What is the first Ferrari you remember seeing?

166 Berlinetta owned by a family friend who brought the car in from Italy (it still had the square plates). This was in the late 60s. He lost the car in a divorce about 10 years later. He also had a Maserati Mistral and Ghia 1500 GT that are now in my stable awaiting a complete restoration.

 

I believe the first one I saw in person was a 288 GTO or a Testarossa. Hard to recall...

 

A Dino in pictures as a boy, then a Daytona. Up close... a 308 GTB owned by my childhood friend's dad. Oh how I wanted a ride in that thing. Got one too.

A good day for a 10 year old car lover who's parents couldn't care less about cars.

 

I was sixteen and lived in Beltsville, MD, in 1986. That summer, I was told that there were a number of red cars at the hotel down the street. I grabbed my camera, ran for almost 1/2 hour and saw... everything!! There were about six Testarossas; I could tell two were '85s as they were single mirror/center caps/no third brake lights. The others were '86s, one of which I was given a short ride in. There was a two-tone yellow/black Boxer with a black interior and dark tinted windows. Sinister! There was a 288 GTO which didn't mean much to me at the time as I went crazy over the TRs but, in retrospect, is the only time I've ever seen one. Those are the ones that made an impression, but the back parking lot of this hotel was basically full of F-cars. I always thought it very odd that there would be so many in such an out-of-the-way locale, but they were there and I was completely immersed. Now, I can't always remember where I left my car keys or the house keys, but that has been seared into memory.

 

My first recollection was a california spyder parked at the Albright-Knox art gallery in Buffalo, NY around 1977. The image is burned in my mind.

 

I'm not sure if it was my first time seeing a Ferrari or not, but it's definitely one of my most memorable times seeing a Ferrari.

I was about five or six and my former neighbor (who is a classic car collector) knocked on my door and said to my parents, "can Grant come out? I want him to see my son's Ferrari." I ran over to my neighbor's house and there it was, parked in the driveway. A black Ferrari 348 (at least I think it was a 348, I was 5, what did I know? lol.) His son opened the door and let me sit in it.

I'll always remember that.

BTW, the other night we saw my old neighbor at a restaurant and he said I might get a ride in his son's new Aston Martin.

--Grant

 

When I was about 15, 29 years ago, visiting my uncle in Sausalito, CA, I saw what I now know is a 246 GT Dino. Fell in total complete love! It was parked in the parking lot at the ferry. Great setting!

Then a few years later, the 308 on Magnum P.I. appeared, and the connection was made. The 308 became my object of love, and continues to be, even as one sits in my garage going on 5 years..



Greg

 

The first time I remember seeing one in person, live was a Testarossa parked in the general parking lot at the Tacoma Grand Prix races sometime around '86. Just happened to walk by it in the middle of the parking lot along with all the chevys and fords.

 

First one I ever saw was a red Testarossa at the toll booth on the way to O'hare in Chicago in about 1987 or so as a kid.

 

My first was in 1969 or 1970 in Charleston, SC. A beautiful 330 GTC, silver with black leather, drove past me while I was walking near the Civil War battery. I thought to myself that if I owned that car I would probably sleep in it. Fast forward to four years ago when I bought my first, a wonderful one-owner 512 TR, I thought about sleeping in it the first night it sat in my garage!!

 

Late 70's some sort of Sports Racer (think Can Am type) car, may have been a one off chassis.
I saw it working SCCA Tech at Bridgehampton raceway. I saw the car once, then never again.

One thing that I remember about it is that the driver had to sit almost sideways in the car. The drivers compartment was tight, and the controls were offset to make room for the wheels.

 

I know I have seen Ferrari's before this one, but the first one I can remember seeing was a red enzo in the middle of an In-N-Out parking lot. It went through the drive though and then stopped in the middle of one of the lanes in the parking lot. Reason I remember that car is it looked like an F1 race car to me at the time.

This was way before I got into cars, BTW.

 

I was 13 years old, my Dad was starting to watch a new TV show - Magnum PI.

I watched the opening of the show and saw that 308. From that point on I was hooked on Ferrari.

All I had in my mind was owning one.....


A Beautiful '89 328 GTS sits in my garage.

When I look at my 328, I can't believe my eyes.

 

The first one I remember seeing in the wild was about July 2006 when I'd had my red S2000 for about a month and was east of Raleigh on I-40, headed west toward Durham. I don't remember if I approached it or if it passed me, but suddenly there was this red 355 Berlinetta in front of me, with a Foreign Cars Italia license plate frame, so I figured it was on its way back home. I definitely tried to keep up and be cool by association. Since then I saw a red 355 Spider about three times around Fayetteville in 2007, and just last month, a yellow 360 Spider in Fayetteville.

Also in Fayetteville last year I saw an orange Lambo, either Gallardo or Murci, I didn't know how to tell them apart at the time. And back in 1995 in Miami I saw a Countach on US1 doing about 35 in a 45. Must have been a drug dealer trying not to get pulled over.

 

I think it was a mondial 8 in the 1983 in montecatini terme (italy),i'm born in 1977.

 

back in early 80's
it was a blue (azzurro) 308 !
clearly I remember the driver's face and how lucky I thought he was ...

come to think of it :
I've never seen a blue 308 ever sice ....

 

In the early 80's i was 16 years old living in Pittsburgh. Cars were being timed through a short course in North Park. The 512 BB is still vivid in my mind. Also saw my first original Cobra. Have been a ferrari nut ever since