- Story by Lorraine Yapps Cohen
- Photography by Ryan Schultz
It’s always a banner day for locals like me when the La Jolla Concours d’Elegance comes to town. Indeed, once again, the Concours stood stately with more magnificent automobiles than one can imagine. But when one knows the winners as friends and fellow Ferrari Owners Club members, San Diego Region, it’s hard not to wax braggadocio about it.
On April 21, 2024, Club members and car friends, Gary Schultz and son Ryan took first place in the Ferrari Class for their 355 F1 Spider in red/tan, of course. The iconic color combination stands for the brand, no question about it. And the combination of the father-son team always seems to be seen riding together with the top tucked away to attract not only the attention of the ladies like me looking on but also every onlooker around. Although Dad Gary owns the car technically, he easily admits “Ryan and I both share in the joy of ownership!” What is family for if not for cruising together? What I want to know is who buffs that car to its usual brilliance for every public appearance.
Gary goes on to admit “I’ve always been a car enthusiast! My dad was one and passed it on to me and I passed it on to Ryan. I’ve had many cars over the years . . . and I like European cars from Germany and Italy! I think they are the most iconic and performance oriented vehicles you can buy!” As the story reporter here, I’d like to point out the abundance of enthusiasm as exposed by the abundance of exclamation points in Gary’s directly quoted remarks. This marks his affinity for sporting cars and particular thrill with Ferrari, the incredible marque from Italy, which comes as no surprise either.
Gary and Ryan also work together as a team to service those European high-performance automobiles. Yet, it happened decades ago that Ferrari made it big in the car magazines enough to garner Gary’s attention toward the Italian auto offerings. “When the 355 was introduced in the early 1990s it was the rave of every car enthusiast magazine as the best ‘performance road car’ ever produced, and the F1 transmission was revolutionary and the first street-legal car to have it.” Besides performance, Gary goes on to say that “the design of the 355 remains timeless in its beautiful lines.” Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and Gary can behold beauty as much as he can behold bold performance.
Besides sharing the joy of ownership, the joy of top-down about-town driving, and the joy of earning a first-place ribbon at the 2024 La Jolla Concours, it was Ryan who accepted the Concours award plaque at the podium. When I asked about that, Gary replied – or maybe gave the excuse – that “I was way back from the stage. Ryan got there first!!’’ There are those double exclamation marks expressing exuberance again . . . and maybe relief for the dad not having to sprint to the stage.
We now know who’s holding the keys and growing the glory forward for the Schultz’s first-in-class Ferrari 355 F1 Spider. I don’t think that car is done winning awards.
