Tennessee Tim Presents (Post # 94)

Tim Marinos, Proprietor of Vintage Autocraft, putting the finishing touches on 2,000+ hours
of blood, sweat and tears spent restoring The Alfatross.

Twenty-two months after delivering The Alfatross' body and chassis to Tennessee Tim at Vintage Autocraft, I get a call.  Tim says simply, "It's time." So I pack a bag, book a room, rent a car, purchase an overpriced ticket on American Airlines, and take off for "Music City", Nashville, Tennessee.

Two years ago . . . .

The next morning I walk through the overhead door into Vintage Autocraft and see The Alfatross and Tim for the first time in almost two years. Tim is beaming and The Alfatross is gleaming. The paint job is truly stunning and Tim is obviously proud of his work, but I sensed that after spending more than 2,000 hours on it he would be as glad to see The Alfatross' tail lights as I was when I left it at his shop all those months ago.

All the movable panels were pre-fitted prior to painting.
They will be re-attached before I come to pick The
Alfatross up in two weeks.

The purpose of the trip was to look the car over, compare notes, and decide how much more he had left to do before I can collect the car and take it back to Santa Fe. The trim, doors, windows, windshield, trunk lid and hood were all fitted and removed months ago, so they need to go back on. But there is a problem. The windshield still has a wiper scratch on the passenger's side that has to be polished out before it can be installed. And there are some small parts that need refinishing.

The engine bay, interior, trunk and underbody are also
painted. All colors and finishes were determined by photos
 taken before restoration started and from Tim's own
research.

These are important considerations because we have applied to enter The Alfatross in the Arizona Concours d'Elegance at the end of January, 2016--less than 100 days away. Between now and then I will have to drive back to Tennessee to load the car up and trailer it back to Santa Fe to attach the suspension, axles, steering, brakes, wiring harness, and transmission so it can be turned over to a dedicated classic car transport company for the long haul to Essex, Massachusetts, where the interior will be installed. Then it has to come back to Santa Fe the same way so we can dot all the 'i's, cross all the 't's and finish the restoration. Is that even a realistic possibility?  

The trunk is painted in the body color, as per original 

You will note that The Alfatross looks like it's a different color in almost every image.  Part of that is the different lighting conditions under which the photos were taken, part is due to some monkeying around I did with post processing. Then there's the way my monitor is set up to show colors, and how much your monitor differs from mine.  But a lot of it is probably due to the way I see colors, which is notoriously different from most people. All I can say is that Tim, who has normal--if not exceptional--color vision, says that this is the color it was painted originally.

Sophia Roaren (Post # 93)

The Alfatross' engine BEFORE.

Everyone appreciates a beautiful, curvaceous, sensuous body.  But only surgeons and mechanics appreciate a sexy engine.  An engine can be a thing of beauty . . . or the mechanical version of Frankenstein.  The engine in my 1991 Toyota 4Runner is a good example of the latter. The Alfatross' engine is going to be the mechanical equivalent of Sophia Loren. 

Degreeing the cams. DeWayne Samuels.

Cam cover. DeWayne Samuels.

The cams are finally in and degreed! Too bad they don't make
transparent cam covers so you can still see them even after the covers
are on! DeWayne Samuels.

The troublesome tach and distributor drive. 
DeWayne Samuels.

Exhaust side cam cover locked down with 
distributor and mechanical tach drive 
in place. DeWayne Samuels.

DeWayne tells me that the engine is truly nearing completion and they are moving it to the starting area to fire it up. So that roar you guys heard in Seattle was the Alfatross coming to life after 46 years in a coma! 

Curses! Foiled Again! (Post # 92)

Another Santa Fe Concorso (http://santafeconcorso.com/about.html/) has come and gone and The Alfatross is still in Four States of Separation. Curses! Foiled again! Our next best shot at a debut will be the Arizona Concours d'Elegance (http://arizonaconcours.com ) in the last week of January, 2016.  If The Alfatross is accepted and finished this would be a great place to debut because one of the featured classes is "Coachwork by Zagato", and Andrea Zagato himself will be in attendance as an Honored Guest. The Alfatross will be up against a lot of top-drawer competition for a place on the lawn, so this will be a good test. 

I'm not a great believer in numerology or omens, good or bad, but I just noticed that The Alfatross' 60th "birthday" (when the chassis left Alfa for finishing by Zagato) will be November 29th, only 56 days away. Could we be finished by then?  Then I noticed that The Alfatross' chassis number, 02016, matches next year's date, 2016, by which time I'm sure it will be finished and making the rounds. Just coincidence, I'm sure, but an interesting one all the same. 

Support for the goal of finishing this year and debuting next year came today in the form of a call from Tim Marinos at Vintage Autocraft telling me that The Alfatross' body is substantially finished and it's time for a pow-wow at the shop. So I'll fly to Nashville in a few days to check it out. If all is well it could be back in Santa Fe a couple of weeks later.

Santa Fe Concorso

A 1957 Porsche 356A Carrera and 1953 Ferrari 250 Mille Miglia Berlinetta parked outside Mary's Bar in the old west town of Cerrillos, NM, during the Saturday Mountain Tour for Entrants.

This 1924 Henderson Excelsior motorcycle once belonged 
to Steve McQueen.  Shown here for the very first time, it 
won  the American Motorcycles class.

It was the best one yet. Perfect weather the whole week for all the events. Great setting, attendance, participation, and cars--even without The Alfatross!  In no particular order here are some of the cars, motorcycles, and bikes that The Alfatross might have been rubbing fenders with (figurative speaking of course!) if it had been finished. 

Winner of the Race Car class was this 1954 Maserati  A6GCS Spider, a veteran of the '54 Mille MIglia. The owners keep it active in all sorts of modern events for historic vehicles.

This 1964  250 LM NART Ferrari won Le Mans outright in 1965 averaging 120.944 mph for 24 hours!  It also won  Best of Show Sport at the Concorso.

As a kid in the 1960s I was an avid reader of Road & Track, Car and Driver, and other primarily sports car magazines.  I was most enthralled by stories about the great European races and the cars involved.  I remember distinctly reading about and seeing photos of the 1964 NART Ferrari 250 LM that won Le Mans outright in 1965, in spite of being the underdog.  I thought it was the most beautiful car in the world and I certainly never dreamed that one day I would see it in person, not to mention be crawling underneath to attach a strap so it could be towed to the Best of Show podium (I was a volunteer worker and it ran out of gas!).

There were a lot of Ferraris in the Ferrari Tribute and Ferrari Street Car classes, and there was a reason for that.  If you attended the Friday afternoon "Legends of Racing" presentation honoring Luigi Chinetti, or if you have a copy of the Concorso Program (santafeconcorso.com/2015_concorso_program.html), you know that Chineti was the man who brought Ferrari to the US, and in doing so probably saved Enzo's butt.

Chris Connor with the "Axehandle CX" Sign up for yours at connorcycles.com.

This bike's blue ribbon is well-deserved.  It was one of the most amazing things I saw at the Concorso.  The Bicycle Trophy is awarded to the most distinctive and elegant bicycle that embodies craftsmanship and heritage. Hand-made by Chris Conner, the "Connor Axehandle CX",  is basically wood-framed with carbon-fiber and Kevlar reinforcement elements--a perfect blend of aesthetic beauty and technological sophistication.

Denise McLuggage with her friend and admirer, Sir Sterling Moss.  Richard Owen.

Another Racing Legend, Denise McLuggage, was also honored at the Concorso this year.  A long-time resident of Santa Fe and one of the founders of the Concorso, she passed away last May after a long and brilliant incredilbly multi-faceted series of careers including automotive racing and journalism. Find out more about her at http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/05/denise-mccluggage-1927-2015-personal-memory/. 

Arizona Concours d'Elegance

This time we really are coming down the home stretch. The body is painted, the engine is due to be started and run in any day now. All the sub-systems are ready for installation. The 56-day countdown has started. Full court press! Pedal to the metal! Full speed ahead! Engage! . . . and don't run out of gas on the way to the podium!