STOP THE MADNESS!!!

Mike,
I am sorry to see your ownership experience start out this way. Even after painstaking research there are cars out there that are misrepresented either through uninformed sellers or disinformation, intentional and not.

I have read that many times a seller will do "just enough" for as little as possible to get the car out the door. It is pretty typical of the business or they wouldn't make a decent margin. Some put more into the cars than others. Some of the mechanics aren't as good as others and that can put the pinch on the sales staff when things go wrong.

I hope this ends it for now.

DJ

 

Well, look at this way, you have one of the nicest, well sorted 348's out there now. We need to hook you up with the two black ones we have up here in Seattle.

My car is in my basement right now getting some winter maintenance done so it will be a while before it comes out to play.

Hopefully it will up and running for DYNO DAY on March 5th in Kirkland. Yeehaw!

 

Mike,
Sorry to hear, there are several in the Club that have had similar experiences...not always caused by poor workmanship, but sometimes stuff was just missed during a PPI, and in rare occaisions, by deception. Bottom line, I decided on my most recent purchase that working with a local FMNA dealer (FoS in this case) gave me the most confidence in the purchase. Sure, no warranty, but your local dealer knows that you will back for service, parts and perhaps a future "upgrade". Bottom line, they have a vested interest in taking care of you, that a dealer thousands of miles a way, may not.

It ended up that my 355 spider had a few things that needed taking care of, and Tino had his staff at FoS tend to them immediately, without question, and to my satisfaction. I'm VERY satisfied with my purchase decision. It just took me two previous Ferrari purchases to get to this point. It's only going to take you one!

Regards,
Dave

 

Mike,

I'm also sorry to hear about your troubles. All I can do is agree with what's already been said, you now know the car is top notch! Look forward to seeing it sometime!

John

 

Great point, once you are behind the wheel, with that engine screaming behind you, all is forgotten!

 

I noticed there haven't been many track days scheduled recently. I recall that if you are an FCA member you can attend some of the other car club track days (BMW, Porsche, etc)-- is that still true?

 

Mike,

Keep an eye on the newsletter and the web-site for upcoming events http://www.ferrariclub.com/ If you just joined it may take a while for things to catch up with you though.

Also doesn't Tonkin usually sponsor a track day at PIR? They should be more than happy to tell you about it!

 

There are track days a plenty at PIR, Pacific and Bremerton. The Alfa club chapters in OR and WA have numerous days on the schedule. I'm traveling and don't have the dates in front of me but I recall an upcoming event at PIR on 3/5. Also, ProDrive and ProFormance (the schools at PIR at PR, respectively) have many open track sessions. Get out there and have some fun!
- Will

 

PIR
http://www.portlandraceway.com/schedule.asp

ProDrive
http://www.prodrive.net/



PR (Kent)
http://www.pacificraceways.com/

Proformance school
http://www.proformanceraceschool.com/

 

Tonkin has traditionally done 1 track day per year. They are discussing doing more than one this year. The Alfa, Porsche, and BMW club have reciprocity--belong to one, drive at any of the other club's track days. Membership in the BMW CCA (Seattle based) allows one to drive at BMW ACA (Portland based) events. I am not sure the reverse is always true. You might be able to try to get entry based on belonging to the FCA--I've never tried.

I own a couple of BMW's, so belonging to the BMW ACA and CCA is a no brainer. But I would think it would be worth joining one or the other, even if you don't own one, to allow "no questions asked" access to the driving events.

Then, there are also Cascade Car club and other organizers that are not marque affiliated, and you can run anything that passes tech.

 

Thanks--I think there are enough FCA members in Portland to easily do a track day. But I drive my F-Cars on the track--no better place to enjoy 'em. Took out the AWD Minivan a bit today (with Blizzaks)--still slicker than moose snot--staying in and organizing my CD collection. Toyed with the idea of backing out the 360 and just seeing how it did on the ice (on the street in front of my house) but I don't think I could get it back up the driveway.

The big bummer for us Portlandites with this storm is the sand and gravel on the roads--no Fcar driving for a week or two--DRAT!

 

Messed up--"aren't" (not are) enough members. Although, if we had enough interested folks we could try to put one on--the issue is cost per entrant, as the track rental charge is fixed.

 

I've been to at least one Ferrari track day, although come to think of it, it may have been organized by Tonkin. There were probably 15-20 cars there.

Hell, Portland has two Enzos, at least two F50s, and who knows how many F40s. We can't organize a track day?

I'd be happy just to have a mini-get together at Starbucks on some Saturday morning.