What started your love for Ferraris?

Before any of these experiences were mine, I fell in love with the cars for their sensual lines and vibrant red coats. I distinctively remember reading Road&Track in the late 70s when it featured a Boxer; I couldn't believe how beautiful the shape was. To this day, it remains one of my favorite automotive designs!

Drive On................

 

Seeing the movie "Grand Prix" in 1967 gave me a good sense of the passion that is behind Ferrari. As Sarti points out in the Monza pits, Enzo's passion for winning always made his drivers try harder than they probably should, which resulted in more wins, but also more accidents.

To keep up with racing in those days, before ESPN, SpeedChannel and the Internet, I eventually subscribed to "Road & Track", which exposed me to the beauty of the road cars for the first time. When the 308 GTB graced its pages for the first time in 1975, I knew I needed to have one someday. It took 29 years, but it happened! (After all, the 328 GTS is a blood relative.)

I could have gotten an Acura NSX for about the same money, which as a longtime Honda owner, would have been very appealing. In many ways the NSX is a much better car. But in a spiritual sense, it is no Ferrari!

 

Saw a burgandy (Russo Rubino?) 308 in the parking lot of a mall when I was about 15 and Miami Vice =)

 

As a really young kid in primary school, reading about the Ferrari road racers from the late 50s up to the mid 60s.

Love at first sight!

 

I can't tell when my love actually started, but I remember as a teenager in high school reading about the 355 and 360 and thinking, "These cars are amazing, yet I know little about their predecessors." So I went out and bought some books on Ferrari and the more I read, the more enthralled I became.
What really sealed my love for Ferrari more than any other manufacturer was getting a tour of the factory. Seeing all the cars in line, going from bare aluminum chassis to finished product in the space of a few hundred feet, and then the engine room where the engines were hand assembled, it was a magical experience and I'll never forget it. Even in a modern factory, the mystique was still there.

 

My passion for Italian exotics started young. I still remember the Countach road test in the magazine my friend brought to school when I was in about the sixth grade. I had never seen anything like it. Living in rural Mississippi, my exposure to high-performance cars at that point had been limited to Corvettes and muscle cars.

Other mainstream media helped continue to develop my interest. The opening Countach scenes in the Cannonball Run movies; the Testarossa in Miami Vice, the Boxer in the I Can't Drive 55 video, all the different posters, and the numerous articles in the car magazines of the day.

Of course, Magnum P.I. did more for Ferrari to me than anything else. I grew up watching that show from the time I was 11 years old until it went off the air when I was 17. The car was so beautiful and was prominently featured in almost every episode. That show really sparked my desire for eventually obtaining the car of my dreams.

 

July 1995 I recieved my first Car & Driver in the mail. It featured The Supercar Shootout. Porsche 911 Turbo, Acura NSX-T, Ferrari F355, Dodge Viper, and Lotus S4S. This is also the order ther finished 1-5. This began my facination with the F355. 11 years later, it's still my favorite issue and still my favorite car.
Until this magazine, my only knowledge of Ferrari was the ability to recognize one as it drove past on the freeway. Now, being a detailer that has worked on quite a few Ferraris, I am familiar with every square inch of the 355. This'll prove useful as my ETA for owning one grows shorter and shorter. Beautiful car.

 

When I was very young, my dad was doing business with a small, independently owned exotic dealership, and my mom and I had to meet him there for some reason. As I was carried in by my mom, I remember seeing a few different cars, and my dad brought me over to the Lamborghini Diablo, because the doors were neat. I was allowed to sit in it and hold the steering wheel, then back into my mom's arms I went. I asked about the one in the corner, "the red one" I called it, and the gentleman there said "I didn't have a problem with you playing with the Lamborghini, but I'm sorry you can't sit in the Ferrari."




Ever since, well.................

 

i can't remember for sure, but i think magnum PI played a role. i watched the show just to see his car. incidentally, the 308 is my favorite car. i guess after that i looked into other ferrari models and liked what i saw. now i'm hooked!

john

 

1984(?85) issue of Car and Driver, when I first saw the 288 GTO, I thought it
was the most beautiful car I've ever seen in picture. Although I was impressed with the Daytona and Boxer, the gto me hooked.

 

First Magnum PI, then Miami Vice solidifed the passion.

 

Hot Wheels! Of all the wild looking cars I had the Ferraris were like the only ones that ended up being real, the F40, 328, TR, etc. and of course the Countach.

 

Magnum PI fan.

I lived in Cleveland at the time, and the only Ferrari I saw was that 308, until someone (parent) drove one to an auction/gala event at my school in '84. Then I saw it in the metal and was astonished how tiny it was.

 

The photo of an ATS/GTS on the cover of a Road & Track got me headed in the right direction. Reading about Nino Vaccarella at the Targa Florio did the rest.

 

One of my friend's big brother had a white on red 308....in high school. Yeah, totally out of hand. My buddy drove a 911 SC....so you can get the picture the family was well off.

I got to go for a ride in the 308 back in 84' or 85' and just loved how it smelled and sounded. There was just something so unique about it. Then there was Magnum PI...Miami Vice and Sammy Hagar's video "I can't drive 55" starring I think a BB512i. Just loved the exotic-ness of it all.

Oh, the memories.

 

Magnum..........-) but i'm falling in love with FERRARI in 1984..........288GTO

 

I was on holiday in Italy when I was a child, can't remember how old, but that old.. I saw a 288GTO overtake us and just thought to myself, WOW those lines were so amazing, the whole car looked like it came from space.. all the feelings you get when seeing a Ferrari, from that day, I knew that I had found my passion.

 

My passion / obsession with Ferrari started back in the early 70's... My dad is a huge racing / sports car guy, and when I was a kid owned a Porsche and Lotus... so I grew up going the Watkins Glenn, and Mid Ohio for F-1 and Can AM... my favorite F-1 car when I was really young was the Matra, from 1972... but they did not keep racing in 73 so I moved to Ferrari and BRM... I liked the 12 cylinders ... they were so loud... the Ferrari's seemed crude to me, but the more I learned the more I like them... for some reason that there was a Mr. Ferrari made them more important to me.... anyhow one year either 74 or 75 I got a Ferrari Dino 206 Corgi / Dinky toy car, and it was so beautiful.. I loved the car... and I actually saw the real car at Watkins Glenn and thought ... One day I'm gonna own one of them!" not knowing how expensive they were... fast forward to the late 70's and one day I saw a podwer Blue 308 GTB in my home town... it was like a flying saucer had landed... it was so beautiful.... Had to have one.... by then Lauda was my favorite driver, but had left Ferrari - Sheckter was W/C and Villeneuve was. my hero. So for me its been about the racing history and then the road cars...So thru High School.. my goal was to own a Ferrari... My most favorite is a 1960 SWB.... but the 308/ 328 is the car of my youth... so when I bought one at age 25, I had attained my dream.... then it was like a huge pail of ice water was dumped on me cause I bought a bad car, but the Passion is still there, a bit more muted, but I still feel pleasure each time I drive the car, and when Ferrari win a race. Even when you see one in the "wild" out on the street... its sitll fun, not as exciting as it used to be, but still catches my attention. I dont know if its age, or maturity, but to me now Ferrari's are more like art in the Louvre, or a good Burgandy.... to be enjoyed in small doses, on special occasions, cause it takes work to enjoy and LIVE with them!

 

I saw Ferraris on TV, but it wasn't until I saw two in person - the first a 246 Dino that passed me while I was jogging and, later, a Lusso that simply stunned me - that I became enamored. I remember waiting the better part of an hour because I wanted to hear the Lusso start and see it drive away. After those two, everything else I encountered seemed like failed attempts at creating beautiful automobiles.

 

It was Magnum PI for me too. I was about 10 years old and when I saw that car I told my older sister I am going to own one of those some day. She laughed at me. I finally bought one about 2 years ago. I like all ferraris but the 308 is still my favorite.

 

when I was 9 went to the UK's Cadet Dinghy championships, all the kids camped in tents in the grounds of the sailing club whilst the parents stayed in the local hotels (apart from 2-3 who stayed behind to make sure we didnt torch the place )
on the second night I was woken by the sound of a very noisy and different car exhaust pulling up next to the motorhome parked next to my tent.

In the morning I crawled out and saw my first Dino 246gt 10 feet away and glistening with the morning dew, later that week after injuring myself I went to London and back in the car being driven by a friends son running erands........was very upset when they sold it a few years later just to replace with a Lamborghini Espada!

The story has a nice ending though as I bought this car earlier this year (since sold it though!)

 

My father was a renaissance man. While his vocation was as an executive for a power company, his passions were wide and varied. He was (as a hobby) a registered gunsmith, a golf club maker, a model plane maker, and above all a restorer of derelict cars. He would buy junkers and spend months, even years, restoring them. His projects included such vehicles as Jaguar XKE, Mercedes 450SL, Chevy El Camino, etc. He would restore them to concours condition, winning many awards. He had a two car garage that you couldn't fit a bicycle in due to the plethora of shop equipment there. If he couldn't find a part, he would manufacture it on his metal lathe from specs he obtained.

But, over the years he had never owned a Ferrari. Last year he confessed that he had always wanted to restore a Ferrari so he got a high mileage 86 TR. Earlier this year, at the age of 84, he passed away. My brother and sister wanted to sell the car, but I decided that in his honor I would keep this 60k+ mile TR and restore it to the level he would have wanted. I have put significant ... and I do mean SIGNIFICANT $$$ into this TR, but now feel that it is in the condition that would meet his approval (although not exactly concours)

A funny thing happened. In the process, I fell in love with the car, and with Ferraris in general. I had no previous predilection toward Ferrari, or any car for that matter. Since I have spent time behind the wheel of this awesome vehicle I have come to understand the passion that is Ferrari. I enjoy being a member of the community and look forward to many years of Ferrari ownership.