The California gets a bad rap as a watered-down Ferrari. But push come to shove, the list of cars we’d rather take on a road trip is rather short. So to highlight just how well suited the eight-cylinder cabrio is to grand touring, Cavillino Motors set up a cavalcade to one of Thailand‘s most historic destinations specifically for owners of the California T.
That site is Ayutthaya, the center of a Siamese kingdom founded in 1351. The city fell to the Burmese in 1767, but today it’s a UNESCO heritage site – and one heck of a destination.
Ferrari’s Thai importer organized the road trip for owners of the California T, six of which participated in the event. Little surprise that five of them were red, with the one exception (an earlier naturally aspirated California) showing up in white. They met at the dealership in Bangkok, drove to Ayutthaya some 60 miles away, stopped for lunch, then headed back to the capital at the end of what looks like an exceptional experience.
Ferrari launched the California in 2008 to stand alongside the F430 at the lower end of its lineup, bringing with its a number of firsts for the company. It was the first front-engined V8, the the first to employ direct injection, first to offer a dual-clutch transmission, and the first with a folding metal roof.
The model was initially powered by an atmospheric 4.3-liter V8 until it was succeeded in 2013 by the California T with a smaller but more potent 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8.
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