ANOTHER customer lost

Advertising Ferrari cannot buy for any price.


It is not a negative.

 

Cool article and a cool guy with a cool car history!
Too bad on the Ferrari experience, he's the one who will be missing out! But the guy has a Carrera GT and soon a P1 so I don't think it matters too much really...

 

A large % of F ownership is snob appeal. This kid came from humble background although now making huge money. I just think he doesn't buy into the snob thing and the crap needed to buy. Good for him.

 

If he wants to be a "big fish," I'll stick to my recommendation that CJ find a smaller pond. I think he clearly has done that.

IMO what CJ really needs is a curator.

He strikes me as a car guy who had to have a supercar now.

For the money, he could have a 275 GTB/4, one of the all time great sportscars, and something to collect. Maybe the P1 will be the next F1, maybe not.

 

Europe does the same with soccer(football) players and a guys that drive cars around in a circle. He has a talent, there is an occupation that recognizes and needs said talent and he practiced and practiced and worked very hard to get that talent polished to be the top of its field. As a surgeon, your talent is also useing your hands, not that far different than what he does. You read test results, x-rays, and what your eyes see in the OR table, and you react to fix folks up, sometimes you take minutes, sometimes you take days or weeks. He reads pitches and has an instant to react(or not) he sees a hit, he has seconds to decide where to go. The big difference is, when you are a surgeon, work is called practicing medicine, when you are a ballplayer, work is called playing baseball.

Having been raised by a surgeon, I am surprised you don't recognize athletic ability as on par with your own. It is the radiologists, internists and lawyers that you should realize are talentless and just getting their information out of books as they go along.

 

Then he would not be a self indulgent wiener. He would be a connoisseur.


I swear, nobody gets my jokes around here...

 

This to me is the biggest issue when you're dealing with street sports cars costing over $1M. You can't do ANYTHING with that damn things!

He could get an Mp4-12c and probably have just as much fun and then a classic F car that would not only be fun, but grow in value over time.

The P1, as great as it may be, is a risk. The F70 is less of one but also a risk if it proves to be a mechanical nightmare with it's new Hybrid system.

If I were going to spend over $1M, I'd be in the classic market and find a great modern sports car under $300K to push around in city traffic.

 

What else do you have in the warehouse?

 

Thank you for redeeming this thread.

 

That red 275 GTB/4 was probably a $300k car when the movie came out...aie aie aie..

 

TOO MUCH BLOODY MONEY

OK, I got the order wrong but I got the joke.... I was just too slow/disinterested in the thread...

 

LA is a tough market to get a new car right away. I can understand his frustration. I waited 3 years for my first.

But, the dealers do have VIP allocation cars they can rush. I'm not sure what his complaint is about. I've seen Ducks hockey players with brand new F cars in the player's lot. If a Duck can get one, an Angel sure can.

If he's happy driving a Big Mac, good for him. Whatever makes you happy.


But, this is the irony of F car ownership. We want exclusivity but we all want them NOW! If nobody wanted an Fcar, you could get a new one off the dealer's floor tomorrow. End of problem --- and the beginning of a new one.

 

I love reading (and hearing) about rich folk's problems.

 

I think a couple of folks in this thread have missed one small point. Today, this guy is a proven commodity in the baseball world (for whatever you believe that is worth) with a list of cars and racing experience he has accumulated in recent years.

In the article, he talks about being given the gears when trying to buy a new 360. So that was a good 10 years ago, when he was a 21 year old rookie with no history, car or baseball, to speak of, and every dealer in the country had a line up of long time loyal customers waiting for cars.

Different situation then as compared to now.

 

Well, like I said... you can't have it both ways. You can't ask for exclusivity and then ask for any 21 year old to walk into a dealer and order a new car at the head of the line of existing customers or those who got there before you.

Something has to give.

 

Well, if you want an FF or California, I'll bet you can walk onto a lot and buy one without going through hoops. But, if you want a 458 or LaFerrari, get in line. At the back. And, MAYBE, if you're lucky enough to be allocated one, in time you'll get one. But, what about ALL the people who've already said they want one and are willing to plunk down a wheelbarrow-full of cash? What do you tell them? The fact is many customers of these dealerships have long-standing relationships and have paid their dues to SpA and FNA many times over. Just because a recently-minted multi-millionaire wants something doesn't mean they're going to get it. And, many of the customers with these relationships are ALSO multi-millionaires.

I agree that this guy sounds like he would enjoy owning a Ferrari, but why is he exempt from the game? As noted, dealers can get VIP allocations. If he's SOOO important, perhaps he should argue the case with the GM of his local franchise.

CW

 

He's a baseball player in his prime

in other words


"The Days of WHINE and Roses".

 

Really ???? F - him !

I've owned (and currently own) Ferraris, and I am HUGE baseball fan. Though not an Angels fan per se, I have always wanted to have the opportunity to throw out the first ball at a major league game ---- I think that would be really cool

So, what would happen if I called up the Angels management and said, "Hey I am some guy, whom you have likely never heard of, who wants to throw out the first ball at your next home game ---- I'll even pay you $$$ (make a donation, etc.) for the privilege." ???

I bet they would say, "Sorry, we don't do that for just anyone.....And, by the way, exactly how did you get this phone number anyway?!" .

 

There's 2 ways to look at this IMO

If he's such a car guy and he wants a Ferrari that bad, nothing stops him from buying used. If he's just looking to be pampered he's probably gone to the wrong place for a car. Again if he was really a car guy he would probably know about Ferrari's legendary (lack of) manners.

on the other hand

It makes no sense for Ferrari to turn away a customer who is clearly not just an average rich guy looking for a thrill. Athletes usually command more respect than your run of the mill famous person. Usually, but not always. OK, maybe the guy wants to order a specific color and car, why does Ferrari have to act like it's such a pain to cater to this one guy. It isn't. And chances are he'd probably accept having to wait a while for it, anyway.

 

As it was pointed out, he was not the big star (I dont know if he is a big star, i dont care about Baseball at all..)he is today when he dealt with Ferrari. He said he wanted a new 360 Modena, so that was from 1999-2004. He was probably starting his career then so Ferrari had no real reason to treat him as a VIP (or to treat him badly..).

Now that he is a big star, would he be ok playing for 200k$ a year? Probably not. Same thing with Ferrari. They are famous and can choose who they give preferential treatment or not.

 

I am sure any Joe Blow 21 year old can email McLaren and get a P1 without any issues.

 

Read what I wrote again...

There are plenty of other multi-millionaires who've paid their dues and waited patiently for their turn. There's nothing special about him other than he's a sports star. There is some precedence for preferential treatment from FNA based on that. If he wants, he should have requested some sort of allocation on that basis. However, the fact that he's told there's a process (no matter how silly it may be) at least means they're evenly applying it.

CW

 

True... I don't know anyone who goes for a fun run in his Veyron.

At some point, all you think about is not hurting the car.

 

I get the impression from this thread that an ordinary clod with the dough has a better chance of buying a new Ferrari off the floor than your average rich rapper or badboy sports hero.