Gil Nickel

Gil Nickel

I suspect most people knew Gil through his ownership of Far Niente Winery in the Napa Valley. Perhaps a sub-segment of that crowd was also aware of his participation and success in vintage racing. Even fewer, myself included, might have been aware that he was an avid motorcyclist. I only learned of that this year by reading one of Peter Egan's motorcycle magazine columns, gathered together in a book called “Leanings 3.”

But I knew Gil first of all through the old Bay Area Region of the Ferrari Owners Club. So what else is new? By far most of the people I know (or, in some sad cases, knew) in the world of toy cars was through my membership in that group. Those I did not meet there, even after joining the vintage racing brother (and in a few unfortunately all too rare cases “sister”) hood and adding to the population of driving obsessed nuts of all types, I was nonetheless bound to like some sort of rare earth magnet attraction to a steel bar, through various car clubs or introductions, by friends who knew of my “addiction” and took every opportunity to link me to others bitten by a similar insanity.

When I met Gil he was new to the Napa wine business and was turning the abandoned property he and his brother bought into what quickly became a beautiful and award winning winery. I learned the family was from Oklahoma and was in the plant nursery business...the jungle drums of the FOC said they had made their fortune landscaping freeways in Texas. At any rate, he had two interesting Ferraris at the time. One was a poster car for a peninsula Ferrari shop called “Cavallino Rampante,' a black Lampredi engined Superfast if my memory has not totally failed. The other was a similarly “odd” beast, a yellow 340 roadster. If anything an even more rare car than the black beauty.

Gil was the classic soft-spoken template for the part of America he came from, with sandy blonde hair and a round kind of cherubic face and broad, open smile. While the winery bucked the Napa trend of open tasting rooms and could only be visited by invitation, Sherri and I were there a number of times for FOC gatherings. As one would expect, given his background, it was beautifully laid out and landscaped.

The winery and residence were old, stone buildings with warm wooden interiors. Outside Gil and his brother had cut off the top of a hill and put in a sunken entertainment pit large enough to easilly hold a hundred or more guests. It was shaded by a large gazebo and bordering the pit were benches, counters, and cooking facilities. Of course there was plenty of wine as well. Far Niente quickly built a reputation based on an award winning chardonnay sold under what was said to be the most complex label in the wine business. Later an even pricier cabernet was added to the offerings. Though by today's standards in the US these don't sound overly costly, $40 and $100 repectively in the mid 1970s for California wines definitely “pushed the envelope.”

Then, like many of us in the FOC, Gil discovered vintage racing. Gil obviously had more money than I did, and when he jumped in (slightly after I made that plunge) he went in with nothing spared. I was still putting the Siata together I guess, and was parked in front of the old Frey Racing store in Santa Clara, contemplating how such small purchases, barely filling a single shopping bag, could have possibly sucked up so much money, when Gil came out with his arms full of goodies...driver gear as best I recall. Even then he had a box truck with “Gil Nickel Racing,” featuring a yellow curved road on a black background, lettered on it. Later there was a much bigger 53 foot trailer and tractor rig...as I said, he fell for the sport in a huge way.

Gil fell hard for Lotus race machinery...he obviously liked yellow as his Lotus 11, 26R, and 27 all were painted about the same color as the 340 Ferrari. Gil had a lot of other cars but, oddly, I never saw the barn with the full collection, though I was aware there was much else there besides the Ferraris and the race cars. I once drove a 4.2 E-Type Jaguar coupe of John Lewis's, which Gil later bought, for example.

Gil became wildly successful in racing, becoming European Vintage Racing Champion at one point...long before the US got involved in such foolishness as “vintage championships.” But it took the article in “Leanings 3” for me to learn he was an avid motorcyclist.

I wish I had known. We could have swapped even more lies than we did about racing. Gil died of malignant melanoma at the relatively young age of 64. His wife Beth continues to run Far Niente to this day. You can read a bit about him and the place here:http://travelcuriousoften.com/curious-thirsty/far-niente-a-vintage-love-story/.