I need a Ferrari mentor in C'ville

Hey y'all,
I live in the Charlottesville, VA area, and I'm just begining to nose around for my first Ferrari. I posted in the model non specific forum a few months ago, and I looked at a 308 GTB that a fellow F-chatter was selling in Virginia Beach. While I 've read many books and been to many car shows, none of my close friends has a Ferrari and my former partner in indulgent automotive hobbies (mostly muscle cars) lives in California. When I went to look at the car in VA Beach, which I lamentably could not drive becuase a brutal ice storm took an unexpected jog to the east that day, I realized that I still knew far too little about the minutiae of Ferraris.
All of this is a roundabout way of saying I need some local contacts. Does any one live in the C'ville area? Do you ever take your Ferrari to a local mechanic as opposed to Ferrari of Washington? I have certainly seen a few Ferrari's around . . . What I really need is a mentor, a Ferrari Yoda, whose advise can mold me over the course of a year or two into an F-car Jedi with enough knowledge and confidence to seek out an purchase a classic or vintage steed.
HESSIAN

 

I forgot to ask if any C'ville Ferrari enthusiasts had noticed the Scuderia Ferrari shield that has been painted on the wall of Starr Hill Automotive. I assumed that this little mural was the rough equivalent of the posters of 365 GTB's I had on my wall when I was a school kid, but I peeped in the windows and I saw several Porsches up on the lifts in the shop. I will refrain from any invidious comments about how Porsche owners and mechanics might still have school boy dreams about Ferraris in favor of the assumption that some one who works on Porsches might occasionally tinker with an F-car.
HESSIAN

 

LS -
Thanks for the reply. I am up in DC quite often; it is where I grew up and my family still lives there. The posts on F-chat, and a plethora of other sources have led me to lean more toward a 328, but I'm still interested in carbed 308's. I suppose what I need most is to talk at length with someone who has owned one of these cars, and knows good trustworthy mechanics as well as the feasibility of various DIY projects. If you know of any DC area events where F-chatters will be meeting, preferably with their Ferrraris, let me know. I'm still hoping to find a local mentor . . .
HESSIAN

 

Thanks to everyone for the replies, I know that the 'Ville is not a large enough metropolis to have hordes of Ferrari owners, but I'll keep looking.

Nigel - So you finally made it out of our little land of the lotus eaters? I used to see a yellow 355 spider around town a few years ago, may be it was yours. I also used to see a red TR parked next to Zazu's on Ivy Rd in the summer, but I have a hunch that wasn't you. I've been working as a biochemist at the medschool (Jordan hall), so perhaps our paths crossed at some point. . .
When you lived around here, did you use FoW as your repair/service shop? I've seen mostly positive reviews for their sales staff, so maybe the shop is decent as well. The Crown chain owns the BMW/Porsche franchise in town, and their service departement lost my business with extremely laggard response times and innattentiveness after they bought out Pegasus.

Everone - I have found a mechanic in Richmond who seems astonishingly honest, but he focuses on BMW, Porsche, and other German makes with a lot of race and rally prep work. His shop is called Delta Nu (he actually uses the Greek letters), but the Sportscar Workshop (sp?) next door does Italian and British rides (I've seen a few Ferraris and Maseratis in their shop), but I have no idea if they are any good. If anyone has used them let me know.
HESSIAN