Ages/occupations of owners?

Hey all,

I was curious as to the average age group/occupations of everyone here on the board.

I'll start off by saying I am 25. Bought my first Ferrari, a 1975 308 GT4 (s/n: 10340) last year and have enjoyed the car immensely. It was a local car with a top notch service history by a very well known (now retired) mechanic here in Cincinnati.

I've done all of my own maintenance on the car since acquisition. Any greasy work is no big deal for me, as I started my own service and restoration shop two and a half years ago (we specialize in Mercedes-Benz) after I finished up my studies at Xavier University in Cincinnati (B.S.B.A. in Entrepreneurship). I've always loved cars and began working for Mercedes-Benz in high school, sweeping the shop floor. They then let me begin doing minor services after they saw I had quite a bit of knowlegde about cars, then eventually sent me for MB factory training, which was like heaven for me. I continued working for the dealer in Cleveland then when I came to Cincinnati for college, transferred to the MB dealer here. I stayed with them a couple of years then moved on to an independent MB shop who, coincidentally, also services a number of F cars here in town. Anyways, when I finished at Xavier, I decided I was ready to embark on my own, so in October '03 I started MB Classic, LLC in West Chester, Ohio. So now, 2.5 years down the line, we're still growing like mad and the learning just never stops, especially on the newer models, as they "phase out" of dealer service and into hands of us indies.

I've always held Mercedes-Benz number one in my heart but Ferrari is a very close second. I've owned all sorts of old European cars, from MGs, Triumphs, a '67 Bentley T1, a BMW 745i turbo to an Alfa 1750GTV and the madness continues!!

The BEST part of it all is that EVERY car I have ever owned, from my first steed, a 1963 Mercedes 190D "fintail" with 52hp to my present cars (1983 300SD Turbodiesel "beater", 1992 500E, 1967 MGB-GT and finally the 1975 GT4) were all bought with my own hard-earned money. The parents taught me the value of saving, so when my buddies were buying video games in high school, I was socking away every cent I had to keep the car fire burning. So now at 25, those buddies are driving Hondas and I have two Mercs, a classic Brit GT and a Ferrari in my posession.

Alright, I've spilt my guts. Now it's up to you guys!

BTW, I am very keen to begin taking on Ferrari work at my shop. So just exactly HOW does one obtain that knowledge?? I have various Ferrari shop manuals and loads of books, all of which I have read until the pages have worn thin...

And if any of you happen to be fellow Merc fans and read Mercedes Enthusiast magazine, you can find a reference to me in the Sept. '03 issue. I was invited by the International M-100 Group to their annual national meet in St. Louis to perform tech inspections and service on the members' cars. (For those not "in the know", the M-100s are the mighty 300SEL 6.3, 450SEL 6.9 and Grand 600 sedans).

Regards,
Aaron

 

Rather interesting selection here so far. I was disappointed though, thought there would be more Tony Montanas!

Anyways, MBs are great cars. The two that I presently own are far different models from one another, but they each serve their purpose very well. The turbodiesel, approaching 300K miles on the original driveline, serves as the daily hack and the 500E is to take out on nights with the girl.

BTW, is anyone familiar with the 500E? It was a pretty special car, hand built at Porsche's Rossle Bau assembly plant in Zuffenhausen, former build place of the infamous 959. Each car took 18 days to complete, and was MBs answer to the M5. What I like is the Ferrari performance with two more doors. The 4 cam, 32 valve 322hp V8 is no slouch either!