Ferrari Mailing List: Re: PROVA license plate: GOT IT !

[Doug & Terri (dnt]

PROVA license for a Ferrari Can Am 612

 

Picture this -- Nov 8, 1968, Stardust International Raceway, last CanAm race for '68.  Last race for Stardust.  I am there with Ferrari Bubba at the start/finish.  Now the cars are coming on to the main straight start/finish to begin  the race for lap 1. Thirty cars with 500 hp each full on.  At the end of the front straight they face a daunting blind 45 degree right hand turn where at best 2+ cars can go thru - - there are FIVE vying for the turn.   Into the turn the field and five leading cars go including Chris Amon's Ferrari 612, the McLaren's and Mario Andretti in the Honker Ford followed by the rest of the field.  They all violate Jim Clarks “2 can’t go where only 1 will fit” rule..  All hell breaks loose - Amon drives off the track into the left infield in a hail of dirt and rocks - Bruce McLaren loses his LF fender while other casualties happen.  Amon's slide valve 12 Ferrari is screaming full throttle as the dirt has fouled the throttle mechanism.  He shuts down.  The race moves on.

 

Me?  I am curious as to what happened to Amon’s Ferrari now sitting out in the dirt all alone.  “All alone” the operative words.  On the rear of Amon’s 612 is a PROVA MO sticker.  Is it loose?  It is.  WE don’t want something like this falling off and getting lost.  I souvenir it.  I give it to Bubba as thanks for the weekend.  For the longest time it resided under the glass on his antique roll top desk.  Then I lost track of it.  I wrote to Cheryl shortly after Bubba’s untimely passing and told her it must be worth something to a collector.  I hope it still has a good home.

 

Oh yeah – this was the race that Jim Hall wacked Lother Motchenbacher’s Lola at the same Turn 2.  There is a famous picture of Hall airborne just before he flipped into the infield not too far away from Amon’s Ferrari.  I did visit the McLaren pits and offered to get rid of that junk front end for which they were grateful – get it out of here.  For years it rested on the top my book case until my job moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco – I gave it to a Kiwi who lived in our apartment building.  Wonder where it is now?  Alas

 

And that’s my story about a PROVA license sticker.  I was later told that Ferrari or any manufacturer could apply for one, stick it on a full on race car and use the PUBLIC streets and highways for testing.  Way before Ferrari’s own track maybe?  If not – maybe this gave Ferrari the opportunity to use public thruways to get to their track?  Anyone want to hazard a guess?

 

Onward

 

DOUG

Ps – congrats Michael.  The sole citizen stuffs it to the giant government.  Way to go.

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Ferrari [mailto:ferrari-bounces+dnt=dock.net [at] ferrarilist.com] On Behalf Of Michel Savard
Sent: Saturday, November 3, 2018 11:11 AM
To: DOUG <dnt [at] dock.net>
Cc: The FerrariList <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Subject: [Ferrari] PROVA license plate: GOT IT !

 

Remember a few weeks ago, I mentioned that I had tried to get PROVA as my new license plate here in Quebec ?

I was turned down because of  ‘road safety issues’ or something like that. But they also said that you could argue your point if one was turned down. I did.

 

PROVA means, among other things, TEST (hence road safety issues, I guess). But in Googling it, I saw it also means PROOF. As in “…..this is the proof of my innocence”. That was the example Google gave. So, I wrote them (government SAAQ ) that "the word to me meant '…this is the proof of my success'. I dreamed of owning a Ferrari since I was 17 years old when the 308 came out. PROVA to me is the proof of my success”.

 

They bought it.

 

In their explanation to accept my request, they wrote that there was no ‘copyright infringement’. Nothing about road safety.

 

Now for those who don’t remember what I wrote, here is the story behind PROVA. When I was a teenager, I read a lot of car magazines. Obviously, I loved reading about journalists testing Ferraris. I saw many many pictures with a license plate that said PROVA hanging behind those Ferraris being tested. I always thought back then that this would be the ultimate personal license plate to own as a Ferrari owner.

 

It only took 43 years. Patience has its rewards.

 

Michael Savard :))))))))))))))

1981 308 GTSi

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