$130k service cost on 328 true?

my read of the docs suggests this has to do with a former business partner of Donnie’s in Belgium. For a time the guy was basically subsidizing Donnie’s life, having Donnie build a big shop over there to work on all of his cars, etc etc.
They had a falling out and their arrangement went belly up. Again, I am being careful about what I say…leaving out a lot of anecdotes I’ve been told but have no firsthand knowledge of.

 

Thanks for sharing. There are some similarities to my story here too. But thank goodness he never started working on mine, and I pulled it before. I have only horrible things to say about him. I also thought about reaching out to the Internet personality I mentioned above and you also seem to be discussing but figured it would fall on deaf ears. And like you I also feared for the safety of my car. Donnie told me I could burn the car for all he cared. And that was the nicest thing he said on the phone to me that day. I hope he goes to prison for a long time. He shouldn’t be allowed to ever scam another person. I reached out to the people at Leno’s Garage and told them some of my experience and informed them what has just happened. Hopefully they’ll remove the 308 video so no one else falls for Donnie’s BS.

 

I’d like to see them keep the video on line with a crawl telling the truth about the guy….but that’ll never happen and Leno will deny ever knowing him.

 

I had no idea of his history when I sent my car to him. As far as I knew he was a somewhat eccentric Ferrari mechanic who was publicly promoted as an expert in all things Ferrari, who was just going to do a quick bit of basic radiator work for me..
After he already had my car, I started to hear stories. By that point my car was in pieces and locked up in the desert while Donnie was out of the country half the time.
Getting involved with him was a huge mistake but not one I walked into knowingly, and one that was very hard to unravel once it had been made. I’d assume everyone else was in the same boat.

 

Exactly my experience as far as why I took my car to him.

 

I think perhaps the most shockingly disturbing thing about Donnie is that upon hanging out with him I was terrified to paralysis when I realized he had a picture of Cary Grant as the background on his phone. I think this is one of the charges listed.

 

I hope Leno pulls the video. Seems like the risk of helping to funnel anyone else to that guy would warrant it.

The “threat to the car” thing felt very real to me. I remember one day when we talked, when he’d already had my car a long time, had taken money from me, and was doing things to it I hadn’t authorized (but somehow still not
identifying or fixing the real issue) when we kind of had it out. Basically I just told him he needed to finish my car and give it back. He totally blew up at me, berated me, told me he “didn’t play games” and that if I pushed him he could send my car back to me “in boxes”.
I realized in the moment that I had to either instantly pull back and use the soft approach to try and get my car back in one piece, regardless of whether or not it was fixed, or that I was likely going to have to go the route of courts, sheriffs, legal fees, etc etc. Additionally, at this point I was actually concerned about what would happen to my car if I told Donnie I was taking it back. Anyway, the value of my car didn’t warrant spending $80k on lawyers and 3 years in court, so I opted for the first approach. Although I will forever be embarrassed by what I paid that guy and the nonsense I put up with, I think I made the right choice. Lesser of two evils.

 

The BAR is actually quite good at resolving issues of that type. The reason people like Donnie get away with it for as long as they do is that people do not report them and file complaints. BAR cannot get your money back but they do testify on your behalf in court. They will shut down businesses like him, fine them and hound them to the end of the earth.
In one of the cases I was hired for BAR was contacted and a complaint filed. They were very involved and instrumental in bringing about the settlement.

 

What does Cary Grant have to do with anything?

 

Seems to me like he’s just trolling ‍

 

joking… a bit of levity. (True story though)

 

Holy crap what great news. This guy is just a creep. I don’t watch much car YouTuber vids so Brent Ozars story was really the first thing I heard in detail, and it was a red flag from the beginning. Hopefully he never touches another exotic ever again.

 

I have seen this play over and over again in the exotic car world. If not him it will be someone else. A few have come and gone here. Someone who promotes himself as greater than great, can turn water into wine and lead into gold. Their mere touch can make your Ferrari run better than it ever has. People want to believe, they really do and will pay stupid money for the privilege. In the old days you needed an Italian accent and claim to have been an F1 team mechanic. In the 60s and 70s there were more Italian ex F1 mechanic, now Ferrari mechanic than had ever existed on the F1 circuit.
People want to believe that and all it takes is someone like Donnie to step into those shoes. I see it over and over and over.

 

Ferrari whisperers.

 

It happened to me and I bet a lot of others when we were brand new into the Ferrari ownership world and had no idea. Although there were red flags in hindsight. As a new owner there is a bit of fear and trepidation that goes along with the thrill and excitement of stepping into this world, and thinking you have someone who can take full care of your new exotic brings a ton of peace of mind. And why wouldn’t a newbie think that with Leno having him on as a 308 expert, Matt Farah taking his car there and singing his praises, and the plethora of social media content showcasing all his work?

But even Ed Niles swore on Donnie apparently and Donnie, I think, still has Ed’s final Ferrari out there- a 328 GTS.

 

So what happens to all the cars currently still in the hangar being worked on? How do their owners get them back? Anyone know?

 

It’s a great question and only time will tell. It will no doubt be a bit of a mess sorting out everything that’s in those hangars and that’s probably a big understatement.

 

That’ll be a mess to sort out. Some may have legitimate bills outstanding, others may not. If there’s criminal evidence involved they could be there for a long time. If donnieboy is delinquent on rent there’s also going to be a landlord to deal with

 

I know that car, its 60053 and no, I do not believe Donnie has it. Jay has had a number of serious dead beats on his show. He puts people on for their entertainment value. He is an entertainer, not a life coach.

 

Is Matt Farah’s Countach now stuck in Donnie’s hangar?

 

I strongly suspect the state, or the courts will be in touch with the owners fact finding to see if more charges are warranted and to arrange return where warranted.

Due diligence is just not that hard.

 

Donnie and I were friends on FB because I had sold him a BB block that threw a rod and a Testarossa air cleaner assembly. He friend requested me and I accepted. After I saw this thread (before the charges) I ditched him.

On his FB page he had pics of his shop now and then and dining out in Europe living the high life. The last time I saw pictures of the BB512 Im sure it was a painted shell. And there was a 250 or 275 on a bendpack hoist. The shop looked like a parking lot and I was surprised he could handle that volume of cars, apparently he wasn't.

 

State of California is pretty cut and dried when it comes to automobiles. Even if you rent a storage unit and dont pay and disappear, owner of the property cannot just take the car and declare it abandoned property. The courts are involved. The cars will get returned to registered owners.

Donnie is not licensed. He has no legal standing to demand one red cent of the bills he may have outstanding on any of the cars. That is a law I am very familiar with. They do rigorously enforce it. If it is disassembled he also has a legal duty to return it in the same condition he received it. That means put together and running. Now you may not want to wait for that from him but that can be settled in a civil suit if anyone thinks he'll have any assets when this is over.

Personally I hope he winds up sleeping on a park bench when he gets out of the joint.

 

You had a BB throw a rod and you are still reusing Ferrari rods? Use Carillos. Ferrari rods are time bombs. There is a reason Carillo has multiple Ferrari listings in their catalog.

 

I bought it with a thrown rod, its the only one I've seen in person with a failed rod. Even that twin turbo 1100hp BB with a testarossa engine in it had stock rods, no failure other than melted pistons. I put the 512M engine in that car.