FEBRUARY MONTHLY MEETING, Drouin Golf Club – Thursday 13th Feb

This month’s run of mild summer’s evenings enticed a few members to bring their sports cars out for a run and then set them up as an impromptu display on the driveway outside the Golf Club function rooms. Perhaps this is something that we could encourage each month prior to the meeting – well at least until it gets too dark to see what’s out there!Amongst those on display outside was Dave Anderson’s ‘new’ red MGBV8 roadster sporting an MGC bulging bonnet to cover the greasy bits, and a lovely blue MX5 with electric roof belonging to new owners, Rick and Pearl Dathan.

Inside the dining room, you couldn’t fail to notice the immaculate 1986 Ferrari 328 GTS (Gran Tourismo Spider) belonging to John Althuizen. John purchased this very low mileage, mid-engined supercar in May last year, driving home to Traralgon from Sydney via the Monaro and Cann River highways. The Ferrari is pushed along by a mid-mounted east-west, 270 bhp quad cam V8? which is capable of propelling the car to a top speed of around 260km/h. It has a firm ride and is apparently rather noisy inside the cabin, but it can also be quite docile and ‘economical’, returning about 25 mpg for the journey down from Sydney.? This particular GTS is an Australian delivered car and John is the third owner. Around 6000 GTS models were produced between 1985 and 1989, and apart from the aluminium bonnet, they are an all-steel car built on a steel frame. John’s one complaint so far is that the air-conditioning doesn’t function, however, it doesn’t seem to be causing too much angst as even when it does work it is reported to be as effective as “a mouse farting over an ice cube” John’s quote, not mine! John had obviously expended a considerable amount of time and effort into detailing the car prior to our meeting and it presented far better than many new cars straight from the showroom. Thankfully, for John and all the others who brought their special cars along, the weather remained fine throughout the evening making the drive home very pleasant experience.

no images were found