Saturday morning turned out to be one of those mornings destined for celebrating the classics. Scattered throughout the parking lot were a number of vintage, automotive treasures awaiting discovery by an unsuspecting visitor. In fact, we even had the first classic of the morning roll up and park right next to where we were standing, and stop just behind my friend Dave’s Porsche 930 turbo. The Ferrari 365 GTB/4 , also known as the Daytona coupe was produced from 1968 through 1973 in limited quantities (only 1284 Coupes were built). The Fly Yellow, Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona coupe (as seen below), equipped with pop up headlights, establishes its vintage as falling within the three-year period from 1971 thru 1973.

Ferrari introduced their pop up headlight detail on the 365 GTB/4 beginning with the 1971 model year, due to their previous design (headlights set behind a fixed glass lens, utilized from 1968 -1970) becoming illegal due to new safety regulations established within the United States for 1971.

A glimpse of 365 GTB/4’s 12 cylinder, 352 HP motor up front…

The Fly Yellow Ferrari and its opened hood reflected in Dave’s Porsche 930 turbo’s polished intercooler (above), and the parked 1984 930 turbo and Ferrari Daytona Coupe (below).

On this morning, Dave decided to shadow me as I explored and collected my weekly photos.  Our first stop would be over at the featured lot, but on the way we came across one of the events hidden gems. And in this case, a truly rare find; a 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2600 race car (below).

One of the very unique aspects of this car; its supercharged, dual DOHC straight 8 motor, displacing 2.6 liters. This supercharged configured motor powered this race car back in the day, while being campaigned under the Scuderia Ferrari banner (thus the Ferrari badging displayed on the sides of the cowl).

So after checking out the Alfa Romeo, we continued our trek towards the featured lot, where we encountered a pair of classics parked side by side. First up was the charcoal gray and red striped, 1955 Zagato Fiat 8V “double bubble” coupe.

The Zagato bodied, Fiat 8V (which in Italian translates to “Otto Vu”), was created as a two-liter, V8 powered sports car, for the sole purpose of competing against Lancia, Maserati and Ferrari,who already had two liter race cars. Fiat needed to produce 200 examples of the 8V model in order to qualify for homologation, but unfortunately were faced with insufficient demand for their 8V. As a result, Fiat offered up chassis for these cars to the coach builders of the day. Due to their participation in a joint venture, Zagato ended up purchasing a total of 32 chassis. And of those 32 examples, four were delivered from Fiat with partial bodywork already installed. These four cars received further modifications by Zagato, creating what came to be known as the aluminum “double bubble” roof, including  further modifications to the vehicles windows to integrate all of the elements together.

Fiat officially ended production of their 8V model in 1954, having begun building 8V’s in 1952, culminating in a total of 114 vehicles being produced. However, it took an additional  two years to complete production on all of the remaining vehicles. But it was during 1955 that the 8V really made its mark. As raced by Elio Zagato (the Coach Builders son), he and the 8V became the winners of the 1955  Italian two-liter championship, and continued their winning ways together through 1959. (The 1955 Zagato 8V, Double Bubble Coupe shown here is chassis # 084).

Parked immediately to the left of the Zagato, was the 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, painted in a brilliant blue, and complete with a hard tonneau cover (below)…

And yes, it’s the real deal; an honest, factory built Porsche 550 Spyder race car…

Heading back towards Porsche Row, I noticed an early white 911 with a single orange racing stripe and gathering a crowd, so off we went to check out the car.

As I walked around the car, I could hear the owner discussing some of the features found on his car. I learned that the car had been built using the 1967 Porsche 911R as a template, and that the owner actually fabricated the fiberglass front fenders, hood and rear decklid himself, maintaining the original visual aesthetic, as well as the lightweight performance theme of the original 911R.

The custom fabricated, 911R inspired, lightweight fiberglass rear deck lid with the underside left raw and unpainted, revealing the true nature of the substrate (above).

A glimpse of the high output, Weber carburetted boxer flat six residing out back, and according to the owner, a motor delivering approximately 300 HP; well in excess of the original 1991 cc, 210+HP produced by the original 911R back in 1967.

A collection of early 911’s on Porsche Row (above and below)…

A pair of Porsche 911S models reflecting on the morning…

Nick’s beautifully prepared silver European spec, 1970’s vintage 911S…

and its beautifully detailed and potent, 2.7 Carrera RS spec motor.

And parked over on the opposite side of the parking lot, was one of Porsches more recent  classics;  the 2011 911 GT3 RS in gray with red accents, graphics and wheels…

So regardless of your preferences for the Classics, rest assured that on any given Saturday morning, you too can come face to face with the rare and previously unseen examples of your favorite classic…

(All photos by the author)