I look at the Pininfarina designed Ferrari Lusso 250 GT as not only the most beautiful Ferrari but the end of an era, the last great race cars that could be driven to the race and then home. Available as a GT/L, sold as a road-going car and directly benefited from the successful line of Ferrari 250 GTs. It was developed from the dual-purpose 250 GT Short Wheel Base (SWB) which was delivered as both as a full-on competition or a steel-bodied grand touring car. When the SWB's time was up, its road-going version was replaced in 1962 with the smoother more shapely 250 GT Lusso.
Introduced at the Paris Salon in October of 1962 and created a stir of interest with its flowing proportions. Think of how other cars of 1962 looked, the Lusso became instantly recognizable. Slim, almost dainty roof pillars, a cropped tail and the unique three piece integrated bumper that foretold of things to come.
If you are a fan of the 250 GTO the Lusso shared many chassis and mechanics. By moving the engine forward they provided for a comfortable cabin with out compromise to the dynamics of the handling. When the GTO was no longer available many racers did like the owner of the car in this video, bought a Lusso and went racing.
Ferrari has always offered customers personalized building services of their production car and with the Lusso some 350 cars were built with the same steel body designed by Pininfarina and made by Scaglietti with aluminum doors, trunk and hoods. A few cars received custom rear end ratios, 5-speed gearboxes and competition spec carburetion and many more were modified after delivery. Custom body and interior alterations were available by Pininfarina, including faired-in headlights, extra vents and air conditioning, these factory modifications were rare.
We were fortunate enough to have both a 250 GTO and a Lusso at our store at the same time. For me two related cars could not have been more different. The GTO a retired race car that hat been slightly civilized for street duty where the Lusso had been outfitted with equipment for club racing.
The 250 GTO is a racing legend and it was built to race, Driving it on the street you are constantly reminded of that fact. The engine was finely tuned to give maximum performance and was not happy at much below 3500 rpm. But once on the cam and heading towards 7000 rpm everything starts to work as it was meant to.
The Lusso on the other hand, even in race prepared tune never lost its primary purpose, to transport two in relative comfort very quickly.
This April will be the 3rd annual ImportAlliance gathering at the Atlanta World Congress is coming in April.
Last April I heard of an up coming event in Atlanta, that was not on anyone's published calendar of events. It was publicized through bulletin boards and emails. Although part of my job is looking everywhere for events, I have child hood issues with bulletin boards, Dungeon and Dragons and failed physics experiments due to a misplaced digit. So there is much I miss and have to rely on the kindness of others to keep me informed on what goes on in "the Boards".
So when I heard from one of my sources that this was the second year of this event in Atlanta, I just had to go, I a;ways though a parking structure was a great idea and here was someone doing it. I got up early Sunday morning to drive to the parking structure of the Georgia World Congress Center pay $5.00 and hang out with a bunch of other worshipers.
Even though I arrived early there was a line to get in and there were already quite a few imports in the garage. I wound my self up to the floor where Abby Cain from NOS told me the organizers were set up.
There were already a couple of thousand people milling around and others picking out parking spots there was a huge crowd and what seem like a party going on in a corner occupied by the most unconventional Honda 2000 I had ever seen. This car looked like a race car, and inspite of its Georgia registration if it looks like a Duck....Its a race car.
At every turn there was something of interest, with unique vehicles and the great variety of people just having a good time talking about their cars. I think I counted 9 levels to this garage the operator was reserved the first to levels for customers and employees of the Center and many more parked out side for free and walked in.
The ImportAlliance concept is the brainchild of a group of Nashville, Tennessee based import car owners and enthusiasts. The three principal owners of ImportAlliance, Ron Cartmell, Don Napier, and Omari Winbush, embarked upon the mission of organizing a grass roots event to bring together all aspects of the import car culture in April of 2006. The first ImportAlliance occurred on July 30, 2006 and was a tremendous success. Since then we have grown to become the largest all import car meet in the country.
It’s a grassroots style… cruise-in/ meet/ social gathering/ show-n-shine/ learning opportunity/ teaching opportunity/ marketing opportunity/ motorsports event. ImportAlliance is everything that you love about import cars. It is not a lifestyle event. It is how people who enjoy import cars get together and have fun while learning things to make their cars better. ImportAlliance is about import cars and the people who drive them.
For the import car enthusiast, ImportAlliance is a truly laid back, relaxing, and fun atmosphere that will allow you to interact with other people just like you. For the aftermarket and OEM manufacturers of import cars and performance parts, ImportAlliance will give you unfettered access to real import car enthusiasts. Also you can take the opportunity to conduct market research, as well as to debut, demonstrate, and position new product lines. ImportAlliance attendees are credible customers who know how to spot quality and are committed to using quality products and services.
The meet began in 2006 and has since become the largest Multi-Manufacturer Import Car meet in the country. The number of cars and attendees has steadily grown from the beginning.
2006- 700 cars and approximately 1500 people in 2006 for our first event
2007- 1200 cars and approximately 3000 people for the 2nd annual event.
2008- 1900 cars and approximately 4000 people for the 3rd annual event
2009- 3500 cars and approximately 5000 people in attendance.
National and Local Sponsors and Vendors have increased for every year.I
