Who is Secretive about their Ferrari Ownership?

Thats a great clock, Chris! Judging from the watches in the background, you're a watchmaker - did you make the F-clock yourself?

 

Sweet!!

 

This had been a difficult issue for me . I am proud of the fact that I finally got a car that I wanted since I was a kid. Unfortunately my pride is taken as bragging by others. So the 1st year I had the car I did not tell to many people but by driving it as much as possible it got around at work and with my business community. So now I say the hell with people who feel I am bragging and if the discussion comes up I have no reservations on telling folks I have a Ferrari. This was one of my goals in life and to me it provides me with some self satisfaction.

 

+1

 

i live in a very small town (pop. 5000). without a doubt i own the only ferrari in the county.
as i live on a hill with steep driveway and have a neighbor with a mouth like a 50k watt radio station,
it's pretty hard to keep gabriella a secret. not that i try to either.
people like to talk about her and naturally want to know how fast she'll go, yada..yada..yada.
when they ask me how i can afford a car like this i always let them know.

being shiftless and lazy has its rewards.

 

The timing of when I actually got my F car has required me to be more private about it than I would have been otherwise. A few years back I had a mild stroke that scared the hell out of me. I hadn't owned another ferrari since 1987. Within a week of getting out of the hospital I called up my local ferrari dealer and gave him a $15,000 deposit on a model that just became available to the public the day before. I had just got on the list for a 599. 18 months later its sitting in my garage. My wife understood why I had bought the car and why I felt it was important to me. She knew I had worked hard for a large portion of my life and realized I needed to do this for myself. It doesn't hurt that my wife comes fron a long line of car lovers too and knew that I could afford it without disrupting our lifestyle. Less than one month later my father dies. He was considered quite wealthy even in todays terms. He set up a foundation that received the bulk of his estate.The three children of which I am one also got some monies. But not near as much as all our relatives would like to believe. If any of them had heard about the car everyone would assume I've gone out and begun spending huge sums of inherited money from my father like a drunken sailor. I don't think I should have to explain my actions to anyone including my greedy nosey relatives. The bad feelings and gossip the car would generate would only bring bad karma to me and my family. I've seriously thought about selling it. Problem is that I just enjoy driving my car too d**n much. While the stubborn part of me says that I should tell them to just kiss my a**. So I've now had my car for almost a year and the only people who know I have it is my family, my best friend that I've known since I was twelve, and the neighbours. Some of which seem generally happy for me while others refuse even to talk to me.

 

I have a ducati and everyone knows I have it, enjoy riding, and supporting the ducati race team's.

But over the last year with construction and the housing market in the tank, there have been a lot of layoffs and no raises going around.

Just picking up the f-car this week but will be keeping a very low profile at the office. Just wrong timing with the economy to be enthusiastic with it at work.

But my family and closest friends (not the whole world) will be happy and enthusiastic.

Clients will also be left out of the festivities. Will take the audi to see them.

Robb

 

I have read most of this post and agree with both sides....the main point i noticed is the reaction of others...when i see someone in a ferrari i think, wow!! and would love to know how to get there...but others would want to be there friend only based on the fact of the car...i could not honestly say i would not, but i believe i would try to seperate it out as much as possible...ok sorry back on topic...would i tell....it would only depend on my job at the time and my friends that i would want and have...

 

I did worry that the "conspicuous consumption" issue might arise on a security clearance review, because most people overestimate the price of even older Ferraris. It turned out it wasn't an issue at all -- a guy in the security office was shopping around for a Mondial, and knew that they weren't all "a million dollars".

After I started driving my 328 to the office, another guy started bringing his QV in from time to time.

A lot of people get hung up worrying about problems that haven't even happened.

I object to letting other people's ignorance define "reality". There's too much of that around already.

 

I've lost my friends who know I am still planning and saving to get my TR. When I was struggling these friends enjoyed my company because it made them feel better about thier own situation by seeing me struggle. They saw me buy houses, pay off my debts, establish the Ferrari Fund, and since then they have dropped me like a hot potato. I would not relive my teens, 20's and 30's if someone paid me to. I always remember the difficult years, there is a stark difference between then and now although my outward appearance is still modest.

When I take delivery, everyone will know about it, especially those who have turned thier back on me. If anyone has a reason to be jealous of me, I will sit back on my property, light up an Arturo Fuente 8-5-8 and enjoy the moment.

I will seriously enjoy the moment, who would've thought it would ever be me...

 

I worked for a ferrari dealer, then 11 years later I own one and am very proud of it. I never bring it up in conversation because it usually brings up the same boring questions. Recently when volunteering to build a local park the new neighbor I had just meet asked me where I lived, as I tried to describe it to him he said "hey wait a minute are you the guy with the ferrari?" yeah I told him. So why didn't you just say that to begin with he asked, would you? I asked him then he just smiled and nodded, yeah I guess not.

 

I could care less what people think about what I drive. I bought it for me personal pleasure, and talk about it whenever I'm in the mood. Oddly enough, it seldoms comes up in conversation, but I don't fear/enjoy any discussion about any of my cars. I've yet to encounter attitude about any car I own.

 

IMHO, I think you guys who say some of the owners are somehow ashamed of their F car have got it all wrong. We LOVE our F cars and would gladly share our passion with anyone that appreciates the car and NOT the status symbol. However, as others have stated and I have experienced, fellow co-workers and especially a boss can get very jealous if you have a better car, house, etc. Thus, those of us that love our F cars and do not make it public knowledge at the workplace do this so that we do not generate resentment or hatred toward us. I have told 2 people at work, but they are car guys and I knew they would appreciate the car and be happy for me and guess what, I was right! So I do not hide my f car from anyone, I just do not make it public knowledge at work for the many reasons stated in this thread (e.g., when I told a partner that I was looking for a F car, he said "I highly recommend that you buy it after your review and raise"). So please do not think for one minute that F car owners that do not share their love and passion for the car at work somehow have a psychological issue, It is the people that have resentment, hatred, and jealousy that have the psychological issue. I love my car and I do not need to tell anyone because I bought it for me, not my neighbors, friends, or co-workers (I do not need to tell others to make me feel better about myself and as a matter of fact, I think I enjoy my F car more because many people do not know about it - so lets get it right, absolutely not one ioda of shame here).

 

It's not shame, and I'm not even worried about jealousy.

But there's a fundamental communications gap between those who enjoy driving a tight, precise machine like a Ferrari and those willing to settle for road appliances.

People trundling around town in a barn sized SUV simply don't speak the same language as people who can get a lift just from making a simple right hand turn in a car that drives like a shifter kart.

"What we have here is a failure to communicate."

 

I just joined recently and am really enjoying this site. My ex-partner, who owned many Ferrari's bought a Mondial when they first came out. He was on his third marriage and had two small kids. The unfortunate thing is that Mondial replaced a 250GT. He bought it through the business, even though the business was struggling. It was a 65,000 car and the lease payment was over 1,500/mo. Anyway I bring in a job that is about to turn the company around and make a ton of money. All I asked my partner for was a lowly 944. He agrees. Project goes great and we made twice what we estimated. I order the 944, for my 30th birthday. A few weeks go by and my partner asks if the Porsche came in yet. I told him not yet. He says cancel the order, I don't want the Mondial any more, he was going through an anti-materialistic stage. I was pole valuting on my you know what. It was fall, and I drove it everywhere, including top down filled with family on Christmas in NY.
April comes and my partner asks me how the Ferrari is doing. I said fine. He asks when I'm bringing it back. I asked him what he was talking about. He said "I only gave it to you for the winter". So I said I gave up my own 944 to store your Ferrari convertable for the winter? He said yes, you must have misunderstood.BS, I was fuming and vowed to get even. Six months later I bought a nice Mercedes through the company for the wife. Fast forward five years, he's retiring, I'm buying all his stock. We're at the lawyers office his coat is in the closet and I go into the conference room for the closing.I have every penny I have saved in my life to give him as well as a lein on my home. His lawyer comes in and I ask where he is. He says in my office, he wants more money. I tell him if he doesn't start the closing in 5 minutes, I'm walking out and he can find someone else to buy his business. He comes in and the closing proceeds. At the end the lawyer congradulates me on the purchase of the business. I said we're all done? He said yes. I ask my now former partner when I can pick up the Ferrari? He asked me what I was talking about? I said I just bought the company and that was a company car. He looked at his lawyer as if he's going to kill him, and said I have to give him my Ferrari? His lawyer shrugged, and I said I'll be over on Saturday to pick it up. We shared an accounting firm after his retirement, and every time he spoke to our accountant he asked how HIS Ferrari was doing.
None of the agreed calculations of the value of the business ever took into effect the value of the Ferrari. Being a Mondial it wouldn't have differed materially anyway. But that is how I got a Ferrari for free. In 15 years I have not put more than a thousand miles on it. It sits next to my F430. Every day I pass it as I leave the garage and I get this warm feeling, knowing that whatever happens that day, if it's bad, it will turn around.

 

^ Good story.

 

+1

 

+2 Great story man! Karma seems to have bit him in the butt!

 

Loved the story!!

 

How soon till the "Secretive" thread gets 20,000 views?

 

thanks for a great story.

 

I'm going to venture a guess that most people that have a Ferrari also have an SUV
Check my profile.I have a couple
I actually enjoy most types of cars.
Eric

 

+1! Great story!