About Francis G. (Frank) Mandarano — Your Car Guy Tour Guide!
- Car Guy Since Age 12
- Decorated Veteran
- Licensed Pilot
- Founder of Maserati Club International and MIE Corporation
- Founder of Concorso Italiano
- Founder of the original and one and only Car Guy Tour
- Still a Car Guy at 60 and loving it!
Where to begin?
Frank, like a lot of you, became interested in cars and all things mechanical at a young age. In 1958, at age 12, he was already building model cars and airplanes and reading hot rod magazines. His favorites were Car Craft, Hot Rod, Rod and Kustom and many others.
His first car at age 16 was a '47 Ford convertible that was immediately suped up with reversed wheels, white side wall tires and three 97s. The flathead was eventually replaced with a small block 283 with the obligatory "Corvette" valve covers. The engine was mated (via an adapter) to the stock "three on the tree" trans which later gave way to the 39 Ford floor shifter.
Those were the "Happy Days" back in Bellingham, when Frank could be found out in the garage late at night with the Ford jacked up in the rear, while he and his friend Hank replaced another broken transmission. (Okay, technically they both should have been doing their homework.) The Ford was eventually replaced with a '56 Ford and then a '55 Chevy.
It was off to Vietnam after high school. After his tour of duty, he arrived in San Francisco, looked in the classifieds, went out and bought a red '61 Corvette Fuelie and jumped in and drove back to Bellingham Washington.
He is a fourth generation Washingtonian, whose great grandparents emigrated from Italy in 1901. Frank served in the US Army from 1966 to 1968. Due to his high mechanical aptitude, he was trained in multi-engine, gas turbine, multi-rotor, heavy lift helicopters, as well as single engine gas turbine UH1B "Huey" Gun Ships. As a Helicopter Flight Engineer, Frank was authorized to make any repair to the "ship" in the field to make it fly. Twice decorated for heroism, he received the Cross of Gallantry and Air Medal with "V" devise for valor while participating in aerial flight. Those were exiting times for a young man!
After the military, Frank settled in Seattle and enrolled in flight school at Boeing Field. He became a private pilot and went on to earn a commercial pilot license, with float and twin engine ratings. His hopes of being a commercial pilot were dashed when an old 30,000 hour pilot told him, "Pilots are like piano players. There are a lot of them, but very few make money at it."
In the late '60s, Frank ventured into the real estate business and bought the old Fremont Hotel (the left bank equivalent of Seattle), where upon he set out to transform not only the building but the neighborhood along with it. He didn't make the cover of the Rolling Stone but he did warrant a full page article. (See "Un-hassled Times at the Fremont Hotel," by Erik Lacitas. Rolling Stone Magazine Feb 21st. 1970, Page 12.)
It was during this period (1971) that Frank, now 25 years old, first ventured to Modena, Italy. While there, to his amazement, he toured the Ferrari and Maserati Factories — both in the same day. He recalls being shown the first Bora Prototype, which he describes as 'a mild religious experience'. At that moment, the young "Car Guy" became a Maserati enthusiast of the first order. Little did Frank know that at the time that he would return to Modena over 50 times in the next 35 years and the road map to his future had been cast. Was it destiny that brought him to Modena? Over the next 30 years, Frank would own — and put thousands of miles on — literally every Maserati GT car.
In 1976, Frank and his future wife and business partner Janet, founded the Maserati Club International on the kitchen table, after his newly purchased Maserati 3500 GTI "broke." The Club grew to become the world's largest Maserati club with over 3500 members from 39 countries represented. The Club newsletter eventually grew into the full color premier Maserati Magazine, Viale Ciro Menotti (VCM). Frank and Janet authored over 250 articles on a wide range of Maserati subjects, from highly technical fuel injection tuning tips to research on various rare and highly valuable Maserati "works of art." Along the way, Frank, by now a professional photographer, amassed one of the world's largest archives of Maserati photographs. Many images are of cover quality in medium format color positive form. Thousands of photographs in the archive are carefully indexed and cross referenced and much of his photography is featured in VCM.
Recap of the Car Guy Tour Guide's Evolution!
1978 — 1989 MIE Corp. The Mandaranos' established the MIE Corp. as an exclusive Maserati service and restoration company. MIE employed 4 mechanics, 3 trimmers, 1 sheet metal man, 1 body man and a part time painter, in addition to 4 parts guys. Over the next 11 years, MIE restored, and/or performed major service on, over 500 Maserati GT Cars sent from all over North America and overseas. MIE¿s parts inventory grew to over 8 million dollars in new/used Maserati parts. In 1994, MIE purchased the complete inventory of Maserati Automobiles Inc. (the USA distributor) for one million dollars.
1978 MIE Bindery. The Mandaranos' founded MIE Bindery, a full service printing and bindery company equipped with Heidelberg offset and windmill letter presses, as well as a Ditti web press. Running two shifts, the company was eventually sold to their largest customer.
1986 Concorso Italiano. The Mandaranos' founded the highly acclaimed Concorso Italiano which began with 45 Maseratis and, with their vision, grew to over 800 Italian cars, 10,000 attendees, high-profile global corporate sponsors, legendary Italian automotive personalities and an award winning event program. The Concorso Italiano became one of the official three big events of the Monterey/Pebble Beach weekend.
1999 Car Guy Tour. The Mandaranos' established the Car Guy Tour, a hobby business that introduces Americans to the Italian culture, Italian automotive design, restoration, and manufacturing industry. After years of annual pilgrimages, Frank had the thought that he was in Modena every year — surrounded by the best of the Italian automotive world and enjoying every moment of it — why not invite others and share with them this incredible opportunity to experience "up close and personal" the making of (design and manufacturer) Italian high-performance automotive machinery. There is nothing else like it in the world! Hence, the Car Guy Tour was born.
After 2002, Frank and Janet sold their interest in the Maserati business and the Concorso Italiano but held onto their real-estate holdings , which now included warehousing and upscale rental homes.
In 2005, the Mandaranos' took an apartment in Florence, Italy for 5 months in order to fulfill one of their life long dreams of actually living in Italy. Their 15 year old son, Antonio, attended a semester at the International School of Florence (he can't wait for the opportunity to return).
The Car Guy Tour continues to be a fun and rewarding way of introducing fellow enthusiasts to Italy and, hopefully, provides them the opportunity to experience the magic that Frank experienced on his first visit to Modena back in 1971.
To be continued...