What got you in to Ferrari

That's so cool! In 1995, I was able to buy the GMC Syclone I ogled at the dealership in 1991. Kept it for 10 years. It wasn't the best decision financially, but I've never regretted it.

On the thread topic, I was born a car enthusiast. I suppose my first exposure to Ferrari was through Magnum, P.I. The first car magazine I ever bought had a review of the 328 GTS, which was new at the time. Later on, as I learned more about the marque, I remember being surprised that there were Ferraris I didn't consider beautiful.

 

I was born in 1994, and my grandmother had a copy of Rain Man.
I watched it in 4th grade or so when I was at her house for the weekend. The garage full of exotics inspired me to learn more about that side of the car world.
She lives in a small town about 50 miles north of DFW, and low an behold a Ferrari 400i(Tom Cruise Drives this in the movie) showed up at the local gas station. I had already done a bunch or research prior to seeing it.
Hook, line, and sinker

Im graduating college in 5 weeks an have my sights set on a Maserati Cambiocorsa, after moving to my job I got in dallas.

 

As a 10 year old living in a small English country town in 1979, I saw a spaceship parked in the middle of a row of parked cars.

It had to be a spaceship because it was less than half the height of the Ford Cortina's, Morris Marina's and Vauxhall Cavaliers that it was sat amongst, and half as wide again as them.

It had these weird holes just behind the doors that I dared to put My hands into, to see where what was in there, but the hole just went on and on beyond My reach.

Whatever this alien vehicle was, it was the most beautiful machine I had ever seen (Up until then, the greatest machine on the planet was the County 1164 & 1174 tractors that My dad drove [and it's still a close call between a Ferrari, the County tractors and the Millennium Falcon as to which is My favourite machine of all time!] ).

I ran home and told My Dad about this unbelievable machine I had seen. Out came his encyclopaedia of cars and he said: "Did it look like this?", as he turned to a picture of a 308 GTS.

"That's it Dad!...........That's what I saw!"

"Well that's a Ferrari you've seen!" was his reply.

I then told My dad: "One day I'm going to own a Ferrari!", to which his reply was: "You won't own a Ferrari!........They're for rich people!"

35 years later I proudly told him one day: "Dad.......I've bought Myself a Ferrari 348 TS!"

And his response?:

"Pah.......Complete waste of money!..........It'll cost you a fortune to run!"

All I could do was laugh to Myself and shake My head because I could tell that he'd said it out of pure jealousy!

so I simply said: "Well it's worth it to Me Dad.........At least I've achieved My dream!"

 

The Graduate.


When I decided that driving a 9-pass wagon in the city was ridiculous, I went looking for a smaller car.
I was looking at Mk 1-3 Spitfires, because all my tools were English, not metric.
But most Triumphs I could afford were pretty rusted or thrashed.
I looked at a Sunbeam Alpine, but putting the top up was a construction project.

Then I saw "The Graduate", where they flipped the Alfa's top up with one hand, and that put me on the Italian car path.
(And started me buying metric tools. )

Couldn't afford an Alfa, starting out, but I found that a Fiat's top was as easy to use.
Fiat to Alfa ... moving up to Ferrari was just a matter of time.

 

The December 1984 cover of Road and Track.

 

Always loved F1, finally went to Montreal (twice)...the opening races were f355 challenge...something went coo-coo in my mind and more so in my loins....had to have one. These vehicles are a ruinous damnation.....

 

The Testarossa

 

Seeing a white Daytona Spider ripping by going the other direction when I was a little kid.

The Gumball Rally race beginning scene through NYC, or especially the gas station approach didn't hurt my passion any either.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE_u70OnCvo[/ame]

 

I poked my head out of the P&R section.

 

Nice one

 

Ive always been a car guy from as young as I can remember

 

My moms maiden name!! So it was a natural progression

 

Been into cars since I was very little, all I wanted was toy cars and look at car races. Mom tells me that even as a 1 year old I was fascinated by cars). When I was 3 years old I got a Ferrari F40 toy car (1.67 scale or something, very small) and it was my favourite.

When I was 5 I was playing with the TV and found an F1 race, Ferrari still had the V12 as the only team and I just sat there, inches from the screen just watching these cars go by and thrilling in excitement whenever a Ferrari drove passed because of the noise.

At this point we also moved to Zandvoort and I was at the track nearly every weekend. Opposite me lived another family, their son who was my age (- a week) went to my school and we became friends (we still are best friends!). His dad raced, we liked cars. A few years down the line, in 1996, his dad bought a brand new Ferrari 550! I stayed over at their house a lot, his room was next to the garage, so every time I stayed there I heard that amazing V12 (he had the sport exhaust, likely tubi's because of the drone). It shook the bloody room! It left a long standing impression on me, so big that I still want a 550 to this very day. Prices have stabilized luckily, so hopefully won't be long now

 

In my case, a classic story.
In early 70's , as a kid in communist Poland, saw a Silver 308GT4 parked in front of a hotel.
Walked around it and kept staring at it for seeded like hours, totally entranced by something that beautiful.
Finally the owner showed up, an Italian in his 40s or 50s and invited me to sit in it.
That did it.....

 

Not sure, I love cars and the Ferrari has a mystic around it unmatched by any other car. For me there are Ferrari's and there is everything else.

 

Honestly I would say the original spark came from video games and movies.

I was a Sega kid and Outrun was a big game for them. Their star developer Yu Suzuki was a Ferrari fan and later did 355 Challenge too.

But on the NES, there was Rad Racer with a 328. And on for 286 PC and Commodore there was Test Drive with a Testarossa (and later on 386, a Mythos!).

When I think of Ferrari on screen, there are three standout memories for me as an 80's child: the burnout at the beginning of Magnum, the 250 in Ferris Bueller, and the 308/328 in Beverly Hills Cop 2. I knew about Miami Vice but wasn't a fan.

One of my closest friends growing up was my cousin, who was and still is a diehard Lamborghini fan. We got him the ubiquitous white Countach poster. But he had a bunch of merch and models of Lamborghinis. I was the Ferrari fan.
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The movie Grand Prix in CINERAMA!!!

I was just a kid but I think I never knew what Ferrari was before that.
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I'm in the same boat as Ryalex. Ferrari's in TV and arcade games got me interested. The drive to own one sparked with Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

 

One of the few movies I went to with my parents was Grand Prix with James Garner. The Ferraris were sublime. I've been an F1/Ferrari fanatic ever since.

 

Such a great thread, demonstrating one more time that Ferraris are more than cars, but mostly objects or pursuit, dreams and personal achievement.

 

Off topic - but did you know Alain Prost - He Gland CH... great place!!!

 

Or in some cases, nightmares.

 

It's odd but this stuck with me from a young age until I found out that I could get one for 30K a few years ago. I still remember the surprise at learning this! Then I when I assessed my discrete car funds I found I could get into a later model mid engine and that is where I ended up.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYmgLO16ul0[/ame]

 

Clean, white socks. A very old joke that few will understand.

 

For me it started with seeing Grand Prix in the cinema as a kid, was nourished by reading Rich Taylor's "Modern Classics" starting an early love affair with the 275 GTB, seeing the '79 USGP in Watkins Glen(witnessing a 250GT parked on the street there, historic races with a 250 TR and a couple of 250 GTO's, and hearing the boxer 12's up close), watching the Gumball Rally, going to the USGP's at Indianapolis in the V10 era with my family, and seeing my father, a lifetime Chevrolet employee wearing his Ferrari hat at the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix while rooting for Kimi.