Bill - In a nutshell your email to me today regarding your first real drive in the F40 summed it up in a few sentences for me. While the car has character it's old technology and the "fun factor" (IMO) was simply not there for me anymore. I went through my "old collectible" phase (almost bought a 288GTO through Joe) and did a 180 and decided that the older cars weren't as exhilirating to me as the newer cars. So ... out with the old and in with the new.
Fantastic addition! Amazing color on the Enzo in person. The red must look fantastic under that black. How about some updated garage pics? _J
I agree! Black/red is my favourite. After that red/red. Very though choice! I reckon yellow calipers will look great on a black enzo too...
It seems like many people lust after owning an f40 for a long time but once they have the car come to this conclusion that they are more fun to look at than actually drive.
Quite frankly I think a lot of the owners are intimidated by the car. Not saying this is the case with Jeffrey but from my experience with the car, it's far my exhilarating than most of the newer offerings from Maranello. Sure, it's older technology... the brakes don't work very well unless upgraded, there is turbo lag, no TC, etc.. Who cares! I've heard of people that bought F40s and almost immediately crashed them because the technology was older than what they were used to. Anyone can drive a CS or Enzo hard without having much skill. You MUST have skill to drive an F40 hard. I do think the newer cars are far more practical to own & drive but that doesn't make them better, IMHO. F40s Rule!!!
I've driven my new F40 about 300 miles so far. Some people will love it and some will hate it. I'm tending to like it so far. The newer cars are definitely faster, easier to drive and more comfortable. But the F40 is scary to drive, unlike the other cars. On curvy roads, you need to wrestle with the steering, brakes and shifter, the accelerator pedal is sticky, it has lag, it makes all kinds of strange hisses, whistles and pops, the doors rattle, etc. But the adrenaline rush you'll get trying to keep up with the faster cars is pretty unique. I'd have to say my heart was beating faster after driving the F40 than any of my other cars, at much slower speeds in the F40! It just feels like you're going to kill yourself! And with nothing to protect you, that would be easy! So, some people love that and others hate it. I kind of like it, and I may grow to love it. But I'm not sure I'll ever hate it. It's a real handfull on curvy roads, but it is definitely fun listening to under full acceleration on long straight roads, and it pulls pretty nicely over 120 or so.
If you ever want to upgrade it at all, talk to Chris Parr. The brake upgrade make the car much safer. My buddy Wes' car is geared to be faster from 0-60 than a stock F40. When accelerating it feels like the front end is going to lift and take flight! I've been in a lot of fast cars including an Enzo but nothing is as scary or more exhilarating for me than the F40 was.
I should add that cars like the Enzo and CS feel light as a feather when you drive them. The F40 feels very heavy, almost like driving a truck. Some people want the experience to be like you're flying down the road with the car connected directly to your bones with no play or delays. Just do what I want when I say, instantly! The CS, Enzo, GT3 RS and the CGT are like that. The F40 does not feel like that. You need to fight with it, and it doesn't respond instantly or easily. It doesn't feel like it's part of your body. You need to work it! So, pick the experience you like. I think that's why you hear all this stuff about these cars, old and new. It's just the feeling you're looking for. Flying down the road as fast as possible with nothing to get in your way (CS, Enzo, GT3 RS and most newer cars), or trying hard to make the car go as fast as possible (F40 and many of the older cars) with all kinds of stuff in your way.
Only one person who I can think of who felt that way. Most would never sell it. Just ask Jas (RufMD). IMO most owners don't have the driving skills needed to ring it out and can get afraid of it....
Bill sums it up very nicely (and comprehensively) in post #166. I'm sure there is some truth to being scared of the car but I never experienced fear with the F40 simply because I never drove it at or close to its limit! . While I think I'm a capable driver I'm certainly no Mario Andretti and am fully aware of my limits. I never wanted to risk even the slightest chance of damaging the car. I probably should have tested it's limits at some point somewhere (a track or private air strip) but never had the chance to take the car to such a venue. On the other hand I did have the chance to experience a closed environment in my Stradale and Murcielago and feel very comfortable with the limits of both those cars. My biggest problem with the F40 (and the F50 to a lesser degree) is part of what makes the car charming and gives it character. As Bill and a few others indicated - the car has to be driven. It demands respect and requires work. It connects the driver directly to the road and requires more from it's driver to achieve the same results a modern supercar achieves with half the effort. It's sort of like choosing between camping and a five star hotel. You can have a wonderful experience in both situations but that experience is very different. For me - my interest now is in the new, more modern and more technologically advanced cars. You can't say that one is better than the other. It's simply a preference.
