Dumb Ferrari owners who thinks they know it all

I am sure a lot of you have met Fcar owners who pretend they have all the passion in the world for Ferraris and pretend they know everything about Ferrari when in reality, all they have is a bank account which can afford a new F430. What are your views towards these people?

I despise them. The reason for this post is because just today I was reminded about these two Ferrari owners I met at Maranello during the factory tour I had back in July. There were these two owners, pretty nice people in general I guess but utter morons with Ferraris. One of them made sure the whole tour knew that he had a F430 as every section of the 430 production line that we went to, he had to go up and tell his friend, loudly, that 'my 430 had gone through here before!'. He was already starting to get on my nerves at that point, but it was not until we got to the 599 production line that I started to suspect his lack of knowledge in Ferraris. Our tour guide was talking about the small amount of orders for 6 speed 599s, and that guy immediately gave a very surprised and shocking reaction asking, unbelievably, 'what...you mean, there, there are 6 speeds for the 599???'

Then we got to the part where the factory has a few valueable cars displayed in the building where there were the 599 panamerica, this Daytona race car, an GTO Evoluzione etc. This man's friend, another party to the tour and another owner, said proudly, as if he were Einstein, "this is the Ferrari F40!"...when he was pointing at the GTO Evo.

So we got to the 430 production line, and very fortunate for us, there was one 430 Scuderia on the line, with part of the car covered, but the front and rear were pretty exposed. Of course we did not know it was the Scuderia at that point as it was before the official annoucement. But most people were able to guess it should be the 'new 430 CS' judging by the very different and unprecedented front bumper; so most of us were pretty excited to say the least. Then, our 430 owner, or should I say, the clown of the tour, said loudly again "O i know what this is, its the challenge! The ones they use to race, you can see from the exhaust, its different from MY 430!"

On the way to the exit, which by that time I already confirmed that the 430 owner is an idiot, I heard him talking with the GTO Evo person about his passion for Ferraris. And he dare say "You know, everything for me is about Ferraris. Its just so natural, I just love it. I just have so much passion for it."

And I thought, if you claim to have so much passion for Ferrari, shouldn't you have done more research on it before mocking the brand and yourself with your pathetic knowledge of the marque? Don't get me wrong, I am by no means a Ferrari expert myself; 99% of the things you guys talk about on the Vintage and Technical forums I know nothing about. But I would never claim myself to be such an extreme passionate ferrari fan, and surely I would not make the unforgiveable mistakes that this 430 owner made during the tour. Afterall, the crap he talked about were actually on very easy contemporary Ferrari knowledge.

It seems to me owners of this sort are becoming more and more common because of 1) the mass production approach by Ferrari today and 2) the user-friendliness of Ferraris today which makes it very easy for anyone to drive a 430 than say, a BB512 with the ever so heavy clutch. Thus people with the money can easily decide to buy a Ferrari without needing much consideration(bar the waiting list) and 'think' they are such great Ferrari enthusiasts.

Any thoughts?

 

How do you mistake ANY car for an F40?

 

A budding Ferrari enthusiast will want to share and bubble about the knowledge he does have. And will likely have some knowledge that isn't right at all. Think of it as a learning process and hope that he scratches underneath the surface and begins to learn more.

 

I agree with you, as I said in my original post there are lots of Ferrari stuff I know nothing of too. But his mistakes are on subject matters so general and well-known (e.g. F40) that every Ferrari fan should know about let alone a owner.

Secondly, my point is, the ratio of his ferrari knowledge to his bragging about his knowledge and passion is completely unbalanced. Its good to learn, but learn it modestly before making a fool out of yourself; as it is a shame to have Ferrari owners like these IMO.

 

Who cares? People are people no matter what car they decide to buy.

 

I think you are mistaken Justin. You start a passion and then you slowly build your knowledge. Some people are just more enthusiastic than others and can get too excited and convey inaccurate information believing it's right. I don't think this guy is pretending his passion for Ferrari. He would not travel all the way to Italy for a factory tour just to brag he had a F430 and to show off. He may just be new to his passion and overly excited.
People are different and you won't like them all.

 

Fair enough. I am open to different opinions hence I started this thread.

 

I've had people who own SL65 AMGs tell me their Benz had a V8. Be happy he could tell that the exhaust was different on the Scuderia

 

Posers, Usually its the guys w stock exhausts whol have no idea what a Tubi is

 

Hey, I resemble that remark!'

BT

 

When I last visited the factory one of the Exectutives pointed to a large photograph of a Prototype flying with all four wheels off of the ground at the Ring being driven by Big John mounted on the Factory wall and with an impish smile asked:

You know that car Jim?

 

At Homestead back in March one of the guys who WORKS at Ferrari didnt know what NART is

Amazing

 

Oh that Executive knew that that was 0846. We were just joking around.

 

I found out a long time ago 2 things: 1) You will learn alot more by listening than talking. 2) If you do not know something just shut up; do not try and B.S. your way thru.

 

I agree with Tarek. In fact, I have been just as nutty about Ferraris and as obnoxious and annoying as that guy on the tour. The only difference is I DON'T have an F430 (darn it!) and I was 10 years old. Some people just never grow up - sometimes that's good, sometimes not.

Really the only problems I see in the situation you described is that his actions annoyed you (arguably your problem ) and that others on the tour may have actually trusted his "information" and went away with incorrect information.

 

+1

Well said.

 

Well said Tarek. To quote the infamous Buckaroo Banzai "Remember, no matter where you go, there you are".

 

It depends on their attitude. Going to events in Cali, you can tell who has the passion & is just misinformed... and who is the ****** on an ego power trip. The latter is the real enemy. Everyone else is just learning... even I have quoted wrong information, because at the time I was told it was fact.

Best movie ever.

 

This is nothing more than a microcosm of society in general. The woods are full of "experts" in every venue. Ferrari is no exception. I restored a Lusso from the ground up. I did it by being humble, asking a lot of questions and keeping a journal of everything I did and learned. I still do that with all my cars, my home projects, etc. Inquisitiveness is what makes us human. The cable company, putting in new cable yesterday, hit my neighbor's water line. After letting him tie in to my water, I stayed with the workers to learn what happened and how they repaired it. I simply wanted to learn. It had nothing to do with my income or my 575M or anything else. I am more knowledgeable today than I was yesterday. That is what matters to me. Forget the "know it alls." Live, learn and, use.

 

Ha ha,,, you mean they didn't have it located? (w/ Blue spray paint..)
Cheeze, that's so easy , even a cave man can do it.
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It is far better to remain silent and have someone think you are ignorant than to speak up and demonstrate it.

 

Are you sure that's not a typo?

 

So What! Some people are like this.

Forget about it!

 

Thats enlightening, Ken, we do seem to have a lot in common. As to this thread, I agree, give the guy a break. Many times our exuberance rolls over into almost childish behavior. I find sometimes that in discussing these cars with a friend, I can get almost euphoric and totally take over a conversation, so yeah, gotta know when to "shut er down".

But watch the Enzo Ferrari movie a time or two, or watch Victory by design and notice Alains enthusiasm. Get a bunch of old WW2 army guys or old pilots together, you will see the same kind of childish passion. I go back and read stuff I wrote years back on this site, and I am almost embarrassed. Some of the things ive said seem rather childish looking back. In fact, all of us blunder at times, or let our passion rule our mouth. But this place, these cars, and you people are a hell of a lot more fun and entertaining than the guys on Mercedes or Porsche chat, let me tell you. I wouldnt have it any other way. Really man, we are all idiots once.

As irritated as this guy may have seemed, imagine the workers at Ferrari, having to put up with guys like US every day. Guys like YOU! Asking stupid questions, making rediculous comments, turning fiction into fact. To keep smiling and keep explaining the same crap over and over endlessly, every day, to people with more money than brains takes the patience of Job. Well, they probably know darn well just who Job was, and thank God they are there and keep on smiling and teaching us. Someday, I too would like to travel to Italy and tour the factory, and before I walk in I will probably say a little prayer something along the line Alan Shepard said before his rocket lit. "Dear God, please dont let me **** up".

 

We are all learning in life. This guy was just maybe too enthusiastic and vocal about his knowlege. Let's give him a break since I'm sure we all have been there before.