There’s a saying that if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. Ridgefield’s Francois Sicard might be the epitome of that ethos. For seven decades, the renowned Ferrari mechanic/race engineer/restorer has been in high demand, preparing and caring for the most coveted vehicles from the legendary Italian sportscar manufacturer. At 85, Sicard is still working five days a week, maintaining one of America’s finest private Ferrari collections.
There are few global brands more valuable or recognized than Ferrari. On a recent trip to Rome, my wife and I stepped into a Ferrari boutique and were greeted by a chic staff that wouldn’t be out of place in the world’s finest hotels. Like most other luxury brands, the clothing and collectibles on display were pricey, but available to anyone with enough cash. The cars on the other hand are much less accessible, especially the race cars from Ferrari’s storied past. When these rare collectibles do trade hands, they command stratospheric prices that climb higher with each passing year. The recent and quite excellent Ferrari movie gives a look into some of these special machines.
Francois Sicard was born in Vietnam but grew up in France where he began racing motorcycles as a young man. Wanting to become an auto racing driver, his father encouraged him to first learn the mechanical side so he would have a full understanding of how cars and motorcycles worked—and more importantly—how to fix them. The young Sicard was a fast learner and within two years had his professional certification as a mechanic. After a two-year stint in the Army, Sicard got a job with Mercedes-Benz in Paris. “After six months, they sent me to school in Stuttgart, where I learned to prepare rally cars.”
From there, Sicard worked with DKW Auto Union in rally racing and then went to Le Mans with a the DKW Auto Union he built. While working for a Maserati Le Mans team in 1965, Sicard was introduced to Italian-American Luigi Chinetti. Chinetti immediately hired Sicard to work on his Le Mans Ferraris and sent him to the Ferrari school, where “I learned on the production lines in Modena and Maranello.” The larger-than-life Chinetti was the US importer of Ferrari and ran the North American Racing Team (N.A.R.T.), out of his shop in Greenwich. After finally getting a visa in 1968, Sicard came to the US and worked for Chinetti in Greenwich. “During the week I worked on customer cars, and on the weekends the N.A.R.T. racers.”
Sicard worked on everything from sports cars to Can-Am, and from Formula 5000 to Formula 1, during a period when motorsports was at its most thrilling, and most deadly. Between 1960 and 1980, more than 180 professional race drivers were killed. Including drivers that Sicard worked with like Pedro Rodriguez who perished in 1971 in a Ferrari 512 in Germany. But the death that shook him the hardest was that of Francois Cervert. The young, handsome Cervert was not only an immense talent, but he was extremely likeable. Sicard was Cervert’s mechanic in the Can-Am series. When I asked Sicard what his most rewarding race was, he quickly responded that it was Cervert’s thrilling 1972 drive to the podium at Laguna Seca in the McLaren M8F. “We had blown up two engines in qualifying so we had to start in last position.” Watching Cervert slice through the field, “it was the best race I saw in my life.” Less than a year later, Cervert was killed in a horrific crash at the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. With that, Sicard walked away from competitive racing, eventually opening his own business in 1979.
One of the biggest concerns of most vintage car owners is how to keep them running into the future. Sicard is doing his part to pass on his vast knowledge and skills to a younger generation. More than a decade ago, Sicard took on an apprentice, Tom Yang, who has gone on to open his own Ferrari restoration business.
Each year, the Lime Rock Park Historic Festival honors a specific automotive marque or a renowned collector with their cars displayed under the main tent. For the 2023 event, Greenwich resident Larry Auriana was the honoree. Auriana has amassed one of the world’s most impressive collections of rare and significant Ferraris, Alfa Romeos and Maseratis. He trusts one man to maintain his cars: Francois Sicard. Leading up to the Lime Rock event, Sicard pulled off the herculean task of preparing a staggering 17 cars to be shown.
Since they first met, Sicard and his lovely wife Pam have traveled the world in pursuit of automotive and motorsports experiences. In 1973, Sicard was partners at Touring Motors East, a Ferrari repair shop in Westport, which happened to be Pam’s home town. After returning from an extended trip to her mother’s native Holland, Pam got a job as a waitress at Westport’s Davey Jones restaurant (now the Black Duck). The Ferrari shop happened to be right across the street. Pam’s family was in the automotive business, so like Sicard, she was also an avid auto enthusiast. After meeting, they soon became a couple and were traveling to races together. Having both spent time in Ridgefield over the years, they decided to move to town in the late seventies, into the wonderful house they still live in today, where they quickly became part of the community. Pam even managed “Books on the Common” for 12 years back in their old location.
While Sicard no longer works in professional motorsports, he and Pam still love cars and racing. Events they’ve attended are an ultimate automotive enthusiast bucket list: Monaco, Indy, Le Mans, Goodwood, Silverstone, Amelia Island, Lake Como, Audrain, Pebble Beach, etc. After all these years, neither of them is pumping the brakes. Sicard is still turning wrenches on Ferraris, and Pam can be found at Southwest Café, happily waiting tables. •
