Ferrari 328 Interior Restoration Series: Part 2

This is a multi-part series on a project I tackled to restore the interior of my 24-year-old Ferrari 328 GTS using products from Leatherique.  Throughout this series, I’ll give you some background and show you the “before” condition of the leather.  I’ll walk through the Conditioning and Cleaning process, the Re-Dying process and, finally, show the end result.

I hope this series as much fun to read as was the actual restoration work (and seeing the end result).

Part 2:  “It rubs the lotion on its skin…”

While carefully removing the seats, door panels, center console and tunnel, all the fasteners and knobs were placed in plastic storage bags and labeled. 

Once everything was removed, I brought the seats, door panels and all the bits inside and set-up shop in the laundry room. 

After buying a pack of white terry towels, I began the cleaning and conditioning process.  The first step was to remove all the surface dust and contaminants by vacuuming the seats, door panels and other bits using the dust brush attachment.  This pulled most of the loose dirt out of the cracks and crevices, but the ground-in dirt and years of skin oils still remained on (and in) the leather. 

After thoroughly vacuuming the items, I applied a light coat of Prestine Clean and wiped with a terry towel dampened with warm water.  This removed, yet, more dirt, but the leather was still visibly filthy—right down to the pores of the hide.  This also revealed the condition of the color of the leather.  Time and UV rays had taken its toll.  There was significant fading on the exposed surfaces of the leather.  I knew then for the job to be done right, we would have to ultimately re-dye the interior.

It was winter and everything I read about using the Rejuvenator Oil stated it was best to apply the it on a sunny day and roll-up the windows to create a “steam room effect”.  With the car in one place and the seats in another, I had to make other arrangements.  I accomplished this by using the laundry room and an electric space heater.  Since the laundry room is a relatively small space, using the heater, I was able to get the room to around 110 degrees.  That’s not quite the same as a closed-up car sitting in the sun, but in the dead of winter, it would have to do. 

I cut a plastic cup down to make a smaller plastic cup and used that to hold the Rejuvenator Oil.  While wearing clear (dye free) latex gloves, I generously applied the Rejuvenator Oil with my gloved hand and rubbed / massaged the oil into the leather.  On a seat, for example, I applied the Rejuvenator Oil.  I then turned on the space heater and closed the room.  I let the room heat up and remain heated for four to six hours.  The next night, I repeated the Rejuvenator Oil application, indoor steam room effect for a similar amount of time.

Why the heat?  The heat (from a closed-up car or small room with a space heater) effectively relaxes the fibers of the hide and lets the Rejuvenator Oil soak in and do its magic.  Think of it like this, your skin naturally secretes oils to keep it moist and pliable.  Once the cow that blesses your car’s interior met its maker, the secretion of those oils ceased.  When the Rejuvenator Oil is applied, you are actually replacing natural and essentials oils back into the leather.  The Rejuvenator Oil also works deep in the pores of the leather to help “push out” any foreign oils (like the oils from our skin), dirt and grime. 

So, after a couple application cycles of Rejuvenator Oil (generously apply the oil, massage it in, heat and close the room for four to six hours), Prestine Clean was sprayed onto a clean terry towel (that had been rinsed in warm water then wrung almost completely dry), then the terry towel wiped across the leather to remove the Rejuvenator Oil (and all the dirt that it helps remove).  Several towels were used in this process, but they wash up for reuse with Tide, bleach and hot water (no fabric softer ever on any car towels...period).  The results were amazing! 


Can you tell which half is clean and which half is still dirty?

A little closer look...

A real close look!!

However, I did notice that some of the dye was being removed when wiping down with Prestine Clean.  This, combined with the UV fading I already noticed, confirmed a re-dye was in my future. 

The seats were really dirty, but came clean relatively easy.  The door panels, on the other hand, were a different story.  You may recall in my last post an extreme close-up of the dirt and grime in the pores of the driver’s door panel.  Chalk it up to 24 years of sweaty arms and dirty hands.


Here's the extreme close up again...

These panels gave me the most trouble.  I put enough Rejuvenator Oil and Prestine Clean on those panels to float a battleship!!  After hours of rubbing, I just couldn’t get the leather clean like I wanted.  George at Leatherique and I swapped e-mails.  He suggested I use a soft bristled brush.  I tried an old toothbrush first, but the handle angle wasn’t conducive to this kind of work.  I found a scrub brush that I could easily hold in the palm of my hand and began to very gently brush the hide.  The bristles worked the dirt, sweat and grime out of the pores of the leather and left a very clean result. 

A little closer... 

Here is a shot of all the trim pieces that needed cleaned (and will also need re-dyed to match the rest of the interior). 

Here is a close up of part of the center console.  Note the how the original color is intact where the knobs and switches attach to the console, but all the surrounding areas are faded.

When researching how to do this process, you'll probably run across articles that mention wrapping the leather in plastic when the Rejuvenator Oil is applied.  Some say this helps keep the oil from evaporating.  I had a couple conversations with the folks from Leatherique and they really dispelled this myth.  The only time plastic should be used is if the seats are still in the car and you apply the Rejuvenator Oil, then need to move the car around.  You certainly don't want oily pants, so you can put plastic on the seats to move the car in and out of the garage.  One EXTREME word of caution....(coming from the folks at Leatherique)....do not (stress, DO NOT) use black plastic garbage bags to wrap any leather item.  I won't get into the reason on this forum, but do some research....you might be amazed as to the reason.  I certainly was!!


I will have to admit, though, that I did wrap some parts in clear kitchen plastic wrap.  You could definitely see the oil evaporating and adhering to the underside of the wrap after sitting in the homemade steam room for a few hours.  However, I really couldn't tell a difference between the parts that were wrapped and the parts that were not wrapped.  So, if I had to do this process again, I'd probably not waste the plastic wrap. 


The next part of this series will document the painstaking process of re-dying the leather.  The process itself is not difficult, but can be very time consuming.  Especially, doing it the way I did.  Stay tuned for the next part of this series…..


(I sure hope the Geek Squad can recover the contents of our hard drive so I can post some pictures of the re-dye!!!)

Ferrari 328 Interior Restoration Series: Part 1

This is a multi-part series on a project I tackled to restore the interior of my 24-year-old Ferrari 328 GTS using products from Leatherique.  Throughout this series, I’ll give you some background and show you the “before” condition of the leather.  I’ll walk through the Conditioning and Cleaning process, the Re-Dying process and, finally, show the end result.

I hope this series as much fun to read as was the actual restoration work (and seeing the end result).

Part One:  In the Beginning…

If you’ve ever Googled “Leatherique and Ferrari” in the same search, you have likely ran across a pretty infamous article by a gentleman named Mike Charness.  By all accounts, Mike wrote the book on reconditioning and restoring Connolly leather—the hide of choice by Ferrari.  Mike’s article details his experience re-dying the leather of his Ferrari 308.  The article is extremely detailed, but is missing one thing…..Pictures!  In Mike’s article, he mentions he is re-dying the “15-year-old” seats.  If I did my math correctly, that means his article was potentially written in 1999, making his article, at a minimum, 12-years-old (last production year for the 308 was 1984, plus 15 years is 1999).  While it is very impressive that an article like his can stand the test of time, I wanted to expand on it…make it a little more modern, add some illustrations and share my experience re-dying the entire interior of a 24-year-old Ferrari 328.

Let’s start with a little history on my car.  The “barn find” 1987 Ferrari 328 GTS Euro…or was it a shed, or a field…either way, it needed some good TLC.  Others may have seen dollar signs and wanted to part it out, I saw a diamond in the rough and believed a good mechanical and cosmetic restoration was all she needed to—once again—be a shining example of rolling Italian art.   With only 35,000 km (21,700 miles) on the odometer when I took possession, the car is considered to be well below average in terms of mileage.  Keep in mind, since it was a European-spec car, all the gauges—with the exception of the “federalized” speedometer are metric.  The “federalized” speedometer is simply a sticker that is placed over the original odometer that represents MPH as the primary measure and KPH as the secondary measure.  However, when these cars were federalized, the work required to switch out the odometer mechanism to count miles instead of kilometers usually was usually omitted.  This was generally due to the amount of labor (and cost) involved to change out the mechanism.  My car still counts in kilometers, not miles.  Evidence this when doing “per gallon” calculations.  On our recent trip to Asheville, we averaged 25 KPG…that’s roughly 15.5 miles-per-gallon….yep, it’s still counting kilometers!

Back to the seats…following Mike’s theme, let’s talk about my 24-year-old seats (and interior).  My seats and other interior pieces never really felt cardboard hard, but they were really filthy, faded, famished and had a few scrapes on them, but overall were in good shape (from a foundational perspective—meaning, under 24 years of dirt and grime was really good leather with solid stitching and no rips or holes).  The driver’s bolster on the low slung seats is notorious for showing excessive wear.  The driver’s-side bolster was in really good shape, just further evidence to support the average of 900 miles per year on the odometer. 

Having great luck with the Steering Wheel, I kept with the Leatherique products and purchased dye based on a cutout of an unfaded swatch of leather from under the center tunnel.  I highly recommend not ordering based off color codes and numbers from reference books or manuals.  If you want a certain color, cut a swatch and mail it to the folks at Leatherique.  I also purchased some crack filler, Rejuvenator Oil, Prestine Clean and Leather Prepping Agent.  The entire interior came out of the car (seats, seat trim, door panels, center console / tunnel and seatbelt covers.  The only part that remained was the parking brake handle.  Everything else covered with tan leather was removed. 

The pictures that follow show the cosmetic condition of the leather before any work was completed.  Note all the dirt and grime on the surface and embedded in the pores of the hide.

The seats...driver's seat on the left, passenger seat on the right (yes...I know I sat them on the ground backwards)...

 Close-up of one of the seat pans (note all the dirt and grime).

Driver's door panel

 Passenger door panel:

 Center tunnel (driver's side)

Close up of center tunnel (driver's side)

Extreme close-up of center tunnel (driver's side):

Close-up of the driver's door panel (this is the area where one might rest their elbow)

Extreme close-up of the same area of the door panel (note the 24 years of skin oils, dirt and grime embedded in the pores of the leather).

Can Leatherique's Prestine Clean get the leather clean?  Will the door panels ever look new again?  Will there ever be an Airplane III?  Will I stop asking myself questions?

Stay tuned as I answer these questions (well, most of them) in the next part of this series as I discuss the process of Cleaning and Conditioning the leather.

Using Leatherique to Restore a 25-Year-Old Momo Steering Wheel

Yesterday, I talked about the positive experiences I’ve had with products from Griot’s Garage.  Today, I’m going to introduce you to leather care / restoration products from Leatherique.  Leatherique is well known in the circles of collector cars.  Their products have been used on collections all over the world!  So, when faced with a 23-year-old Ferrari in need of some "cow hide TLC", who do you call?  Leatherique!!

What is the part of the car that is touched more than any other part?  The door handle?  Nope.  The oil dip-stick?  (It should be, but…nope).  The gas cap?  With today’s fuel prices, I certainly hope not!  The steering wheel?  Absolutely!  The steering wheel!  You have the most interaction with the steering wheel than any other single component of the car.  Think about it…you touch it (and hold on to it) every time you drive.  You look over it, around it, underneath it, through it.  The steering wheel, while most likely not a focal point in the interior of a car, is one of the most critical parts of the interior.

The Ferrari’s leather wrapped, white stitched Momo steering wheel was in dire need of restoration.  The previous owner had used Velcro to place a remote control for the car stereo on the six o’clock spoke.  Word of caution:  When removing (and reinstalling) the wheel from the steering assembly, use extreme caution not to 1) scratch the painted area of the steering wheel and 2) mar the heads of the hex bolts used to hold the wheel to the steering assembly.  Further, if you are working on a newer car (one with airbags), please read the owners manual for the proper steps to disconnect any and all power sources so the airbag doesn't accidently deploy in your face!  (Flashback to National Lampoon's Vacation, "Look Honey, airbags!!")

The leather was dry, faded and felt like an old pair of combat boots...boots that saw action at Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima!

A visit to the Leatherique website and $25 later, the Leatherique Steering Wheel Kit arrived.  The kit contains:  4 oz. of Supper Prepping Agent, 4 oz. of Black Dye and 4 oz of Klear Kote.

This entire restoration took two evenings.  The first evening was spent setting up shop in the laundry room (the washing machine makes a pretty nice work surface when it’s too cold to work in the garage).

That first night was spent prepping the steering wheel by taping all the exposed metal parts and applying the Super Prepping Agent using some 600 grit wet sandpaper.  I simply saturated the sandpaper in the Prepping Agent and lightly rubbed in a back-and-forth motion all around the leather (avoiding the stitching).

This got the leather to a state where it looked like this:

This is also a very tricky and touchy part of the restoration.  Too much sanding and you’ll sand the grain out of the leather.  So, the trick is finding just the right amount of sanding required—without removing the leather’s natural grain and creating a smooth surface or worse—suede.  If you can get the leather where there is still visible grain, but the surface is dull to the eye, but soft and supple to the touch—BINGO.  Think of it like this, sand just enough to "rough up" the surface and "break up" the existing dye.  This creates a great foundation for the new dye to be properly absorbed into the leather and not have that "painted on look" that a lot of re-dye opponents preach.  Improperly prepped leather combined with dye not applied via several thin coats and your hide will look worse than Tammy Faye Bakker circa 1987!

I let the prepped leather dry over night.

While many folks airbrush the leather when re-dying, I wanted to preserve the contrast of the black leather with white threads and decided to “wipe dye” rather than airbrush.  Unless you’ve spent the summer in Gatlinburg or Myrtle Beach interning under the masterful eye of Fred the T-Shirt guy, the once bright-white threads would likely be nice shade of black at the hands of a non-experienced airbrusher!

With my trusty roll of paper towels in hand, I started the re-dye process.  The “wipe dye” process is actually very simple: 1) take a single square paper towel sheet and, while making the “okay” sign with your right hand (assuming you’re right handed), poke the center through the “o” in “okay” up toward you, 2) pull about 1/3 to 1/2 of the paper towel through the “o” and grip/squeeze with the “k”, 3) flatten and shape the “puff” you’ve created with the center of the paper towel, 4) arrange the “puff” in your hand so you can comfortably hold it and start the re-dye process.

Here I simply dabbed the dry paper towel puff lightly in the dye and started in working in small circular motions.  Certainly, extra care was given to areas next to the threads…one little slip and all the effort to keep the dye off of the treads would be all for not.

Holding the wheel in my left hand, I dyed using my right hand, pitching each paper towel once it got saturated with dye and started to show signs of “wear”.  While applying very little pressure, you don’t have to worry about paper towel fuzz getting in the dye or on your leather.  However, once you start to see the towel ball-up, pitch it and create another “puff”.  You can actually create several “puffs” in advance so you can simply grab a new one and keep working.

You’re probably wondering how I could work on the wheel without getting dye all over the place.  Luckily, the Momo wheel, when sat “upright” is angled enough such that the only part touching the surface of where it rests is the center hub where the horn button is (no leather touches any part of the work surface).  This allowed me to re-dye both sides in one evening and place it on the work surface (washing machine) to cure overnight.

The dye was applied in several very thin coats, again, using very little pressure. After going through several paper towels and really taking my time around the stitching, the end result couldn’t be better!

The kit came with a pigment-free dye Leatherique calls Klear Kote. This product is for added protection and enhanced sheen. I chose not to apply this product because the leather on the original Momo wheel was a matte finish (e.g., not glossy). Something interesting worth noting:  There is a stamp in the aluminum on the underside of the wheel that says “6 - 86”. This tells me the wheel was manufactured in June of 1986.

After the restoration, I think it looks just as it did in June some twenty-five years ago!

In the upcoming weeks, I'll post an extensive series on how the entire leather interior of the car was restored using Leatherique products.  For folks considering tackling a project like this, the series will be something you won't want to miss.  

Stay tuned....

Sacrilege: The Story of a Dirty Ferrari

I just think it is sacrilege to see a beautiful car that is, well…dirty.  Our Ferrari 328 got pretty nasty on the recent weekend trip to Asheville, NC.  It had a light film of pollen on it when we departed for our trip (‘tis the season for the sneezin’).  That, combined with the rain, road grime then bright sun the next day baked a bunch of junk on the finish.  I didn’t take any pictures (up close) of the grime…couldn’t bring myself to do it… but, trust me, it was bad.

So why am I writing about a dirty car?  So I could pass around my glass of Griot’s Garage kool-aid (because I’m drinking it, baby…in big gulps!!)  

I got turned on to Griot’s products a couple years ago.  I’ve ordered almost every kind of polish, glaze, sealer and compound they sell…plus, the 3” random orbital, 6” random orbital, pads of every color/texture, engine cleaner, undercarriage spray, car wash, rubber cleaner, rubber prep, rubber and vinyl conditioner, Speed Shine, spray on wax, clay and a variety of microfiber towels.  I’d like to think every time you see those pictures of Richard Griot’s fancy garage at his lake house that I helped pay for some of the floor tiles or perhaps a lift.  Richard, himself, sends us Christmas cards!  (Not really, but I’ve bought a lot of stuff from Griot’s).  Nevertheless, drinking the kool-aid…where was I??

Ah, washing the Ferrari for the very first time.  Speed Shine wouldn’t cut it with all the grime on the car.  Washing was my only option.  This is after a nearly 50 hour paint correction using various levels of compounds, orbital’s and three carefully applied layers of Griot’s “Best of Show Wax”.  Once I was done polishing and waxing that car, an elephant could have belly-flopped down the front bonnet and landed face-first on the ground while not leaving a scratch!  So, how was it going to hold up to water, soap, a mitt and a drying towel?  Read on…

I had purchased the Sheepskin Wash Mitt some time ago, but had saved it for this day (kind of like that bottle of wine that you bought in 2007…just saving it for the right occasion). Well, this mitt’s day had arrived.  Using the two bucket method, I got my wash bucket and filled it with about two gallons of water with one ounce of Griot’s Car Wash shampoo.  After putting old bath towels and plastic over the engine under the rear boot and carefully cramming old t-shirts in each of the engine vents behind each door, I took the sprayer off the hose and just let water run over the car from top to bottom from the end of the hose (some folks tape up the hose end to keep “metal from hitting metal”…if you are just slow and methodical, you should be fine).   Once the car was initially rinsed, I put the sprayer back on the hose and hit the rear of the car with a pretty sharp stream (too sharp of a stream and you can actually “sand blast” the grit you are trying to wash “off” the surface “into” the surface of the paint, leaving fine scratches).  This stream was also applied to the doors (lower half) and areas behind the tires (where most of the grit accumulates).  The shape of this car really allowed most of the grit and grime to accumulate on the rear.  So, wash bucket filled, car rinsed, it was time for soap.  I took the mitt, soaked it and walked around the car flinging soapy water on all the painted surfaces.  This is a trick I learned from a “fellow car guy” buddy of mine.  This gets a nice layer of soap on the paint that will attract most fine particles of remaining grit.  Gravity works it magic and most of the remaining grit will slide to the bottom of the car and ground.  (Just be careful when doing this not to let the mitt slip out of your hand…if the mitt hits the ground at any time, get a new mitt and thoroughly wash out the ‘contaminated’ one for the next time you wash your car.)

After the layer of soap was applied, I added a little water back to the wash bucket and started top to bottom , letting the mitt slide across the surface of the paint (with very little force/pressure) in one direction (the direction air would flow over the car when driving….so back and forth motions,  from front to rear).  Windshield down to front bonnet—rinse with free-flowing water from hose (no spray).  Roof behind targa (same direction… front to back), rinse.  Rear boot, rinse (careful with the amount of water going into the engine louvers).  Front fenders, rinse.  Doors (top half), rinse.  Rear quarter, rinse.  Front end, rinse.  Bottom half of each door, rinse.  Rear of car (painted area only), rinse.  Bottom of rear quarters, rinse. 

It was here I grabbed an old cotton mitt and washed the wheels, rear “non-painted” area around the exhaust and the black rock guard area around the entire bottom of the car. 

As I was rinsing, the water was actually just beading up and rolling off.  Three coats of Best of Show Wax really made the water slide right off the surface.  I’ve used a lot of products in the past, mostly high-end polymers, but I have to say the Best of Show Wax really impressed me!  (This is where I took my first sip of the Griot’s kool-aid).

Okay…time to dry.  Drying a properly washed car raises a lot of debate.  Basically, you want to avoid as much “touching” as possible.  I’ve used real chamois, synthetic chamois and microfiber.  For this application, I was going with a combination of compressed air and microfiber.  I used a small air compressor to blow air over as much of the surface as possible (especially in the little nooks and crannies).  Then, I sprayed a very light mist of Griot’s Spray on Wax (while the car still had some water on it) and gently rubbed (again, back and forth the same direction as the air-flow) with a Griot’s Microfiber Drying Towel to wipe off any remaining water.  The results were fantastic!  It looked just like it did when I completed the paint correction and still had that “slick to the touch, freshly waxed feel”.  (This is where I took a big gulp of the Griot’s kool-aid). 

I, then, took a separate microfiber towel and compressed air to dry the windows, wheels, door jams, under the front bonnet and rear boot (removed the t-shirt “stuffing” from the side vents, towels and plastic from atop the engine). 

Once everything was dry, the car went into the garage and was immediately covered.  (I’ll leave the glass, tires and vinyl for another day.)

All this while my wife was mowing the front lawn!  I can hear the neighbors now, “There he is washing his car while his poor wife does all the work!”  Not too far from the truth…but I did mow the back yard once I finished with the car.  That’s why we make a good team.  By-the-way, the front yard looks great, honey… (almost as good as the car).  (wink)

Our First Real Road Trip in the 328

After a two-year restoration, 50 hour paint correction and our first car show, it was time to get the 328 out on the road for something more than a quick jaunt to Sonic.

We decided to take a spur-of-the-moment trip to Asheville via the Blue Ridge Parkway this past weekend. This was the perfect shake-down for the 328 to work out all of the remaining, post-restoration bugs.

We packed our little bag and were off...final destination The Inn on Biltmore Estate. Since our anniversary is coming soon, we decided to try the Inn. I told Jennifer this was going to be an adventure....boy, was I right.

We watched weather reports all week and the last report was a 50% chance of severe t-storms in the afternoon. The plan was to drive steadily, but not not rush, and get to Asheville before any storms hit.

The ride up the mountains was fairly uneventful. We fueled up in Hickory and I noticed the oil level was a little low. I monitored the pressure/temperature and it was perfect. Every time we stopped, I checked the level. Luckily, there was no movement in the level...it was consistently about a half quart low (the car takes nearly nine quarts!).

Our first stop was the Moses Cone Manor. A stunning house that had an awesome view of the valley below.

Our next stop was Yonahlossee Overlook. The skies were threatening, so we figured we better snap a photo. We're thankful for signposts and camera timers.

Back on the road, the skies got darker, and darker...and darker. I tried to pull up my handy-dandy weather radar app on the Droid....no luck....(on top of a mountain on the Blue Ridge Parkway, one can't assume the cell coverage will be all that dependable).

We figured we better stop soon and put the targa on and prepare for some rain. We had no idea.....(last pic checking the oil level before the rain hit.....)

As this picture was taken, lighting was getting really close. Bolts could be seen in the not-so-far distance. About 60 seconds after this picture was taken, we were pulling out of the pull-off area when lightning struck the base of a tree about 20 yards from us. As the lightning hit the tree, the area that was hit turned as orange as fire. Truly an unbelievable sight! After we changed underwear, we were on our way.

A lot of people don't realize this, but Ferrari's will not melt if rained upon. This may blow a lot of people's minds, but it's true. Here's proof:

Would I go for a drive if it looked like rain...nope. She'd sit in the garage until a sunny day. But, sometimes, when you're out and about, Mother Nature wins and you have to play what you're dealt.

Ask any car guy and he'll say his biggest fear (weather-wise) is getting stuck in a hail storm. Luckily, we missed the hail, but drove through some. I've never seen hail like this...it was like driving on a snow covered road.

So, in a matter of minutes, we dispelled two myths....Ferrari's in the rain and Ferrari's on ice! (If you've ever seen the original factory literature for the 328, you'll recall a picture of a 328 on ice with guys playing hockey around it...I find this strangely ironic)....

Check out the hail that was on the road on this point of the Parkway. Note the tunnel ahead. The car approaching us looked like it had sat in the tunnel to wait out the storm. You should have seen the look they gave us as we passed by them. A true pie-eyed look of disbelief.

Here's another hail pic:

With a few miles to go, I noticed a slight vibration on acceleration. At low RPMs, everything seemed fine. Down shift or accelerate and there was something just not right. I spent about ten minutes trying to convince myself there was nothing wrong, but I knew deep down something wasn't right. I even said to Jennifer, "I think we're down a cylinder." My first thought was the rain. But, the shape of the car and the airflow over it doesn't let much rain into the engine area. It would turn out to be perfectly dry. Plus, during the restoration, we upgraded to an electronic ignition system. There's no longer any rotors to get damp to cause ignition malfunction. Luckily, we were at the end of our Blue Ridge Parkway journey and near a visitor center. We took a bathroom break and I popped the back to see what was going on....here's what I found:

Sure enough, the #4 cylinder spark plug wire had come off. Best I can figure, we followed a truck for a while going between 30 and 35 MPH. With the wet roads, I didn't keep it wound too tight. I'm thinking the added vibration of the engine lugging down worked the wire loose and eventually caused it to come off. No worries, I'll just put it back on.....except for the hairline crack in the extender that caused a very slight miss that just happened to surface as we pulled into the Inn's parking lot.

Spark was jumping from the extender to the valve cover. A call to my mechanic--Wade Nunez--confirming some electrical tape would be sufficient to get back home and we were good-to-go.

So.....

About 330km (Euro car....don't have miles on the odometer), some mechanicn' and a clean pair of underwear later, we arrived at the Inn. And let me tell you....we did arrive. Our first time staying at the Inn, but not our last. Good ol' camera timers:

Just last week, I asked Jennifer, “What is your favorite place we have stayed”. The answer produced a short-list of nice hotels (and even a couple budget ones), but our experience this past weekend at The Inn on Biltmore Estate just might trump all other places on that list!

From the moment we arrived, the experience was First Class. The room was clean, the bed very comfortable and the towels very plush. Thanks to a couple in a neighboring room, we did learn that the walls are a little thinner than first thought. This is simply further proof of the romantic element that the Inn embellishes. After all…spring is in the air!!

We choose not to eat in The Dining Room at the Inn because there was just nothing on the menu that really knocked our socks off. However, we did make reservations for The Bistro at Antler Hill. We arrived early and were promptly seated at a nice, private table. My wife had the Pancetta Wrapped Pork Tenderloin, while I had the Sea Bass. The food was delicious, perfectly prepared and presented. The pace of table delivery was spot-on. The portions were adequate, as we never felt miserable (even after the Artisan Cheese Plate, entrees and desert). Bobby was our server and absolutely made a good dining experience a “great” dining experience. Bobby took our picture, but the flash wasn't on. Although dark, we thought this was a better picture than the one with the flash.

We utilized the Inn’s complimentary shuttle service to get to and from various points on the estate. Each driver shared their extensive knowledge of the estate as we drove along. When you visit Biltmore Estate you cannot help being immersed in history. Learning about the pioneering scientific forestry techniques employed over 100 years ago was really interesting and something—although we had visited the estate several times before—that was news to me.

Our day at the house was very nice. The best we could recollect, this was our fifth visit to the estate / house—but the first visit to see the newly renovated Louis XV Suite.

Being the second weekend in April, the azaleas were just beginning to bud. The tulips, however, were at peak and beautiful. Give the azaleas a couple more weeks and they will really start to pop!

The happy couple (no timer this time....actually asked someone to take our pic and it came out really nice!):

Proving how customers come first, as we were leaving, we asked the valet staff if they knew where we could get some electrical tape. They looked, but didn't have any there. They called engineering. Jerry in Engineering got me some electrical tape to wrap the spark plug extender (while still cold...so it would expand while tightly taped).

Overall, our first stay at the Inn was a phenomenal experience!

The ride home was pleasantly uneventful. The electrical tape held and the car didn't miss a beat (literally).

Here's a picture for the ol' scrapbook:

Just one regret....Jennifer should have been in the picture (not taking it). The house was closing and there were not many folks around to ask to take our picture.

Guess we'll have to go back for another photo op!!! (Darn!)

I promised Jennifer an adventure....and kept my promise.

Safe Travels!