Thrill is Gone...Thrill is Gone Away!

I almost started to feel that way when mine looked like the pic below. Then I got it all back together and remembered real fast why I wanted it in the first place.

I also think Daniel hit it right on the head! Find a group to go drive with, it really is great. Even if you do have an "old-slow 308 (like me!) it's still fun trying to keep up with a bunch of the newer cars.

Besides, If you get rid of it you won't be able to say those three most beautiful words in the English language...
"That's MY Ferrari!!"



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I've driven F cars 350,000 miles over 30 years. I've strapped baby seats in them. I've driven them in the rain. I've driven them in the snow. I've parked them on the street in Harlem. I've driven them into the dawn. I've driven them into the night. I've bent valves, cracked chassis, lost wheels, had turbo's catch on fire; but you know what? The bad memories have NEVER made me forget the good ones.

Agony and Ecstasy. You can't have one without the other and you know what else? You really wouldn't understand one without experiencing the other.

Why do you think Mr. Ferrari called his autobiography: "My Life Of Terrible Joys" ?

 

Sorry to hear about your sense of aura being lost, but you should really get out there with your local FCA chapter and have some fun. I can't agree more with Jack Russell Racing...the events/outings are a blast and I can't even begin to explain how fun they are. Give it a try and I hope it changes your view on things...

Cheers,
Travis

 

Funny I posted the same type of thread not to long ago.

One day I was driving mine and was really geting annoyed with it. For some reason the car did not like me that day. It was me of course,not really being in the mood to drive the thing in the first place. I think that is the key. You have to be in the state of mine to just drive and totaly focus on what you are doing. I was driving and my cell phone was ringing off the hook, and I had a bunch of things to do that day. The Ferrari was not the car to be doing this in at all. After I parked it, I seriously started to look at Corvettes. I was very close to pulling the trigger on a Z06..in fact I pretty much sealed the deal.

Then I got home and started the thread called "please talk me out of it". Well it worked. I started to look at the 308 pic thread in the showroom section and fell in love with the car all over agian.

Funny the next time a drove her,I literally slapped myself in the head for thinking of getting rid of her. I'm so glad a decided to keep it.

The 308/328 series car is one of the hardest cars to get rid of. I find that most owners when they sell, regret it in the end. Even though they have newer cars,there is just somthing about the 3x8 series that grabs you and doesn't let go. They are my favorite and I have pretty much driven all the modern cars out there. It seems the when ever I sit in the car it feels like home.

 

Hey, over here, I got something that will fix ya. Stand right here... don't move O.K... Now close your eyes.............BAMB!!!

Feel Better?

wake up, remember when you had to walk? now you drive a ferrari. Get some coffie will ya...

mario

 

Jim G - Please, let's trade lives, just for one day ! You can drive my 348, deal with my PITA customers, and try to tame a wild Jack Russell Terrier. In exchange, I'll drive the MKIV and P3.

Deal?

 

(See post in Vintage)

 

Getting together with other Ferrari enthusiats on a drive or meet might help you get the passion back. Actually, just driving your Ferrari the way it was meant to be driven almost everyday should do it...if not, maybe your right. Maybe you really have lost the passion and it cannot be found anymore. If so, you have my condolences.

 

give it to me for a few months and then let me know if you miss it and want it back

 

materila things never fulfill to an extreme but you have to apprecite them for what they are.


my alfa is far from perfect, has had its niggles but i everytime time i drive another brand or newer car, i want the alfa experience.before i bought it i thought it was going to be such a rush, it was cool and still is but i have learned to appreciate for the car it is.

 

Buddy, I don't know if there is hope for you! The day after my drives the cover is still off the car. When I open the door to the garage I just stop short every time. The lines of the car, the color, there are no bad angles to view it, the fact that it just looks fast sitting there - man what a gorgeous sight! THe other thing that just makes me stop and smile is when my wife or kids say, "Let's take the Ferrari." That's my Ferrari they are talking about. That's my piece of ultimate Italian car, artwork, history, tradition, race inspired, and on and on... Just that thought makes me proud as punch to be just a small part of this wonderful world called FERRARI! AM I the sick one?

;0) Jim

 

In regards to your friends, I would bet most of them think owning a 20 year
old Ferrari is nuts. The same as they think of someone who collects wine
that they never drink or some one who is an amateur radio operator, is not
firing on all cylinders. If the car is your passion and escape mechanism, join
the local FCA and enjoy your toy what ever is costs, or sell it and spend your
money on something else that brings you joy.

 

Nothing is wonderful once you are used to it. We have expectations that are set too high.

The problem is the price tag keeps going up. Any good salesman of goods competing for disposable income never sells the product. He sells the idea of the product and ownership. Anyone see the movie Glenngary Glenn Ross? The idea of "what it would be like" usually exceeds reality.

But who cares? We go on to something else.

The only things that I still eye with love and wonder are my wife, my 14 year old peak-a-poo, and my M3. And the view of the hills above my house. Not much else.

Even relationships with wives/girlfriends get old. The fact that I love my wife more now than ever is not the norm for me or most people after so many years.

 

What turbocharged Ferrari(s) have you owned?

 

SAT4RE:

I felt the same way you did about a Testarossa I had several years back so I sold it. Since then I have gone through several cars, some high performance some not, until I bought another Ferrari last year. I enjoy this car more since I know what to expect from owning a Ferrari. I accept it for what it is to me and drive it when I am in the mood. It is a much more even keeled "relationship" than with the Testarossa without the extremes of passion, frustration, or boredom. Right now it sounds like it is just a depreciating asset so you might as well sell it and invest the money somewhere else. If you get the urge you can always get another Ferrari down the road as I did, maybe with a different perspective.

 

What has the world come to??? We own THE car that the rest of the world only wishes it could own/drive/see up close/feel/etc, and we are bored with it? Sell it! Don't burden yourself with all the negativity it is causing you(or that you are imagining it is causing you). Or, if you are capable, develop a relationship with it that will give you a different perspective. Do your own work on it-change the timing belts and fix whatever else is driving you crazy. You will never be satisfied with having someone else do the foreplay and then just plunging in for the kill! I went through similar periods with my 1979 308 and realized early on that I needed to be the one that did the work, not the one that just paid for it. I have had the car now for over 14 years, and most likely will NEVER sell it. It is not the fastest, not the most beautiful, not the newest, the paint isn't perfect; but it is the most satisfying street car I could own because I do more that just drive it, park it, and look at it!! Good luck.

 

I love it!!!

Well said!

Wes

 

308GTBi with turbo installed by WWOC.

 

We'll see you on November 13th in Pinehurst then. I won't take "no" for an answer.

-Daniel

 

Interesting thread.

I have two theories about cars:

1) Live is too short to drive boring cars.

I totally agree with NNO on this: Make sure your daily driver gives you a thrill. One gets his thrill from driving a classic car (MGA, Alfa Spider, Mercedes Benz 190, ...) the other from driving a car that is very comfortable and so on .... I personally am in the lucky situation that I can find thrilling cars for me in almost every price range.

2) EVERY car is far to expensive to use it just as a means of transportation. This is where theory 1) applies again.

I think you are on a good way as you are looking for the THRILL in driving a car. If your (BEAUTIFUL !!!) 308 is not the perfect toy for you there are a lot of other options to drive a car that is not part of the mainstream. If reliability is an issue for you maybe a sorted 911 that was built after 1975 is an option for you?

 

Very well said Ari. My daily driver is a 100,000 mile, street-legal Spec Miata. I have got a total of $13,000 US into it, and it is a hoot. Yeah, it doesn't have the horsepower of a lot of cars, but it sure is fun to drive.

Dale

ps I agree with you about the Porsches. A 1987-1989 makes an excellant daily driver. So while I might not agree with you polictics , I do like your taste in cars!

 

SAT, i know a guy who once said, after having continuous trouble with his Ferrari, "i don't understand why it's always giving me problems - i never drive it...!"

That was the problem. It was never getting driven... Just like your car, only being driven on weekends... If you're fixing it more than you're driving it, of course the magic is gonna go - that's why you need to start driving it more...

As far as it sounding like a VW - i can attest to that; get a Tubi...


My only other advice to you, would be to make the costly decision others sometimes make... Get rid of it and go buy a sports car from a different marque; enjoy it and you'll soon start to see comparisons between it and your Ferrari... Most likely, though, you'll come back...

 

"Sounds like a Volkwagon?"" Are you sure your driving a real Ferrari ? I have never heard that comparison. Maybe she's not running right...

 

That would be a correct statement. About 20 years ago, I answered my own "clue phone" when I was at a convention for my work, and a speaker named Skip Wilkins (check him out at www.skipwilkins.com) made a statement to the crowd that left a permanent impression on me: "A man can have all of the things that life offers -- good family, great job, plenty of money -- but until a man deals with his spiritual, he cannot and will not be a complete person."