Why they call me the Supercar Freak...

Sport Auto is an exotic car dealer in Greensboro, NC. It is the closest exotic dealer to me that I like. It's a 7-hour one-way drive there, 320 miles. I like to leave around 2 am to get there when they open at 9 am. I tend to drive home the same day.

Here's the listing, each visit with 2 consecutive days means I got a hotel. One time my dad went with me, one time my brother went. When my brother went with me, we assumed we could get a hotel when we got there because we'd been able to previously. We checked 3 hotels, all of them were booked. So we slept in the car.

Sport Auto Visit #

1: Thursday, October 16, 2003 - yellow F355 Spider on the way there, what a start, yellow 6.0, orange Murcielago.
2: Thursday, October 23, 2003 - FIRST FERRARI F40!
3: Thursday, October 30, 2003 - titanium Murcielago, ride in a yellow Gallardo!
4: Thursday, November 13, 2003 - red 512TR, silver E46M3, red 993TT.
5: Thursday, December 04, 2003 - black E46M3, red 575M, red Murcielago.
6: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 - yellow Gallardo, black Gallardo, delivery of an orange Gallardo.
Foreign Cars Visit #1: Thursday, January 08, 2004
7: Thursday, February 19, 2004 - orange 6.0, first F50, first Quattroporte, first 612 Scaglietti, black 993TT, silver E46M3, silver Dino, 40th 911, blue 575M, yellow 360, yellow SV.
FCI Visit #2: Friday, February 20, 2004
8: Thursday, March 25, 2004 - 2 yellow flat/metallic Gallardo, red Murcielago, black Diablo Roadster.
9: Thursday, July 01, 2004 - silver Gallardo with glass bonnet, red 360.
10: Thursday, June 03, 2004 - Shelby Cobra 427 Replica on the way there, what a great start, first DB AR1, red 512TR, green Murcielago.
11: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 - First Enzo!
12 & FCI Visit #3: Saturday, July 24, 2004 - First CGT, first GT2, first Vanquish (up close) on a flatbed on the way home, great ending.

I don't have visits 1-8 on my site because I originally uploaded all the pics to ImageStation.
I've created an account for you all to view the pictures.
Username: guestscf
Password: guestscf
http://www.imagestation.com/member/index.html?name=diamondtah&c=201

I lost visit 9 on my hard drive, it's nothing special.

10-12 can be seen at http://supercarfreak.net/gallery/SupercarFreak-s-Gallery

One of these visits I also received a ride in a red 328 GTS.

Trip four - fell asleep behind the wheel, 30 miles away from the dealer, woke up when I had run over an elevated (compared to the shoulder) asphalt driveway and had 2 flat right tires. This was my first time changing a tire. The lugnuts were a complete ***** to get off, I ended up kicking the lever so hard to loosen them because it was not happening by hand. Then the jack slipped in the mud and the car fell down. I was getting so pissed off. I had to use a military shovel my dad had left into the car to use as a base for the jack! Replaced one with the spare, drove as long as I could on one flat until it started smoking and then replaced it with the other flat. I eventually stopped when that tire was done. Pulled into the shoulder. Then I met the nicest guy in my life. His name was Maurice, he stopped in his old red Toyota pickup. I think he was on his way to work! We decided to go in his truck to a junkyard, we found a wheel that would fit my car, paid the owner $20 for it! Maurice drove me back to my car, helped me put on the new wheel, and we said our goodbyes. I was very thankful, he wouldn't take money, he wouldn't take anything. Just my thanks.

Did I learn anything about driving with a complete lack of rest? Nah.

After that, I was going to the dealer another time, can't remember which trip, same car ('89 Volvo wagon). By the way, I'm driving on a two-lane, very low traffic, countryside highway. I wake up halfway in the right shoulder so obviously I'm stunned. This was one hour from the dealer. I jerk the wheel left only to overreact and start a spin, I jerk it right hard like a moron and I spin out backwards into an empty field. How lucky am I? I slam into the ditch hard, totally bottoming out. I think I only had one flat. I have fun driving through a muddy harvested corn field, trying to get enough speed and traction to get back onto the highway. Some black guys in the field saw the whole thing. They find me on a side street trying to get my spare out that was just completely stuck. Asked me if I was ok. I said yeah, thanks. Almost gave up trying to get the f@#$ing spare out. Then a cop shows up and asks if I need help. I said no, thanks. Instead of driving the last hour there, I turn around and notice the rear axle is all bent, so the car's basically going straight at like a 15 degree angle and I have to steer left to compensate. I notice I'm almost out of gas so I stop at a gas station to fill up. I top it off, hear this dripping, look under the car and notice my fuel tank is f#$%ing cracked. I call my parents and tell them everything. My dad tells me to find the crack and if it's not near the exhaust to start the car, move it away from the pump and park it and wait for them for 6 hours. I can't see the crack, it stops leaking at 2/3rds of a tank. So I carefully started it and parked it and slept in it with the windows down for 6 hours. I could smell the gasoline fumes but it was breezy that day so I figured I would be ok.

 

hehe, that'd be a hell of a drive for you too. i've gone with my brother once and my dad once, the other 10 times i've gone myself... but i've learned to either get more sleep or to get a hotel.

 

i was sort of joking with the "Did I learn anything" comment although it did take me two times to learn because im very stubborn i guess.

i will admit that i do have a problem. this is the first step.

 

hahahaha, some great replies here

when the trip was taking me 7 hours i was on a two-lane highway with speeds ranging from 25 to 55 due to towns, etc. i now drive mostly on i-95 and i-85 and it takes 4 to 5 hours