Featured: This Is How Ferrari Celebrates 60 Years in North America

This Is How Ferrari Celebrates 60 Years in North America

By Yoav Gilad
October 13, 2014

Photography by Yoav Gilad

The festivities actually began on Saturday night with a party at Beverly Hills City Hall in Beverly Hills, California, that featured Italian conductor Carlo Ponti Jr. and violinist Caroline Campbell, who provided entertainment for attendees including celebrities like Mary J. Blige and Megan Fox.

But the main event was yesterday when Ferrari North America held a birthday party for itself. And what a party it was! Not only did they reveal the F60 to the general public, a one-of-ten, North American market-only car based on the F12 Aperta, but virtually one of every significant Ferrari ever built was in attendance. Cars such as the 330 P4, 312PB, a couple of GTOs, Testa Rossas, this year’s Pebble Beach winner, FXXs, and even the first Ferrari in America, a 1948 Barchetta, were on display. Ferrari even brought an F2014 (Fernando Alonso’s current Formula One car).

Additionally, over 1000 Ferrari club members showed up with their rides and thundered through Beverly Hills’s streets all afternoon long. At one point, two La Ferraris raced up a parallel street, engines screaming. But the best moment for me came before sunrise, as I neared Rodeo Drive.

I slowed to make a left turn on the next street and to my left, perpendicular to me and turning right, barely braking, was a 1962 GTO. Its lusty engine was audible over mine and it quickly disappeared down Wilshire and up Rodeo. I continued down the road, alone in my car, yelling “GTO!” over and over again like some possessed idiot. I’ve seen GTOs before, but never driving down the street. I’m glad I didn’t have to share that moment with anyone, it made it more special. Anyway, enjoy the photos and start planning for Ferrari North America’s next party, probably their seventy-fifth. I’ll be there early.

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Ryan Weaver
Ryan Weaver
10 years ago

I normally prefer the style & color processing that is applied across the vast majority of Petrolicious photo sets, but not in this case. At an event like this, the processing does a disservice to the cars that stand on their own. I could see applying the processing to photos of some lesser current or recent cars that aren’t exactly show-stoppers, but not to all.

I also really don’t have a great sense of what was really there at this event. The abbreviated report notes that there were over 1,000 Ferrari Club members in town for the “birthday party” and I’ve read that the main spectacle was 60+ star cars on Rodeo Drive – none of which I get from this. And of the 18 photos here, only five show a car in its entirety, with one being a stock Ferrari photo and the other motion blurred?

Pretty disappointed in this one guys.

Forest
10 years ago
Reply to  Yoav Gilad

You know what, I’m going to agree with Yoav here. I’ve seen all of the other galleries from this same event and they were all taken at exactly the same time, from the same angle, with the same crowded streets behind. As a result, the images are blown-out and blue-tinted. Petrolicious deserves some credit for waking up early enough to get some truly unique shots and angles. Is it the same as a 200+ image gallery on Autoblog? No. That’s the point — that’s precisely why Petrolicious exists.

My $.02…

John Adams
John Adams
10 years ago
Reply to  Yoav Gilad

I was immediately drawn in and inspired by your images Yoav, some very fine work!

Ryan
Ryan
10 years ago
Reply to  Ryan Weaver

I was also photographing this event and found it difficult. The lighting was also terrible that day because of all the haze. Nice job Yoav.

David Corcio
David Corcio
10 years ago

I was there yesterday! I got there late but it was still cool because we got to see the cars being driven away or loaded into their trailers. And the best part was that the crowds were pretty much gone by then!

Joe Canon
Joe Canon
10 years ago

Ruined by the Instagram style photography.
😀

Ollie Streek
Ollie Streek
10 years ago
Reply to  Joe Canon

They look good!

TJ Martin
TJ Martin
10 years ago

…….. and then they went and ruined the whole damned thing with that vulgar south end of a north bound mule F60 abomination in Yankee racing garb .

Ferrari . Once an American influenced Italian car maker …. about to become a barely Italian influenced American travesty with a prancing horsey on its snout [ ask me sometime about the level , length , breath and depth of American influence on Enzo and the cars he oversaw the creation of sometime Yoav . You’ll initially be a bit shocked .. but will soon wonder why you never saw it yourself ]

But err … Yoav … y’all should of been at the Colorado Grand a couple o’ years ago . The single largest gathering of 250 GTO’s … ever … and all driven in anger on the highways and byways of Colorado . Now THAT …was a sight [ and sounds ] to behold . The only thing for me topping the visuals was …. errr …. should I say this ? Ahem .. being allowed to drive one in anger myself

Matthew Lange
10 years ago
Reply to  TJ Martin

How many GTO’s were on the Colorado Grand? I thought there were only 3 the year they let the GTO’s join to celebrate the 50th anniversary?

El Patron
El Patron
10 years ago
Reply to  TJ Martin

For such a fan of Ferraris you sure love the complain about them.

Benjamin Shahrabani
10 years ago

Looks like you got there very early in the morning….

Dustin Rittle
Dustin Rittle
10 years ago

Aint no party like a Ferrari party 😉

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