Thanks guys, the calls has alot of competition of some great cars, i did my best and hope i did not miss any details that would at least qualify it for platinum - i hope nervous is an understatement......
Well, no award at Cavallino.......im requesting the judging sheets to see what the issues are. The judges did my car last in the category. SO waiting for 3 hrs they arrived around noon when everything was to be over. Donavan was the chief judge, and he questioned a few items that i had to prove differently with my pictures of the original stuff from my car as well as from car 0835 i had on file. The other 3 judges did not ask anything.....so i dont know what they did not like. Im very disappointed and obviously , i know more about the Ellena car production than all 4 judges, as my research over 4 yrs and the 2000 pictures i have support this. Having said this, i had a discussion with Roberto Brandoli from Italy who was one of the honorary judges ... i introduced my self in Italian and below is his response once he looked over my car... "l'ellena è un'auto molto rara oggi. Un restauro è molto difficile su questi a causa della mancanza di esempi originali. Siamo in grado di costruire due auto TDF nel tempo necessario per ripristinare una Ellena. Hai fatto un restauro eccezionale con molti, molti dettagli precisi. Congratulazioni per un lavoro eccezionale. " (Translation) The Ellena is a very rare car today. A restoration is very difficult on these due to the lack of original examples. We can build two TDF cars in the time it would take to restore one Ellena. You have done an amazing restoration with many, many fine details. Congratulations on an outstanding job.” Tom Shaughnessy pointed out separately to me that the 2 of the 3 carb drain plugs has stampings in them and the should not and that the safety wire on a couple of bolts should be black oxide safety wire, not stainless nor steel. Other than this - that is all i know :-(. Sunday at Mar-a Lago was a better day - We won the "Excellence in Class" award AND a second major award "Most Elegant Car Award" Finally after Mar-a Lago the photographer from germany hired by Ferrari Spa, did a photo shoot on the Ellena at a private house estate for the 2021 calendar. This was about 3 miles north of Mar-a Lago on the Island. SO that was the event activities.......see pics below, .got a good pic with Marcel, who has been very helpful over the years with my endeavor . Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Ed, an old country saying goes something like this, a compliment from a friend means more than singing praises from a fool. So, take to heart what Roberto Brandoli told you and ignore the rest. You said it yourself, you know more about the Elena than all four of the judges put together. You don’t need a prize. From what we all have witness on this thread, your car is the prize. john
Those tiny details that only judges can see don't matter. This Ferrari is perfect and a great beauty. The paintwork and the red interior go together perfectly. Congratulations again on your work !
Hi Ed Great meeting you and seeing the car completed! Congratz on all the silverware. Competition in your class was brutal, really. It is not about winning, it is about participating and everything on top of that is fantastic. Thanks for the Mar-a-Lago photo, what a day that was. Please stay well and see you in May in Brescia. PS: Check your emails. Marcel Massini
Thank you all for the comments - ill let you know what i find out. Appreciate the support - and yes we are very proud to participate in the event and meet the people. Im very lucky to have been able to acquire a car like this, do the restoration and be able to show the completed work. More later - car is on its way back to AZ
And now with all that done, you can really start enjoying the fruits of your efforts & labor by spending every chance you get driving her as much as possible.
agree, it really felt good to get the feel of it on the road between the shows. I have an idle issue to work thru, but once it got off the idle circuit, it ran good and felt good handling etc. Was exciting.....got a few other tweaks to take care of as well. Oil and water leak.....but that will get squared away.
Congrats, this is a beautiful car and a beautiful restoration. Now, they just need to repaint the house so it matches the car a tiny bit better.
Ed, It’s been wonderful following your resurrection of this gorgeous automobile, from your first sighting, the manny difficulties you encountered and overcame along the way, and now her first showings. This proud beauty holds her head up high once again thanks to you and your effort. Thank you John
Thank You - lots of credit to the following individuals/companies that assisted in supplying parts, advise and guidance along the way.... Tom Shaughnessy, Cornelis Buurman from Germany, Vaclave from Chez Republic, John Vardian, Chris Coios , David Carte, Patrick Ottis, Henk at HVL ,Mead Korwin with his original car, Scott Kelly for his tons of orig pictures and of course my local support, Sonny G for the upholstery, Shaun, Adrian and Neil for the paint and body, Marcus on the seat frames, Darrell on the fab work, Tom Mischke at CPR for the final push, Tom H for his chrome work and polishing, CCP for the bumpers and grill chrome work, Louie for the black oxide work, Collins metal finishing, Brian my motor guy, Don King for getting the motor started and initial tuning, Denis for his help on the trans and rear, GTO, Motion Products, Magma Engineering for machine shop support, System Integrators for the engineering support, CNC work and special parts. Ill add more if I missed someone but it takes alot of support and relationships to get thru these large projects. So much appreciate everyone here at F-Chat for their encouragement and support. I have a punch list of a few items I'm going to work thru before I declare finished on the car - ill post a few more evolutions of these as i progress. For now, im taking a break on the Ellena and chasing down a few more uncovered Ellena's with a possible idea, whats the next project to do??
A little update on the Ellena, so when i returned from Cavallino 2020 I had an appointment with Ferrari of Newport Beach, John Amette. John does the Classiche Certification Pics, Inspection and the Application. John came out to Arizona and spent two days pouring over the car. Lots of pics of the numbers, details and historical photos as well as the restoration photo's of what I did. John return to California and prepared a package to go to Ferrari Classique for certification. About two weeks after submission, we get a call that the car was presented to the committee, reviewed and APPROVED!!!!! Holly cow that was fast considering i was planning on waiting for a year timeline. Then the Covid-19 hit and everything got shut down .....so no book forthcoming until the Italians get back to the office. :-( Today, i got a call from John and he got notification that the RED BOOK is being prepared and will be shipped soon! Im happy that the certification resulted in NO rework, NOR corrections. They also said they would be shipping my build sheet with the book as well. Great ending to a long detailed restoration......and again many thanks to everyone who helped and or encouraged me along the way. Thank you!