The Perfect Service Experience - Sport Auto - Steve Barney & Team

As you know from my earlier posts a few weeks ago I ended my 30+ year quest by buying a 2001 360 Spider (Sophia) from Steve Barney at Sport Auto. I commented in an earlier post that the experience was "perfect" in every way. And it was, but there is more.

After driving the car for a few weeks I noticed a few minor things that I wanted to address, and I also signed up to take the car to VIR for my first track event as a Ferrari owner.

Steve Barney suggested that I return the car to Tom Jones to address my check list, and to cover all the items on the FCA checklist so that I could bring the car to VIR in full compliance. I did just that and gave Tom a list with several minor items to checkout, along with the track day checkout.

Tom noted all the items on the checklist, and was incredibly patient. He listened to everything I said, asked questions to be sure he got all the details, and assured me that he'd treat the car as if it were his own.

Well, he did, and then some. I noticed a bit of a hesitation in the shifting mechanism - not all the time, but enough to be annoying. Tom tracked it down to a combination of a worn shift linkage part (the infamous plastic shifting part - which was replaced with Daniel's help at Ricambi - the part was delivered the next day) and an inaccurate shifting mechanism. Tom fixed it to better than new condition. The shifter is now like butter. I shift for the pleasure of it - it is the reason I bought the Ferrari - to play with the manual shifter. It's better than I ever hoped now. PERFECT.

Then Tom checked the wheels and instead of finding cold tires to be the problem, he realized that the wheels needed to be rebalanced. He did that and more - checking everything in the suspension and the wheels themselves. The car is now smooth as silk, no vibration, shimmy or other oddities. Just perfect tracking and feel (I love this car!).

With those jobs done Tom addressed my complaint about an odor of coolant. Yes, coolant. I was terrified. Reading some posts in other parts of the forum I was concerned that I did something terrible to the engine. Well, Tom took things apart and found that two clamps on the cooling system weren't fully tightened, causing a small dripping leak. He not only fixed the leak, he took a lot of time getting into the cracks and crevices to clean out all of the cooling fluid that leaked out. Problem fixed. But there's more. He sent pictures of everything he did - showing me where the problem was and the fix. He even put the car on the lift, took off the underside downforce panels and checked to ensure that there was no damage or other leaking areas. More pictures - more documentation. Tom did this, not because it was necessary, but to put my mind at ease. This is my first Ferrari - my 30 year dream. Tom didn't want me to have any second thoughts. How amazing is that!?

Then he replaced the alarm/siren, courtesy of Steve Barney who provided the parts and labor as part of the initial delivery. Not only that, but Steve made sure that the new parts were factory fresh, so I didn't have to worry about a failing battery in the future. Again, service and customer satisfaction above and beyond.

Then Tom took over again - removing the driver's door panel in response to my complaint about a rattle in the dash. Tom found that at some point the door panel had been removed and not properly reinstalled. He adjusted the fastener to ensure correct installation. Now the door fits perfectly, no more rubbing, no more noise. Perfect.

Then it was Mark Miner's turn. Mark cleaned up my "detailing" mistakes. I hand waxed the car, enjoying getting to know my car, but I carelessly got wax on the rear of the convertible top. I couldn't get it off after lots of work. I also couldn't clean the exhaust tips after more hours of trying. When I picked up the car today it was like new. Mark removed my "handiwork" and the top looks brand new. The exhaust tips do too -- I was afraid I'd have to replace them. "How did you do that?" I asked. "Hand work and a the right tools". That's the difference between a professional and a amateur like me.

So now Sophia is almost ready for VIR. Tom completed the full checklist - all done. All that remains is to wrap her in Trakk Tape next weekend, and drive to VIR. When I get there Peter Krause will coach me on the right way to drive her. Can't wait.

Thanks to all who made this possible. Steve for providing a great car at a very fair price (see my earlier posts about my nightmares about tying to buy a Ferrari on my own) and for standing behind his cars 100%; to Tom Jones for listening patiently and for going above and beyond to make my first Ferrari ownership experience (and likely my last) not only everything I hoped for, but for treating the car as if it was his own; and to Mark Miner for graciously correcting my mistakes without comment, or discouraging me from enjoying all aspects of getting to know Sophia.

Special assist to Daniel at Ricambi for getting the part to Tom the next day, and to Peter Krause to encouraging me to proceed at my own pace so that I can get to fully understand what the car has to offer, and what I don't yet know to keep me out of trouble.

So that's it - my dream is now reality, and with the team behind me I not only don't have any worries, I have the confidence to know that all is well now, and will remain so in the future.

Some have wondered if they got the best price on a car, I was one of them. Now I know better - I got the best deal of all: Peace of Mind and expert help when I need it. Priceless.