| Author |
Message |
'75 308 GT4 (Peter)
| | Posted on Monday, November 26, 2001 - 6:45 pm: | |
You've made a wise choice Jay! |
J. Grande (Jay)
| | Posted on Monday, November 26, 2001 - 3:42 pm: | |
I saw the ad in Forza and decided to check it out. I was a "Lurker" for a while but finally joined and I'm glad I did. This month, if things go well I will have made my goal come true...owning a Ferrari before I turn 30. Looks like my first Ferrari will be a 1975 Dino 308 GT4. Thanks Rob. |
BretM (Bretm)
| | Posted on Monday, November 26, 2001 - 3:29 pm: | |
I found it from expensivecar too. That site was useful too, but wow have things changed. I started using it when I got the 308 until it crashed, there weren't anywhere even remotely close to as many posts or people on FC. This site is great. Thanks Rob and all the guys that continue to contribute. |
Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
| | Posted on Monday, November 26, 2001 - 1:48 am: | |
For those that are curious, here's somewhat of a history...
Pre 2000 - Rob has always been a diehard Ferrari fanatic, but before he had his own Ferrari he used bimmer.org quite a bit for help with his 325is.
September 2000 - Rob bought his first Ferrari and wanted a similar type of community that he found with bimmer.org, except for the Ferrari community.
November 2000 - Rob set the website up and after some testing announced it to several of the existing Ferrari sites. I sent one mass e-mail to as many Ferrari e-mail addresses I could find. I think doing that a second time would of been spaming, but I wanted it to get started somehow.
December 2000 - Monty Bates from ExpensiveCar.com (the most active Ferrari community pre FerrariChat) had a crash and offered to link ExpensiveCar.com to FerrariChat.com if I could recover all the messages from ExpensiveCar.com and put them on my site. It took a few days, but as Ben said, you can now find all the old ExpensiveCar.com messages under Research.
Early 2001 - Started advertising in Forza.
Summer 2001 - Had small gatherings in the Dallas area for American Le Mans race, Ferrari Challenge race, F1 watching parties, and the FCA annual meet.
Fall 2001 - First ad in Cavallino and also the launch of FerrariAds.com.
December 2001? - Putting FerrariChat.com and FerrariAds.com under a LLC so the IRS doesn't come get me. Also, don't forget the free 2002 downloadable calendar.
2002? - FerrariAds.com will start costing a small monthly fee to help support all the sites. More content in the areas of Trivia and Research. FerrariChat.com regalia. Marketplace for sponsors to sell products online and also facilitate special user discounts and group purchases. FerrariChat.com user get togethers all over the world. Constant improvement in the site and the technology that supports this site.
2003 and beyond - FerrariChat.com will be here as long as I'm not with Enzo. I would like to sponsor a racing team. It will probably start with a club racing team, but then eventually maybe something like a Speedvision GT or Grand Am team. I would also like to start traveling the world to all the big Ferrari gatherings to meet with all the great users and sponsors of this online community.
I'll end this with my constant request for feedback and suggestions.
Thanks,
rob |
'75 308 GT4 (Peter)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2001 - 11:58 pm: | |
I remember Rob posting an entry at expensivecar.com inviting anyone to see his new website (early November 2000). I checked it out right away and was impressed. Expensivecar was fine for tech questions (big help when I first got my car in July 2000), but it severly lacked when it came to just talking about the cars and the world of Ferrari in general. This place has got it all and is so much better on the eyes and easy to use.
Thanks a million Rob!
(I didn't register right away, just made my posts as "Peter"). |
Ben Lobenstein 90 TR (Benjet)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2001 - 9:20 pm: | |
BobD -
IIRC - Most of us were users of a site called expensivecar.com, which had a unsectioned BB (meaning all post titles came up and you had to scroll far down to get to replies to past threads).
We migrated here kinda slowly then the expensivecar.com forum area had a system crash.
The owner was happy to see his idea grow beyond what he could afford (bandwith co$t$/time/effort etc.), and we are all grateful he was cooperative in linking to the new site as well providing us with the last backup of his BBS for use here (it's under research)...On that note thanks Monty!
-Ben |
Tim N (Timn88)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2001 - 9:08 pm: | |
i saw it linked from either some regional ferrari site or i think from the rm racing site, back before it had the ferrarichat.com domain name. |
Ron Dallas (328infoseeker)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2001 - 9:02 pm: | |
Congrates to Rob for all the hard work! This sight opened my eyes to the real thought of owning a Ferrari because of the support and knowledge learned about ownership.
Rob I to am a charter (early follower of this sight)!
Rob tell us about the relationship and story behind Expensivecar.com and Ferrarichat. I kind of recall something? |
William_Huber (Solipsist)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2001 - 8:50 pm: | |
I found it by 2 ways. The first was at the FNA meet at Motorsport Ranch outside Ft Worth. I saw the Ferrarichat.com on the side of Rob's 328.
second,
This guy has the link posted on his site.
http://www.buymeaferrari.com/ |
William_Huber (Solipsist)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2001 - 8:50 pm: | |
I found it by 2 ways. The first was at the FNA meet at Motorsport Ranch outside Ft Worth. I saw the Ferrarichat.com on the side of Rob's 328.
second,
This guy has the link posted on his site.
http://www.buymeaferrari.com/ |
BobD (Bobd)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2001 - 8:17 pm: | |
Craig, Peter, Chris, Bret (early FerrariChatters).... I'm just curious, do you guys remember how you found this site a year ago when it was just getting started?
Kudos once again to Rob!!! |
Ben Lobenstein 90 TR (Benjet)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2001 - 6:43 pm: | |
And thank you Rob, once again, for providing us this most valuable of resources!
Without this forum I wonder where some of us would be today with our love of Ferrari.
Not sure who to wish a happy birthday or happy anniversary, so I'll raise a glass to the website!
-Ben (Also one of the very first members) |
Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2001 - 6:19 pm: | |
I found some posts in the General Discussion archive that go to 11/28/2000. Craig, Peter, and Chris were all early posters. Bret too.
Overall stats as of now are...
160,430 total hits.
21,545 total messages.
858 total users.
I'll be sure to thank everyone for their particpation in the next user e-mail. |
Jim E (Jimpo1)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2001 - 10:33 am: | |
Maybe we should have an anniversary lunch? Damn, I'm always hungry... |
BobD (Bobd)
| | Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2001 - 9:23 am: | |
Rob, I'm not very good at this stuff but the earliest post I can find is Peter's post in the Showroom on November 30, 2000. When was the first post? Is FerrariChat.com coming up on its first anniversary?
How many total posts since its inception?
Congrats on a great and successful site... and thx for all your hard work! |