Story about an old Testa Rossa

Good evening everyone!

I have been a lurker on this site for years, and just recently was able to count myself among those that own a Ferrari with the purchase of my '85 308 QV (hence the screen name-I know, I know, original...)
My love for Ferraris goes back decades-at 37, I still have a lot of my magazines with articles about Ferraris from my youth. I still love reading the articles in all of the old magazines, and that is what brings me to my strange first post.

I remember back in the 80's one of my magazines (I think it was Automobile, but I definitely am not certain of that) had an incredible story in it about a young guy who's good friend in college had a stable of Ferraris, and used a Testa Rossa as his "beater" daily driver. The friends eventually drifted apart, and one day the author of the story received word that his good friend from his college years was killed in a tractor accident on the family property.

This is just a "Cliff notes" thumbnail sketch of what my youthful memory has of the story, but if anyone out there remembers reading this story, and can point me in the right direction to purchase a reprint that would be great. It was stories like this that really fueled my interest in Ferraris, and even led to my purchasing a 1980 Fiat Spyder 2000 as my first car at 16, as it was as close as I could get at the time to my dream marque.

Thanks again for keeping a great site going, and I look forward to being able to contribute in the future!

-Dave

OT-I spent the last seven evenings looking through ALL of the pages of the vintage photos postings-INCREDIBLE!!!

 

Thanks everyone for your responses!

Miltonian-I apologize for the Testarossa vs. Testa Rossa - I was actually laying in bed last night and realized the error of my ways!

"In The Barn" is DEFINITELY the article I was thinking about! I would love to have a copy of that article! When I was purchasing these magazines I was in jr. high and high school, and unless the magazine had an article on Ferraris in it I didn't purchase it on my trips to Walden Books so I could save that much more for my first car. now, 20 some years on, married with kids and owning two different companies I am trying to gather up information and items related to the marque to display in my shop.

Vizsla-It seems like every university had that "one guy" that had a crazy car for a college town. When I was at Iowa State, there was a guy that had a ratted out Mondial that he drove everywhere. It was a gift from his dad, and although new when he came to school it looked like someone took a ball-peen hammer to the sides of it with the number of door dings that it had in it. The inside also had an eye-watering funk to it with all of the old fast food bags and beer cans fermenting in it. By the time I was in college I had sold my little Fiat Spyder and purchased a rough '77 911S. I spent all of my winter break pulling the engine and replacing the chain tensioners and the head studs to try and quell some of the noise that it made and stop a few of the leaks. That car was immaculate but well driven the time that I owned it, and it made me sick to see that poor Mondial slowly get beaten into oblivion.

Thanks again everyone, and I am glad to finally be here!

 

Peter, I DEFINITELY understand what you are saying, and one of the best, if not the best gift my family gave me was to SHOW me how to make it on my own. I don't know if you are a religious man, but the old proverb in the Bible about teaching a man to fish vs. giving a man a fish definitely holds true, at least in my case. My family members have all been successful, self driven individuals, and my grandparents and parents were very good about giving me the OPPORTUNITY to choose success for myself. They did a great job of providing the basics, and above that it was my responsibility to earn what I wanted. I can't tell you how many summers I spent working at the family farm, mowing yards, and doing odd jobs for the neighbors while all of my contemporaries were swimming at the pool or going to the mall. The sad thing was the hardest part of the whole summer work schedule was defending myself to all of my classmates at the end of the summer when I had the funds to purchase and do things at will and they didn't have squat.

I did have a few "hand out" friends as well, especially in college. The parents funded EVERYTHING, and they were usually fun to hang out with right up to the point where they self destructed. One kid I knew in one of my chem. classes had an M3 that saw more air time than a skateboard at the X Games-that car was BEAT when he was done with it. Man, they could throw some sweet Friday through Sunday parties though...

 

El Wayne-

Much obliged-nothing like opening mouth and inserting foot on a first ever post!

-Dave