Do you drive your Fcar to work?

It's not an issue of being scared. I am certainly not scared of any of my employees. I just don't want to deal with the crap and the talking behind my back. You can choose to ignore it or pretend that it isn't happening, but it is. Ferrari or not it's happening. I put both my kids through college, grad school and now one through med school. My goal all my life is to get my kids their start in life debt free and you know what? I hear rumblings about that. Their kids are in places where they need to borrow, of course that's not my fault, but I'm still hearing about it. It's certainly not my fault and I'm clearly proud that I can do these things, but I don't look forward to hearing them .

 

No way would I dream of it. Very different attitude in the UK to the US.

In the US, folks gawp and think Wow, maybe if I work really hard I could get one of those, whereas in the UK, aside from the genuine enthusiasts, the reaction is either you must be a Banker or some other business where you don't deserve it, and anyway, why should he have one when I cannot-the green God of jealousy. Very unhealthy and very sad and a complete change from 30 years ago when I got my fist F car.

 

The US is no different than the UK in this regard. Jealousy is rampant here and only getting worse.


Mark

 

"Jealousy" which leads to a fear of driving a Ferrari?

Really?

I hadn't noticed.

What facts do you base your conclusion upon?

I've never had anyone give me any grief about my Ferrari, nor have I been flipped off, nor has my car been vandalized.

 

It's a good question and you offered an interesting answer. My answer is no, I don't drive mine to work for social and business reasons. The social reason is I have a lot of people working in my office who don't make very much. They are well aware that I have been fortunate financially (I own the company) but I'd feel like I was rubbing their nose in it. So I don't.

The more direct business reason is that my customers as a whole couldn't stand it. They would view it as money they shouldn't have spent. I've had a guy with a salary (salary mind you, not total compensation) in the $7mm/year range tell me how much he hated it when suppliers showed up in nice cars, like big Mercedes because "that means we are paying too much."

I think that last part is silly, but it's the way a lot of people look at the world.

 

The flaw in that argument is that you need the DD in addition to the Ferrari.
Not to mention the on the road costs.

 

The 328 *was* my summer DD for a few years.
(I bought it to take the summer load off the Celica GT-Four, when there wasn't a good replacement option.)
(That's why I know what an A4 cost, in '99. )
(The EVO wasn't available in the US before '03.)

Properly maintained Italian cars work fine as daily drivers.
I used an Alfetta GT and a GTV-6 as DDs, over a ten year span.
(Then Fiat bought Alfa and ruined the dealer network.)

Although, in the DC area, I get more flack for having three cars than for one of them being a Ferrari.

But having three cars means that one of them is likely running at any time.
If you have only one, you need a fairly new one that will "always" run.
--- And then you pay depreciation constantly.

People who trade in cars before the payments are over are constantly behind the power curve.

I may be paying insurance on three cars -- but they're all paid for.

 

I drive my Ferrari to work all the time.

I tell people that I work for a living, and I make my car work.

 

A "summer" DD isn't a DD.

Other than that I tend to agree.
But.
I ran a seventies Fiat as a DD when it was new. Even then calling it a DD in a Boston winter was, shall we say, optimistic.
My GT/4 has been completely reliable since its refurb and fettling but I'd never rely on it as a DD. If nothing else waiting on parts might take it off the road for an indeterminate period.

 

Sounds familiar...

During my divorce a few months after retirement I found out that the OSI had been watching me all along. In addition to the Ferrari, I guess having a wife (at the time) from Holland with family in Amsterdam (one married to an Ecstasy dealer and always having weed parties) didn't help any. Plus we used to travel back fairly regular, being DINKs and all...

In the end, it's a good thing I was/is a straight arrow. But the good life does come with a few caveats.

 

I used a '71 Fiat 124 not only as a DD, but rallyed it, too.
It's a bit of a handful in snow, but it's doable.
(A bit of a learning experience, too. )

The Alfa Spider was my DD for a few years, but it's also a bit nervous in snow.

By contrast, the Alfetta GT and ('80s) GTV-6 were fabulous DDs, year round.
I ran them in Metro West in winters without even using snow tires.
With a perfect 50/50 weight distro, they handled snow quite well.

The things that make a car handle well in snow are the same things that make it handle well on the track.
Both are a matter of handling at the limits of traction.
It's just that the limits are much lower in snow.

The 328's heater works much better than the aircon.
But I don't use the 328 in winter, largely because the tires are useless below 40F, and I don't have room for two sets of off-season rims.
--- And mostly because I've had AWD ricers for winter since before I bought the 328.
(I tend to shop for DDs by seeing what's being used for rallye.)

As I said, a *properly maintained* Italian is perfectly reliable.

But if you run an older machine as a DD, you want another older machine as a backup.


I suspect people get hooked into the consumer trap: they buy something "practical" -- and boring -- and wind getting bored with it and trading up to a new loan
--- thus trapping themselves into perpetual car payments.

In 1972, the 246GTS was $7K.
By 1979, I paid twice that for an Alfa Spider.
Yes, I spent five years paying for it. But I never got bored with it, and kept it even after the payments ended.
Going on 30 years after, so far.

I just wish I'd started a little sooner, and had a chance to jump on a 246GT when they were $7K.

 

There are many different factors involved, some of us can and some of us can't or better not to drive the Ferrari to work. In the case of OP, I think it's better for him to drive some other DD to work and not his new F430. Just my 2 cents.

 

I young-ish. I'm not the boss. I hear all the snide comments people make. I see the world getting more and more jealous by the day.


Mark

 

I think, in Mark's position, it's probably wise to err on the side of caution and not drive a Ferrari to work. I'm young-ish as well (32) but I'm also the CEO of my company and I'm not concerned about my employees seeing it anymore. For me, once the first day was over, it was a piece of cake after that. Younger hires actually love it, or so they tell me.

Heck, it's probably worth it to "err on the side of caution" for many, many people. Maybe those of us who can reasonably drive the F car to work are in the minority, who knows. I do know this - I'd be really sad if I couldn't drive it on a semi-daily basis, and had to limit it to weekends or evenings. Evenings are family time for us, so it would probably just be weekends, which would suck for me. So, I'll count my blessings... It's just such a joy to drive that car!

 

Maybe you need to look the other direction

 

One of my clients found out about me buying the F430, soon after, he tried to start the same exact business (behind my back). So far, he's not having a good luck. Lesson learned, I don't tell many people.

 

I don't believe they were 7K. They were still available new and cost over 12K US. By the early 80s they were down somewhat, but 7K was probably lots of trouble.

You could buy a smaller house on Long Island for 20K in 1972. 7K in 1972 was a lot of money. I remeber seeing Toyota 2000GTs for 8K back then now much more than a Dino.

I had a TVR Vixen as a DD in the early 80s. When you are a kid, lack of heat in the winter, lack of AC in the summer does not matter. Still have the car.

 

...And joker57676 should not quote Juan-Manuel Fantango.. That may be the reason for his view of the world.......

 

I quoted it because I'm a lawyer and found it both hilarious and incredibly ignorant.


Mark

 

First-time poster here, and I really identify with this topic. It really depends on the people you work with. The workplace will always have gossip and will have people who constantly compare their "success" with others based on arbitrary metrics such as cars, hobbies and even the number of trendy side jobs.

I got some teases when I first brought a Porsche to work--my place is not a haven for car fans as the office carpark is filled with beaters, as hard as it is to imagine in the Silicon Valley. Everyone eventually got used to seeing the Cayman, and everyone knows that I take my work dead seriously.

But people will subconsciously channel their jealousy. They will make excuses about "why I don't have a ______ yet," not wanting to admit that they really don't have the passion for impractical cars, not wanting to admit that they simply grew up to have different priorities.

These are the ones that will keep me from showing my next cool car at work. I will bring it but keep it parked further away, to be shared only with the car enthusiasts on a nice Friday. My life is too short and busy to solicit sour grapes.

Looking to acquire my childhood hero later this year--an F355 Berlinetta. It will be challenging as we just had our first child born, but I'm looking forward to taking it on.

 

It's funny how things can be so similar and yet so different! Out here in the Midwest where I work we also have a private physician lot. The difference is here everyone is very conservative with their car purchases. I drive a Porsche and it received a bigger reaction than I initially expected. A HUGE part of me wants to drive my incoming fcar to work, I really don't want to rub it in the patients faces, however I could definitely park out of eyesight. I really don't care too much what other docs think, but I have others to think about beside myself as my group has a contract with the hospital and I would hate to place that in jeopardy by creating negative blood with the administration.

 

I drive an Fcar to work everyday rain or shine , I am fortunate in that at my office I have a private garage o I just pull the car around back and park inside all locked up and safe it is a very cool set up..

 

THAT is why I don't drive mine. Just not worth the time to explain it constantly whether they believe it or not that it cost less than their new 335i.

It's just not worth it IMHO.

 

Similar situation. I'm not a physician, but my wife is. From time to time, she and I will go to the medical center campus together, and naturally, we park in the phys. lot. It is a surface lot, with some OBVIOUS signage to the public, gates, etc. Also visible from two busy thoroughfares. Not the best place for a phys. lot as far as visibility, but it is the closest lot to the phys. lounge and it's a good entrance point into the med center. Anyway, she and I will park there in her Acura RDX or in my BMW M5. We've never taken the Ferrari there, and never plan to. The most "exotic" car I've ever seen there is a 911 GT3. I know many of the physicians personally, and know they also have exotics in their garages, but those cars never come to that parking lot. By and large, that lot holds Lexuses, Mercedes Benzes, and BMW's. Nothing really exotic, and pretty much all cars are some shade of black or grey. It's not the place to go car spotting!

Caveat: I take my 360 to my office whenever the weather permits, but I never take her to meetings with clients or project sites. That's just my personal set of rules. It's a good problem to have!

 

I never drive any of my exotics to work but i guess, thats because i don't work - am fully retarded