Ok so I stumbled upon this YouTuber who is a true car person. Great channel which I will link here. The video that caught my attention was about a wonderful cafe that has emerged in Ottawa Canada of all places! https://youtu.be/fDZNARP568A?si=kJbuVmH6yg9CEFNh The Sofia Vintage Car Cafe is the vision of a local dental surgeon who practices in Ottawa Hassan Moghadam. What he has created is a gem housing his vintage exotics like the Ferrari F40, Lamborghini Miura and Mercedes 300SL Gullwing, it it class all the way. https://sofiavintagemotorcafe.com/ Who knew such a special place in little ole Ottawa! Love seeing this and when I’m in Ottawa that’s where I’ll be hanging out for as long as I can! Check it out!

This past Saturday I had the unique pleasure to spend some time with a true car enthusiast with a tremendous car history.This is one of those finds that you only get through viral people in the know. In this case, my friend Mike is an ultra connected car guy. He knows what’s up and going on around and has car people and stories everywhere. Mike and I drove out to his place and brought a conversation piece for the visit; my 1:8 Lamborghini Miura S model from Agora Models.https://www.agoramodels.com/. I spent several months assembling this very large and highly detailed kit and thought he would enjoy seeing. It was a pretty good assumption considering he had, nestled a floor below us, the real thing from 1968! My oldest and I had been there over the holidays to see the Miura and he shared great stories from driving up north, to Italian car festivals to running it flat out at the old Packard proving grounds in Michigan doing 160 mph+ while Shelby of America club members chased on the oval, banked track. It’s moementd like these that as a car enthusiast you get to treasure the history, the common bond over these amazing machines. It’s incredible to be able to see a “barn” find car of such rarity and beauty while it still remains undiscovered. Hiding in its spot undisturbed. A few pics attached of my (little) Miura and his real one!! Given there were ever only 338 of these produced it will go down in our memories as a very special movement. Have any of you had a barn find moment? Built any models of your hero cars? I highly recommend doing both!

A few years ago on a business trip to Frankfurt I happened upon another gem of a car lover spot! With a day off in between meetings, I do what I normally do and looked for some cool places to see cars. After searching I found Klassikstadt! Nestled in a quiet neighbourhood/small commercial area, about 40 minutes outside of the city centre, was the most amazing place. A series of beautifully restored brick buildings, you can go in and simply wander around, get a guided tour or watch the activity in the classic workshops around back. Klassikstadt houses cars from collectors in what can best be described as a large toy case for cars of every vintage and exotic flavour. For the next 4 hours I walked around the various floors of cars marvelling at cars rarely seen. With an onsite restaurant and gift shop, the venue is clearly host to some swanky corporate events. With the sun shining, I made my way to the shops out back. The building is set up so that the side along each floor are elevators for owners to go in to their cars, drive on to the elevator and lower it down to ground for a country drive. The shops out back were pretty active when I was there servicing everything from vintage Maserati racers to a Ferrari 246 Dino to a early Miura (pre S model note the black chrome - this is the lighter weight early production car - very rare!). It’s so worth a visit for the car lover! If you’re there check it out. https://www.klassikstadt.de/en/#top Here are a few pictures from my visit. Where have you discovered in your travels or locally? Share your story and pics!

In September of last year I was able to stumble upon such a great motoring event! While over in Italy meeting my wife in Tuscany, where she runs a woman’s retreat, I spent a few days prior exploring motor valley in Italy. Starting first in Bologna (that’s for another post :)!), I was looking for events that might be happening. A few searches later and I found what was an amazing event - the Franco Mazzotti Cup! The story about the club spans back to 1926 with a group of four Italian Motorsport gentlemen and the genesis of the Mille Miglia! One such gentlemen was Franco Mazzotti an undisputed founding member of the Mille Miglia! You can read more about it here https://www.clubmillemiglia.eu/en/franco-mazzotti-cup/ The event is an unassuming collection of multi million dollar cars all set to drive from Brescia up through the Lake District spanning 2 days. Starting at a beautiful hotel on the shores of Lake Garda, it’s open to anyone who is around and you can walk among the racers, car collectors and their amazing machines! Here are a bunch of pictures my wife and I took. It was so special to see cars you’d never see in NA! Enjoy! What hidden gem car shows, rallies, museums have you found and want to share? Share some pictures and introduce yourself! Let’s not keep these a secret and enjoy them!!