The inaugural Golden Gate Ferrari Festival will be held Saturday, September 10, 2016 at City Hall in San Francisco. Inspired by the mission of helping to make the wishes of children with life-threatening diseases become realities, the Ferrari Owners Group (FOG) and Ferrari Owners Charitable Foundation (FOCF), are launching the event to benefit Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area.
As many as 400 vintage and current Ferraris, including a 1955 Mondial Series II Scaglietti-bodied Spider, will be on display at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza Park, where the streets encircling the Park will be shut down to allow for public attendance to support the Foundation’s goal of raising $500,000 for the charity.
Joe Keon, FOCF founder, said, “We are dedicated to using our own influence to build a program that will benefit those less fortunate while providing hope for the future.”
The 1955 Ferrari 500 Mondial Scaglietti Spider, has been owned by Rear Admiral Robert A. Phillips, USN (Ret.) since 1960, when he purchased the ‘broken Ferrari race car’ for a mere $2,225. Admiral Phillips found the car with a seized differential, repaired the car himself and later performed a complete restoration taking a period of eight years to complete. Phillips believes that even after 56 years, he himself is only a ‘temporary custodian,’ of this 4-cylinder Ferrari and his hope is that it never becomes a museum piece, but is always driven as it was meant to be.
Having won its class in the 1st Grand Prix of Venezuela in November 1955 driven by Harry Schell and Eugenio Castellotti, the Mondial was driven one month later by Porfirio Rubirosa to earn a class win in the Governor’s Trophy Race at Nassau, with Ebby Lunken matching that effort in the Nassau Trophy Race. Another class win was garnered at the 1956 12 Hours of Sebring driven by Porfirio Rubirosa and Jim Pauley. Rubirosa purchased the car in 1956, continuing to keep it on the race circuit.
This Ferrari was painted French Racing Blue for its original owner, Francois Picard, who took delivery in May of 1955. Phillips, who purchased the near ‘barn find’ five years later, began his complete restoration in 2000 and the work brought it back to its original condition. In August 2008 the Monidal won its class at the Pebble Beach Concours and was awarded the Enzo Ferrari Trophy for the Best Ferrari in the field.
The Ferrari Owners Group was founded in 2009 with a desire to share Ferrari ownership with fellow enthusiasts, while harnessing these vehicles to draw attention to and support charitable causes that support disadvantaged youth. In seven years, the organization has grown to more than 400 members, held beyond 150 organized drives and collectively driven more than 1 million miles. In 2013, Ferrari Owners Group founded the Ferrari Owners Charitable Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, to further support its charitable endeavors. Through 20 major events, the organization has raised more than $750,000 for charitable causes.
For more information, visit GoldenGateFerrariFestival.com.
[Source: Ferrari Owners Group]
