How old were you when you bought your first Ferrari?

90' TR @ 29

 

I got an inheritance when I was 18 and I invested some of it and blew some of it. I will tell the story when I bought my F-40 it was 1993 and it was the day of the Newport fires, we went to Newport Ferrari and the did not have a F-40 so we drove to Beverly Hills Ferrari and pulled in to the hotel next door. I walked in with long hair a Grateful Dead tye-dyed shirt torn jeans and Birkenstocks, you know your average Ferrari buyer. There it was on the showroom floor with ropes and a "DO NOT TOUCH" sign on it, so I moved the ropes and tossed the sign and open the door and sat in it, just then as you could imagine a not so nice salesman came out and asked me what the hell I was doing to which I answered " I want to buy this car" he laughed and proceeded to tell me this was a "Half a million dollar car" I told him "No S*#%!, go get the manager" This guy comes out of the office and in a prickish manner says "May I help you?" and I said "How much out the door?" he told me like "478,???.01" The penny I remember because I reached into my pocket and handed him the penny and said "Don't sell this car for 30 minutes while I go get a cashiers check" to which he agreed with a scoff. So I haul ass to my bank First Innermistake on Wilshire a couple blocks away and I get the cashiers check and return in 20 or so minutes. I hand him the cashiers check which he took and went to his office, I followed and he called the bank to make sure that it was real, to which my banker replied "Do you know who that is???? He could buy your whole store!" You should have seen the look on that pricks face look up from the phone and look at me and said "Sir, I, I am so sorry! I didn't know Uh, Uh," he runs out to the show room floor and proceeds to yell "Get these Fuc***g cars moved" referring to the rest of the cars on the showroom floor. This is when the service department was in the back there not down the street. Boy you should have seen them tripping over their own dicks at that point!!! It was the funniest thing I had seen. The manager asked if I wanted anything to which I replied in front of the first guy who did not help me and said "Yeah, as a matter fact I do. I want HIM fired!" and pointed to the prick who did not help me. You should have seen the look on his face, because the guy was going to do it! He really was. After about a minute of the guy trying to say everything under the sun, I looked at him and said "I was just kidding, you did not like that did you? Hope you learned a lesson, now get my car ready I want to leave." I signed the paperwork and drove off into the sunset back to Rolling Hills where I lived. And yes I ran that thing through its paces the whole way home. They still have not forgotten that at BH Ferrari, I was there recently and asked them their strangest sales story, to which the guy replied "This kid came in here looking like a Hippie and bought an F-40 CASH........." To which I replied "So how did you treat him?" "Well..."The guy said. I said "I know how you treated him, cuz you’re looking at him!" We laughed a little and talked, but still I don't think they learned a thing!

 

That was an awesome story!!
You must have got a big inheritance if you could lash out on an F40 like that! I love your collection of cars. Drove the F40 into the sunset is cool man. Crazy talking to guys like you here on Fchat. You only read about crazy f*ckers like you and your experience buying that F40! Never heard that story till just then, but far out it made me laugh. Take care mate!

 

I suggest a flush and (possible) shift linkage adjustment.

If all that doesn't work, try double clutching into gear when cold.

 

May I suggest a gearbox oil change using Redline gear oil. Here is a related link to when I changed the gearbox to Redline oil in my 348.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=101885

 

Just be warned...

Do not use straight Redline 75w90 gear oil (or whatever weight your car calls for for that matter), as the additives will kill your syncros (assuming the are made similar to my 328's syncros, which I would assume given they are sister cars of the 80s in terms of design). To address this, Redline makes a same weight "NS" version.

I am not sure if the differential and gear box are linked in the same way as they are on my 328, but if so, you should not use strait 75w90 NS either, as it will cause differential chatter.

I use a 50/50 75w90 and 75w90 NS mix to address both. I would suggest posting in Technical to make sure what is best for your TR though.

 

That is what I would do 1st. I was merely mentioning the use of the Redline oil product in his gearbox.
That brand of oil has worked wonders for my 348 and the dreaded cold shift issue. Find out what your Testarossa uses in the Redline oil range, then go from there mate.

 

great story mate love it when the sales people treat you like dirt when you first go in and then suddenly realize you have cash etc.. happens a lot being a young entrepreneur. e.g. when buying an armani suit (around 5k) when I went in just in casual clothes I got a lot of looks etc. But then you pull out a lot of cash etc and they swallow their first thoughts always fun!

Anyway thanks for your story

 

Haha thats awesome. Classic story.

 

some people will never learn

 

32 - 348 TS

 

Sorry for my ignorance but how do you double clutch?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_clutch

 

Thanks Mate

 

35 (a 308 GTB). Didn't want to wait till midlife crisis will hit me (and the 3x8s are more expensive)

 

If I was a salesperson and some long haired 18 year old walked in and disregarded a "do not touch sign" I would have called the police. I believe your story is BS. If I was the manager, I would not care if you had cash, I would not have sold you anything. Just because you have money does not mean you make your own rules and treat people like crap. It makes no difference if a 40 year old man walks in dressed in a business suit. That guy would not push a sign to the floor and tell a salesperson to get bent.

The moral of your story is 'if a 18 year old black gangbanger walks in, pushes the "do not touch sign" so it falls on the ground, and jumps in a $500,000 Ferrari, then the correct thing to do is bring him a glass of champaign and tell him to pay whenever he can'??

I'm calling BS on this story. If Jay Leno can't buy a Ferrari because demand is too high, then I highly doubt some 18 year old can after disrupting a Ferrari dealership.

 

I was supposed to be 26. Had my eyes set on a 430 Coupe. But then I went by the Lamborghini dealer and test drove a 06 Gallardo instead and ended up buying it right there. Now at 27, I just signed the papers on a 07 430 Spider coming in a few months. Good times.

Oh, and I can definitely relate to the bull**** bias of some dealers against young buyers. I've never had any problems at the Ferrari or Lamborghini dealers here, but one of the Porsche shops around didn't even recognize my existence last time I was in looking at a GT3. Or rather, I got a few quick not-so-friendly glances that kinda set the tone.

 

After buying my first Porsche at 15 and owning all the Porsche models of the 80s, I then bought in '91 at 20 a 328GTS and title in my pocket, I have owned several Ferraris since then.

 

348 TS at 31.

 

'85 308GTS at age 27 (actually the first car I ever bought for myself)...drove that Taurus my dad gave me in high school forever...and my wife's jeep for awhile!!!

 

Yeah... Right now I am 25. I should be sittin pretty in a F355 or a 360 by 32.

 

Good luck on your dream and save your money
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I was 30 when I acquired my dream. I have been giddy ever since.
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I never get tired of seeing that car

 

40th birthday present as planned for many years. Also walked into dealership with jeans and t-shirt, then patiently waited for salesman to get off the phone before talking to him about the car I wanted. Later drove away with car. Sorry my deal wasn't more exciting than that, like threatening to burn the dealership down if I didn't get the car I wanted...guess I lead a boring life...