FERRARI SOUTH IN JACKSON, MS

Ferrari South is still open. They are still having telephone problems in the Jackson area but that should be taken care of soon.

 

I swear I thought they were closed since the early 90's

 

They closed their sales business in the late 90's, but they were still servicing cars when I visited there last year. Can do a lot of the routine stuff, but items that require the specialized equipment they sent to Ferrari of Atlanta. Unless I'm terribly mistaken, the owner of FoA lives in Jackson MS.

 

Bandit, you are correct on all counts.

 

I went by there last year and the place was runned down with broken windows and stuff, really bad part of town. I wanted to get out and get the huge ferrari sign but my dad wouldnt let me cause we were the only white people in site and everybody else didnt look to friendly, sorry if i offended any african americans on the board.

 

I talked to the Ferrari South owner Ed W. (he also owns Ferrari of Atlanta) today and he's fine, as is Ferrari South. However, the Mitsubishi dealership he also owns in the area was badly damaged and much of the stock ruined.

 

Ferrari South is in pretty much the worst possible part of Jackson. I can remember my first visit there in the late 90's. I grew up in north Mississippi, so I didn't know much about Jackson at the time. My friend's dad had just bought a Testarossa and had it shipped over from the dealership in Atlanta. He couldn't go down to get it, so he sent his son and myself down with the instructions "Go ahead and have a little fun with it, but no Ferris Bueller ****!" In any case, when we got there I couldn't believe someone would plant a Ferrari dealership in a part of town like that. I was driving my car following my friend in the Testarossa as we left, and there were quite a few "urban" types who looked as if they were thinking really hard about "borrowing" the Ferrari. I have never been so glad to get on an interstate! Now that I live in Jackson and know the city, I am doubly amazed that the shop is where it is. The only positive I can think of is that the rent must be REALLY cheap! I have often wondered why they don't move it to one of the nicer parts of town.

 

The same reason FAF was where it was for so many years...a location where I wish it still was...to avoid tire kickers and teens just hanging out looking at cars they can't afford and have no intention on buying.

 

I too wish they were back in Tucker, much closer to the house but I really didn't like that old small building.

 

FAF?

 

I would think the better solution to teens hanging out at the dealership is to post a "no loitering" sign and ask them to leave if they become a problem, rather than building your dealership in a dangerous part of the ghetto just to avoid tire-kickers.

 

FAF Motors was the only Atlanta Ferrari shop in the area before FoA opened up in Alpharetta. As WaltP said it was in a little, non-descript building in Tucker and unless you knew the place, you would have little or no idea that there were some beautiful machines in there all the time.

I don't know if it was an authorized Ferrari dealer nor not. I might be mistaken, but I think FAF was an acronum for "Ferari-Alfa-Fiat".

 

I think it was an authorized dealer, my car was purchased there new in 1980. Not be me though.

 

FAF was an authorized dealer. The name was changed when the current owner pruchased the dealership.

 

There's a long history behind Ferrari South. In the 1970s Charlie Kemp and Sam Scott opened a Ferrari store in Jackson, in an old Chrysler dealership building which had been owned by Charlie's dad (Charlie's family owned about three counties in Mississippi). I was at the grand opening, probably one of the few times that "Penthouse Pets" were ever seen in Jackson. They had a Barchetta on display (I think it was 0008, the LeMans winner), and the first car they ever sold, a 275 GTS. (Coincidentally, it was traded back to them and I bought it from Charlie, my first V-12 Ferrari.)

I am under the impression that when Ed bought the business that it stayed in the same building, only a few blocks from the state capitol (the address was 419 some street, as far as I can recall). It's long been paid for, and probably makes little sense to move elsewhere.

 

My apologies for bumping up an ancient thread, but after having found this rather sad photo on the net, I was intrigued about the story behind it. This thread answered my questions.
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That is exactly what the building looks like NOW. Only thing in the building is an empty service dept. and some really nice vintage vettes.

 

wow

I would still like to have that old sign

 

Wow. Count me in for one of the signs too....does anyone that knows Ed know if he would want to sell them?

Also, I would LOVE to have a Ferrari South liscence plate frame if anyone happens to have one laying around (assuming any were ever made).

 

All I have is an ould Ferrari South postcard. It has a picture of the front of the building with a black 308 QV next to it

 

Any way of scanning it and posting it here?

 

Charlie owned Sports Cars Ltd in the mid 60's selling Jaguar and Triumph cars. I bought a '64 TR-4 from him in 65 when I was 19. This was a side line as he was the Manager of Merrill Lynch at the time. He had started racing and I was helping get his Lotus 11 ready for Stuttgart Arkansas. When I was leaving the reverse went out on my car. He offered me one out of a wreck and the use of the garage to change it out so I could get back to college Sun Nite. Later he bought a Shelby 350R. I was with a friend at SCCA drivers school in Cortland AL when up pulls this RED Lusso with Charlie driving and the Shelby on a flatbed hauler. He was there to run it in at the regionals. He later ran Can Am with a 917 for Bobby Rinzler Racing with RC Cola sponsorship. He ran a Carrera at Daytona and campaigned a highly modified mustang in the later Trans Am. While on a visit back home I took my boys by the dealership and they were trying to get a Testarossa in the door. They had to remove the mirrors and they those wide hips barely made it in. The last I heard of Charlie was a reference made by his good friend William Jeanes the automotive writer. He had written a piece in Car and Driver about Katrina (he lives in Pass Christian) and mentioned that his good friend Charlie Kemp had driven down from his home in Hazelhurst south of Jackson with a load of water and some generators. I hope he is alive and well.
The address is 419 S. Gallatin in Jackson if you want to Google Map it. How the heck did I remember that!

 

Welcome, and thanks for the post.

 

Sorry it took me 5 years! Looks like Feb 1989. He was referring to a VHS tape of a drive in a 308. I saw it at a car show and I asked him if he could copy it and mail me one. He never did.. but I did get the postcard!
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