The cost is $125 to participate in our Marques of Italy, the Cortile and the Fiat FreakOut.  Register and pay on-line here. All proceeds benefit the Grand Prix Charities. If you are with the Fiat FreakOut you must register on the Fiat Club America website in order to have your car qualified for judging.

Here are the events during our ten day festival where Italian car’s will take center stage:

Wayne Long, Chief Judge and Founder of the Cortile Cup has announced that he has selected a new Judge for the 2015 Cortile Cup Competition.  Tom Frasca will be joining the judging team for the 2015 annual event at the Pittsburgh Golf Club on Saturday during the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix.

Prior to his acceptance of taking on the role of "Guidice Anziano" (Senior Judge) at this years Cortile Cup Competition, Tom developed a very robust resume. From 1969 through 1974 was a member of the SCCA and competed in Open Wheel & Sports Racing. He worked with Ferrari in North America on their racing team until 1994 and then served on the Architectural Review Board for Southeast New York.  Design and engineering course through Tom's veins.  

In August of 2012 Tom created "Scuderia Ferrari Club of Denver" with the help of Gabriele Lalli, Piero Savazzi and Dr. Mauro Apicella of Ferrari GeS. This club had been in the workings since 2004 and is the only official sanctioned Ferrari F1 team club in North America.

We are very honored to welcome Tom as one of our elite group of judges for the Cortile Cup. He brings a wealth of automotive experience in design and engineering.  Be sure to stop by and pick his brain: He has some wonderful stories and is an encyclopedia of Italian Racing history that he quite literally lived through.

Compiled written & edited by Bernard Martin, Updated and re-editied January 18, 2023

There is an undeniable historical link between the Philadelphia area and Marenello, Italy’s unparalleled world championship Formula 1 racing tradition. It begins with Luigi Chinetti Sr., the original United States dealer for Ferrari automobiles. The famous race car driver and American immigrant convinced his close friend Enzo Ferrari that tapping into American affluence was the ideal means to fund Ferrari’s most competitive racing effort.

​Timing was important. Italian teams dominated from the beginning of Formula 1 in 1950, winning eight titles in the first nine years. Yet, when a separate championship title was awarded to the constructors of the cars in 1958, only two titles were won by Italian racing teams – both by Ferrari – in the next seventeen years. 

But we're getting a bit ahead of the story...

In 1887 Joseph Derham opened Derham Custom Body Company and became known throughout the world as the coachbuilder of the finest motorcars ever produced.  Founded by Joseph J. Derham, an Irish immigrant, the company catered to Philadelphia's Main Line, an string of towns in the city's suburbs where the affluent gathered in private clubs – on their sprawling estates – to escape the city's hustle and bustle.  In the early days of the car, bodies and chassis were constructed separately. 

​At the time it also wasn't unusual for a wealthy auto-owner to have an auto-body for both summer and winter months. Of the classic custom coach-builders, only Derham survived the Great Depression in the 1930s.

​For 85 years the company built custom coachbodies for cars, from some of the earliest cars ever made to some of the most sought-after vehicles by collectors. During the early part of the last century, Derham bodies graced Duesenburgs, Packards and Pierce-Arrows – all crafted by hand in Philadelphia and Rosemont.  Cars that rolled out of their carriage works chauffeured kings and dictators, Popes, presidents and movie stars like Josef Stalin, Pope Pius XII, King Farouk, President Eisenhower, and Gary Cooper owned Derham-built automobiles. 

 By the 1960’s, Derham Custom Body Company was deriving much of its revenue from retrofitting automobiles with fiberglass bulletproofing. Al Garthwaite had his eyes open for new opportunity.  Al Garthwaite Jr. became the owner  of Derham Custom Body Company in 1962 and renamed the company Algar, short for AL GARwaite.

In 1972, Garthwaite partnered with Luigi Chinetti  to create an automobile importing company fundamental in giving birth to the East Coast American Ferrari Dealer Network.  Luigi Chinetti was one of the key figures in Ferrari's early success in America.  In 1949, Chinetti drove a 166 M to Ferrari's first win in motorsports during the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  Chinetti had been appointed as the official importer of Ferrari cars to the United States in the late 1940s. Chinetti's passion for the brand, and his belief in the potential of American drivers and teams, led him to establish the North American Racing Team (NART) in 1958.  NART was the only American team to ever compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and it was also involved in other international motorsports events such as the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Daytona. The partnership between NART and Ferrari was key in promoting Ferrari in the American market, through the team's numerous racing successes and its lasting impact on the sport.

Chinetti and Garthwaite established retailers from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River and through the lower half of Texas, the Chinetti-Garthwaite enterprise imported over 1600 Ferraris to this network through a distribution facility in Paoli, Pennsylvania. 

The success of the Paoli-based distribution partnership contributed measurably to the restoration of Ferrari racing greatness. In a contest where dollars produce horsepower, Chinetti’s idea paid off with a Formula 1 title merely three years after the Chinetti-Garthwaite partnership was established.  The Scuderia Ferrari team won the coveted Formula 1 World Championship three more times in the next four years. They won thirteen Formula 1 titles over the last thirty- three years and fifteen since the Constructors award was presented. The next closest competitor won nine. 

​Chinetti-Garthwaite partnership disbanded in 1980 when Ferrari established a factory controlled entity for US distribution. Under the name Algar Enterprises, Inc., (from AL GARthwaite) Garthwaite continued as a dealer for Ferrari automobiles. 

​In 1995, Garthwaite sold his business to Bob Segal, a young motorsport enthusiast who brought racing to Algar in the form of the Ferrari Challenge Series and sponsorship of Ferrari Club of America track events. 

It was a time when exotic car manufacturers and retailers were recoiling from the impact of a recession and the implementation of an ill-timed federal luxury tax. Maserati left the market in 1990 and Alpha Romeo in 1995, leaving Segal with a single brand in his show room. Yet, in the last half of the 1990’s, Ferrari was the automobile line to have. Pre-sold production runs and long waiting lists at the factory were common throughout the country. This trend continues today with waiting lists as long as two years for the current Ferrari product line up.

In December 2021, RDS Automotive Group, a premier luxury and exotics dealership group owned by Robert DiStanislao  acquired Algar Ferrari of Philadelphia and renamed it Ferrari of Philadelphia in keeping with the brand standards of Ferrari dealerships. ​

Throughout the Americas and world-wide, no other building has a richer history in the advancement of automobiles designed and crafted for the discerning motorist. It’s where the world’s greatest cars, Ferrari should be sold. 

Both the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix and everyone at the Cortile is very pleased to welcome the great folks from Ferrari of Philadelphia as a sponsor at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix's Cortile!

George Vosburgh of Pittsburgh, PA is restoring his 1977 Ferrari 308 GTB with NJB Automotive in Columbus, OH.  It's going to be a full ground up restoration and shown for the first time at the Cortile in 2014.

According the George, the paint, suspension are done, the engine is complete.  They've used high compression pistons, steel valves, electronic ignition. 

You can stay up-to-date on George's restoration on Ferrari Chat 77GTB #21039 Restoration

Written by Bernard Martin

Hahn & Vorbach Associates recently completed a ground up restoration of this 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso. Regarded as one of the most beautiful Ferrari's of its time, the 250 GT Lusso's Pininfarina design and V12 power makes a statement all its own. Featuring a double wishbone front suspension and live axle rear end all tied to a tubular frame, the steel bodied Lusso was virtually identical to its aluminum bodied racing cousin. Only 350 of these cars were made and it's making it's way to the Cortile in 2013 for it's first showing since restoration.

Chassis # 5165 Engine# 168
Restored by: Hahn and Vorbach Auto Restoration – Harmony, PA

Painted a beautiful “Azzurro Metallic” blue and featuring chrome Borani wheels and a black leather interior, this 1963 Ferrari 250GT Lusso is nearing completion of a full, ground-up, every nut and bolt restoration. One of 350 examples built between January 1963 and August 1964. Equipped with the 245 horsepower 3.0 liter v-12 engine and mated to a 4 speed transmission, the car will do 0 to 60 mph in 8.0 seconds (which was quite impressive in its day).

Designed by Pinninfarina and built by Scaglietti, the 250GT Lusso was the last of the 250 series cars offered by Ferrari.

The body/frame of this car have been alkaline dipped to remove all rust and corrosion. Extensive bodywork followed to repair any damage and new aluminum door skins were fabricated to replace the original ones that had deteriorated. 

The engine, drivetrain and suspension have been completely rebuilt. The gauges have been rebuilt and a new carpet and interior installed. The final major component to be installed will be the distinctive eggcrate grille and then the car will undergo final testing and tuning before final delivery.

This beauty will make it's first judged appearance at the Cortile 2013

Written by Bernard Martin

Ferrari Club of America is currently celebrating a major milestone, its 50th Anniversary! 

50 Anni di Passione Tour

Under the motto “50 Years of Passion – One Lap of North America”, a specially prepared 599 Ferrari relay car, sponsored by a private donor, is carrying a symbolic “baton” and is visiting all Ferrari Club of America (FCA) regions and chapters, every Ferrari dealer in the U.S. and Canada. This is a year one-year, 20,000-mile relay of North America and it's coming toPittsburgh for it's public stop before the FCA Annual Meeting!

Leading the One Lap of North America will be a specially prepared Ferrari 599 driven by a volunteer FCA member from each chapter. The relay is led by a special, one-off Ferrari 599GTB-HGTE built specially for Passione. This unique Ferrari, the very last North America specification 599 produced, has been made possible by Jim Taylor, FCA member and Patrono Principale of the FCA’s 50th Anniversary, and by Ferrari North America. The 599 has a unique paint scheme and interior design, as well as custom graphics representing the 50-year history of the FCA.

By PAUL VITELLO, New York Times
Published: July 3, 2012

Sergio Pininfarina, whose design firm created the rakish and elegant auto bodies of some of the most popular, and fastest, cars ever made by Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Fiat, died on Tuesday, [July 3, 2012] at his home in Turin, Italy. He was 85.

His death was confirmed by a spokesman for Ferrari, where Mr. Pininfarina was a board member for many years.

Mr. Pininfarina took the reins of the company in 1961 from his father, Battista, who founded it under the name Carrozzeria Pinin Farina in 1930 and then rebuilt it virtually from scratch after Allied bombers destroyed its plant along with the rest of Italy’s industrial base in World War II.

The younger Mr. Pininfarina, who brought a flair for marketing as well as design to the family business, scored his first successes in collaboration with Ferrari, the racecar maker known for its lucrative business in rich men’s toys.

Convinced that a new consumer market was emerging, Mr. Pininfarina urged Ferrari to let him design two auto-body prototypes for a new 12-cylinder racecar-quality vehicle under production in the early 1960s.

“Ferrari would not be Ferrari without Pininfarina,” said Michael Sheehan, founder of the online Ferraris’ collectors newsletter, Ferraris-online.com. “Ferrari built the machines, and basically Pininfarina clothed them.”

Mr. Pininfarina’s firm worked with many other carmakers over the last 50 years, including some in the United States. The Pininfarina stamp — an “f” surmounted by a crown — has appeared in millions of cars by Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Maserati, Rolls-Royce, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Bentley, Volvo and Peugeot. But for most of that time Mr. Pininfarina was, in effect, the design department of Ferrari. Only a handful of car models made by Ferrari were designed by other companies.

For a while, Mr. Pininfarina stood as the chief custodian of Italian styling in cars. His firm designed prototypes for models that sold about 50,000 units a year by the mid-1980s, compared with about 500 in the early 1960s, and the success gave him freedom to design not only “affordable” cars but high-end and even one-of-a-kind vehicles for the very wealthy.

By 2008, the family had lost control of all but a small share of stock to creditors, though family members continue to operate the firm.

Mr. Pininfarina was born in Turin on Sept. 8, 1926. He earned a mechanical engineering degree from the Polytechnic University of Turin in 1950, and became the firm’s managing director in 1961. His father died in 1966. He turned over control of the company to his son Andrea in 2001. After Andrea’s death in a motor scooter accident in 2008, Mr. Pininfarina’s younger son, Paolo, became head of the company.

Besides his son, he is survived by his wife, Giorgia, and daughter, Lorenza.

A courtly and stylish man of wit and charm, Mr. Pininfarina taught car body design at his alma mater for several years, and was often invited to speak to engineering and design groups in the United States. On one visit in 1981, an interlocutor asked, “What makes a good design?”

He replied with a long list of criteria, including “good harmony, classic style, proportion, grace — and honesty,” adding with a small smile, “Then, if you have good taste, the battle is won.”

Article from New York Times
Header Image from Road & Track

Written and compiled by Bernard Martin

Sergio Scaglietti, who used intuitive genius and a hammer — seldom blueprints or sketches — to sculpture elegant Ferraris that won Grand Prix races in the 1950s and ’60s and now sell for millions of dollars, died on Nov. 20, 2011 at his home in Modena, Italy. He was 91. At the PVGG Cortile 2012 his designs are honored as the 2012 Proiettore Macchina.

World War II interrupted further development of the relationship. In the years after the war, Ferrari was comfortable enough with Scaglietti’s maturing talent that he frequently brought him crashed cars for repair. Then in the early 1950s, a gentleman racer from Bologna commissioned Sergio to rebody his damaged Touring Barchetta. “Enzo Ferrari saw this and said ‘That is not bad,’” Scaglietti remembered. “From this, he entrusted me with a new chassis.”

Ferraris, with their hair-raising acceleration and sleek lines, bespoke postwar modernity in the manner of the Color Field paintings of Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko or the architecture of Eero Saarinen. Mr. Scaglietti in the 1950s designed the blood-red skin of the 375MM sports car, picture above, that the film director Roberto Rossellini, the master of neorealist cinema, gave to his wife, Ingrid Bergman.

Before long, the Ferraris emanating from the shop would be ranked among the most beautiful and memorable competition cars ever made. The honor roll included such top-flight sports-racing cars as the 500 Mondial and 500 TR and TRC, the classic pontoon-fender 250 Testa Rossa, the winning 290 MM, 315 and 335 S, and the immortal 250 GTO.
In the late 1950s, with Enzo Ferrari setting him up with the banker and cosigning the loan, Scaglietti greatly expanded his enterprise. He began building numerous street Ferraris to designs by Pinin Farina. His business prospered, and Scaglietti enjoyed the rewards and prosperity the expansion brought him.

In the late 1960s, however, with labor troubles a constant, Scaglietti leapt at the opportunity to join Ferrari in a sale of his business to Fiat. Scaglietti continued to manage the carrozzeria until his retirement in the mid 1980s. Ferrari’s 612 Scaglietti model, and the Carrozzeria Scaglietti customization program, were named after the humble artisan.

“The chief of production came to Mr. Ferrari and said, ‘We have to stop production because we have no black paint to paint the engines,’ ” he said.

Mr. Ferrari asked what color paint they did have. The answer was red. Mr. Ferrari said, “Paint the engines red and we’ll call it the Testa Rossa,” which means redhead in Italian

Mr. Scaglietti’s method was to receive a prototype from the legendary designer Battista Farina or one of his associates and “interpret” it in aluminum, rarely using a drawing. He made a wire frame, then hammered the metal into the shape he envisioned. He did this on bags of sand, because wood proved too hard. He did everything, he said, “by the eye.”

He followed the designers’ concepts to varying degrees. Many sources give him considerable personal credit for the overall look of the 250 GTO in 1962-63. Just three dozen were made, and Mr. Ferrari, who died in 1988, approved every sale personally. The car was one of the last front-engine cars to remain competitive at the top levels of sports car racing. (Most racing cars today have the engine behind the driver.)

Motor Trend Classic in 2010 called the car the greatest Ferrari of all time, and some people consider it the most beautiful automobile ever made. There have been reports that one sold for $50 million during the classic car boom of the 1980s, and the Web site Supercars.net called that figure not “entirely unrealistic.”

Ferrari 275mm image from Ultimatecarpage.com gallery
Excepts from NY Times, 

There is a wonderful review of the Cortile and the Cortile Cup in the August issue of the Ferrari Market Letter.  Be sure and read it over.  We are honored!