Your first Ferrari experience:

F-chat member gave me a ride in his 550, exceptional example. I purchased my 550, 2 months later.

Amazing cars.

John

 

I have to thank fellow Fchatter Sue308 (Jerry) for my first experience. I met him at a local dyno day, and after only a few minutes he offered to give me a ride in his 308. I still remember the sounds and the feel and the open top on a beautiful day.

More amazingly, he then offered to let me drive the car! Unfortunately, I had big ol clunker shoes on, and there was no way I could drive it. Still, the offer was astounding. Jerry's a gentleman and an enthusiast.

Oh, and that car? The absolutely perfect 98,000 mile GTSi? It just became the infamous Monster Garage "Noodler"

 

My first time in a Ferrari as either a driver or passenger was last Thursday when I took delivery of my F430 Spider. Needless to say I am hooked!

 

My first Ferrari experience was when I was a lot tech for a Ferrari Dealer. Been hooked ever since!

 

I had once sat in a 308 (when it was new!) at the old Ferrari dealership in Setauket, Long Island. In 1998, Bud Moeller allowed me to sit in his 312 T5 Formula 1 car in the garage at Watkins Glen.

Until, 2 years ago, that had been it. Then I decided to buy one! After making a tentative deal on the phone (from an eBay listing), and sending a deposit, I flew out to Sacramento to meet the owner and see the car. He picked me up at the airport in his other car--a white Testarossa--and the 25-mile trip to his house was my first ride in a Ferrari.

After getting settled in his house, we went out to the garage to look at the 328. He pulled back the cover, and there it was! And it looked better in person than in any of the eBay photos. He started it up and backed it into the driveway. I gave it about as thorough a going-over as would be possible without a lift. His mechanic was there so I could ask him questions.

Then it was time to take a ride. I got into the passenger seat and watched as he fired it up and pulled into the street. After getting out of the subdivision he drove a couple of miles, first on a bit of a winding mountain road, and then a residential street. He made a u-turn and pulled up at the curb in front of a ballfield. Two young ballplayers there rushed over to the fence and yelled "nice car!" We changed places and soon, for the first time in my life, I was actually driving a Ferrari, not just any one, but the one I had come to buy! It was a bit surreal, but seemed reasonable enough. Suffice it to say that I didn't miss any gears or do anything else terribly incorrectly. I made it back to his driveway, and I had decided it was the right car to buy.

We filled out some paperwork and then headed over to a UPS Store (in his wife's Mitsubishi 3000GT) to do some notarizing and faxing. I handed over the payment for the rest of the car (in two parts, one mine and the other from the finance company), and there, in the middle of the store, he shook my hand and said "Congratulations, you now own a Ferrari!" We then headed back to his house where he cooked up some steaks and then he handed me the owner's manual, which I took back on the plane to start learning about my new Prancing Horse.

The next morning he took me back to the airport in the TR--giving me a demo of its remarkable acceleration entering an empty freeway (it was Sunday)--and two days later the auto shippers picked up the car and began the trip to Georgia. A couple of weeks later I got a call at work that the car was being delivered to my house, and I got home just to see the driver backing the car off the truck. Somehow, there wasn't another soul around as I backed the car into the garage and signed the papers. Unfortunately the car had to sit in the garage for a week until I could get the insurance straightened out. But since then? About 12,000 miles of (generally) happy motoring. Forza Ferrari!

 

I can't believe he was allowed to do that to the car. If not the producers of the show or whomever, why didn't the build team refuse to destroy it? Do all of them have no respect for automotive art?

I also think that, Ferrari or not, making it a 'noodle car' is pretty insulting to Italians in some way. The fact that it was a 308 just added insult to injury.

 

I think such similar thread was posted before..... BUT I enjoyed it every time.
My experience with Ferrari was on and off for many years. The 348 was the model I was ready to buy as soon as I got out of college and had enough cash for a collectiable toy. But it was up against a Lotus Esprit S4 at the time. The Esprit was in favor in most area. So, I was a Lotus guy since 93. Then, 3 years ago, as wandering around a used car lots, a childhood dream 308 was right there staring at me... It was a very very rare sight to see any classic Ferrari in any used car lots in Bangkok. I have never seen it for yearsss... Most sold through connection of friends. I agreed with the price and put down deposite an hour later after met that 308 and took it home the next day...... and the true magic of the Ferrari got me ever since...

 

My first ride in a Ferrari....will never forget it.....

Was working my high school job after school at a flooring store....the curator of the car collection that I helped out at stopped by to give me a ride home.....in a 1961 PF250 Series II Cabriolet.....one of my favorite cars....Thanks jeff!!!!

 

First ride and first drive were the same day for me... around my 21st birthday (so ~5 years ago), a family friend swung by with his red manual transmission '93 348 spider. Immediately, he put me in the drivers seat, and we proceeded to cruise around Boston for the next hour or so. I still remember vividly the sound bouncing of the walls of the underpasses as I drove down Storrow Drive into Boston.

As a longtime Ferrari nut, it's probably not necessary to say that I was very excited to have ridden in one, let alone driven one. I don't think I stopped smiling for about a week...

I'm still a few years away from having my own, but I'm clearly hooked already.

C

 

I was 16....she was 18.....Oh, so sorry. Wrong thread!

 

Great Story.......I enjoyed the read......

 

First time seeing the Ferrari: A friend's uncle who owns 308 fiberglass..I stood there staring at that silver 308 for about 2 hours...jaw on the floor the whole time. It was way back in '93

First time seeing Testarossa: I was on the 118 freeway in San Fernando Valley, suddenly the big red butt poped out of the traffic. I screamed so loud my friend went freaked.

First time driving a Ferrari: I moved to North Carolina and went looking at cars for fun in Greensboro. A guy at Foreign Car Italia let me test drove the 348 Spider. It was fresh out of the barn!!! spider web included. This was back in '98. I had trouble with the reverse gear..ha ha damn heavy. But the experience was something to remember even if it was just a 10 minutes drive.

First time driving a Ferrari properly: I was back at Foreign Car Italia for my 993 check up. They had a 355 GTS as a trade-in so I went for a test drive. Man ohhhh man...I was in love. When I got back to the dealer, my brother has already finalized the deal for the 355...ha ha....This was back in '98 also.

First time 12 cylinder experience: I test drove the 512TR, found it to be easy to drive, not too wide, not too heavy, very powerful....and look sooooo good, bought it the next day.

First time driving Ferrari on track: It was my brother 360 and I enjoy every minute of it. In normal mode, the car kinda suck as it mostly understeer and the traction control kicked in so early. But sport mode fixed everything.

First time driving the 360 CS: "Ohh my Godd....what have I done!!!???" It was a mistake driving it as I bought the CS and drove it home that day...ha ha.

 

It tells ALL!

If I were you, K'Er, I would never stop falling with that nice CS.

 

IMO it was your mistake that not acquire 348. You were missing one good Fcar really.

BTW, today 308 + Testarossa is acceptable answer, P'Moo!

 

My first ride in a Ferrari was also my first drive in one too. A month or so later I bought the car. When I first drove it I wasn't even in the market for a new car or any expensive toy. I just happened to have the money available and loosiing all of it would not have changed my life style one way or the other. So I said to myself to go for it.

My wife asked me one day if I was going to buy the car. I said, "Yes," and she said, "OK." That was all the discussion there was between my wife and I over the car.

When I bought the MGB I had to borrow the money from my wife. Then she had to give me a ride to Reno to get the car. Her only question was, "Are we staying overnight?"

Before that She went to Washington DC for a week. By the time she got home, I had bought a new pickup. Not a word other than, "Nice truck."

The secret to my happy marriage is seperate checking accounts.

Am I lucky or what?

Bob Wassam

 

1961, going thru the tunnel where Olympic Blvd turned north onto PCH. 250GT at about 6500rpm in second listening to those 12 little Venolias singing Puccini.

 

My first Ferrari experience was while visiting some friends in Manhattan many years ago. My friend asked me if I wanted to see his new car and go for a ride. He kept it stored in a small garage about ten blocks from their apartment, as of course, there was not enough space in their own garage. It is NY city afterall.
We got to the garage and waited while the attendant jockied cars around to get it on the lift, all very interesting anyway, being from Colorado at the time.
Anyway, they brought it down, pulled off the cover to a beautiful canne de fucille(gunmetal) 308. The sound was awesome and we pulled out onto Park Avenue and proceeded to hit 90mph in the first block(he did warm it up first!). It was a beautiful fall sunday afternoon and we stormed around for maybe 1/2 and hour and then he turned her over to me. I really enjoyed the experience and remember vividly, after parking the car and walking back to their apartment, how I felt totally invisible after having been a true rock star for an afternoon!!!
I never knew a car could attract so much attention.
Someone here aptly described that aspect of ownership as a "guilty pleasure".

Well that afternoon's guilty pleasure will always be etched in my car brain.

 

I honestly can't remember the first time I saw a Ferrari.

The first time I sat/rode in a Ferrari was last summer in Monaco, a tour of the circuit in a red/black F355 spider (I had to pay for it, but it was worth every eurocent).
It's een one of my dream Ferraris ever since, for obvious reasons.
The guy started of telling things about the circuit, but after a few minutes we were talking about Ferraris. Nice guy...I'm still sad I forgot to tell him about Fchat.

 

Yea, today a 308 is my collectable classic machine. The Testarossa is my daily use grand touring car and the full-mod 310 km/h Lotus Esprit is my fast (Ferrari) killer car...

 

I actually honestly can't remember the first Ferrari I saw in real life - would have been in the mid-late 80's though.

My first ride was early last year in PeteWalls (member here) 328GTS, unbelievable experience that I'll never forget. Since then the number of rides I've got is something I never expected, let alone the quality of the cars (F50, CS, 355 etc etc).

 

Wow, great thread!

My first drive in a Ferrari was back to my shop in a (then) new 308 GTSi to change the oil for the local owner of a record store chain. (remember those?) My second drive was in a BAE Turbo-kit equipped 2V injected car (remember those???), much more exciting!

My first ride on track was with Tom Williamson in his fiberglass 308 at Charlotte (oops, Lowe's) Motor Speedway when, approaching Turn 1, I made (or felt I made) two imprints of my shoes in his floor while instinctively trying to apply brakes from the passenger seat! I couldn't believe we were going to make it. Not only did we make it that time, we made it every lap I rode with him! <grin>

On the way to that same track event, my best friend and I came up alongside the same yellow 308 cruising down I-85 and, lo and behold, this beautiful woman was driving it (Lane). I've never been the same since...

My first drive on track was hours and hours lazily drifting Watts Hill's beautiful old Lusso around the long, fast corners at Roebling Road while he was conducting FCA "business" with Bob Rapp and Tom Williamson (great friends all), never forgetting Steve Barney telling me to "treat the cars (Ferraris) like guns, because if they go off, you'll WISH you were dead!"

Man, it was fun to be young and dumb... <very big grin>

-Peter

 

Peter -

Record Bar? Barrie B? I'm married to his niece. Small world.

-Daniel

 

The first time I saw a Ferrari was at Road America at Elkhart Lake Wisconsin, in 1973. We were there for the Can Am race. I was 12 years old. It was a red Daytona Coupe (365 GTB/4) parked in the paddock. The car was mesmerizing. My dad, who at the time had little financial means and seven dependents to support, was equally smitten.

After a while an older grey haired gentleman (every adult seemed old to me at the time!) walked slowly past us and proceeded to get in the car. I remember he smiled slightly at us; and then slowly lowered himself into the car. He started it up. The sound, wow, the sound, was amazing. The track marshals kind of pushed everyone the hell out of the way as he drove past us, out of the infield. To this day I have no idea who he was but he must have been semi important.

That left an indelible impression.

My college was in a big city. One time I was out with my friends and an early Boxer was sandwiched between two cars on the street. I couldn't believe it! My buddies went into a bar while I stood outside gawking at this thing for some time.

Finally, in April of 1989 I purchased my first Ferrari, an 84 Grigio/Tan BBi. I had never driven or ridden in one before then. I purchased it from a guy in Newton, MA, over the phone. It was delivered by enclosed carrier about two weeks later. The day it came it was raining and overcast. The driver called me and said, "I'm here with your car...."

I left hasitly left work and drove to an industrial building where I stored my cars with three other guys (all Corvette and Porsche owners). My heart was pounding on the way over there. I got out of my car and the driver said to me, "It's a real nice Ferrari, you done good." I felt a sense of relief. The driver backed his truck into the garage opening because it was raining hard. I went inside and watched as he lowered the car. The look of the front of the Boxer at eye level was sensational.

I thought the car was rather quiet as he carefully drove it off the truck into my garage. I wasted no time getting into the car as soon as he got out. The smell of the leather was erotic. On the passenger seat where the manuals, keys and even the brochures the seller promised me. Cool!

I sat in the car in silence for almost an hour, almost numb. Anyway, I noticed the sound of the rain on the roof had stopped. I looked outside and I couldn't resist temptation. I started the car up and drove it out of the storage facility. The seller warned me to let the car warm up before shifting into second but I forgot, as the car reminded me. (I was used to 911s where this was not an issue).

Finally the oil temp warmed up. I stepped on the throttle as I shifted up to second, WHAM! The car just screammmmmmmmed! Then up to third using this orgasmic gated shifter. WHAM! I felt one with this car. That moment was an epiphany. "My God, now I understand..."

Ferrari is magic!

 

Went to a sailing competition when I was 9, kids camped out at the sailing club whilst parents stayed in the local hotel!, got woken in the middle of the night by a loud car pulling up next to our camper, woke up the following morning to see a Dino Gt parked next to us.........and its been down hill since, Last saw this car parked outside their house with bits missing and a box of tools on the passenger seat.
If anybody knows the whereabouts of a dino which in the very early eighties was owned by a Mr Thompson of Hoylake which had a number plate ending in MPH I'd really like to know