| May 29, 1999 |
| "I have always been a car guy and a Ferrari fan. My Grandfather operated The Lincoln Garage on Nagle Place in Seattle for a time. My childhood best buddy was former CART, Indycar rookie of the year Dominic Dobson. And I bought my first book about Ferrari more than 30 years ago when I was 12 years old. |
| Throughout my 22 year career as an automotive refinisher, 16 as owner of Rich Restorations, I have had the opportunity to work on several timeless classics. Including many Ferraris. Back in December 1992 I got a call from local Ferrari investor Dave Smith. I had refinished a show winning 1937 Packard V-12 Roadster for Dave's father several years earlier, and Dave was wondering if I would be available to paint his latest project. |
| We met at the restoration shop of Pete Lovely and Butch Dennison. Walking between a 250 LM, and a TR 59 we made our way back to 0538M. A one of a kind Scaglietti bodied 750 Monza. Following an ignominous debut at the 1955 Targa Floria, where the driving team of Carroll Shelby and Gino Munaron crashed to a DNF, you could see the years had not been kind to the former Parravano racer. It was a rumpled mass of dings, dents, and welds. |
| The goal, as Dave put it, "is not to show, but to win at Pebble Beach". I assured him if everyone does their jobs as well as Rich Restorations did ours, he would win. In January 1993 the bare alloy body showed up on a rolling buck at my shop for a three month bittersweet transformation from track king to trailer queen. |
| We began by using an Aluminum acid etch and an Alodine conversion coating. This process strips away a very thin layer of the base metal and leaves a perfectly clean, "open" surface that provides exceptional adhesion for all of the subsequent materials. An application of epoxy chromate sealer was used to encapsulate the freshly prepared aluminum. Now we were ready to make it straight. Several gallons of filler were used to perfect the curves of the car you see today. Wipe it on, sand it off, wipe it on, sand it off. Finally, having achieved the shape we wanted , we began the final finish buildup with a catalyzed Urethane primer. |
| The inside of the body was sprayed with Sherwin Williams Polane in a grey tone, somewhat similar to the Italian Navy surplus grey used at the factory. One of the numerous difficulties in completing this project was leaving crude evidence of it's original manufacturing processes in some areas while making other areas look better than they ever have. And knowing which areas needed which approach. |
| Following much discussion, and with winning Pebble Beach as our main objective, I finally convinced Dave to let me paint the car with Lacquer. I have always felt the first generation Urethane topcoats look too plastic and would compromise the end results. The final color chosen was actually a 1993 Saab, Imola Red. I applied 15 to 18 color coats over a six day period, wet sanding between coats. This is to ensure the depth and gloss retention by preventing solvent buildup normally associated with heavy, multi-coat, paint film applications. |
| On Aprils' day for fools, April 1, 1993, Dave picked up his shimmering red spyder as scheduled. It was now time for the difficult task of reassembling the car without disturbing the new finish. All was going smoothly when I visited Dave's Groat Point home on the 12th of April. I had finished hand rubbing the dash gauge panel and delivered it for final approval. |
| Shortly after midnight, the morning of April 13th, my Mother passed away. As personally devastating as this was, Dave felt any interruption in his project was unacceptable. Another refinisher was hired to stripe and polish the car. |
| The summer months passed. First place Ferrari Northwest Regionals. First place Ferrari Nationals. First place Pebble Beach. We did it. The nearly 600 hours of sanding and painting had paid off. I am proud to have been involved with the resurrection of this historically significant Ferrari. To be added to the list of Enzo Ferrari, Sergio Scaglietti, and Carrol Shelby as another car guy who made his mark, in part, with the one of a kind Monza, s/n 0538M. |
| My mother taught me if you are going to do something, do it well. To see my work featured on Jay Koka's 1997 poster commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Ferrari, and to have the car re-invited to Pebble Beach for an exhibition of Scaglietti Spyders in 1998 is a fitting tribute to her lesson." |
