THE Ferrari Thread

[LateFan]

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[LateFan]

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[LateFan]

In the 80s in Seattle, we had an Italian car show in the south end - I think it was a County park near southcenter / 405. Buncha guys were playing cricket in the distance...

So, we had a bunch of Alfas, a few Ferraris. Halfway though the day, this older guy shows up with a perfect Ferrari 410 SuperAmerica from like '57, '58-ish, parks off on the edge, wanders off. It was dark red, almost maroon. I found these old prints and tried to scan them the best I could... They're old prints, it was a grey day, it was an old camera, I don't know what I'm doing - there.

That's my grey '67 Alfa just above the nose in the 4th shot.

[LateFan]

It was the long wheelbase, big block, hotrod Ferrari (with fins for Americans)

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Ferrari & Pininfarina flags - sort of Corvette-like.
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[flyboyx]

That is such a pretty car. I would have sex with it.

It seems its always the 2 seaters that bring the big money though

[LateFan]

I think that's only two. There's a parcel shelf below the window. 5 liters, triple Webers, 340hp, 35 built, no two alike (but similar), "ultimate performance luxury car."

Whoa...in digging up some photos of similar cars, I found this...looks a lot like the same car...I wonder....

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mkm45.../#54be031c35e6

That says it's a '56.

"...an extraordinary history, owned at various times by an Italian racer driver, a DuPont heir, and the man who sold Kurt Cobain the gun that killed him.

Well there's a Seattle connection, hmm. The guy driving it was a tall skinny cowboy of a guy with a big belt buckle and white hair, kind of stuck out. It had old WA plates and dealer tags on it. A Mystery!

More pics...

http://www.goodingco.com/vehicle/1956-ferrari-410-superamerica-series-i-coupe/

http://www.conceptcarz.com/view/photo/1163117,13376/1956-Ferrari-410-Superamerica_photo.aspx

"Stan Baker would garner fame as an early car collector and a gunsmith. He would end up buying the Ferrari 410 in the late 1960s. Baker would not be taken with the beige livery and the color of the Connolly leather. As a result, he would have the car refinished in dark red. The interior would be dyed tan.

The car would remain with Baker for more than a couple of decades. In that time, he would display the car in the 1984 Ferrari Club of America International Meeting and Concours where it would earn a First in Class award. This would be followed-up with an entrance in the 34th Annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

Following an appearance in the 1994 FCA International Concours in Monterey and Concorso Italiano, Baker would take part in the 1997 Colorado Grand. Unfortunately, this would be one of the last events Baker would take part in with the car as he would pass away in 2000.

In 2002, the 1956 Ferrari would pass on to a friend of Baker's, Ken McBride."



OK, so late 60s to 2000-ish the gun guy had it. That show was mid- to late 80s. A new Testarossa showed up and no one had seen one in person yet - I think they came out in '85. And there's the McBride Collection purchase, in 2002.

Here it is again - I think that's the car. And McBride is another Seattle connection..

http://www.barchetta.cc/english/all.ferraris/detail/0475sa.410superamerica.htm

Another link...

“The Superamerica has been in the McBride collection for over eight years. It came from the Stan Baker estate, the gunsmith in north Seattle. Its chassis number 0475 and it is the fourth Superamerica built. It was originally beige, repainted to dark red by Baker. The future plans are to just keep it in the collection, keep it running, and on the road, so it can be driven to different car events.”



But like you said, these seem to have sold for 3 to 4 million, in contrast to 250GT prices. At least it seems these owners took it out and drove it, which is nice.

Similar car I found...

[LateFan]

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[E30 Wagen]

I like the 512 TR, and the 456M. I'd like one of each, please.

[BlackbirdM3]

It was the long wheelbase, big block, hotrod Ferrari (with fins for Americans)

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Ferrari & Pininfarina flags - sort of Corvette-like.
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If you PM me I'll give you my email. Send me the pics and I'll run them through Lightroom to clean up the noise and try to brighten them up. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.

Will

[jpod999]

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That's the deal with the two plates? Is one a historic plate?

[LateFan]

If you PM me I'll give you my email. Send me the pics and I'll run them through Lightroom to clean up the noise and try to brighten them up. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.

Will

Maybe I shouldn't be using a Canon desktop printer/scanner from Staples..?

That's the deal with the two plates? Is one a historic plate?

The old WA plates were probably on there from when he first bought the car in the 60s. No longer allowed by WA likely, although my Alfa had those white with green plates on it when I bought it. The ones hanging down were current dealer plates, so he probably had a dealer license for his collection and moving cars around.

I remember thinking it was funny how the tailpipes (snaps) were hung so low off the back, and so far out. But in every picture I've seen, that's original and intentional. I've seen other old Ferraris like that - seems a little clunky.

It did sound good, though.

[BlackbirdM3]

Maybe I shouldn't be using a Canon desktop printer/scanner from Staples..?

I've found that if the paper the pic was printed on happens to be a matt finish, it will look really grainy no matter what scanner you used. Glossy paper seems to work better, but again, the scanner seems to pick up every imperfection it can. Its not necessarily your scanner's fault.

Will

[LateFan]

I have the stack here on my desk. I would say it's pretty glossy paper. 4x6 prints. It was an old 50s 35mm camera my dad had, with a Zeiss lens. You had to adjust the distance and everything by hand. There was a little flip-open light meter and you lined up a dot with a line on the top. The grey sky maybe fooled it and I didn't know to adjust..? It was not a fast process. They all seem to be in focus, just dark. They look way better than what showed up here though.

If you scan at really high res, isn't that a file huge? I think I did 300dpi. I have Image Capture built in to my mac, then the Canon printer.

It would be nice to get them stored permanently (isn't that what prints were back then?).

I'm flipping thru them and I see the Ferrari 410, several 308s, a couple of Dinos, a gold 330 GT (?), a Maserati Merak, a BiTurbo, a Lancia Scorpion, a Fiat 500 track car, a bunch of GTVs and Spiders (incl a '74 GTV with 12,000 mi), several Giulia Veloce Spiders (incl Bill Gillam from Portland), a Giulia SZ, an early Sprint Veloce just restored and on the trailer, the Testa Rossa who showed up just to be noticed, several Giulia Sprint coupes, a 2600 Spider, a Giulia Super sedan, a Montreal, my Duetto, and a GTV brought up from CA by a lady named Phillis who we called Phast Phillis, which was the Ward & Dean suspension prototype car. She could drive.

Underexposed it looks like.

[flyboyx]

I have the stack here on my desk. I would say it's pretty glossy paper. 4x6 prints. It was an old 50s 35mm camera my dad had, with a Zeiss lens. You had to adjust the distance and everything by hand. There was a little flip-open light meter and you lined up a dot with a line on the top. The grey sky maybe fooled it and I didn't know to adjust..? It was not a fast process. They all seem to be in focus, just dark. They look way better than what showed up here though.

If you scan at really high res, isn't the file huge? I think I did 300dpi. I have Image Capture built in to my mac, then the Canon printer.

It would be nice to get them stored permanently (isn't that what prints were back then?).

I'm flipping thru them and I see the Ferrari 410, several 308s, a couple of Dinos, a gold 330 GT (?), a Maserati Merak, a BiTurbo, a Lancia Scorpion, a Fiat 500 track car, a bunch of GTVs and Spiders (incl a '74 GTV with 12,000 mi), several Giulia Veloce Spiders (incl Bill Gillam from Portland), a Giulia SZ, an early Sprint Veloce just restored and on the trailer, the Testa Rossa who showed up just to be noticed, several Giulia Sprint coupes, a 2600 Spider, a Giulia Super sedan, a Montreal, my Duetto, and a GTV brought up from CA by a lady named Phillis who we called Phast Phillis, which was the Ward & Dean suspension prototype car. She could drive.

Underexposed it looks like.

I agree. I was thinking the graininess was under exposure.

[mrsleeve]

They are slightly underexposed and that will lend itself to a grainy appearance, but not normally this bad for actually being able to see the photo in general. It could and also is more likely the ASA of the film that was used, I am almost willing to bet that its an 800 speed film thats slightly underexposed. Maybe a 1000+ speed film is what this was shot with, which nearly always has a bit of a fine grain appearance to it (worse on the 1000+ ASA) even when properly exposed.