My son is named Enzo, after Enzo Ferrari, and was born before the Ferarrii Enzo was built. I had a brief stint with Ferrari, and know many Ferrari club members.
It just ain’t that bad.
::shrug::
Why? Because 400 is an ENOURMOUS amount of Ferrari Enzos. There will always be a Ferrari Enzo somewhere to be traded/auctioned/preserved. We will always have them.
This is not the best sample of an original 12 remaining rare cars, with this particular sample having some unique ‘provenance’.
BIG WHOOP.
I’ve driven a few fairly sporty items, including my dad’s 280Z which included the engine out of his SCCA C-SR race car and which was clocked topping out at 172mph–I know enough about my driving skills to know that I’d take something like that Enzo out on a track to start with and I’d put about a hundred laps on before I let it out to anything close to its full potential. Hence my specific wording that I’d take it on a nice “respectful” run… Shoot, if the guy had totalled the car going flat out and it was just one of those things I’d be wiping a tiny tear but kinda enjoying the spectacle. It’s the sheer mundanity of the crash, it was so… lame, for want of a better word. A top end piece of machinery that dies going hell for leather, flat out, doing what it was designed to do–that’s a worthy death. Being nibbled to death by ducks is no way to go for a finely engineered sports car. If Ayrton Senna or The Stig or Michael Schumacher or Jackie Stewart or Niki Lauda turns a high performance car into a chunk of twisted metal it’s just the breaks and something that happens when you’re pushing the envelope that hard–it’s watching stupid people with way more dollars than sense fuck up fine cars because they’re idiots that makes me hurt.
Yeah, I’m just bitter that I’m too poor to be able to give these poor cars a worthy home and owner, I can cop to it! 
[QUOTE=Ensign Edison]
I, personally, have no problem at all saying that this is a shame *and *all those other losses are a shame. I have more than enough room in my heart for a minor moment of regret over the loss of seemingly infinite objects. Just not a zero-sum game for me, I suppose.
I’m not sure why the fact that it belonged to a rich man should make me more callous about it, can you explain that? It’s not like it was a gold-plated toilet. Well-made cars are triumphs of human engineering, design, innovation, industry, culture…I’m not into them myself, I don’t even drive, but I can see that a really nice car is like a really nice sculpture you can go a billion miles an hour in. That doesn’t sound like a worthless trinket to me.
[/QUOTE]
Bravo. This sums up what I was thinking about this misadventure, though far more eloquently than I would have been able to put it. I’m not personally worked up about the Enzo’s destruction (assuming, of course, it’s not a replica as some have suggested), but I can appreciate car aficionados getting upset over this. I prefer bikes myself, so I’d cringe to see a joyriding high-school kid smash up a Hayabusa or a custom Harley. For those who say it’s the duplication that makes this object less valuable, wouldn’t you still be disturbed to see, for example, a Rodin sculpture or a Mucha print wrecked by a careless moving crew?
You can spot a poseur if their toilet is only gold-plated.
I carry around a small penknife for just this purpose.
[QUOTE=dnooman]
The dumb-shit owner that let anyone drive that car, let alone such a rare and valuable car, will surely feel the wrath of the insurance policy he had out on his liability. Of course he had it insured, and of course the insurance company will try their best to make his life hell until the issue is resolved. That dude is in a world of hurt. Considering the likely scenario that his rates will go way up for having lent his car to a practical stranger, and the presumed fact that he owns at least a few other high-end sports cars, this guy is gonna take quite a hit.
[/QUOTE]
I was wondering, since the driver was a “celebrity” and he was practicing for a charity event, wouldn’t all sorts of extra insurance be all over both him and the car, long before he ever stepped in it? The owner would probably have had to clear it all with the insurance company first. I have no proof, but I would think a guy loaning his $1m+ car to a charity event (to be driven by an amateur) would have rock hard solid insurance out the wazoo (yes, be in awe of my insurance industry lingo), maybe even some carried by the event itself.
Add my 2 cents. It’s just a fuckin’ car. I’d feel worse if I crashed my 11 year old Ford Contour, worth about 1200 bucks.
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
Put me in the “it’s just a fucking car” camp. It’s an inanimate object. It’s not like he killed someone.
[/QUOTE]
Right. And it’s a useless car to boot. I’d shed a tear for someones “I need this car to get to work” car, but not an overpriced useless toy like that.
For those of you in the Oh My God he Killed an Enzo camp, may I offer this clip
celebrating Shell Oil’s partnership with Ferrari
turn up your sound
Those of you that are on the so what it is just a car, don’t bother with the link, you would not understand.
[QUOTE=Rick]
celebrating Shell Oil’s partnership with Ferrari
turn up your sound
[/QUOTE]
Beautiful, I’ll play it again with the sound up when the office closes.
On the plus side, the more exclusive Ferraris are offered to preferred customers only, so hopefully this eejit won’t get his hands on any more exotica new (or second hand when collectors hear of his name 
)
[QUOTE=stolichnaya]
You can spot a poseur if their toilet is only gold-plated.
I carry around a small penknife for just this purpose.
[/QUOTE]
I guess the really rich guys always leave the seat down for their wives. You try lifting the golden toilet seat just to take a piss.
It’s a frigging car, they can build a new one. I’m happy Griffin himself is okay.
[QUOTE=DrDeth]
Right. And it’s a useless car to boot. I’d shed a tear for someones “I need this car to get to work” car, but not an overpriced useless toy like that.
[/QUOTE]
I think I’m starting to understand.
Y’all jus’ jellus.
[QUOTE=Rick]
For those of you in the Oh My God he Killed an Enzo camp, may I offer this clip
celebrating Shell Oil’s partnership with Ferrari
…
[/QUOTE]
Sweeeeeeeeeeet! I’ll have to try the Rome-to-Shanghai-to-Rio route myself someday.
[QUOTE=dnooman]
You forgot the part about the gun, the fake business, and the “real driver” that vanished.
[/quote]
It wasn’t a gun that was found. Only a “piece of a gun.”
And Paula Zahn is still an idiot.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=363132&highlight=Ferrari
[QUOTE=Rick]
For those of you in the Oh My God he Killed an Enzo camp, may I offer this clip
celebrating Shell Oil’s partnership with Ferrari
turn up your sound
Those of you that are on the so what it is just a car, don’t bother with the link, you would not understand.
[/QUOTE]
Oh, very nice! Man, I just love that Ferrari whine, and that’s a beautiful old open wheeler–scenery was pretty cool too. That’s going into the archive right alongside the clip from Gumball Rally that always gives me a shiver. My SO is giggling at me right now because I got several cases of the full backbone quiver during that ad… wipes drool from chin
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be in my bunk! 
[QUOTE=Ensign Edison]
I think I’m starting to understand.
Y’all jus’ jellus.
[/QUOTE]
No honestly, if you offered the car to me for free (with the proviso I can’t sell it ) I’d turn you down. Now, if you offered me a chance to drive if around a track for a lap, that I would go for.
[QUOTE=DrDeth]
No honestly, if you offered the car to me for free (with the proviso I can’t sell it ) I’d turn you down. Now, if you offered me a chance to drive if around a track for a lap, that I would go for.
[/QUOTE]
That’s just what Eddie Griffin said!
An hilarious joke! Of course, at this level, the discerning wife has her own bathroom, if not her own wing.
(It helps if you read this in the voice of Robin Leach)
It’s a mid-engined car; the front end damage, while expensive to fix, is a small part of the value of the car.
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist]
Now, if it was a 64 GTO (Ferrari or Pontiac), that would be a tragedy worthy of a major ass-kicking 
[/QUOTE]
Ditto, or any other of the many worthy muscle classics.