This is funny to me, because whenever my dad would see this (in Buffalo, in the same time frame), he’d always shake his head and point out you can only drive it for four months out of the year.
I have a friend from high school, who now lives in Florida (so I guess at least the weather makes sense) who seems to have turned a Ferrari hobby into a bit of a side business of buying and selling them, and occasionally (from comments I see on Facebook), he will have other high end cars as well. I really don’t understand it, it seems like a lot of work to do as part of your hobby, and I’ve wondered if maybe this is connected to something a little shady.
Slight hijack, I know, but I was googling Ferraris while reading this thread, just to remind myself of what they look like ('cuz I’m so not a car guy - at least, not that kind of car guy), and I found this: The baby seat in the passenger seat gave me a chuckle.
Maybe this guy is using the “hot car” AND the “adorable baby” strategy to pick up chicks. Wonder if he has a golden retriever in the back seat?
In the 80’s a friend of mine’s dad had a Ferrari. I don’t know why, other than because he could afford it and wanted it. And I don’t know how any reason could be better than that.
Compared to Lamborghinis and Maseratis, Ferraris are quite affordable (used). It’s what Wayne Carini recommends as the entry-level auto for people looking to get into exotic cars without breaking the bank. You can get a nice used one for about what you’d spend on a new Buick.
I don’t know anyone who owns a high-end Italian sports car, but I often see them being driven around town by Arab and Chinese university students.
About a decade ago I met a doctor who owned a 360. As a first time buyer, Ferrari made him weight three years to get one. I got the impression he drove it at some airfield-converted-racetrack. Gave me some advice about how the brakes needed to warmed up. Real nice, pleasant guy.
I’ve known quite a few from living in San Diego, L.A., Carmel/Monterey… Dime a dozen. Ha ha. I did get to drive one once that belonged to a friend from Cuba.
I knew a guy back in college that inherited a grocery chain fortune. Had a 308 and it was his daily driver, although as you might expect when a partying college student has something like that it’s going to spend a lot of time in the shop.
The owner of a high end car repair shop I frequent cycles between Porsche, Ferrari and Lamborgini. What’s amusing is that he only lives about 3/4 of a mile away and watching him try to get any performance value out of a commute that short is comical.
A friend that got me into Porsches has 9 himself and we frequently go to his ‘auto-dedicated storage facility’ to work on them, get ready for events and also walk around looking at other bays to see what cool cars folks are storing. He and his wife recently flew out to Vegas where they were going to rent a newer Ferrari for a couple of hours but were having so much fun they kept it for 3 days. They seriously thought about selling 4 or 5 of their Porsches and getting one but the reports were so bad about the fragility and expense that they ultimately figured they’d grow to hate it. I completely agree with Leno’s assessment, Porsches are relatively bulletproof, a terrific kick in the pants to drive hard and the most rational choice in the performance import car market.
You qualified that statement very well so I can’t disagree with it directly. Ferraris are best for looking at in a garage. Porsches are better for driving (I will still take a BMW performance model like an M3 over either of them though even though it is in a slightly different class).
Still, the price for supercar performance has dropped a huge amount since the new Corvette redesign. You get looks, performance as well as a bit of luxury for a fraction of the cost of a new Ferrari. A 2015 Corvette Z06 only costs $80,000 new without any extras and still flirts with a 3 second 0 - 60 time. You still have leather seats and a good sound system as well. Just above the $100,000 mark, you can get one fully decked out with everything. Ignoring the pure snob appeal, that is a much better value than the low production number supercars that are technically inferior in almost every way until you get to the ones that cost many hundreds of thousands of dollars or even much more.
All these are fantastic cars and each has something the others do not. It comes down to personal preferences and where your values lie and what’s important to someone else may find no traction with you whatsoever.
