Previous events:

        FCA-Ohio Cleveland/Akron region held it's Fall Drive on Sunday October 16, 2011. Although the day was wet, the enthusiasm of the participants was not dampened. The starting point was our house, where the cars filled the street creating a show all their own. In addition to the Ferrari's, the brands of Lamborghini, Porsche, Nissan, and Ford (GT 40) were represented.

After visiting with old friends and making new ones, the cars departed for an hour and a half drive. The route was great.

Long nonstop straights and serpentine stretches allowed for an enjoyable all backroad foliage show.  The drive concluded with brunch at Ken Stewart's Tre Belle'. Food and atmosphere were enjoyed by all. I appreciate club sponsers Jack Babbitt of NJB Aotomotive and Craig Reed of Studio 47 for their participation in the event.

Thanks to all who came out making the day as enjoyable as it was.

   Doug & Tracy Ehrler

• September 24, 2011: Taste of Italy at Maserati of Cincinnati, Ohio

Tickets for the first ever Taste of Italy were hugely in demand, and our gracious host managed to find space to accommodate over 700 invited guests.

The setting was fabulous with historically significant cars and motorcycles filling the various rooms at Maserati of Cincinnati and Porsche of the Village.  We were even treated to some auditory displays of the Maserati Tipo 151 and the Ducati, which was a double pleasure.  The cheese and other snacks were delicious, and the wine was plentiful.  There was a glassblower outside demonstrating his skills, while inside a number of display booths, including FCA, were part of festivities.  Some of the visitors to our booth joined FCA as a result of seeing the enthusiasm we all have for the Club.  Thanks to Dave and Michelle Wikette, Bob and Marcella Miller and their kids and Beverly for staffing the booth through the evening.  We heard many favorable comments from our visitors. 

Everyone was busily talking for hours, past the stated end time, so a number of FCA members and fans went to dinner afterwards.  It was a GREAT night, and thanks so much to our sponsor Scott Biehl at Maserati of Cincinnati, Bruce, Amanda and all the other people at the dealerships for putting on the event.  Rumor has it a sequel is already being planned.

 Michael Kelly

• September 17, 2011: East Street Tour and lunch at Quaker Steak & Lube, Milford, Ohio

Our annual Quaker Steak & Lube event was a great success with nearly 30 people attending. 

We started the day at Easy Street Rides and Rods, where Greg Nolan gave us a comprehensive tour of their facilities.  There were many cars “awaiting their turn”, many in various stages of completion and some that were complete.  It made for a revealing timeline.  They can acquire a car for you, do all of the mechanical, interior, body and paint work, plus any modifications you’d like.  Want a Model T with an Offy engine, to test your car on their dyno, or a patriot paint job with ghost stars on a Corvette that was among the coolest I’ve seen? This is the shop for you.  Greg was kind enough to give each of us shirts and a variety of other goodies.  He even toured a Seattle FCA couple who read about this event on our website, and stopped in a few days early as they weren’t able to stay for the actual visit (P.S. to them if they read this, please contact me as Greg has some shirts for you as well).

We made the 200 yard trek to Quaker Steak & Lube for our traditional luncheon, where we had a chance to visit some more.  Lunch was excellent as always and the service was great; many thanks to Kathleen Donahue and her staff.  We raffled off many prizes courtesy of the FCA and our sponsors.  A number of other QS&L customers stopped by to look at the cars, and some owners were kind enough to have the kids hop in for some memorable photos.  Everyone was busily talking for hours before it was time to head home. 

         Michael Kelly

• August 27, 2011: Drive and Lunch at Arnett's, Lebanon, Ohio

Our Aug 27^th event was a great success with nearly 30 people attending. 

We met at the Rave Theater at Kings Island and had a chance to talk with one another, and some curious passers by who noticed the assembled cars and stopped to look. 

Glenn Jividen was our rally master for the day and the route he mapped out was a treat – 2 ¼ hours of driving pleasure, which included some amazing steeply downhill, decreasing radius turns that were among the best I’ve driven, as well as a tunnel to enjoy the sounds of the cars in.

We all wound up at Cindy Arnett’s house and parked in the back yard so we could enjoy conversation as well as look at the cars.  Cindy treated us to a real feast of a lunch – gigantic steaks and the biggest baked potatoes I’ve ever seen, with enough toppings to be a complete meal in themselves.  The pineapple with  brown sugar, crushed ginger snaps and rum topping was delicious.  Cindy gave tours of her lovely house with its striking tile work, which she personally did, and an amazing wall hanging. 

Best of all were the people who attended, and the conversations lasted until very late afternoon.  Four kids were there enjoying it all, creating the next generation of Ferrari enthusiasts.  Newlyweds Ian and Brittany were there for the lunch, and we were treated to photos of their wedding and honeymoon in Italy.  Recent retiree George Roberts and wife Rita were back with us, so we had a chance to catch up.  Our newest member Greg Meyer attended, and it was nice to get to know him.  Altogether it was a great event; Cindy said she’d like to make it an annual event, so we can look forward to returning next year.

        Michael Kelly

• June 18, 2011: Spades Kreations and Lunch at Millers, Cincinnati, Ohio

Our fourth event of the year was held on June 18.  We met at Spades Kreations and had a great tour of the shop by owner Rick Spade. We were able to talk to many staff members about what they do and how they do it to create award winning custom cars.  The featured Camaro was outstanding! It had every body panel removed before being painted an awesome periwinkle blue, as well as body modifications made in metal. Most of the cars had top-notch audio and video systems, sold and installed at Spades.  Following the visit to Spades, we had a quick drive on some interesting roads before arriving at the lake house of Bob and Marcella Miller.  We had a great lunch, tons of excellent conversation and a very relaxing pontoon boat tour of the lake before the rains came. Some of the crowd even had fun with all the video arcade games.  It was a most peaceful day, and I thank all our hosts for their hospitality. 

        Michael Kelly

• June 12, 2011: Ault Park Concours for Arthritis, Cincinnati, Ohio

The Ault Park Concours on June 12 was our third event of the year, and it exceeded my expectations.  More than 30 Ferraris from around the country were in the show, and a number more were located in the special FCA parking area just outside the gate where everyone who attended could see our cars.  A new attendance record was set for the Concours, due in large measure to the Ferraris on display.  Thank you to all who entered the show and took the time to prep your cars to such an amazing level, and for the members who parked in the FCA area and added very nicely to the visual impact of the show for the attendees.  I saw a lot of good conversations going on among our members, and even got to be a part of some of them in between dealing with the logistics of the Concours.  Congratulations to all the FCA award winners, each award was justly deserved.

        Michael Kelly

• May 15, 2011: CincItalia, Cincinnati, Ohio

On May 15^th we had our second event of the year, and my hat is off to the three intrepid Ferrari owners who braved the continuous and hard rains to be at CincItalia, plus a few friends who came without cars!  There were booths highlighting travel destinations in Italy, lots of good food to be had and a number of performance acts to enjoy.  That is, if you could hear them over the rain J. The man who sang the Sinatra tunes was the most memorable of the acts.  While the rain kept overall attendance down, the organizers appreciated our help in raising fund for St Catharine of Siena School.  I’ve worked with some of the students through my Junior Achievement volunteering, and I can tell you the ones I’ve seen are an energized and insightful bunch of kids.  Here’s hoping for better weather next year.

        Michael Kelly

• May 7 2011: Cincinnati's Drive to Valley Vineyards & lunch

 On May 7th we had our first event of the year, with 30 people attending.  An infrequently seen yellow ball was in the sky as we met in Montgomery and got to talk in the sunlight for a while as everyone arrived.  Many members were sharing stories of getting the cobwebs out of their cars for our first event, with a few of the cobwebs causing some needed technical discussions to resolve.  Jay and Sharon arrived in their new 360, which is striking in Rossa Barchetta.  We were enjoying catching up with everyone as our rally masters Ian and Brittany announced it was time to leave on the rally. Ian and Brittany set up an interesting route for us, inspired by Brittany's grandfather who taught her parts of the route when she was learning to drive.  Some of the roads were still damp from the regular rainstorms we've had this year, but mostly we  enjoyed dry pavement.  Our group arrived intact at the Valley Vineyards, where we had more chances to talk while having a very good lunch, outdoors in the sunshine no less.  In keeping with most of 2011 so far, it started to rain as we were finishing up lunch, but our hearty band moved under cover, where we sang Happy Birthday to Michelle and wished Ian and Brittany well for their wedding at the end of the month.

It was altogether a great way to start our FCA events this year.   

        Michael Kelly

• May 21-22:  FCA Driving School at Gingerman, Dan Harrison