Ferrari 250GTO: The spirit of the times...

 There were no Monterey Historics--a one time per year event--but also true is the fact that, every day, the road lies before you and you could make your own rules and there was virtually no limit as the where and how the car could be used. There was the Virginia City Hillclimb event but, I think, the real fun was getting there in company with Walter Ward in his GTB, Larry Bloomer in his Castrol-scented Lusso, Phil Cole in his California and other FOC members rewriting the rules of the road in the process.

Driving any early Ferrari, much less a racing Ferrari, on the road could be a challenge and meant you were not one of a large crowd or an inveterate 'joiner'. The fact is, many of us did use these cars as daily drivers--Mark Slotkin, possibly Bill Reinhardt and I used 3987 daily, Gary Wales and Matthew Ettinger used the Breadvan as a daily driver and Peter Woodward-Smith used his 250LM as a daily driver though he did have a 275GTB as a back-up. Sonny Bono famously attempted to use a 250LM on the street with disastrous results but watching that particular train wreck as it was happening, I can only say that Sonny was not simpatico and leave it at that I think Gary Wales was using that 250LM on the street. Further, I seem to recall that Mario Tosi used his GTO (the one I almost bought) as a daily driver but if not, he certainly used it on the street.

The organized events are great and I loved seeing all the GTOs at 'Infineon' (née Sears Point) but I wouldn't trade them for the 'wildcat' events lived with Ettinger, Wales, Helm, Andrews and others as well as all those who I never had the pleasure of meeting but were enjoying their cars to the fullest extent...