So this is a quick funny story. Back in June, 2005, I went to a car show and concours in Denver (actually Centennial) Colorado. I had the Ferrari bug after being on F-chat for a year and wanted to learn more about the cars in person. I brought my son who was 7 and we enjoyed walking through all the rows of cars. I was a little intimidated with the corner with all the F-cars. While I was so excited to see all the different models on the lawn, I was still a bit in awe of them and the people that all seemed to know each other having a good time. I was a bit nervous to get too close and admired all the details from about 5-6 feet away. I was very respectful of the cars and their owners. I brought a camera and enjoyed taking lots of detailed shots while sharing the things I liked with my young son. He sat in a countach and we both loved the 288 GTO there. I reported back to FerrariChat with the photos. Here is a quote: "The rain stopped yesterday, it started to dry out so the cars could be on the grass after all. Lots of nice cars. Many nice 308 / 328. Lots of 355's. Incredible Carrera GT with beautiful details. And my favorite from the 80's - a 288 GTO. Hope you like the images." And I saw a certain yellow F355 there. I could never have guessed that I would buy this car 8 years later. My focus that day was 328's. I loved the F355's but at the time, they were out of my budget... But even back then, it drew my eye. Did any of you become reunited with a car you saw years before and later purchased? Kind of cool. Robb Image Unavailable, Please Login
Off to the left. At noon, all of the Ferrari owners started their engines at the same time. Great rumble and the mystique was further engrained... Robb Image Unavailable, Please Login
A similar story happened with me, Robb. It was early January 2008 and I had just purchased my 550 Maranello a couple of weeks before. I brought the car back to Classic Coach to have it inspected. While I was waiting, I noticed a yellow F355 Challenge on one of the lifts undergoing a major service. I spent a few minutes looking it over. It was a nice one! But I also had a 1976 308 GTB Fiberglass which I had been tracking for a while. The Maranello was going to assume its track duties. In the autumn of 2011, I decided to sell the 308. It had become a collector car and I'm not a collector. I told Rocco Planeta, the general manager at Classic Coach, to find me a street-legal F355 Challenge. That was a pretty tall order, but Rocco shook his head yes and said "OK." In April 2012, he called me at my office and told me he found an F355 Challenge he felt I would like. He emailed me a picture of the car. It was the Challenge car I saw on the lift four years before. He asked me to stop over at Classic Coach after work. He wanted to discuss going to Syracuse, NY to see the car. While there, we made plans to drive up to look over the car a few days later. He told me to be at the shop at 7:00 AM that Saturday as it was a five hour trip up there. Then he took me back to the restoration area of the shop to show me a 275 GTB nearing completion. After looking at it, he led me out of the area past a covered car. He stopped and said "This is the next car that we'll be restoring." He took off the cover to reveal the Challenge car. I stood there speechless for a full minute. Then I turned to Rocco and said "Does this mean I don't have to be here early Saturday morning?" . Image Unavailable, Please Login
Great Story Robb! If someone told me years ago someday i own a Ferrari i whould just laughed out loud...
Robb, It looks like the yellow 355 in this thread has larger drilled front brake rotors (clearly seen in post #3) and from what I can tell yours doesn't have them. Did the previous owner remove them and if so any idea why? Or do you still have them?
Have contacted the owner during that period. He remembers the show and filled me in on the history of what the car did and where. He was heavily involved in the FCA. Good times for him. Robb
The owner had some cracks show during some track days at PIke's Peak Intl Raceway So he had Ferrari of Denver swap back to solid rotors. He did recommend getting the f-cars on the track (he's had 7 and tracked all of them). He said it's the greatest thing you can do to link yourself to your car and become a better driver in the street. Robb
Similar thing happened to me back in the day. I spent most of 2002/2003 looking for a blue GTS but gave up after a while. One day driving to the beach a titanium 355B passed me going the other way and I stared at it thinking "I need that car." I ended up seeing it at a car show a few weeks later with a for sale sign on it. I didn't see the owner anywhere but it turned out he was on Fchat so we talked about doing a deal.. turns out he lived a few miles from me. I got cold feet though and he ended up trading it to Ferrari of Denver for a CS. I think I personally boosted the FoD website's unique visits by a few thousand after checking on it constantly over the next 2 months before breaking down and buying it. So rather than the car going from one side of Tampa Bay to the other, it got shipped 2/3rds of the way across the country and then came right back.
