Yup. I've been asked if my Dino was a kit car, a Magnum car, a Fiat, a Corvette, you name it. I've had someone in a gas station question whether the wheels were "right" for the car. Of course, my car doesn't have any external Ferrari badges which can add to the confusion. But, of course, "We don't need no stinkin' badges." I always answer politely. What's the harm? Lots of folks don't have any idea what I'm driving, but they all think it's beautiful, and want to know more. I've ended up giving impromptu tours in gas stations, parking lots, and at the drive through to the guy or gal giving me the burger in the bag. The more generous we are as owners with our time and information, the more we spread the joys of ownership. DM.
Like I said: http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=134767508&postcount=40 ..although I've been told that this approach would probably be counter-productive in the Los Angeles area.
All your problem could be solved right there if only you asked. Because she showed her interest in your car and you seemed to be interested in her sizes......... and she did initiated...
Thats ok, many confuse my 240Z w/ a GTO. The custom 350 V8 w/ the duel Supertraps seals the deal. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Just a thought: When asked if the car is a kit answer 'Yes it is. However it was preassembled at the factory using only genuine Ferrari parts.' My favorite experience was when I was buying gas in the New Jersey Turnpike, the station attendant told me that my wheels (Borranis) were on backwards. I thanked him for his input. Art S.
Last year I was in a shell garage in London. My CEL had just come on for the third time in a month and I was not happy. A fellow fchatter pulled in with me in his 355 and we duly filled up with fuel. We proceeded inside where the cashier (who was wearing his uniform - a Shell T-shirt wqith the Scuderia Ferrari Crest on the chest) asked me if my 360 was a Peugeot. Fellow fchatter starts laughing his socks off whilst I (being in foul mood already) silently took credit card and stormed out. Never used that petrol station again.
Rule number one is, wear silk clothing, bush chest hair every morning, display magnum PI tatto at all times. This is more then likely the first post that on FC but I have been lurking for a long time, using the photos you guys post to make my kits more accurate and to dream about someday finding a nice 328 to turn into a track car. You guys have to look at it from the everday guys perspective, which I admit some of you seem to grasp. Anything beyond a 308 and the car knowledge runs out, its easy to say Its just a kit when they see something they have no exp with. But from the flip side of the coin I get "is it real every single day I take the Cobra or my 308 out". The 308 is a real close cosmetically and size wise. ~1/8 inch in lenght and width. It never stops, heck at the Coranado vintage races I was flagged into the Ferrari area without even a second glance.(I parked in the domestics area) I also had some interesting people walk up to the car stare at it and say things like. I would have bought it if it was a targa. So two points. One is the cosmetic gap between the kit Ferrari and the real one is getting smaller, and the uninformed are always going to be out there. This drops the obvious kits out but even then they still fool people. Two in the end its easier for them to grasp the concept of a kit car out on the road then the real thing.
When stopped at a gas station and somebody asks "Is it real", why not just rap your knuckles on the side of the car, then say, "Yeah, it sounds real to me".
While renewing my UPS store postbox, I was pointing out the multiple irony of my excise tax bills from Mass (even after I moved to VA). The '03 EVO is "valued" at 11K$, the '79 Alfa at $1100, and once again, the '88 Ferrari is valued at "$900". (I've already told the tax office that, if they know where to buy Ferraris at $900, I'll take a 6-pack.) The clerk asked: "You have a Ferrari?". (I'd have thought all the letters in my box from FMoW would have been a tip-off.) When I admitted it, she then asked, ... ... "Does it work?". Of all the questions I've been asked about Ferraris, that's got to be the funniest first thing to ask. Especially as the Optima is dead at the moment.
Ignorance never ceases to piss-me-off. If someone called my 308 or Mondial (Which I don't have, just theoretically speaking) a Mustang, I would be extremely angry. There's just something about it that pisses me off. Same with Fart-can-huge-winged-civic-drivers who think they're Schumacher doing 6000 rpm in first gear as they go down my street EVERY DAY. There's 4 other gears, USE 'EM! [/end rant]