Another "I just bought my first Ferrari" posts.

I had written off the idea of a Ferrari a few year ago as it seemed an unreasonable purchase given the evolution of my automotive aspirations. I had built my dream garage with 7 (potential) spaces, a lift, cabinets, floors, etc. My '75 Porsche 911S that my father handed down to me was in the midst of a restoration (still is) and the remainder of my stable were cars I felt reflected my tastes: BMW 330ti, BMW 318ti, Fiat 500e, BMW e30 M3, Porsche 991 GT3, Honda Element manual 5 speed work horse, and the family Hyundai minivan. Then my father came to me with a proposition. Split a Ferrari 50-50. He had always wanted one but being rather fiscally conservative for most of his working life, never pulled the trigger. For me, I could get into a Ferrari for 50% off and probably end up inheriting the other half at some point. More than that was the unique father-son experience. So the hunt began with the target price of 60-80K, which naturally falls into the 360 range. My dad wanted a spider so I looked for a few weeks but never got to the point of seeing or test driving one. As I did more research and showed my father all the salient points of thee cars, we he realized that he liked the way the F430 looked better, but that there was a substantial increase in price, like 2X. He was fine with that and, heck, I always liked the F430 better, so I started looking for a F430 spider. A few weeks, a few cars seen, and a few tens of thousands of dollars more than we anticipated, I found what I knew, was the perfect car. My dad test drove a few 10-20K mile cars with multiple owners and he said he felt they were used cars and that mad for a less then special driving experience. He wanted to feel that every drive in the Ferrari was an occasion. So I found a car out of Denver and flew there to see it a few weeks back. I can't say enough about the hospitality and professionalism of Ferrari of Denver. I flew out from California and they had a driver pick me up and shuttle me to the dealership, in an AMG S65 no less. I spent the better part of an afternoon there, going over the car, the records, and test driving it. They put in on the rack so I could inspect the undercarriage. They were the only dealership to service this one owner 1577 mile car. They answered all my questions about the service records till I was satisfied there were no holes. They were able to give me a CPO warranty and they paid for shipping the car to me. So it was delivered last night to a welcome party consisting of 9 of my close car buddies. The rig it came in was phenomenal. Within 30 minutes of taking deliver, I had my first Ferrari ownership experience. After having left the lights on for my friend to take the professional photos, the car would start so there we were at night, on a dimly lit office park road googling how to properly jump a F430. Pretty hilarious if you ask me, not only at the situation, but that the Ferrari designers, in all their wisdom, decide to put the jumper posts behind a panel that requires removing 4 hex head screws, Anyway, I'll let the pictures tell the rest.......
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It's a 2006 with what I believe is every imaginable option. MSRP when it was purchased in 12/06 was $276K. Basically 1/2 off a new car. I plan to take her out today.

I have Capristo mounts on the way, but what do you guys think about getting a set of MK2 headers in case since this has the MK1's?

Thanks for the welcome.

 

Chris,

That's my name as well! I grew up in Socal in Palos Verdes actually. I'm in Norcal now in Walnut Creek. Need to seek out some locals as I just joined the Ferrari Club. I know of a bunch of FB Ferrari guys up here. Before I pulled the trigger on this one, I was down at Ferrari South Bay looking at a red/tan 10K mile car.

Chris

 

Sure thing. My dad definitely surprised me with this one. I could tell from our daily conversations that he was probably enjoying the hunt for the car as much as I was. It's not everyday you go searching for your first Ferrari. In the end, I'm sure it's going to be a great journey for the both of us.