Where Did You Find Your Ferrari?

It took three people (in two states) to find my car RIGHT NEXT DOOR!!!

DL

add edit: The others came through FBH.

 

Karen,
The first ferrari I bought was from Miami, FL, from Cavallino Motors (one of the sponsors)

The second one was right there in your state, but in Atlanta, GA - source: Ferraribuy.com

I like ferraribuy.com, highly recommend Cavallino Motors, but word of mouth seems to work really well too. It depends what you are looking for, though - some re-sellers specialize in certain types and models.

With that said, what are you looking for? I may know of a few leads!
Byron

 

http://www.cars.com is the first place I spotted mine.

also try http://www.hemmings.com

Click on Ferrariads.com on this web page also.

 

I did the market research on pricing versus condition etc. using a variety of sources including eBay, Ferrari Market letter and others.

When I was ready to buy and knew the specifics on the 328 that I wanted and how much I should expect to spend I worked with Ron Tonkin in Portland, OR. They did the legwork, PPI etc. for a small upcharge on the price of the car.

Worked well and saved me a lot of traveling around to see / drive cars.

Dan

 

I spent a week travelling around Italy looking for one.

Found it after 4 days and spent the rest of the time visiting Marranello and Pisa.

It was a very enjoyable experience, beaten only by returning to Italy a few weeks later and driving my new car back to the UK.

 

FCA Newsletter Classifieds has some private owner cars.

I bought my first one fromthe Autoweek want Ads, a dealer named Willhoit.

The second one was in FerrariAds.com in Portland, OR, a Ron Tonkin car that never left town, until I bought it and drove it across the country.

Mario Andretti said "Nice Car!"

 

I had been dreaming of Daytonas for years. Never thought I would be able to afford one. But still, I kept looking at them and thinking about it.

I narrowed my dream down a bit: I wanted an early Euro car with the plexiglass nose and no ugly sider marker lights and such. I wanted a known history car with all service records and details, in a good color that was mechanically perfect with near show car cosmetics and it would really make my day if it had a factory type competition engine rebuild. I mean if your daydreaming.... why not want a really hot engine!

Then I sold the E-Type Jag I had only recently bought at full ask price in 1 day. That same day I called Gerald Roush at FML and asked him if he personally knew of any really great Daytonas in Atlanta that might be for sale. Yes he says.... as a matter of fact I do....

1969, red with black. 2nd owner has had it 28 years. All history, receipts and records with the car. The 51st car built, Euro model with plexi nose AND it had about 10K miles on a no expense spared competition spec engine rebuild using factory pistons and P6 cams plus lots of trick parts like cylinder liners, hardware, head porting, custom valves, balancing.....

So I go see it the very next day. Its amazing looking. IT runs like a freight train. The sounds made me nuts. The price sounded fair enough.... so I bought it. I had met the owner at FoA to see the car and after we had made the deal I asked the service manager if he thought I should have them do a PPI on the car, he laughed at me. They had serviced the car for the previous 25 years and the owner was well known as a complete fanatic about maintenance and care.

I told the wife it was just fate. No way things fall together that perfectly and that fast otherwise. I bought the only Daytona I have ever driven and the only one I even looked at.... and i love it!


Terry

 

I was getting ready to make a trip to North Carolina in 2 days (to check an '88 328) when my uncle (who was helping w/ my search) from Atlanta, GA, called and told me about an '89 328 from Steve Harris Imports in Salt Lake City. 2 days later I was on a plane to Utah. Everything went smoothly and I bought the car right there and then. Absolutely no regrets to this day.
I highly recommend them as they're good people, have one of the best prices around, and all cars they sell
are recently serviced (30K).
Good luck.

 

My very first post here on Fchat was a post asking if anyone knew of a GT4 for sale (Nov 5, 2002):

http://www.ferrarichat.com/discus/messages/251280/162320.html

That resulted in 2 fchatters (Hans, and Taek-ho) writing to me about a particular car in San Jose.

Within weeks, and several e-mails with Hans and Taek-ho, I got the car checked out, and made the following post on Fchat (Nov 21, 2002).

http://www.ferrarichat.com/discus/messages/251280/173558.html

How's that for an F-chat story!

The rest is history.

Dom

 

I searched Internet for 3 months before I bought my first 328. I just couldn't get it right. By the time, I made a call, either a car was sold already, or the seller actually didn't have it but located at other place, etc.

Then Raleigh from F-chat & local broker told me of 328 in FoD, and that's what I bought. 2nd & 3rd was bought from window shopping at Lambo of Dallas. I was to change 328 to 12 cylinders, but couldn't find any for 1-2 months, and then saw 355 Spider in Rosso Fiorano, and the rest is history. When Spider didn't turn out as I was thinking, I changed to Coupe at the same dealership, Lambo of Dallas (Jonathan Peck, fellow f-chatter)

I tried to network through about 8 dealers on internet by letting them know I am serious to buy 328, but nothing prevailed.

Hope you'll find your destiny Ferrari, venusone.

 

eBay!

 

I PURCHASED MY FERRARI THROUGH FERRARICHAT.COM!!!

 

Well,you can start by looking through Hemmings Motor News and DuPont Registry of Fine automobiles magazine. LOTS of choices. But,you may have to travel. Both are monthly publications available almost anywhere throughout the U.S. Also,try www.ferraribuy.com

When I was "Ferrari Shopping" several years ago. I was fully prepared to travel anywhere in the Country to get a car. But,fate had it that Lake Forest Sportscars in Lake Forest,Il.,which is about a 1/2 hour drive from my home,actually had 2 For Sale at that time,of the Model that I was seeking. Tough decision was which one to buy. I ended up getting a just serviced '81 308GTSi with 14,250 2 owner miles on it.(Red/Tan) which has not given me any trouble since....yet?

Good Luck!

 

My Ouija board has thus far been unsuccessful...

 

I searched for 6 months... saw a lot of junk and misleading descriptions along the way. I visited dealers while out of town on biz, independants, Norwoods, checked the newspaper, searched the internet. Then I got lucky on cars.com and hit a new listing from Ogner Motorcars (now the Auto Gallery) in Woodland Hills, CA. I faxed my info sheet which described the exact car I was looking for as I was extremely particular (i.e.: red/tan, low mileage, mint). It sounded right so I negotiated the price over the phone, burned some frequent flyer miles and had it shipped back to Dallas a couple of weeks later. No PPI... but I got very lucky. I owned it for 5 yrs and never once had a problem with it... and sold it for what I paid for it. What a great experience... 328's are incredible cars. Hope you find the right car and enjoy it as much as I did!

 

Karen, I'd start with the Ferrari Market Letter. Most folks don't know this, but Gerald actually checks out each car that is advertised. So while the asking prices might be high. They are real cars!

Dale

 

Karen -

Martin @ Cavallino Motors hooked me up with Mike Grande at LNS Motors in Knoxville. My 348 is exactly as Martin & Mike promised, and they have been outstanding in all respects.

What kind of 348 are you looking for? I can't seem to shake this desire for a 512BBi and/or Dino. Mine might be for sale, if you want to talk, send me a PM. (I'm in North Carolina)

-Daniel

 

Well, Martin must really be shifting the 348's - I got mine through Cavallino as well.

So far so good - couple of little things but its a used car for heaven's sake.

Cheers
Kevin

 

On eBay, but the actual purchase was made via a phone call to the number listed there.

If you're looking there, make sure that the car has had a recent major service if the mileage is around 30,000, 45,000, 60,000 etc.

Also take the VIN and do a check on Carfax.

 

Great advice. Gives you a peek at what the Asking Price is for lots of cars. I used the online version, which just seems easier.

I also would suggest reading as much as possible about the model or models you are interested in. I think being knowledgeable about the car you want lets the potential seller know you mean business.

As to where I got my car, I walked into Algar, (the Ferrari dealer here in eastern PA, conveniently located less than a mile from my house) wandered up to the owner, and expressed my desire to own a Dino. He said to leave my number and he'd give me a buzz if anything came up. (I frankly didn't believe I'd ever hear from him, although he is a very nice guy.) A week later, my cell phone rings and it's Bob Segal telling me to hustle up to the dealer, he has a car that he's holding for me to look at, which he went out and found for me. Offers me 1st right of refusal on the car. We do a PPI, a price agreement is reached, and viola, I have a Dino.

Couldn't have been easier, could not have gone better. I have a great car, and he has a customer for life, both for sales and service.

Dave

 

The very 1st F-car I bought was at Foreign Car Italia in Greensboso NC. I took my 993 C4S in for a service, saw the '96 black/black F355 GTS parked outside the dealer. We checked the car out and I went for a test drive....enjoy it a lot...as I came back, my brother had finalized the deal already!!!??? So, we went in a Porsche guys and came out a Ferrari guy.

a month later, I stopped by the dealer again to check the car as the check engine light came on. There was a black/tan 355 F1 with 60 miles on the clock in the dealer....the guy traded it in after his 1st drive, said didn't like the F1. So, I jumped on the car...traded in my GTS, and drove home the F1. Enjoy it very much until I moved back to Thailand.

For the 512TR I just bought 2 weeks ago. I saw this car last Oct in a newspaper ad. I check it out several times...but couldn't decided between the NSX and the 512 (as my wife loves the NSX, she drives it quite a bit). Luckily, there was few interest parties on this car for the past few months but no taker. Then I test drove the car..really love it...but still, it's a tough decision as we both want to enjoy the car we buy. But finally, my wife agreed to buy the car 3 weeks ago.

 

While on the phone with a customer, I casually asked if he was interested in selling his '82 Euro 308GTS. He said no, but that his son was wanting to sell his '78.....and 3 months and 2 PPI's later...another of Bernie's fantasies comes true.

 

Found it on Fchat of course! Well, Fchat and it was also on Ebay (Hi Jeff ).