My friend is a retired dentist. He told me how people would react to different cars. If he had a new BMW or Mercedes, the comments were always, "he must be overcharging" or "he's ripping people off" and the like. If he drove a simple sedan, people would think he wasn't a good dentist because he wasn't making enough money to drive a nice car. It's a lose-lose situation for dentists
Shortly after getting my 308, I was out one sunny day taking photos around northern Colorado. I stopped to grab a shot of a train pulling into a siding where I could get the snow capped peaks in the background. As I'm setting up my tripod, the engineer climbs down from the cab and walks up to me. He says, "That's a beautiful Ferrari, you don't see too many in blue." I thanked him and continued with my camera. He then sticks out hands in which he was holding the throttle and reverse levers (essentially the "keys" to the locomotive) he says, "Trade ya..."
Hey Patrick whats up. One guy stopped got out of his 2001 red toyota truck and ask me what color is that. My car is Coros Red. i reply all happy "it's red" wondering where this was going inside my head. He goes on to tell me how his 2001 toyota 2wd reg cab truck is almost the same color. i was kind of ****** and asked how does this have anything to do with my car and walked away.
I was filling up with fuel and a guy in a white van stuck his head out the window and with a big grin on bios face shouted: "ere mate, is it one of them (Toyota) MR2 replicas?" I shouted back: "yeah, but I had to stick two together to get the width".
I pulled into a 7-11 several years ago in my 66 Jaguar Mark 2. There was a homeless dude sitting on the next concrete parking bumper. As I get out he looks up in blood shot eyes squinting and says, hey.....a 66 Jag sedan. I say your dead on. He say's....I used to have one of those, but that seems like a really long time ago.
And honestly a trifle sad. I'd be curious to know what the guy's story was. Probably the funniest thing I've heard is while filling up a guy in his 40s asked me if my '98 355 was a 2011. I mean it was clean and everything, but...brand new?
A couple years ago, I needed to gas up our company's Gallardo (we had a private membership driving club). As I was pulling into the BP, a homeless guy got up next to the corner dumpster saying "Ahhhh YEEAAAAHHHH! as he was heading my way. I just said to myself, "Ahhhh NOOOOOO!" , fired it up, and headed to a station a couple miles down the road. Had no time or patience to deal with all the potential questions and comments...
Correct me if you feel I am wrong (although I know I am not) but isn't that just another typical arrogant action by an exotic car owner/driver who feels they are 'above' everybody else?? It saddens me you get to drive such a fine car and feel sharing it is such a burden. That is why imho so called exotic car owners get such a bad public rep. You gotta spread the luv brother , you either follow or you lead.
One short homeless dude stroy. I was pulling up to our local crab shack for take out; parking is always tight. I stop to see if someone ahead is pulling out of a space and this homeless dude yells from the sidewalk..."Do you want me to Valet that red car?" I told him no thanks and he just laughed. I hit him with $5 on the way into the restaurant...told him that's my "Normal No Valet" tip. We had a good laugh together.
Got to say, I'm in agreement with you. If you're big enough to drive it, be big enough to share other's enjoyment in it.
True story and +1. It's kind of a shock to the system if you're not used to attention and you start driving one of these cars. Certainly makes ya become more outgoing.
Very true. Then again, maybe it's just outgoing people are drawn to drive attention gaining cars. Not too many bookworm types in fast Italian cars.
My dentist's name is Dr. Ferrari....seriously. The sad part is that he's not a car guy....Great dentist though.
As I was pulling into the BP yesterday, a homeless guy got up next to the corner dumpster saying "Ahhhh YEEAAAAHHHH! as he was heading my way. As I got out of the car, he approached, limping and effusing an overwhelming stench of hard alcohol and cheap cigarettes. His hair, a long grey tangled rat's nest, fell over much of his rough, leathery face. Only a single, black rotted tooth was visible as he opened his mouth to gruffly ask me what kind of car it was. "Lamborghini", I said as I looked him over. "Must be expensive", he muttered while intently staring at the car. "It probably is", I stated. Scanning the tattered rags he was wearing, I considered what kind of career this man must have had before he fell on such hard times. Maybe he was an ex-police officer whose family was killed by a hardened criminal he had arrested, causing him to give up all hope and leave society. Or maybe he was a brilliant but eccentric mathematician whose work on infinite number theory finally drove him toward madness. It happened to George Cantor, after all. And, arguably, Gödel. In front of me likely stood... a man of greatness. Humbled, I tossed him my keys. "Honestly, I have no need for such a superfluous, inessential good such as this. Simple economic materialism and desire for social status is probably my only reason for owning it. Why don't you take it", I said with much chagrin. I paid for a full tank of gas in cash and filled the car up as he emptied his shopping cart full of worldly goods into the passenger seat. I showed him how to start the car and put it in first gear. And as he pulled out of the gas station and on to the main road, he caused a horrific accident involving a motorcycle, bicycle, 2 pedestrians and a school bus.
Being a dentist myself (Oral Surgeon) I can attest to the "no wonder his fees are so high" mentality, so I rarely drive my 360 to the office. However, when I did and someone asked "is that your Ferrari outside"? I replied "is there a Ferrari out there...cool!" When I then said, yeah, that's my car, my patient said "I guess I'm paying for it" and I said "nah, that one's paid off...you're paying for the next one!!"