Dino Saga 080413 _ More Bella Italia | FerrariChat

Dino Saga 080413 _ More Bella Italia

Discussion in 'Corbani's Corner' started by John Corbani, Apr 13, 2008.

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  1. John Corbani

    John Corbani Formula 3
    Honorary Owner

    May 5, 2005
    1,153
    Santa Barbara, CA
    Full Name:
    John Corbani
    #1 John Corbani, Apr 13, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Dino Saga 080413 _ More Bella Italia

    Still have more pics. Jon got another award at the show. Scott.Mac and his buddy were going to drive their Dinos down from Washington State to cheer Jon on. No one told the Global Warming crowd that it is not getting warmer. Washington was snowed in and the grand drive was off. Scott had a special Dino part that he felt Jon needed so he hopped a plane and came down for the day. Just before the official judging Scott got all of us Dino heads together and held his own ceremony. Jon got an official Hawaian Hula Doll for his nice new dash. Great photo op and loosened everyone up.

    After the Awards, Candi and I went back to the Sheraton to relax and have a nice dinner. My sister and her husband had driven over from Phoenix. Another sister had driven down from LA. Nice to see them all. We had lost the left rear tire back in Orange county and were driving on a completely unreliable 36 year old tire. I figured it could last overnight since it had made the show. Let the Valet park it up close.

    Next morning, spare was as flat as could be. Valet lady offered to help but we said “We will call Auto Club and get a tow to a tire shop.” Auto club said you have to know where you need a tow TO. Valet lady said I will try to find a tire shop open Sunday. Not in downtown San Diego. She found a Costco that had a tire that was right diameter and would fit a 14” wheel. Great. Called for tow again and got word “about an hour.” Padres were going to play. Tow company was on other side of town. 90 minute hour. Finally on truck and to Costco. “Tire has to be rated for speed of vehicle.” Damn. Showed that regular wheels were 16”. 14” wheel was a spare only. Car could not drive well at any speed with 3 performance radials and one 14” anything. Argument worked. Very true too. No lateral stability at all. Very touchy steering until firmly in a turn.

    Hard to find Jon’s place. Way back and real high. Was scary looking at fire damage all around. Liked his garage. From the left: Blue Dino, Green Porshe, Understated 430. His wife and kids parked in the driveway. Jeff and Jon jumped into the Porshe and led us a few miles to the shop. Nice industrial row with lots of parking. Jon has an office, rest room and large, high shop. One single post and a double post lift eases things. Could park 6 cars in there if pushed. Nice big overhead door, lots of lights. Jon has showed us the tools as they came in but didn’t realize they were Ferrari benches and tools. Seems that Jon and Jeff have become very good at using everything they have from sheet metal to welding to wrenching to swamping. The black GT is just sitting there gathering dust while they take a breather. It’s seat did fine as a sub till Jon got the tan ones done.

    Very nice tour. Thanked Jon and Jeff and headed back to Santa Barbara. That rear tire took all the fun out of the drive. My Dino is set up to be absolutely neutral with 26 psi in front and 30 in the rears. If I go up to 35 in front, front gets squirelly. Right now front is squirrelly feeling in a straight line. Just weird. Have rear wheel in a machine shop now to see what is actually going on. Will fill you all in on the outcome when I know. In the meantime, enjoy the pics.

    John
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  2. need4speed

    need4speed Formula 3

    Nov 3, 2003
    1,616
    Pacific Palisades
    John,

    I wasn't aware of your tire drama. I'm glad to hear all went smoothly. And everyone is fine.

    Manny
     
  3. synchro

    synchro F1 Veteran

    Feb 14, 2005
    9,294
    CHNDLR
    Full Name:
    Scott

    That ancient spare had to get mounted on JC's drive down when he had an unfortunate flat on L.A.'s not-so-wonderful HWY surfaces. JC pointed it out at Bella Italia and told the story, it was very shocking to see the numerous micro-cracks in the rubber of the sidewall.


    I am so glad you are running on new tires now, keep it rolling past 200k Miles!
    Forza John and Candi Corbani
     
  4. synchro

    synchro F1 Veteran

    Feb 14, 2005
    9,294
    CHNDLR
    Full Name:
    Scott
    #4 synchro, Apr 13, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017

    A while back in this and the Vintage forum, DM and others were joking about the "Dancing Dashboard Hula Doll" as was popular with racers in the 1950's and 60's. I thought it would be fun to bring this "gag gift" down as it is the only remaining thing that could possibly add to OMGJon's restoration. We had a fun time with lots of chuckles.
    Phot below including one of Candi Corbani near the silver Boxer.
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  5. ajmarton

    ajmarton Formula Junior

    May 3, 2004
    305
    Los Angeles
    John C.
    I got a flat on the way home as well. I was around a half hour south of SD. My front end started shaking violently at 55+mph so I slowed down and got into the slow lane. It was around all this construction in the right so the shoulder was very narrow. Before I knew what was up - my passenger front tire blew out. I struggled to keep from going into the "K" barriers and pulled the Dino Spyder over. I was so close to traffic that I had to get out on the passenger side. I called AAA and a truck was on its way. Much to my surprise, I had forgotten to put my lead mallet into the trunk. Damn. Anyway, I started to remove the spare. My trunk lid has a little rod that sits in a plate and the weight of the lid keeps it in place. But not here on the 5 with trucks zooming by. My lid was like a sail and blew up and all the way over - tweaking the lid and the hinges. Fortunately, the body was okay. The lid would not close without a lot of effort because of the deformation. Well, I was not feeling good right now but my adventure was just beginning.

    AAA showed up and tried to lift the Dino up with a floor jack but did not have enough space to find a good point for the jack. He tried the suspension arm but the Dino slipped off - narrowly missing some of the steering linkage. Then we have problem 2 - no lead mallet. The tech tried hitting a wood block with hammer but that was not doing anything. We then decided to move the Dino off the shoulder which was scary. He backed up the truck but the scissor arms that are supposed to grab the wheels did not work because the Dino was too narrow. Time to call a tow truck with a bed. Tow truck came and Dino was pulled up. All is okay. I was taken to a local Discount Tire store. They found a CHEAP KUHMO tire that would fit. Then the lead mallet issue came up again. They would not touch the wheel and was told that for liability reasons I would have to remove the knock-offs and put them back on. I was using a rubber mallet and getting no where fast. Finally, the decision was made to use a hammer (ouch). Got the wheel off but not without some serious damage to my knockoff. It will have to be repaired and re-chromed. As a side note, I was told that the blown tire was 17 years old, the spare and remaining tires were over 10 years old but I had plenty of tread left all the way around. Anyway, the wheel was on 5 minutes before the store closed and I was on the way home. I missed my daughter's play because I got back to LA late. Of course, she has reminded me about this fact at least 3 times already!

    So I was miserable the next day and was wondering how to get the Dino in order for the LA Concours. I took it to my local body shop and found out that the lid had a stress crack and the hinges were bent and I would need new ones. On a whim I called Hagerty to see if there was coverage - and........there is ...... yeah!!!

    So now I am having some more work done to the rear. I have spare set of knock offs but will have to figure out when to fix them. And perhaps re-finish the wheels as I never liked their condition but am not sure if nicks, blemishes and dimples can be filled and then the wheels refinished. I need to research this.

    Then there is the question of tires. The PO has 205/75/R14 and I am told that I sound get 205/70/R14 tires. I really do not want to get Michelins from Coker and P4s are no longer made in that size so I am not sure about what to get once the Dino is back. Some European Dino Spyder buddies have suggested VREDESTEIN Sport Classic tires which are around $180 each and I can special order them from a local tire shop. Here is a link: http://www.vredestein.com/Banden_Bandtypes.asp?BandgroepID=5&BandtoepassingID=0&BandtypeID=17&PageID=1&UserSessionID=8849299

    Anyway, I will start a separate thread to discuss reconditioning the rims and tire suggestions. John - I am glad all is well.
     

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