What is your embarrassing Ferrari story? | FerrariChat

What is your embarrassing Ferrari story?

Discussion in 'Ferrari Discussion (not model specific)' started by ernie, Mar 31, 2005.

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  1. ernie

    ernie Two Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Nov 19, 2001
    22,574
    The Brickyard
    Full Name:
    The Bad Guy
    You know what is embarrassing? When you are in the Ferrari, making a turn through an intersection going a little bit too fast, on old tires, spin-out and stall. Then you have to restart the Ferrari with that stupid forced smile of embarrassment on your face. Yeah that'll make you feel like a real winner. LOL!
     
  2. Dcup

    Dcup F1 Veteran

    Jan 3, 2005
    8,645
    Between 2 Implants
    Full Name:
    Claude Balls
    havent done that yet, but i have pulled out of a driveway, parking lot [ public ] and the the damn front end of the car was scraping as i was slowly pulling out, everyone was watching as i was creaping, with a look of oh sh%t on their faces, the fiberglass air dam was breaking apart with each inch i moved. i felt like a real a hole, a beautiful red ferrari with chipping away front end
     
  3. Mike C

    Mike C F1 Veteran
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Aug 3, 2002
    6,081
    Southeast USA
    Full Name:
    Mike Charness
    Parked in the parking lot and it was just THEN that the shift forks decided to get out of alignment so I couldn't get it into reverse. My daughter and I had to push it back out of the parking space so I could go forward and out. Unfortunately, this was with a good crowd watching!
     
  4. Husker

    Husker F1 World Champ

    Dec 31, 2003
    11,788
    western hemisphere
    The most embarrassing for me was in my 308. I was in the "turning left" lane of a major intersection, made it out into the intersection, and the car just stalled. Right there in front of God and everybody.

    Also, my fuel accumulator went bad and it would take upwards of 15 seconds from turning the ignition for the darn engine to fire. That was always fun and left people chuckling.
     
  5. synchro

    synchro F1 Veteran

    Feb 14, 2005
    9,294
    CHNDLR
    Full Name:
    Scott
    Does getting her bra tangled in the steering wheel count?
    Ooops!
    I mean the family version story is another; at the annual concours in Seattle on the waterfront. My Dino always runs rich and when I shut it down if I floor it then it will always backfire 4 seconds after the engine stops (Clockwork).

    Well these 3 young Ferrari kids were behind me helping me back into my concours parking spot and when I shut it down I stomped the gas. You should have seen them jump in the air with exclamation when it backfired!
    After they regained their composure they asked me to do it again...
    Chuckle
     
  6. steve f

    steve f F1 World Champ

    Mar 15, 2004
    12,119
    12cylinder town
    Full Name:
    steve
    yes especially if it was your bra ????????
     
  7. MalcQV

    MalcQV F1 Rookie

    Oct 11, 2004
    3,292
    Manchester, UK
    Full Name:
    Malc Holden
    Pulling out on to a dual carriageway mildly damp and fishtailing several times. I did pull out of it but looked a right prat. It was the day after I bought it.
    Go easier next time.
     
  8. Nuvolari

    Nuvolari F1 Veteran
    Owner Silver Subscribed

    Sep 3, 2002
    6,370
    Toronto / SoCal
    Full Name:
    Rob C.
    Hot day with the A/C running. Condensation from the A/C unit dripped onto the car alarm brain making it go crazy. Lights flashing and horn blaring in a busy area. There I am, pulling part of the car appart to get the darn thing to stop.
     
  9. GoFerrari28

    GoFerrari28 Formula 3

    Jun 16, 2004
    2,313
    Ridgemont, CA
    Full Name:
    Jeff Spicoli
    Back in September, in my 360 and stopped at a red light which then turns green, and as I am accelerating through the intersection, EVERYTHING dies, no power, no signal, nothing electronic. Manage to change lanes and coast it into a parking lot behind an Old Navy store. Couldn't get anything to turn on, including the hazzards. Sat there for 1 hour waiting for AAA to arrive, during which all these kids in their imports were pulling up to me revving their engines. Some of the kids were cool about it, I let a few sit in the car since they couldn't steal it. Turned out the POS original battery in the car shorted and that is what caused the electrical problem.
     
  10. redhead

    redhead F1 Rookie

    Dec 26, 2001
    4,869
    Full Name:
    ~Red~
    I was delivering a 360 to a customers house and had not noticed that the registration was over 2 years out. Well, the lil motorcylce cop noticed it. So, he pulled me over right in front of a local Junior College and ended up towing the car. I sat there while all these people my age watch "my" Ferrari get towed. Not fun. 45 minutes later, I was finally picked up.
     
  11. Fastviper

    Fastviper F1 Rookie

    Nov 20, 2003
    4,525
    Texas
    Full Name:
    Dash
    goferrari I have the same story with a sadder ending, I had just had my 348 hand washed and was driving down one of the busiest streets. I stoped at the major intersection (the one leading to the highway) at around 5pm and bam everything cut off. Hundreds of people trying to get home. Sat there as the light turned green 3 or 4 times. I had to push it to a parking lot. Two nice fella's stoped and helped.

    It was just the battery too.

    Thanks for whoever brought this thread up I am sad now.
     
  12. F1Ace

    F1Ace F1 Rookie

    Mar 15, 2004
    2,980
    Full Name:
    Wes
    In other cars I've had the misfortune of miscalculating when doing a U-turn. It's when you're half way through and realize there's not enough room. Oncoming traffic has to come to a complete hault. That's the worst.

    Hasn't happened in the F-Car yet, but it's only a matter of time I'm sure.:(
     
  13. dogue

    dogue Formula Junior

    Sep 2, 2001
    967
    Phoenix, AZ
    Full Name:
    Terry
    I have two:

    First, my water temp gauge was acting up so I had taken the steering wheel off and taken the gauge to have it looked at. I put everything back together and was so thrilled that I drove the car to work the next day. Sitting at a light the car in front of me was totally ignoring the green light ahead so I decided to honk the horn, well it stuck and the horn just kept honking I am sure the driver in front of me thought I was a total jackass taunting them as I drove behind them honking. I must have conected the horn wrong because after I stopped and pulled the horn button out and reconnected everything I have not had a problem.

    Second, I was driving to phoenix from san diego and went through a huge dust and rain storm the car looked terrible. I stopped for gas out side of phoenix and was cleaning the glass. I had only had the car a few months and was still a little weirded out with all the looks. Everyone at the station kept staring at me and so I hurried up and finished cleaning the glass and jumped in the car to leave in a hurry. I drove off and everyone I passed was pointing and staring, I was annoyed. I look in the rear view mirror and I had left the back deck open in my haste to leave. I am sure I looked like a total tool....
     
  14. Gary48

    Gary48 Guest

    Dec 30, 2003
    940
    Driving home one day in my 246 when the throttle cable snaps, well I was about 3/4 mile away and decided too go for it with the choke. Here I was chugging along in 1st, running rich and souning bad being followed by an impatient ricer who blows by me with his coffee can muffler a blaring like a fart in a trombone. All I could do was grin and wave knowing it wasn't my time.
    Gary
     
  15. Birdman

    Birdman F1 Veteran

    Jun 20, 2003
    6,687
    North shore, MA
    Full Name:
    THE Birdman
    I pulled into a gas station when I first got my (carbed) 308, and I still didn't really know the right procedure to start it. Also, the carbs were way out of whack, and the car just didn't run well to begin with. So I filled it up with lots of people watching and pointing. "Is that a Ferrari?" Etc. Well, everyone was watching as I got into the car and promptly flooded it. I cranked and cranked and I couldn't start it. A friend was in the car, and she is saying quietly to me "Dude, start the damned car....everyone is laughing...." It finally caught and studdered to life, belching smoke. Awful!

    Then there was the time my horn button stuck just as I arrived to a local Fchat get-together in front of 15 other fcar owners. I showed up and thought a nice "toot toot" would be appropriate. But it turned into "toot tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo....."

    Imagine my surprise when shutting the car down didn't even cure it! I had to pull the button out of the steering wheel.

    But that wasn't too bad, because, well, other Fcar owners understand. In a ricer crowd, that woulda been very embarassing.

    Birdman
     
  16. F1Ace

    F1Ace F1 Rookie

    Mar 15, 2004
    2,980
    Full Name:
    Wes
    LOL!!!

    Stay away from those horn buttons people, unless you REALLY mean it!;)
     
  17. cgperry

    cgperry Formula Junior
    Rossa Subscribed

    Nov 2, 2003
    506
    Chas SC
    Full Name:
    Charles Perry
    I've got two:

    First day home with the F355 Spider after driving it home to SC from Chicago. Was driving into work with a little Mustang sitting on my tail the whole way in. Decided to goose it around a corner just to put a little distance between us. Spun the car hard, just missing oncoming traffic, Mustang guy laughing hysterically. Coming home on the same road, pushed it a little through an opposite direction corner and spun it again, again narrowly missing oncoming traffic. I had safely done those corners many times at higher speeds in my TR, so I stopped to see what was wrong with my new [to me] 355. Turns out the tires were on their last leg when I left Chicago. By the time I hit SC they were showing cords on both rears, so I was basically driving (or more accurately, spinning) on metal... :)

    Second one, my dad and I had driven both my Ferraris to Montreal for the F1 race in 2002. On the way up, I hit a construction area and bent the rim on the TR, breaking the seal on the 3-piece wheel. I tried to have it fixed in Montreal, but no luck. Not having time to sit in Montreal for a week, I put on the donut spare and headed south. My dad took the 355 to Washington DC to pick up my mom from a business trip and drive her home. I'm almost home in SC, limping along at 55 mph for the 2nd day in a row, being humiliated by minivans, when I see a bright yellow spec in the rearview mirror. It gets bigger and bigger and then blows by us without ever even acknowledging us. My girlfriend is laughing her a$$ off and says "You just got your doors blown off... by your MOM... in YOUR Ferrari!!!" :)
     
  18. donv

    donv Two Time F1 World Champ
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Jan 5, 2002
    23,988
    Portland, Oregon
    Full Name:
    Don
    Having a coolant hose blow at rush hour on a busy freeway in the Mondial was pretty embarrasing!
     
  19. jimpo1

    jimpo1 Two Time F1 World Champ
    Owner Silver Subscribed

    Jul 30, 2001
    24,510
    Dallas, TX
    Full Name:
    Jim E
    I was chasing a Gallardo at about 110mph down a country lane, my wife riding shotgun, with a bunch of other Ferraris ahead and behind me. We were all participating in a local FCA drive. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw clouds of white smoke pouring out of my car. I pulled off into the grass (no shoulder on that narrow road) and popped the engine cover. White smoke everywhere. But every car following me pulled over too. A few other drivers walked up with their fire extinguishers just in case. (I now own one.) The smoke eventually died down, there was no fire. I drove it succesfully the rest of the way home, 50+ plus miles. It turned out that motor oil was being blown back on the muffler/exhaust manifolds at high speed, and we know what oil does when it gets that hot. I did win the 'Fix it Again Tony' award for that day.
     
  20. 360 Modena

    360 Modena Rookie

    Feb 28, 2005
    11
    The most embarrassing moment wasn't in a Ferrari but it is worth mentioning. I had just finished building a stroker motor for a late model Trans-Am. I drove around for a while and then went to get it sniffed at the local emission station. I was just finishing the test when the lower radiator hose blew off and dumpped many gallons of antifreeze all over the station. What happened was that I tightened the hose clamp on the wrong side of the lower radiator neck. Little embarrassing.
     
  21. Gershwin

    Gershwin F1 Veteran

    Feb 21, 2005
    6,375
    Kentucky
    Gary48,

    That's rich....fart in a trombone. I hope you get your glory one day in turn.
     
  22. ferraripete

    ferraripete F1 World Champ

    each and every time my cars break down...they do so in the public forum!

    people love to see ferraris broken down!
     
  23. TigerAce

    TigerAce Formula 3

    May 29, 2003
    1,793
    Dallas, TX
    Full Name:
    Yoshi Ace
    Yep, I had the same trouble at 7-11. Fortunately, some people pushed the car out for me.

    The first time I pulled in a gas station after buying 328, I couldn't find where to put gas. People start gathering around the car, as I was looking for gas lid release in the car. "Beautiful car!", "Thanks. Do you know where is the lid for gas?", "Huh? Isn't this your car?", "Yes, but I just got it last week", "oh,,," Who said the silence is golden!

    BTW, I was there when Jimpo had the incident, and didn't think it was embarassing at all. Matter of fact, I didn't know Jimpo gets embarrassed!
     
  24. frefan

    frefan F1 Veteran

    Apr 21, 2004
    7,370
    #24 frefan, Mar 31, 2005
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    I just got my 360 back from a belt service. A friend brought some other friends by to check it out. When I started the car it filled the garage with an unbelievable amount of smoke! Hasn't done it again since (I gave it gas before turning key, which is a no-no in cold weather). So he says - "Yeah, you're right, thats one smokin' Ferrari!"
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  25. Cielo

    Cielo Karting

    Feb 3, 2005
    241
    Austin, Texas
    Full Name:
    Steve
    Just a few days after I got the car I was sitting at a light at night, on my way home from work, and decided to check out all the buttons on the dash. I was tired and for just a moment, when I looked at the gas door release switch, I thought "that must be the reserve tank switch". Don't ask, that is just how it happened. So I pull it and immediately realize my mistake. Well, I go from the bad ass Ferrari with the rumbling TUBIs to the dork with his gas fill door sticking straight up in the air. Then, I was trapped in traffic all the way home so I couldn't escape what I imagined must be very amused drivers behind and beside me. When I got home, I told my wife the story and we had a good laugh.
     

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