We left Pleasanton, Ca at 10:00AM for the drive down to San Luis Obispo, Ca about 220 miles to meet up with George and Bobbi Andrini. The drive was quite uneventful, a real pleasure, since we were driving the 1965 Mistral. We did have one minor problem which was a front tire that was losing air. After adding air in King City we drove to Paso Robles and stopped for lunch. After checking the tire I learned it was down about 8 PSI so we found a Goodyear tire dealer and had the tire removed and inspected. They would not take the tire of the car since it has knock off wheels but they let me use their jack so I could remove it. After taking the tube out I noticed the valve cap which I was holding had a mark in the center of the seal. They checked the tube in water and could find no leaks. It turned out the valve cap seal was depressing the valve and releasing the air. After removing the seal and reassembling the tire we were back on the road with no further problem.

The next morning Friday, we joined a group of about 50 cars for a timed rally thru the country side. This was a fun adventure of about 100 miles and finished in a park in Paso Robles where we had lunch. After lunch there was a reception in the Hotel Cheval with wine and cheese . George and I switched cars for the drive back to the Andrinis. After driving his Khamsin for about 20 miles I noticed the hydraulic pressure light was blinking. Just as we arrived at his house the light was now on all the time which showed we had lost pressure in the system. After investigating the problem we found the return line for the hydraulic system had split. It was now getting late so we went to dinner at the Café Roma in San Luis Obispo and had a great Italian dinner. After dinner we met Don and Sandi Treadwell and had a glass of wine.

The next morning we meet up with about 100 cars in Avila Beach for a ride and drive thru another part of the wine country of about 140 miles and finished up in downtown San Luis Obispo where they had blocked off two city blocks for parking. Since George’s Khamsin was down he drove Bobbi’s Jaguar. Now we had to fix the Khamsin so he could be in the Concours the next day. Of course nothing is easy to fix on a Maserati. To get to the leaking hose I had to pull the battery, the windshield washer battle and the fuel pressure regulator and filter. Even then the hose clamps were very difficult to get to since they were under the battery support that was welded to the body. George went into Arroyo Grande and found some power steering hose that was the right size to make the repair. After 3 hours the 10 minute repair was complete. Don Treadwell in the meantime was detailing the cars. After this little adventure we went to dinner at Giuseppis in Pismo Beach. They always do a great job of catering our dinner for the Pismo Beach rally in April.

On Sunday we were off to the Concours in Avila Beach. Richard Grey from Tiberon won third in class with his red 1969 Ghibli coupe, George Andrini won second in Class with the Khamsin and Martin Loge won first with a 1972 Ghibli he had just finished restoring. Martin also won a special award “ The Directors Award” The Ghibli was finished in a metallic medium green with off white pigskin interior and was really stunning. After the Concours we drove back to Pleasanton with the Mistral. I feel fortunate to have driven the car over 1000 miles with only a tire leak as the only problem.