How Far Back do You Go with Italian Cars?

Bought my 246gt back in 85 and my 328gts about 7 years ago. Still own both. I always had the Italian car "bug" but the corvettes I owned at the time, and still do, were easier to find and work on... Not to mention much faster.
I had the "reqired" Chaz cologne 308 poster with Tom on the wall. I still have the original ad for that too...
I will be 58 in May, never grew up...

 

I always loved Ferraris and exotic cars since I was a toddler. I still have my Ferrari Testarossa hot wheels that I got in 1986 when I was 3 years old! My sister had the Barbie Ferrari 328 back in 1988 and I loved playing with that thing. Saw my first exotic car up close when I was 10 years old - a white Lamborghini Countach, and I was hooked! Got into F1 in middle school around age 12 in 1995. Always knew I would get an exotic car and did the logical progression: Jap tuner car in high school, M3 in college, Lotus after graduating, then bought my Ferrari when I was 25. A true dream come true and I can die a happy man now

 

I was born in 1967.... so as long as I can remember I've been told about Ferrari's... My Ferrari obsession started from attending the USGP at Watkins Glen .... so from 68 to 1980 been to every race there.

Matra was my favorite - it was blue and loud... Ferrari were next but, I guess around 74 when Lauda started driving for Ferrari is when it took over on me. the Road cars came about the same time, maybe a bit earlier - the Dino being my favorite.... I used to get all the corgi cars when I was a kid... i had a red Dino ( sadly lost ) that was my Woubby.... used to have it with me all the time.

 

Ahh, you guys are a fickle bunch.

My dad ran his sperm through the fuel lines of an old Fiat just so I'd get some Italian in me.

My ma shoved a few Hot Wheels up her hoo-hah so I had some Italian wheels to play with while I was still a fetus.

"Since I was a toddler" Hah!

 

1970. Sold my '69 XKE to buy a '64 Lusso.

 

1967 Alfa GT in High School, is that back far enough?

 

First Italian car was a 74 Alfa spider I bought in 77. I haven't been without an Italian car since -- 4 Ferrari's, 1 Maserati, 4 Alfa's, and I think maybe 5 Fiats (I lost track they went so fast!) and one Siata Spring.

Never had a Lancia or Lambo. Maybe it has something to do with the letter L?

 

First Italian car for me was a Fiat 850 Spyder inherited from my pop when he bought a Chrysler. Dad was an immigrant from Sicily and had a soft spot for the cars even when he arrived in US as a boy

 

Good move. The prices of a lot of other Ferraris at that time were quite similar. A GTO was around $50k USD.

 

LOL!!

That's some funny shyte

 

I was born in '48 to Italian parents. Lived with them and grand parents in same house in San Francisco as a kid.

To say I grew up Italian would be an understatement. I couldn't speak English when I started kindergarten - only Italian.

My love for cars started based on 'classic car' bubble gum cards that I collected when I was maybe 8 or 9. These were like basball cards but showed a picture of a car instead with its specifications and a short blurb about how the car fit into history on the back.

I always thought that the Ferraris were the coolest ones. At that time, being Italinan wasn't too cool - Italy was on the other side in the war and the Italians were not considered to have been very good fighters. So, for me Ferraris were a symbol that Italy could produce something that was 'best.' That was important to a young kid.

Anyway, I began to dream about seeing a Ferrari in real life. Owning one or driving one was not even plausible to dream about. I did have a model of a 250 SWB.

I remember the first Ferrari I ever saw. It was about 1965...a metallic grey convertible with covered headlights. It was probably a 250 California Spyder - not a bad first Ferrari sighting!

In college I had an old beat up Fiat Spyder for a while - It was the closest I could afford.

After I finally graduated and started earning some $ (1974), I was considering buying a newer Fiat spyder. Bought a Datsun 280Z instead. Then something happened that changed my life. An Italina friend of the family came to visit and told stories of old Italian sports cars (Ferraris, Maseratis, etc.) being for sale in Italy for next to nothing. It took me a while to get my act together, but by 77 I was off to Italy to buy one of these.

With little money and little ability to find cars once in Italy - they were not generally advertised much and most of the really excellent deals were already gone by the time I got there - I wound up bring home a '67 Fiiat Dino. I think I paid about $400 for it. There was a Lusso available for about $6,000 - which was out of my price range, and a really clapped out Miura for about $2,000 - which scared me away partly because of its condition and partly because it was post '67 which meant that it would be difficult to import. I just missed out on an Iso Grifo for about $3,000, which Winston Goodfellow got instead. On my next trek to Italy I brought back a '60 Maserati 3500 GT.

Those cars led to more than a dozen Italian super cars (my highlight was the 330 GTC speciale originally owned by Sergio Pinninfarina himself - #8727) which have essentially been the center of my non-work life. I have resored them, won concours with them, driven them to my hearts content, etc. They opened me up to a fantasic circle of friends and an entirely different way of living. I got to judge at dozens of car shows, including at Pebble Beach 3 times.

It all started with a bubble gum card.

 

I started following F-1 in the early 60's in high school. It was hard to do with not much tv time back then. Phil Hill brought Ferrari to the forefront in '61 and I remember watching Bandini's terrible crash at Monaco. In college we would drive up to Elkhart Lake to see the June Sprints and the Road America 500. One year at the RA 500 there was a new 330 GTC parked in front of the Pagoda and right then I knew I had to have a Ferrari.

I graduated in '69 and bought a FIAT 124 Spyder that turned into my race car in 1972. I also had an 850 sedan, 850 spyder and a 128 sedan. I had a good dealer, so the cars ran well without many problems at all.

Back in '87 I walked into Shelton Ferrari while on business in Florida and knew the time was getting close. While on vacation in Ft. Lauderdale in '89 I bought my '81 308GTSi and have enjoyed it ever since. A lot of friends had British cars, but I was always partial to anything Italian.

 

It has been a dream to own a Ferrari since I was 6 and got a ride in a 308. To this day that is the only Ferrari I have ever been in.

Few more years..

 

FIAT Spider 850, in 1974........

 

My 308 GTB is my first Italian car, but hopefully not the last. I would love a step nose Alfa Giulia Sprint.

 

Ownership-wise, a '61 Alfa Giulietta coupe, purchased for $300 in 1973. Neat car.

Last time I looked, those little puppies were up to $75K+ at retail and auction

 

I got my initial dose of Italian fever by going to the USGP and other events at Watkins Glen starting in the late sixties. Those weekends let me see in person both street and race Ferraris as well as other exotic European cars that I had only read about in C&D, R&T, SCG etc.

That passion grew stronger in the summer of 1970 when I was visiting with family in White Plains, NY and I hitchhiked and walked to the Chinetti dealership in Greenwich. I came in off the street, a 16 year old kid, and the staff welcomed me and let me wander around wherever I pleased. I was allowed to go back in the shop and see the cars being worked on and the other exotics sitting in storage. I especially remember that the 365P 3-seater was on display in the showroom, and there were numerous engines on stands near the front windows. An amazing and fortunate day; I only wish I had a camera with me...

The next major dose came in the late 70's when a friend and I visited the Jackson, MS dealership of Can-Am and IMSA racer Charlie Kemp, who had a Daytona coupe for sale. Charlie took me for a short ride and then pulled off to the side of the road and let me have the wheel for a couple of miles. Not a bad first time Ferrari-driving experience! It only took me another 30 years to have a Ferrari of my own...

 

Awesome.

 

My mum had a Fiat 126 when I was a small kid, maybe 4-5. Don't remember much about it though, other than the time the brakes jammed on and we had to stop at a petrol station stinking of burning brake pads!

More recently, I promised myself a 355 for my 25th birthday when I dropped out of university at 19, so I'd actually do something productive with my life.

 

1986 with a 1985 308 GTS QV.

 

My wife grew up with a Fiat 500 as the family car in Rome.

Here is her Mom, before my wife was born, with her 1959 model and next is my wife driving her 1966 cinquecento over 40 years later.

Dave
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Cool thread...

I first got into Italian cars as a teen in the 80's watching Magnum. When I went off to college, I loved the looks of the Alfa Romeo GTV-6 and the Volvo P-1800. I couldn't afford the GTV-6, but got the 4 cyl version - '78 Sprint Veloce (Alfetta GT). I then got a '76 Lancia Scorpion, '85 Maserati Biturbo E, and also went through a '87 Milano Verde (still one of my favorite cars). I bought my '78 308 GTS about 17 years ago and still have it.

Can't imagine what would have happened if I had bought the Volvo. All were wonderful in their own ways...

 

Automatic winner: I bought a 1953 Ferrari 250 Europa (S/N 0331EU) in 1959.