S2000 Driver

Greenwich: Pioneer Place

In our latest City Survey installment, Harry Newton visits one of the most Ferrari-rich communities in America: Greenwich and surrounding Fairfield County, Connecticut. Although he wished he had X-ray vision to see through the garage doors, without it he still managed-in a part of the country so steeped in Ferrari lore- to meet some remarkable people and see some outstanding machinery.

It's probably not an exaggeration to say that more Ferraris are garaged in Greenwich, Connecticut-and surrounding Fairfield County-than just about any other community in America. To paraphrase bank robber Willie Sutton, \"because that's where the money is.\"

But affluence is only a partial explanation for the thriving Ferrari population here. The fact is that it was in this part of the continent that sports cars first gained a postwar beachhead. Several factors were responsible, the road races held at Watkins Glen and Bridgehampton being examples. True, similar activities took place in the West, at venues like Pebble Beach, Santa Barbara, and Torrey Pines, but what made the East Coast different is that it was where auto importers based there distribution headquarters. Therefore, it follows that it was in the New York and Connecticut suburbs where some of the most colorful players were found.

In order to understand the present and foretell the future, one must come to terms with the past. In the case of Ferrari in America, that certainly seems true. Luigi Chinetti's appointment as the importer and distributor for the US has been well chronicled. How he later sold the western territory to casino owner and consummate auto collector Bill Harrah, and the eastern distribution to the Garthwaite interests, is also part of Ferrari history.

These events and many more are indelibly etched into Dick Fritz' memory bank. Fritz joined Luigi Chinetti Motors as a young man in 1961 when the company was situated on Manhattan's west side, and he occupied a ringside seat-ultimately as manager of both the firm and the NART team-through all the subsequent cabals and misadventures that took place until the company's last vestiges were transferred to Tom Parker sixteen years later.

It could be said that Fritz knows where the bodies are buried, and who wore the white hats-and the black ones-in the saga of Ferrari's early days in America. Fritz recalls George Arents, Erwin Goldschmidt, Bill Bliwise, and Jan de Vroom as just a few of the many pioneer enthusiasts figuring prominently in creating the Chinetti/Ferrari legend.

On the competition front, Fritz recalls a roster of drivers that reads like a Who's Who of the world's top ranks: Graham Hill, Ludovico Scarfiotti, Pedro Rodriguez, Phil Hill, Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney, and Sam Posey being some of the racers who drove for Chinetti's NARY.

In his post-Chinetti career, Fritz, under the name Amerispec, has bought, sold, modified, and improved Ferraris as well as most other high-line European nameplates. In the free-wheeling Eighties, he earned a reputation as a reliable and resourceful problem-solver, particularly with regard to EPA and DOT matters.

Today, operating out of offices located at George Washington Highway and a Danbury shop facility housed in a former Hudson dealership, Fritz still matches rare Ferraris and other marques with a new generation of collectors. But some of his earliest customers are still among those who entrust their machines to the former Chinetti manager.



<span style='font-size:10pt;line-height:100%'>The building on West Putnam Avenue where the Chinetti operation was once located has now been converted into an office complex. But just down the road, in another former Chinetti building, one finds Miller Motorcars, which carries the Ferrari colors today.

For a Ferrari dealership, the company is ideally situated in a market where wealth often translates into expensive pursuits like polo, yachting and high-performance automobiles. In enclaves like Greenwich, decimal points just don't appear where one normally expects to find them. The staff at this high-line automotive emporium deal with some of the world's wealthiest people on a level that is deferential yet equal.

Miller Motorcars is owned by a partnership headed by Richard Koppelman, with sales in the capable hands of Werner Phister. Phister has a long tradition with Ferrari, going back to the days when Bob Sharp ran his Ferrari dealership out of Danbury in the late Eighties. With the Koppelman/ Phister team at the helm Miller Motorcars rose to become the sales leader among US Ferrari dealerships in 1995. Not that the success hasn't continued in 1996 and 1997, but the top spot has been relinquished to the factory-operated stores in San Francisco and Beverly Hills.

Miller Motorcars has also been one of the leading supporters of the Challenge Series, in 1996 running as many as six teams. In 1997, with Ferrari concentrating solely on the F355, Miller Motorcars has taken a breather from the Challenge Series, but is making plans to be back in the game again next season.

Widening my scope to take in the suburban area of Fairfield County, I meet up with Peter Sachs, one of the most notable enthusiasts in these parts. Sachs isn't consumed by his automotive love affair...no, not much he isn't: The vintage racer/collector is almost modest about his role in motorsports.

Still, of the half dozen vintage Ferrari sports racers in the Sachs garage, he recently observed: "Well, you can only drive them one at a time." Understated, almost to the point of self deprecation, Sachs nevertheless is surrounded by cues that seem to contradict his nonchalance, suggesting that his involvement actually borders on obsession. To boot, there is the Klemantaski Collection, a photographic archive (which now also includes the Snowdon Collection) owned by Sachs and an anonymous partner, a resource that today includes several hundred thousand auto racing photographs he offers to publications and individual collectors. Add to this an active involvement in several forms of motor racing, not limited, by the way, to Ferrari; Sachs is keen about his IMSA Mustang Cobra, a modern-day equal to the Chevy Nova with which he competed thirty years ago on the British saloon car circuit.

After owning a series of collectible sports cars, Sachs disposed of his collection in the late Eighties, vowing in the future to concentrate on a select few cars with impeccable provenances-vehicles representing high-water marks in Ferrari history. The snarly red machines in Sachs' garage definitely are oriented toward sports racing rather than the marque's more ubiquitous road-going machines. Some are undergoing restoration, while others have already been completely restored:

1954/55 121LM (sin 0484LM)-The first 6-cylinder Ferrari, with a racing history that includes the Buenos Aires 1000 KM, Targa Florio, and Mille Miglia (1955), with Piero Taruffi, Maurice Trintignant, and Nino Farina as drivers. Later, when owned by Tony Parravano, it was re-bodied and campaigned by Phil Hill and Lou Brero among others.

1957 335 Sport (sin 0700)

SeaDoXPL

I was cruising down Greenwhich avenue last night and peeped in the window .
Its just Breathtaking.
Tons of the Most expensive rides around as far as you can see.