430 My 430 turns 20!

My 430 turns 20! Backstory: In Sept. 2002, I walked into Ferrari of Denver checkbook in hand to put a deposit on whatever model would follow the 360 which had been sold out for some time. At the time, wait lists were long and Ferrari did not allow dealers to charge more than MSRP. So the practice of flipping new cars for a profit was rampant. The hot model at the time was paddle shift spiders.

I wanted a 3 pedal coupe.

IIRC, they already had about 60 deposits, mostly for spiders. None of them wanted 3 pedals. The sales manager explained to me that Ferrari actually treated 2 pedal and 3 pedal cars as separate models. So I would get the first 3 pedal coupe allocated. At the time, no one was sure Ferrari would still make a 3 pedal car.

I was notified in May, 2005 that my car was allocated and I had a short window to come in and spec it out. I could then follow its progress and it was put on a boat in July.

No one wanted 3 pedals then. FOD didn't bother to make an offer to flip. I handed them a check, they gave me the keys and away I went. It was sort of like buying a pig in a poke since I had no opportunity to drive a 430 beforehand. It's still the only one I've ever driven. The plan was to see if I liked it. Then to see if it was a solid car with few problems before the warranty ran out.

I guess I still like it 20 years later. It now has 33K on it and problems have been very, very few---nothing major.

I'd like to hear from other one owners!

Photo from May, 2024 in its mountain habitat. Image Unavailable, Please Login

Dave