TMC:Southeast

Mar ch 2013

La Macchina Sportiva di Pr estigio Italiana

Fellow Members: Welcome to the first electronic edition of The Maserati Club:Southeast Chapter newsletter. To enhance the Southeast Chapters website, found at http:// tmcsoutheast.com/, this newsletter will provide members with current information on upcoming events as well as articles on activities and news both Maserati-related and otherwise of interest to members. Okay, I said, of interest to members. That means I need to know what interests you. And guess what? We have a TMC:Southeast e -mail address, tmcsoutheast@yahoo.com. Please use this e-mail address to contact any (and all) of the TMC:SE leadership team, or you may e-mail us personally at the following addresses: Kai Dyhr, Vice President - kaidyhr@gmail.com Tom Rossi, Treasurer - tomr@acctresource.com Geoff Sanderson, gsanderson99@yahoo.com PresidentIn this newsletter, you will find a list of new members. Please make them feel welcome. You will also find announcements and details on upcoming events. As events get closer, we will also send out a reminder email with the most current information. Additionally, we put together a brief history of Cars and Coffee. And finally, we are creating a series out of an article contributed by Ivan Ruiz in the Summer 2012 newsletter entitled, Why a Maserati? Dwight Lowie has graciously provided this issues article. And speaking of why a Maserati, I need contributions, so please, take just a little time to write down your passion for the marque, so that we may share it with fellow members. Oh, and pictures are encouraged. We are also continuing advertising opportunities in the newsletter. The price for a business card size advertisement (3.5 inches by 2.0 inches) is $25.00 for 4 issues (one year). As an introductory offer, anyone who signs up before April 1st will receive 5 ads for the price of 4. As this is your newsletter, feel free to make comments and / or send in any original articles or stories you want to share. Articles may be edited for length, but we will pay special attention to content to ensure the intended material is included. Also, is there any interest in including a Classifieds section, free to members for members? Again, welcome to the first electronic edition of The Maserati Club:Southeast Chapter newsletter. We hope you enjoy it!

NEWSLETTER

Kai, Geoff and Tom sporting fine Maserati blue dress shirts complete with an embroidered trident.
1

The new Quattroporte - because I had a little space to fill.

New and Upcoming

New Members
TMC:SE would like to welcome M Lanier and Beverly Woodrum from Roanoke, VA and Micheal Spurgeon from Nashville, TN to the club.

will be extended to participants. The cost of the event is $15.00 per person, payable to Geoff Sanderson anytime during the event. Prior to the wine tasting, lunch will be available at Angelos Italian Bistro, http:// www.angelosbistro.com/, which is just around the corner from the wine shop. Saturday and Sunday, April 6 - 7, 2013 - Alabama Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL. I didnt have many responses for this event, but the plan is still to tour the AIM Autosport pits and see the Ferrari 458 Italia, GT class race cars on Saturday. I have invited the Ferrari Club of Tennessee to join in as well as a handful of Lamborghini owners to increase the size of our group and perhaps increase the quality of the tour. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, April 19 - 21, 2013 7th Annual Motori Italiani - A Celebration of Italian Motoring in Charlotte, NC. Sponsored by the Charlotte Area Ferrari Enthusiasts (CAFE), we tried to attend this event last year, but the weather did not cooperate. Well, lets try it again. Well leave from Lenoir City on Friday at 10:00am and take a drive through the mountains provided by fellow member Dwight Lowie The drive will not include any expressways. I am currently working with Courtyard by Marriott Ballantyne to provide a block of rooms, but would like to get an estimate of participants. Villa Antonio will be our stop for dinner Saturday evening. Registration for the event is $15 per vehicle and the rooms will be about $100 per night. Details will follow in an e-mail as arrangements are solidified. Only 1 Maserati showed last year, lets remedy that little problem for them. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 24 - 26, 2013 2013 Coppa Alpina at the Topoco Lodge in Robbinsville, NC and surrounding area. A regional Ferrari Club event, the Maserati Club has been invited back. Of course we have, we were the life of the party! Those who attended last year can attest to the wonderful time we had and the great drives and scenery. Details will follow in an e-mail as arrangements are set. The original Maserati Quattroporte - because I had a little space to fill.

Upcoming Events
Saturday, March 9, 2013 - Italian Car Luncheon at Amerigo in Brentwood, TN. The number of Italian automobiles is growing in the Nashville area and local businesses have opened their doors and roped off sections of their parking lots for us. Fellow member and President of the Ferrari Club of Tennessee, Mike Gillespie, has been instrumental in establishing relationships with these businesses and creating events. The Italian Car Luncheon will be at Amerigo in the Cool Springs area. The address is 1656 Westgate Circle, Brentwood, TN 37027, near the Moores Lane exit off I -65. Those attending can meet in the parking lot between noon and 12:30pm of the Wells Fargo Bank next door and lunch will begin at 1:00pm. Please RSVP to Mike Gillespie at mgillespie@comcast.net if you wish to attend. Saturday, March 23, 2013 - Nuccis Italian Cars, Motorcycles and Coffee. This is a quarterly event in the Nashville area exclusively for Italian automobiles and motorcycles. The first event, held December 1, 2012, was well attended and included out-of-town Maserati Club member, Kai Dyhr. Local automotive photographer, Tanner Mashburn, took several pictures of the December event and they can be viewed at http:// www.flickr.com/photos/49430905@N07/ sets/72157632146233211/. Beginning around 8:00am, Nuccis is at 200 Meridian Blvd, Franklin, TN 37067, http://www.nuccistn.com/. Breakfast will also be available from Noshville Deli, http://noshville.com/. After the Nuccis event, The Ferrari Club will be sponsoring either a drive or a car related tour of a local facility. Still in the works as of the release of this newsletter, the event will start around 10:00am and last about 2 hours. The Maserati Club is invited to attend and details will follow in an e-mail. After the Ferrari event, The Maserati Club is sponsoring an Italian wine tasting at Cool Springs Wines and Spirits at 1935 Mallory Lane, Franklin, TN 37067. Estimated start time will be 1:00pm and special discounts

Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles

The Frist Center in Nashville, TN will have an exhibition of Art Deco automobiles from June 14 through September 15, 2013. Entitled Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles, the exhibition will feature automobiles and motorcycles from the 1930s and 40s. Fellow member and Ferrari Club of Tennessee President, Mike Gillespie has initiated plans for a possible private viewing for Italian automobile and motorcycle owners. Information will follow as plans are set. The following is a reprint from Sports Car Digest.

Influenced by the Art Deco movement that began in Paris in the early 1920s and propelled to prominence in 1927 with the success of the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, automakers embraced the sleek new streamlined forms and aircraftinspired materials, creating memorable automobiles that still thrill all who see them. The exhibition will feature 18 automobiles and three motorcycles from some of the most important collectors and collections in the United States. Sensuous Steel is organized for the Frist Center by guest curator Ken Gross, former director of the Petersen Automotive Museum. Gross served as guest curator for The Allure of the Automobile, a nationally acclaimed exhibition displayed at Atlantas High Museum of Art in 2010; additionally, he developed a revised version of the exhibition for the Portland Art Museum the following year. Most recently, Gross curated Speed: The Art of the Performance Automobile, currently on view at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the opening exhibition for LeMayAmericas Car Museum in Tacoma, Wash. A noted authority on automobiles, Gross has judged at the Pebble Beach Concours dElegance for 24 years. Gross also judges at the Amelia Island Concours and was the Chief Judge at the Rodeo Drive Concours dElegance. Additionally, Gross has received many awards including the 2009 IAMA Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2009 Lee Iacocca Award, the 2008 Washington Auto Press Golden Quill Award, the Society of Automotive Historians Cugnot Award, and The James Valentine Memorial Award for excellence in automotive historical research. An illustrated catalogue will accompany the exhibition.

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Sports Car Digest

Art Deco Automobiles Exhibition at Frist Center

An exhibition of Art Deco automobiles will be displayed at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, Tennessee, from June 14 through September 15, 2013. The exhibition, entitled Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles, will be on view in the Centers Ingram Gallery. Inspired by the Frist Centers historic Art Deco building, Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles will feature automobiles and motorcycles from the 1930s and 40s that exemplify the elegance, materials and iconography of motion characterizing vehicles influenced by the Art Deco style.

The Frist Center for the Visual Arts is supported in part by the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts. A b o u t t h e F r i s t C e n t e r Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, at 919 Broadway in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, is an art exhibition center dedicated to presenting the finest visual art from local, regional, U.S. and international sources in a program of changing exhibitions. The Frist Centers Martin ArtQuest Gallery, open until 5:30 p.m. each day, features interactive stations relating to Frist Center exhibitions. Gallery admission to the Frist Center is free for visitors 18 and younger and to Frist Center members. With possible exception for some speciallyticketed exhibitions, Frist Center admission is $10.00 for adults and $7.00 for seniors, military and college students with ID. College students are admitted free Thursday and Friday evenings, 59 p.m. Discounts are offered for groups of 10 or more with advance reservation by calling (615) 744-3247. The Frist Center is open seven days a week: Mondays through Wednesdays, and Saturdays, 10 a.m.5:30 p.m.; Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m.9 p.m. and Sundays, 15:30 p.m., with the Frist Center Caf opening at noon. For additional information, call (615) 244-3340 or visit www.fristcenter.org.

A Brief History of Cars and Coffee

by Geoff Sanderson It was in 1986 that four friends from high school met at a neighborhood donut shop in Huntington Beach, California. They were hot rodders and where a few can be seen together, others follow. In my opinion, that is part of the definition of an auto enthusiast, comradery, the spirit of friendly good-fellowship. As time went on, the gathering grew, but not so much as when one hot rodder, an illustrator for Street Rodder magazine, invited the editors of the magazine to stop by. One editor took pictures and wrote an article for the magazine. After that issue hit the stands, 75 cars showed up. The gathering became known as the Donut Derelicts and participants included Art Chrisman, a drag racer from the 60s, Little John Butera, a hot rod builder formerly of Hot Rods by Boyd, and builder, designer, Chip Foose.

A Brief History of Cars and Coffee (continued) Some of the Donut Derelicts enthusiasts included sports car guys. Wanting their own gathering spot, exotic car owners started meeting at Crystal Cove Promenade, a strip mall near Newport Beach. But exhibitions of speed along the Pacific Coast Highway brought complaints from neighbors and the gathering was shut down in October of 2006.

same. In the spring and fall, when the weather is not so hot, more than 100 exotic, classic and modified cars can be found along with another 100+ spectators. The first Saturday of the month continues to be popular for the Ferrari Club of Tennessee, which also attracts several other Italian exotics, such as Lamborghini, Alfa Romeo, and of course, Maserati.

Two Ford executives were regulars at the Crystal Cove (CC for short) gathering, John Clinard, the Head of Communications, and Freeman Thomas, the Head of Styling. Knowing that CCs demise was near, they convinced Ford to allow the Mazda/PAG employee parking lot to be used. Just off the Santa Ana Freeway in Irvine, California, the location was close to the necessities, coffee and bathrooms. It was Freemans suggestion to take the shortened version of Crystal Cove and rename the gathering Cars and Coffee, retaining the CC moniker. Cars and Coffee, Inc. was formed shortly thereafter and features a website of select events. The address is http://online.carsandcoffee.info/. While this is not inclusive of all Cars and Coffee events, it does include a forum and links to several C&C gatherings throughout the US and Europe. As of today, the Irvine event is still one of the largest, attracting as many as 1,000 participants and spectators. It continues to be held in the Mazda/PAG parking lot. Cars and Coffee in the Nashville area has become a weekly event and has grown out of its previous gathering spot, the Carrabbas parking lot in Cool Springs. Now held in the Carmike Thoroughbred Theater parking lot, coffee and bathrooms are a short walk away to McDonalds, not as popular as the Starbucks that was so near the previous location, but functional just the

Quarterly in Nashville, there is Nuccis Italian Cars, Motorcycles and Coffee at Nuccis in Franklin, where breakfast is served by Noshville Deli. This event features anything Italian and is held around the first Saturday of each quarter. The June 2012 event, then held at Bella Napoli, even included then President of The Maserati Club:Southeast Chapter, Mike Demyanovich, in his 1975 Maserati Khamsin.

Other treats from the June event included a mid 60s Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ, a rare street-legal race car worth $300k+, a mid 60s Ferrari 365 GT 2+2, and a 1965 Apollo 5000 GT. Photos of the June 2012 Bella Napoli event can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/ photos/49430905@N07/sets/72157630027781340/. A link to pictures from the most recent Nuccis event can be found at http://www.flickr.com/ photos/49430905@N07/sets/72157632146233211/.

.A Brief History of Cars and Coffee (continued) Sources for this article include: http://www.donutderelicts.com/shop/index.php? l=page_view&p=about_us http://online.carsandcoffee.info/ http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/16/ford-savescrystal-cove-meet/

Why a Maserati? Recollections on how it came to be that I drive a Maserati

By Dwight Lowie Some background to begin with. Down south in the middle of the last century was a different place. For instance my dad required me to get regular haircuts. Long hair on men and boys was just barely, faintly on the horizon so once or twice a month I headed on over to the local barber shop. Another difference was that kids were not the coddled beings they are today. I could wax eloquent about that but trying to keep on point I'll just say that if there was a queue in the barber shop I waited. If a grown man came in well it was assumed he had a job and business to attend so he automatically went before me. Another bit of background is that I've always read, read a lot and the barber shop had magazines, no TV but lots of magazines. Motor Trend, Car and Driver and others of that ilk had to discharge my desire for all things automotive. Finally our little part of Eastern NC had exactly 2 TV stations and neither was ESPN. No races of any sort on TV, shucks not even NASCAR much less open wheel fancy car Formula 1 (F1) racing from Europe. The stage is now set. There I was - a kid who read the backs of cereal boxes and all of a sudden I was reading about an Argentinean who was and had been winning an amazing number of races. His name was Juan Manual Fanfio1 and the article describing his 1957 win at Nrburgring driving a Maserati was the beginning of some unabashed hero worship on my part. The car he drove was the Maserati 250F, actually the same car he had driven in 1954. In '57 he started from the pole position but immediately relinquished the lead to a pair of Ferraris to see what they had I suppose. Before the fourth lap he had regained the lead and held it till his planned halfway pit stop. He went into the pits with a

30 second lead which was pretty damned impressive in itself. However, his lead disappeared when an untrained pit crewman dropped a knock-off hub under the car and then couldn't find it. When Fangio finally returned to the race he was, once again in 3rd place but now a minute behind the 2 Ferraris. What happened next is the stuff of dreams and heroic saga. He was not going to lose. My description then as now was that he put his 250F up into a gear that we mortals just dream about. He went back to racing hard and set a lap record. Think about that. He drove around Nrburgring faster than had ever been done. Not just faster than practice laps nor tries for the pole position but faster than it had ever been driven. It was almost unbelievable that over halfway through the race he and his Maserati could go that fast. But that was just the start of his super human performance. He'd just set a lap record but that wasn't good enough. He set another by going even faster. You'd think for any regular superman 2 lap records in a race would be enough well no, he set another. Three, a hat trick, should do it well no, he set another then another and another and kept doing so till the end of the race, 10 in all if I recall correctly. The antepenultimate lap was the most incredible. It was over 11 seconds faster than anything the Ferraris had ever done. He pulled ahead on the penultimate lap and won going away. This was the stuff of legends. It was widely recognized as the greatest feat of Formula 1 driving ever. With that win Fangio won his fifth F1 championship, a record which stood until Schumacker2 eclipsed it. I read several places that other drivers and people in the know considered him the best of all time. I was hooked, enthralled, captivated. In those preinternet days it was difficult to keep track of Fangio but using the library, searching out old magazine articles and continuing to read about the man did nothing but increase my admiration for him. I discovered he was relatively old, in his 30's I think, when he started F1 racing but he rapidly rose to the top tier. His signature racing attire was a helmet, goggles and Tshirt. He raced for several teams even the much despised Ferraris but in my mind he was forever linked with Maserati. In 1958 during the French Grand Prix he noticed his Maserati was not handling as well as it had during his prerace laps. He was not happy (see photo below where he's giving his pit crew the evil eye) and reckoned, correctly, that his crew had made a change in his ride. After the race he discovered that for monetary gain (advertising I suppose) Maserati had exchanged the shock absorbers in his 250F.

Recollections on how it came to be that I drive a Maserati (continued) He took umbrage that they didn't bother to tell him and decided that racing was no longer fun and quit to never race again.

1.For a long time I pronounced his name as fang (as in a tooth) Geo (as in the car.) Very, very sophisticated I was. 2.Schumacher has acknowledged that he could not have done what Fangio had accomplished.

Grand Cherokee's high demand pushes Maserati production from Detroit to Italy
By Brent Snavely Detroit Free Press Business Writer February 19, 2013

Fangio's Last Race 1958 French grand Prix

Somewhere in all that and realizing that it would take a major miracle for me to be able to drive as Fangio. If I couldn't drive like Fangio then at least, one day I'd settle for owning a Maserati. N.B. This is an account of my recollections. I started to check the web to correct any faults but then I remembered I was asked to write about how/why I came to drive a Maserati and any mistakes in my memory are surely as much a part of that as what historically, truly happened. Once I got my license and could drive I thought about all sorts of cars. A Maserati crossed my mind but even then I was pragmatic and didn't want to get my hopes up on a futile dream. I settled on a '56 ford which turned out to be a decent choice. Then life happened. College, marriage, kids, a house and before long the Maserati was just a fond memory. Then once again things changed and I was living in Tennessee and close to the Tail of the Dragon. Not being into bikes at all I thought Maserati once again but before I even checked to see if I could afford one a good deal on a Porsche Boxster S came along. It handled well but was seriously down on power. Coming out of curves on the Dragon the rice rocket guys would just walk off and leave me. I had to get something better and started checking out Maseratis and mirable dictu I could actually afford one. I finally found and purchased just what I wanted, a yellow Spyder with a manual shifter and 135 more horsepower than the Boxster. So now when y'all see a yellow flash and a big grin you'll know who it was.

Chrysler no longer plans to build a Maserati SUV called the Levante at its plant in Detroit as demand for the Jeep Grand Cherokee soars. Due to the high demand for the Grand Cherokee we reallocated the product to Italy, Maserati CEO Harald Wester said in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The Levante is one of three models that Maserati is counting on as it aims to grow global sales from 6,300 in 2012 to 50,000 by 2015. The SUV will be built from the same architecture as the Jeep Grand Cherokee. In 2012, when Chrysler and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne unveiled a concept version of a Maserati SUV at the Detroit auto show he said the vehicle would be built at the companys plant in Detroit and applauded the workforce there for being capable of building a luxury SUV. But as demand has increased globally for the Grand Cherokee and as Fiat has confronted a recession in Europe, Marchionne decided to produce the vehicle in Europe so the company would not need to close its factory in Mirafiori.

Fino al prossimo tempo

So ends the March edition of The Maserati Club:Southeast Chapter newsletter. Ringraziarla to Kai Dyhr, Mike Gillespie and Dwight Lowie for their help, their support and for their articles, all of which is within these pages. Our next issue should hit your e-mail around the 1st of May and will include additional events, articles and maybe even a little humor. So, until next time