Did you know you would own a ferrari?

I don.t think I ever even saw one before Magnum P.I. It was love at first sight. But never realized I could actually afford one until I walked into the dealer showroom and traded my Porsche 911 Targa for a brand new red and tan 328 + a little cash. Since then I've never looked back and there has been no greater daily enjoyment in my life since. There is absolutely nothing to compare it to in the automotive world hands down. I consider myself very fortuanate indeed.

 

I always thought it was unobtainable, then I realized, I had the means........6 months later, I bought mine. That was 7 years ago and still loving it.

 

For me it's a life goal just because it's a life goal. I don't ask anyone to understand it. It's probably my #1 life goal, though it hasn't happened yet. But I'm not dead yet either.

 

This is my first post.. been lurking for a while on the site.. lots of good info and threads.. so thanks to you all for a great website

I knew I would own one about 20 years ago.. Until that day would come I have owned about 60 cars and a dozen m/c's.. most of them muscle cars I restored or other foreign competitors to the Ferrari.. add 6 Porsches over the years and I have had a lot of experience in buying/selling and driving fast cars.. in 1991, I was buying a 328 owned by a friend until he revealed one night after a few cocktails that the 7K on his odometer was not accurate.. so I passed on that baby. Then in 1994 I was buying another friends 348ts. We went back and forth on the price and I was only 1000 dollars away and he flaked on the deal.. so it wasn't meant to be.. between then and now, I was always having to buy real estate or do an addition or whatever that wasn't allowing me to have a F car.. also I was concerned with my past friends history of high maintenance bills and roadside headaches.. so here I am today 60 cars later and a lot of Ducati rides in the country wishing I was in my dream car about to pick up my first Ferrari.. a 2003 360 Modena.. I look forward to many hours of a screaming engine and twists and turns.

 

yep, ever since i was 7 or 8 yrs old i told myself that i would one day roll an Fcar...

 

As soon as I grew to appreciate cars, I knew.

 

I always knew one day I would almost have a Ferrari.

 

For at least 20 years I wanted one...

 

+1

Ive never been one to set very high goals. Even as a kid my 'dream' was an M3...Ferrari wasnt even considered. Of course no one in my family had ever owned a new car...let alone a Ferrari. Just a different world to me.

My F355 came about because I was browsing Ebay and saw a yellow F355 near me for a price that I could swing.

 

Thank you VERY much for the kind words and support. I always follow the saying, "The bigger the challenge, the bigger the reward." Congratulations on achieving your goal and I wish you the best of luck on the F355 purchase.

All the best,
-G.B.

 

Yes, always knew I would own several. I never actually thought too much about it, I just assumed I would. I grew up quite poor and some would say disadvantaged but I never really saw it that way.

 

I always wanted an exotic since I was a teenager and was in love with Ferrari and Lamborghini (TR and countach). My mother was in love with Magnum and I watched the show just to see that ferrari, although the TR was the favorite. I was heavy into motocross and spent my time and money on bikes, not cars, but knew someday that I would own one. Well, I went off to college and the focus became education, career, and family. I bought my wife an audi 5 speed turbo and I commuted to work via train. Then babies came, minivan came, and time was passing by. I told the wife the minivan is no more and started buying MB's, but told the wife it was now time for me to get back to what I love, motorsports racing. So a couple years ago she asked me what I really wanted as a gift from her because she felt that she had not given me a real present. Being the good guy that I am, the first thing that came to mind without even thinking was "TR"! I am laughing inside and thinking, "yeah right, she is going to kick me out of the house if I say this". However, to my surprise, I said "I have always wanted a ferrari". and to my utter shock, she said "OK, which one do you want?" I was so caught off gaurd and did not know if she was serious or pulling my leg. After realizing she was serious, I said "I would love to have a TR." She said "it's done, you find it, and I will buy it as my anniversary present to you."

As a result, the search started with research, questions, and visiting FCHAT of course. After 9 months of searching, I found the TR that met my needs/specs and price range. I will never forget the day I picked her up, tears and all. Who would ever thought a person could shed tears over a car. Before picking her up, I told the seller that they would need some tissues because I already knew what was going to happen. I was so afraid to drive her and all the attention on 95 South was a little disturbing, but I knew it came with the car. I love the car, but the fact that my wife bought it for me makes it that much more special and yes, she got that same twinkle in her eye when she first laid eyes on that TR, that really sealed the deal.

I did not get the ferrari for what it stands for, as others have mentioned. I bought the car because I have been into racing since I was a kid and wanted a racing type vehicle, but with an exotic look that brings pleasure just by the way it looks. To me, the TR more than satisfies my desires of high speed performance on the inside and sexy on the outside. I could care less what other people think about the TR or what it stands for. I can sit in my garage and stair at that beauty for hours on end and never get bored. Driving it, I usually stick to back roads where there is very little to no traffic, I want to drive it, not be seen in it.

Another great benefit of owning a ferrari is something that I found out after ownership, that car people are some of the best people I have met in my life. Yes, I like going to car events because I like seeing other great cars and talking with other car people.

The next goal, it is very high, an F40. Still trying to figure out how I can pull this one off, but based on my history of setting goals and never looking back, the F40 is possible, but it's going to be harder and a lot more work than the TR was, but as Nick told Alex "When you give up your dream, you die."

 

I never thought I would. In fact, I had never even considered it until I was just farting around on eBay one night almost two years ago looking for an old XKE to restore. I was just browsing cars selling locally to me (not that I'd thought I'd find an XKE near me) and bam! There was this 328 for sale just down the road, and only for 30K!! I knew nothing about Ferrari's at the time, and like the guy that now greets ME at the gas pump, assumed that they were ALL much more expensive.

So, with very little research, and lots of enthusiasm, I jumped......and ended up buying cosmetic DOG of a 328! Lucky for me, the mechanicals were tight, so...I tore it down and redid it from the ground up!

Then, one year later, I bought a 360 spider. I had been, and still am, completely bitten by the F-car bug. I still own them both and love driving each of them.

I'm already having 439 spider thoughts....or maybe a 575 in Pozzi blue?....

 

I never shared my desire of F-car with many, but always knew that it would be the one of the "ultimate things I'd do" in my life ..., so yeah, I guess I knew.

I also think that many here thought long and hard about theire Ferrari and set goals about owning one for a while. Ferraris don't usually falls into the laps of people out of the blue - it takes many steps inlcuding asking yourself if you are up to the challenge, do you have enough nerve driving one, etc, etc. I really feel Fearri brought a definite plus to the quality of my life.

 

Well said. You can only try your best and hopefully the "I hope so" turns into a "yes"

 

Here's another one for you:

I keep trying to tell the younger engineers at work that infatuation with the "new and neato" is why I have a Ferrari:

I bought it cheap during the dot-com collapse.

(When those who went overboard on the "new" went broke, and those who went with "general consensus and running code" were doing the buying at the fire sale.)


Then there's the music lessons connections: EGBDF: Every Good Boy Deserves Ferrari.

 

I first realized that my mother's maiden name was Ferrari in the late 60s. When I was in high school in 1970, I started to buy magazines and noticed the odd Ferrari for sale. Then, when visiting relatives, my cousin always talked about the Ferrari in F1 etc.

I can remember my first Ferrari, it was a 308. I stopped by to see my parents and the first thing they both said was. HOW COME IT IS YELLOW?. My 348 is RED and when my parents saw the car for the first time, my mother says. It is so small, but beautiful and I like the color.

I can't get Ferrari out of my mind. As a matter of fact, I may be looking for a 550 in the spring in Yellow.

 

I can recall wanting a Ferrari as far back as 12 years old and by the time I was 17, I just knew one day I would own one. I bought my first one on 2/28/07.

 

When I was 7 or 8 years old I got my first piggy bank. I labeled it the "Ferrari Fund" becasuse I loved Ferrari's so much as a kid. All my Family and friends knew about the Ferrari Fund and I would dump all my Christmas and Birthday money into it. I don' know what happened to the money during my teenage years (probaly smoked it all away), but when I got my first F-Car, everyone remebered again the "Ferrari Fund".

 

I wanted a Ferrari from 15 on, but didn't give ownership a serious thought until age 52, when I realized it was feasible.

On my second now, there will likely be a third.

 

+1000 These days it seems like that's as tough a goal as getting one in the first place Keep the faith, folks.

 

When I was 16 years old and saw an early 250 GT California for sale locally for $10K, even though I couldnt muster the money at that time I was sure I would find a way someday. But as the years rolled past and I watched them double, quadruple, and double and quadruple again and again, the idea I would ever own one slowly faded away. Even if someday I could have become truly wealthy, spending over a fortune on a car just goes against all my values. 308's, which became my dream car were eventaully fetching as much as $130K, or so I heard. I stopped reading car mags and found other interests, pretty much threw in the towel I would ever own one.

But once a gear head.... Somewhere along the way, one day I picked up a Hemmings Motor News and was blown away.... 308's selling under $40K? Hmmm. I am surprised they have fallen so much in value, even though they are much more affordable, something about it doesnt seem quite right. Didnt England and Germany outlaw common folk from owning sporting dogs?

 

Indeed. The nice thing though is that if they're paid for, they don't cost much to keep when you just roll them into the barn until things get better.