. Peace and tranquility settled over little Los Cerrillos once again--like smog.
Sunday, September 29th: the Concorso
Sunday dawned bright and clear. I got to The Club early and, armed with my "Event Staff" lanyard, waltzed onto the exhibit field while entrants were still setting up. You could not have asked for a nicer day. After shooting a lot of photos I ran into Tim Marinos, a well-know restorer who was highly recommended to me as someone who could do the chassis, bodywork, and paint on my car. We ducked out of the Concorso for a few hours so he could have a look at The Alfatross.
Tim and I returned to the Concorso in time to see the award winners being photographed--and stayed on until the cars were off the field and everyone went home, to help Beverly clean up the aftermath. The Concorso relies on a lot of volunteer help. I can tell you from first-hand experience that volunteers should have to pay for the privilege!
There were too many great cars and interesting people to comment on individually--but the two images below were moments in time I have to share.
Monday, September 30th: Tim Marinos and Mark Reinwald visit The Alfatross
The Alfatross didn't get to go on any of the tours, meet the legends of racing, or see the Concorso. The highlight for The Alfatross was being visited by Tim Marinos and Mark Reinwald, both well-known restorers, concours judges, and authorities on classic cars. I thought they might browse for a few minutes, look at their watches, and say "Oh, look at the time!" But after a while I started to wonder if they were ever going to leave! Suffice it to say that The Alfatross had a thorough going-over.
The upshot of it all is that Tim (http://vintageautocraft.com/) is going to do the chassis, bodywork, and paint on The Alfatross, which I will deliver to his shop in Tennessee before the end of October.
So now The Alfatross and I are racing to get ready for the trip to Tim's shop. Let's see, first we need a trailer, then we need to shorten the rotisserie to 18 ft and figure out a way to stabilize it for the 1,200 mile trip to Tennessee--and don't forget to include the doors, windows, window trim, trunk, hood, hinges, locks, handles, headlight bezels and buckets and . . . .
In addition to taking in all the events and even managing to participate in a couple of road tours, I volunteered to help the Concorso organizers in the manual labor department, schlepping boxes, setting up tents for vendors and the like. Although physical work on The Alfatross stopped cold some very important connections were made and decisions reached. More about that later . . . .
I'm trying something new in this post: a short video. I hope it works! Let me know if it causes a problem.
Six Days of Cars, Cruises, Congratulations, and Companionship
Wednesday September 25th: the Georgia O'Keeffe Driving TourJeff Krammer signed up for this one and asked me if I wanted to ride shotgun. He said it was a tour designed by Denise McCluggage, so it was bound to be the kind of ride every sports car driver dreams about--and it would cover about 300 miles of twisty northern New Mexico mountain roads! Who could pass up an opportunity like that? With Jeff driving all I had to do was rubberneck and make scintillating conversation. Besides, I had never ridden in Jeff's 1974 2000 GTV Alfa.
Unfortunately--or fortunately, depending on how you look at it--the GTV developed an ominous vibration somewhere in the running gear and we had to take the Yellow Peril (my wife's 40-year-old Porsche) insetead. We were among the first to arrive at the 8:30 departure rendezvous with a full tank of gas and no idea at all of what to expect. As we waited, a McLaren MP4 glided into the parking lot, followed by a Ferrari Testa Rosa. Then some kind of new Porsche and a top-end Audi. What's going on here? We thought we would be joining a troupe of tired old "classics" like ours, but these arrivals are cars that cannot be driven slowly. They idle at 75 mph.
Once outside the city limits of Santa Fe the McLarens, Ferrari, Audi, and even the turbocharged Abarth Fiat 500 vanished ahead, but we soldiered on with the Triumphs and a '65 Pontiac GTO. Well, it wasn't a race after all. The day was perfect, the Targa top was out, and we had a great drive.
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| The Wednesday tour found Jeff Krammer and I in the Yellow Peril trying to keep up with the likes of a Ferrari Testa Rosa, a Corvette C6, a pair of pumped-up new Porsches and TWO McLarens on Hyw 64--a great drive! |
Thursday September 26th: the Big Cats Arrive
Having volunteered to help set up for the events at The Club at Las Campanas, I found myself under the direction of Beverly Little, one of the organizers, loading a U-Haul truck with supplies and equipment. It was promising to be a very dull day. On the way to the Concorso site Beverly spotted a pair of large, double-decker car transports headed the same direction. "It's the Jaguars!" she said, then "Follow them!" We made a quick detour to the unloading area where, for the next two hours, the transports disgorged 8 C-Types, D-Types, XKSSs (including Steven McQueen's!), 140s and 150s--millions of dollars worth of legendary cars. Then, out of thin air, equally legendary Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis appeared to oversee the unloading. What started as a day of drudgery became a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have my picture taken with Norman, surrounded by a pride of C- and D-Types!
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| The author with Norman Dewis, now in his early 90s and apparently as unaffected by the passage of time as the Big Cats that were being off-loaded from the transporters. He probably knows each of the C- and D-Types personally! |
There were two events this day, both designed to honor legendary drivers who made the cars and the races famous. The first was "Legends of Racing," a tribute to Denis McLuggage, during which Denise, Sir Stirling Moss, and Norman Dewis shared their experiences racing in the 50s and 60s. Various cars that Denise raced were on display. The event was scheduled to start at 1:00 PM. I got there a few minutes early only to find an animated discussion well under way and the meeting room completely packed with a long line out the door. I think the huge turnout for the tribute surprised everyone. The revelation for me was that not everything in Santa Fe starts late.
The second event, the Friday Night Gathering at the Santa Fe Air Center afforded hundreds of people the opportunity to meet Denise and the other VIPs, as well as Concorso entrants, and view vintage aircraft and some of the cars and motorcycles that would be judged on Sunday. An open bar and food provided by Chefs from the Southwest (http://santafeconcorso.com/Concorso_Chefs.pdf) insured that a good time was had by all (the fajitas were great!).
 |
| Legends of Racing: Denise McLuggage, Norman Dewis and Sir Stirling Moss reminiscing at the Friday Night Gathering. Host Tim Considine kept things interesting. |
Saturday, September 28th: The Main Tour
While we were admiring his 1974 Porsche RS on display at the Friday Night Gathering, Tom Linton asked me if I wanted to ride shotgun with him during the Mountain Driving Tour. This was open only to actual entrants in the Concorso and was a BIG DEAL. Again, I couldn't resist. The route took us through downtown Santa Fe where I was amazed to see people lining the roads to view the cars. It was a brisk morning, but some drivers of open cars, such as Mark Reinwald in the video below, were appropriately attired . . . .
In 20 minutes we were all gone. Peace and tranquility settled over little Los Cerrillos once again--like smog.
 |
| The Wild Ones and a few tens of millions of dollars of collector cars arrive in Los Cerrillos, the mid-point of the Sunday morning tour. For some reason the good citizens were neither surprised nor terrorized.. Uh, which way to the restrooms, please? |
Sunday, September 29th: the Concorso
Sunday dawned bright and clear. I got to The Club early and, armed with my "Event Staff" lanyard, waltzed onto the exhibit field while entrants were still setting up. You could not have asked for a nicer day. After shooting a lot of photos I ran into Tim Marinos, a well-know restorer who was highly recommended to me as someone who could do the chassis, bodywork, and paint on my car. We ducked out of the Concorso for a few hours so he could have a look at The Alfatross.
 |
| The Ferrari 275 GTS/4 NART Spyder that took Best of Show, Sport category. But look at the setting! |
There were too many great cars and interesting people to comment on individually--but the two images below were moments in time I have to share.
 |
| Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis (left) and Sir Sterling Moss aboard "722" -- the immortal number of the Mercedes Benz 300 SLR Moss drove to victory in the 1957 Mille Miglia with the fastest time ever recorded. |
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| 1957 Aston Martin DBR2 Recreation. Recreations were not eligible for awards, but recreation or not, I want one of these! |
The Alfatross didn't get to go on any of the tours, meet the legends of racing, or see the Concorso. The highlight for The Alfatross was being visited by Tim Marinos and Mark Reinwald, both well-known restorers, concours judges, and authorities on classic cars. I thought they might browse for a few minutes, look at their watches, and say "Oh, look at the time!" But after a while I started to wonder if they were ever going to leave! Suffice it to say that The Alfatross had a thorough going-over.
The upshot of it all is that Tim (http://vintageautocraft.com/) is going to do the chassis, bodywork, and paint on The Alfatross, which I will deliver to his shop in Tennessee before the end of October.
So now The Alfatross and I are racing to get ready for the trip to Tim's shop. Let's see, first we need a trailer, then we need to shorten the rotisserie to 18 ft and figure out a way to stabilize it for the 1,200 mile trip to Tennessee--and don't forget to include the doors, windows, window trim, trunk, hood, hinges, locks, handles, headlight bezels and buckets and . . . .
 |
| Tim Marinos of Vintage Auto Craft and Mark Reinwald, Curator of the Ralph Lauren Collection, visit The Alfatross. Why are they so happy? |
