Another Car Guy & Collection gone.. RIP

[onboost]

In late December of last year a good friend of mine, and helluva car guy suddenly passed away. Mike Amalfitano was always fun to be around, took his Vintage Racing seriously (as you can tell by the links below), and was always quite the character, funny as hell.. while telling it like it was, yet always the gentleman. Mike will be missed by many I’m sure.

I met Mike years ago at Moroso while my buddy Tom Turner (out of Kansas & former PCA Potomac member), and I were helping-out with crew duties for Bob Hindson Racing (supporting both a 934 & 935) at the Gunnar Cup. Mike had brought out one of his 917s and a factory 964 C4 Cup Car that he was really fond of. We chatted about his car a bit and he then threw me a helmet and said “hop in and let’s do some laps.” After that meeting, Tom and I occasionally conference called with Mike to talk about cars (what else) and looked forward to meeting-up at the next event which included the remainder of the Gunnar series, the Monterey Historics & Pebble, RennSport Reunion, Cavallino, the US-F1 at Indy, and a couple of FCA Nationals if I recall.

Anyway, it looks like his collection is now being liquidated, and I guess at what better time and venue. Mike also had a number of Ferraris in collection to include a modified F-40 and a 512BBLM to name a few. Like any collector however, inventory changed from time to time.

http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/publi...uailamalfitano

::: Amalfi Racing :::

[Drisump]

Sounds like he had a good time...... and an obsession that I could get into! From your description, he would bring these cars out to play occasionally, I hope the new owners take the same approach. Cheers

[euro911sc]

Mike was a great guy. I had the fortune of riding with his chief mechanic in their 2 litre 911 race car at Targa 66 2 years ago. Was a blast. He was a great collector and supported the local car show well. Rest well Mr. Amalfitano.

-Michael

[nineball]

Originally Posted by onboost

http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/publi...uailamalfitano

::: Amalfi Racing :::

first link doesn't work, second link only has a working homepage.

[Fleming]

Is This Mike?

Loved the cars he brought to Rennsport 3. You had to see his smile, really a boy with his toys.

[onboost]

Fleming; That would be big Mike.. and you are correct, infectious smile whenever talking about and playing with his.. or cars in general. He is missed.

Thanks for the photo...

Paul

[joefrantz]

Looks like some cars are already on the block

Motor Cars & Automobilia at Quail Lodge

[euro911sc]

Amalfitano's 962 next to the earlier 956 car in the same livery:


Note: Redman, Attwood, and Amafitano


Special lightweight rally C4 up on jacks!

[onboost]

euro911sc; excellent!

The black C4 is the one I spoke about in the start of this thread, Mike was very fond of the factory "Special lightweight rally C4."

Redman always seemed to have good time driving the 962 as well as Mike's 917. Hell, I was waiting my turn! :-)

Pics from RR III ?

Thanks for posting!!

[Jim Garfield]

I talked to him for a while at RRIII about his cars. He was very enthusiastic and a very nice guy. Brian Redman had a problem in his 962 during practice and stopped right in front of where I was watching the turn 1 entry. I had a lot of questions about the C4 leichtbau that I wish I had asked when I had the chance, but I figured I would see him again...

[nesslar]

[onboost]

Jim.. that was Mike, always He was a very nice guy and super enthusiastic about his cars and the Maarque in general. He will be missed!

Thanks for posting those pics..

[euro911sc]

Actually my pics are from Targa 66 a few years ago. I got to hang out with Mike and his wife, Sherri. I got a ride in the 2.0 litre race car he had. It was enjoyable I met him again at The Pine School 100 Years of Cars show. He was a big supporter and always brought some really great cars. Sadly, there will be a big hole in the show this year with his cars not present.

-Michael