So...whats it like to own a Ferrari?

What a load of crap.

 

Very funny! A lot of truth in there too. I started out with getting the best F-Car I could afford outright, thinking I would eventually move into newer models one by one, but have learned to love the marque so much more than I thought that I now find myself adding an older F-Car to the stable and being unwilling to let go of the one I already have. I think now that I will continue to add older cars, one for each decade maybe! The newer owners I meet, GENERALLY, have less interest in the cars and their history but have primary interest in the performance and cache'. I don't see anything wrong with that, as long as they drive them!

DMAX

 

Quotes from owners are crap? That's interesting.... What would be valid by your standards?

 

I think it is a pretty good article really. I do think there are "look at me" owners and "enthusiast" owners who would rather no one noticed them at all.

Recently a small group of us convened at a track at Roland Linder's invitation to help him with a TV shoot where he was (of course) the star. The rest of us looked like we should be driving old pickups with faded jeans, ragged tee shirts and sneakers. No bling could be found anywhere. Made me kind of proud.

Dave

 

There's no typical Ferrari owner. Some are posers, some are collectors, some are huge car guys, some like to race, some like to tinker...

Most I've met are guys just like me. They love cool cars and don't care what people think. They love Lambos, Aston Martins, and even Lotus' as well.

Ken

 

"What would be valid by your standards?"

The article reeks of class envy, and some humor at the expense of the owners. Let's take a look:

_______________

"You get the gold chain and Rolex crowd more with the newer cars." To illustrate, Mr. Rosenfeld displayed his own watch. "It's a Ulysse Nardin," he said. "It's far more understated than a Rolex, even though it cost $15,000."

You think that's intended as anything other than satire?
_______________

"But there's a kind of pathos to wanting attention so much that you're willing to carry around all that cultural baggage."

Oh, come on. A kind of pathos? With all the very funny and intelligent social critics around, this is the best expert quote to be found?

_______________

"David E. Davis Jr., the founder of Automobile magazine and a former Ferrari
owner, actually has a kind word for Ferrari owners."

This Davis chap actually has a kind word for Ferrari owners. "Actually," as if who could believe it?

________________

"If you ask a Porsche owner, 'What's your favorite Porsche from the 1980's?' he'll know the marque's whole tradition and history. New Ferrari owners, if you ask them about their favorite Ferrari from the 1980's, they can't give you an answer."

This, from a "Porsche racer." Does he really race anything, or is he a track day weenie? I haven't checked. Maybe this guy needs to meet a few "Ferrari racers" who can remember all the way back to the 1980s.

_________________

"The Reagan era was on, and everybody wanted a Ferrari."

Ah, yes, the Reagan area, which we all remember only for its universal materialism - as opposed to, say, the Clinton era.


As I said, a load of crap.

 

LOL! You have to have different colors, IMO...

Fly yellow = lots of attention

Light Blue = almost invisible.

Although I've noticed it's along gender lines. I had a stranger (female) roll down the window at a light to compliment the blue car, after asking what it was!

 

The people to worry about, Mr. Davis said, are Lamborghini owners. "You
don't know where those people are coming from."


Ha.Ha.

 

Italy? LOL!

 

I believe Mr. Davis used to own a Ferrari. So he might be a bit biased.

I recall a couple of articles he wrote in Automobile magazine many years ago about the Ferrari purchase and the subsequent eating of the interior leather by some racoons.

 

hi alan.....

wait until i send u a pix of me next to da yellow diablo (yes, the parrot will be included as a prosperity measure )

on a serious note, you are correct that yellow does bring on lots of attention.....but mr davis' statement about the unknown origins of lambo's owners are just outright "hurtful and unsportman like conduct"....

 

wch, thanks for the claification, now if you just said that the first time....

I agree there is some slant in the article, but frankly the comments are no different than what I read on here every day. Not to say that some of that isn't crap as well, but people are entitled to their opinions, no matter how smelly.

 

"frankly the comments are no different than what I read on here every day"

Koby - very true!

 

Slightly OT, but David E. Davis' book of collected columns has some great Ferrari stuff. The column about driving to lunch with the test drivers in the 80s is worth the book alone.

 

Earlier in his career, he wrote an excellent article on driving a 250LM about 1000 miles from NY to Detroit, or similar. I always enjoyed his stuff and his enthusiasm for the automobile.

-steve

 

I guess I can only speak for myself. I am a car enthusiast who likes to go fast. I do downplay that I own a Ferrari and do not talk about it at all. I avoid letting the information get out to my patients that I own a Ferrari, as I get tired of hearing form patients that their high cost of health care is providing me with Ferraris and homes and vacations. I do get tired of the high maintenance that Ferraris seems to have. It seems that every time something breaks it is a major deal to get parts from italy or fix it right the first time. Other than that, I do enjoy driving my car and it beautiful to look at when polished in the driveway.

 

Will, you could have simply read that the article was in the NY Times and inferred that it would reek with class envy.

Everytime I pick up a NYT, I see a headline like, "For the middle class, even health insurance isn't always enough" or "New research proves Rich get richer at poors' expense".

I still read it, but with more than just a grain of salt.

 

i have yet to meet a gold chain wearing Ferrari owner- i think they are into SUV's with 24 in rims these days...although there are a few jackass owners(i think im one!),but overall we are way more behaved than the multitudes of high end german and asian go fast cars . problem is they blend in and we stick out and come up in conversation over dinner....and on everyones camera phones. i think they are into SUV's with 24 in rims. i blame it on the media,ignorance,the rarity of the fcars on the road that we just stand out.

funny my friend has a 100k boat in his driveway , and its "just a boat" to everyone, youd think i robbed a bank the way some people talk abot me and my Ferrari.

 

The NYT is a liberal pile of crap. Any time that they can take a swipe at anyone who may be successful, they will.

Frankly, I drive my cars. I track them. I service them myself. I even detail them myself. I've driven them to work. I've been smiled at. I've gotten thumbs up as well as few middle finger salutes............and you know what, I could care what anybody else thinks. They can do what they want with their lives, I'll LIVE mine!

Based on our local FCA region though..........if we have a driving event...the same 10 usual suspect show up. If we have an event with no driving, lots of food and 'safe' parking, with lots of photo ops...........we'll get 100 people. So go figure.

 

WCH makes some good points. The watch comment by the author seems a bit.. redundant.

I like the quote at the end:

The people to worry about, Mr. Davis said, are Lamborghini owners. "You
don't know where those people are coming from."

Was it Frank Sinatra who said "You buy a Ferrari if you want to be someone, you buy a Lamborghini if you ARE someone". Probably not a smart thing to say on a ferrari board but it really is inevitable that a large amount of Ferrari and Lamborghini owners alike (and the marques realise this) purchase their cars with the main objective of stating just how amazingly successful they are. Sure there are the drivers, myself included, who are simply passionate about sports cars but there is an equal amount of owners, especially those who weren't so well off during their younger years, that they simply want to show off. You only need to look at Hip-Hop culture to see that.

 

The gold chain and Rolex comments were a bit over the line.

The bling crowd wants brand new vehicles...typically dressed up in chrome, raised, lowered, or modded up as ricers.

The gold chain and Rolex crowd isn't restoring a 1966 275 Spyder or debating when to change the cam belt on a 1994 348.

The gold chain and Rolex crowd flies to their destination. Road trips are out of the question.

No doubt that the NY Times would be speechless in trying to explain me driving my 3 year old daughter sitting in her car seat...top down...listening to Veggie Tales as the 348 swept the leaves from a winding Alabama farm to market road.

The NY Times has painted a gold chain and Rolex stereotype that simply won't explain those Ferrari owners who are putting serious miles on their cars each month.