strange charachters Ferrari perceptions, value and mechanical

Hey no don't go throwing your weight around here like that, Some people think us aircraft mechanics are not smart enough to figure out a Ferrari. haha

what I do find frustrating is the WSM, especially when people talk about the torque values in the book being incorrect. So its not black and white like busting out the pubs on a Boeing product.

Quite a few people on these forums do not even own a Ferrari and try to give others advice its funny ****. Sometimes you have to weed out the BS. Usually most on here are a good crowd.

I only miss working on helicopters when I am not working on helicopters.

But can do a C5 breakdown still to this day. Depending on how long its been together determines how long it takes to break it down but about a day to do that much work. working on a Ferrari is easy but these cars are delicate I need a full time AVI guy.
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I'm no mechanic but I like to drive my cars whenever I get a chance and when I drive I drive unnecessaryly hard. However, there is no reason not to keep the cars nice and shiny while they are resting.

 

My car was stored for 9 yrs by a first buyer trying to speculate to accumulate (good old late 80's/early 90's), then only owned for 6 months by the second owner. That meant that in my first couple of years of ownership I nearly 'doubled' the first two owners cumulative mileage of 2650, taking it up to around 5K.

But....since 2000 things changed for me. We had two kids who are both involved in many sports activities (so lots of ferrying around), I bought a new MV when they came out and also a nice 993, so other vehicles to enjoy. Many of the Summer's since 2000 the UK weather has been diabolical. Consequently my Fezzer hasn't often seen the light of day.

Just making the point that there are often varied circumstances why we don't get to use vehicles, its not because we don't 'want' to.

 

The ethos that I live by.... exactly why I have a red car in the first place.

 

I'm all 3 of those in one

 

hey!! you cant tell the truth like that!!! it offends me and your President wont stand for it!!!

 

I'm a proud number three, although I don't think all of your characterizations/description of a #3 are accurate.

 

An interesting attempt to pigeon hole every owner into 3 rather simple little groups.
Not sure what the actual point is.

I drive my car. In fact I've driven it far more than any previous owner had in the 13 years before I bought it. It is most certainly not a garage-queen show-pony. I'm about to do my first "track day" in it, and I'm more worried about my own lack of talent than the cars ability to handle it.

However, whilst my car is a "driver", I very much value what I consider "proper" maintenance.

I value service records and history.

I also like to keep it nice and shiny between the many drives I enjoy.

I shake my head at people who constantly want to talk the value of these cars down, and whine that they are "expensive" to maintain, or complain because even though they have virtually no mechanical knowledge at all, when they went to fiddle with something it all went a bit pear shaped...

I know it's an expensive temperamental Italian thoroughbred pain in the ass. That's why I pay someone who knows what they're doing to look after it.
And because I do that (and didn't buy a cheap POS in the first place) it works fine 99% of the time.

Maybe you can put me under "Ferrari owning Realist".

 

I can't wait to drive my car.

The PO let it sit for 11 years and only put ~1500 miles on it. (At least he had a belt service done when he bought it)

 

I was a # 3 then converted to #1. In the first couple of months of ownership, I was so paranoid of breaking something and intimidated by repair bills. However, once I drove the car like it was meant to be driven I fell in love.

To put things in perspective, my Ferrari is like a high maintenance chick who I get to bang regularly. The sex is so good, that when it comes time to collect...I have no problem with paying..as long as I get to keep banging her. It's just that good!

 

Drive and fiddle, I love it.

 

You can have it all. No reason to worry if you sit in one camp more than another.

They are great cars. Whoever is waiting on the sidelines is the only one missing out...

Robb

 

I've had my 355 Spider for almost 15 years now, I paid a lot of money for it, I think I will recover my original price for it in about 5 years. One thing I can say is it is worth every penny of it's depreciation. I enjoy every startup, every drive, and every time I just look at the car. For the price I paid for it, I can never say it wasn't worth it, I drive my car and enjoy it.

 

Sadly, this year I'm more in the #3 category. My GTS has sat quite a bit this year, mostly due to a rainy florida summer. It runs beautifully but I also plan a major hopefully by years end. After that, I certainly would love to drive it on a nice road trip maybe from Orlando to the Gulf Coast. Since I bought it three years ago, I have only logged 1500 miles. After the next major though, it's on!

 

That's like what... 60 miles??? Get out there and drive man

 

I drive my car but I won't -always- drive it. Not worried about putting miles on but do I want to be stuck in traffic on my way to work and have it bake outside in the sun all day getting dusty or rained on? No, that would just annoy me and take away any possible enjoyment of driving it that day.

Would rather it sits washed, pristine in the garage for an afternoon or weekend drive when the only thing I'm concerned with is enjoying the car.

I personally feel that will get me the most out of it. Enjoying it under ideal circumstances and being able to do so for the next 20 years without having to give it a complete restoration.

 

Ding ding we have a winner. Of course broad definitions will fit most people. Everyone with a Ferrari knows the different types of owners. What's the point of this thread other than hyper stupidity?

 

Agreed!

This summer in central FL, everyday!
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+1.

 

RaginBull, hit the nail on the head. Drive it how you want to and if there is an issue fix it and then drive it more. My first drive home after purchasing my face I must have looked like the Joker smiling ear to ear. He'll never even drove a paddle shift until that drive home. God was is fun,scary,intimidating and soon satisfying. Watching your Brokerage act drop $50,000 or $60,000 grand.........intimidating a day or two....go get the car you want and live.
JMHO

 

Pretty bad spell check, but I think you get the point. 98 F355 paddle shift. You can guess the color.