512 tr stories

darius' thread about using his 512m as a weekend grocery getter, prompted some good memories of using my 512tr over the years. i am sure many of you have some good stories to tell, so here is your chance....

i will start.

parking in london is a problem. a daunting and expensive logistical obstacle. so when somebody offers you a safe parking space for your ferrari within the congestion zone, you do not say no. and this was the case when a friend of mine offered me a parking spot in an above ground parking garage in picadilly....i immediately said yes, no questions asked.

i got the address, the key, and i was off to move the car out of the kensington public parking within an hour.

well.....it turns out this parking garage was the garage right on picadilly, about 100 yards west of the ritz, and above the lebanese restaurant called Fahkradine (no longer there - i think the whole building may have been torn down recently). anyway, access was through an entrance on the street on the north side of that building, and onto a car elevator. for those of you that dont know....the 512tr is wide....very wide....and in central london this can be a problem because many streets were made for horse drawn carriages or at best a 1957 morris minor....and apparently, so was this car elevator; and to aggravate the situation the elevator had raised 'curbs' on either side of the walls. anyway, i managed to make my way into the elevator, with about an inch on each side between my wheels and the curbs. the next problem was the controls were on the right side, and my steering wheel was on the left side....ok, a big stretch, and a poke at the buttons, and we were off.

i arrived on the third floor, back out carefully, and did a 99 point turn (the other thing to know about the 512tr is that the turning radius rivals a battleship)... to point myself towards the parking spots. i finally locate the proper spot, squeeze myself into that and shut down the engine. deep breath. all is well. and i have a free and safe parking spot. yaaay !

all good. 2 weeks go by, and it is time to go take the beast for a run. i drive my scooter to picadilly and go up to the car. i start it, and head towards the elevator, make my 99 point turn and edge into the elevator. the engine is roaring, the exhaust is billowing, and i scramble to reach across the car through the passenger window to press the button.

but it was the wrong button.... the elevator stops, the doors open, i start to pull forward....into the kitchen of the Fahkradine restaurant !! so there i am...massively wide red ferrari, loud exhaust billowing....the cooks look at me, smile, wave, clap, and then momentarily stop their chopping to indicate that i ought to think of getting back in the elevator and leave them to their cooking. as you might imagine, i am in frantic disbelief, initially stunned and immobile, and then desperately scrambling to reverse into the impossibly narrow elevator entrance. i make it in, but then have to do acrobatics to get to the buttons again. i finally press the right one, and mercifully the doors close, and the elevator makes its final descent to the street.

i wonder if the diners heard what was going on in the kitchen.

anyway, this memory will always stick with me, and if i ever make a movie, this scene will be in it.

 

evidently the car elevator doubled as a freight elevator, and it opened directly into the kitchen. one of the most bizarre incidents i have had....and memorable !