How many of us ended up here because of the Magnum PI TV show

Owned the 308 for 7 years. Everyone asked about Magnum. I never saw the show....

 

Almost exactly my story. I have never seen a full episode of Magnum PI. I DID enjoy seeing Christie Brinkley drive one in National Lampoon's Vacation.

But, really, I fell in love with the 308 as a child. I saw a few on the road, here and there. They were simply so unique and beautiful.

Took me about 32 years to own one.

 

Magnum PI was great and definitely left an impression but I really went crazy for Ferrari at around age 9 or 10 when I saw the fake Daytona Spyder on Miami Vice. I instantly bought every magazine and book I could find that had a Ferrari Daytona in it. I thought that was the coolest car I'd ever seen. Luckily, most of those Ferrari books I bought had other vintage models, so I started to learn about 250's, 275's, etc.

One day, a few months after going totally Ferrari bonkers, my Dad told me that one of his friends owned a 1969 black/tan REAL Ferrari Daytona Spyder. I lost my mind. I loved that car and also my Dad's friend was a bit of a character, who always had good stories related to his cars. Some examples - Apparently his Daytona (which started life as a coupe) once belonged ot an Italian gangster who drove it into the ocean.

Another (more plausible) - When he went to get a cashiers cheque at the local bank to buy his Daytona Spyder, the bank teller asked him what kind of car he was buying that cost so much money. After he told her, she apparently responded "you're paying $85,000 for a 15 year old car?!?!"

I recently saw my Dad's friends car for sale. Repainted a different colour but fully restored..sadly it was out of my price range. It would have been a childhood dream come true to own that Daytona!

 

Same here but I saw a 308 before I remember watching Magnum. Even at that early age, I knew it was something different and special. The TV show allowed me to see a 308 once a week. Ferraris were quite rare back then, especially where I grew up.

 

The thing about Magnum PI was that it was a neat (although completely implausible) plot line with a bunch of cool guys and here was Thomas with a Ferrari 308 that wasn't even his and he was just totally flogging the thing. It's similar to the Steve McQueen movie "Le Mans" and how the 917 and 512 were so beaten up and filthy by the end of the race that they were the alternate heroes of the movie.

 

Same here. I watched the show pretty much only because it gave me an opportunity to see my dream car almost every week. I was aware of the Ferrari brand and had even seen at least one in person before Magnum aired but seeing one on a regular basis really fueled my passion for the marque.

 

I wanted one because I thought it was so cool when Magnum shoved the GTS top back. I thought it was really a neat piece of engineering and I bought one just to see how the mechanicals worked on that setup! Jump to the end (3:10) of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA_N0JW_IBc

I ended up buying a 328 because I wanted ABS and it had the same technology for sliding the top back that existed on the 328.

 

Guilty

 

It is, indeed. Certainly Mr Masters used to receive a lot of mail...

And it's still the one used in the tv show.

 

Count me in.

My license plate is HANKNUM

My email address is also hanknum and my ringtone is the theme song.

Henry

 

Not me. Owned a 328 for 12 years. For some reason, I don't like it when I got asked if this was the "Magnum" car. My answer was "no, it was the model that came after the magnum car." I never really watched the show. Was more of a Miami Vice fan.

 

the show had nothing to do with my purchsase. The car is gorgeous regardless.

 

That's not engineering or technology, it's magic!

Hate to admit it, but I had never noticed that.

 

Magnum PI did not inspire me to buy my 308, that's why I have a green one!

However many ask me if my green 308 is that the Magnum PI car?

I was in the Navy while Magnum PI was popular and stationed on a San Francisco based Aircraft Carrier, USS Coral Sea, CV-43, which spent plenty of time in Pearl Harbor. Magnum PI was shown nightly on the ship's TV station and there was nothing else to watch. I fell in love with Waikiki and Oahu from the show. It was Miami Vice that moved me from Alfa Romeo to Ferrari.