In April 2012, our youngest son, Chris, had been doing really well in school, so my wife and I thought some sort of special recognition would be in order. So, she sent an email to a co-worker who had a Ferrari F430 convertible and asked if he’d be willing to take Chris for a ride. He wrote back, saying that he was going up to Thunderhill Raceway (about 200 miles North of our house) next month but he wanted to fly up and would her son and husband be interested in driving his Ferrari up there the night before and then driving it back at the end of the day.
There are some things you have to twist my arm to get me to do. No, I mean REALLY twist my arm. This isn’t one of them.
After a brief intro to the car, I was actually driving it home from work to pick up Chris for what was probably going to be one of the most memorable days of his life. It was already turning out to be an awesome car. My only complaint was that it had paddle shifters, and I’m a stick and clutch kind of guy. But, that only mattered a tiny bit. After I picked up Chris, it was clear that it WAS going to be a memorable day.
No, he didn't get to drive it. But that doesn't keep a 15 year-old from dreaming.
Quickly, I learned that there are three kinds of cars on the road when you’re driving a Ferrari – 1) those who either don’t care or don’t visibly notice (the vast majority), 2) the drivers of other nice sports cars who give you a respectful nod or maybe a thumbs up, and 3) drivers of PoS cars (think, souped up Honda – yes, HONDA) that come up next to you and want to race. They come up next to you and rev their engine and try to get you to race them. Really? No, I mean, REALLY? Racing would imply that I had some shred of doubt about the outcome. And, I didn’t. A bunch of folks (maybe 12-15 or so) had to go home disappointed that they couldn’t get the Ferrari to race. Oh, well.
Now, out on the open road (think 505 and 5), this is truly an awesome machine. Rush hour traffic had been painful, but it was worth it for open highway. Wow. We’re there already.
The next day at the track, the owner took me out for a ride during one of the run groups (25 min). This ride required two E-tickets. There were three run groups (beginner, intermediate and advanced) and each one got a 25 minute turn on the track, all day long. Six runs in all. During other run groups, I got rides with folks having a race-prepped Miata, a Lotus Elise, and a Corvette. Then, the day was over and we had to drive home. <sigh>
One quick memento before going...
For those familiar with Malaria, you know that once you contract the disease, even though you get over it and are “well”, it can recur at any time without warning. So it is with a love of fast cars.
Later that night, just out of curiosity, I looked up on AutoTrader what an F430 was going for. I’ll save you the trouble – it’s $200K to $225K (there were only three that night). Wow! Plus, you need to be good friends with a mechanic (I’m told) to keep them in good repair. A former owner said a good rule of thumb was to double the purchase price – ½ for the car and then ½ for repairs. But, still a nice dream.
Then, I got curious about what older ones might cost. Surprisingly, old 308GTSs could be had for under $30K – though there was still that repair issue – probably worse on an older car. But, hey, searches on AutoTrader are cheap and this is starting to be good fun. Lambo’s – yep, expensive. Maseratis – ditto. Ah, if only I were filthy rich. Repairs are probably a problem on both. <sigh> Still dreaming. Lotus Elise – Hmm… more reasonable, but I have never really fit in a Lotus. They are apparently made for smaller people. Porsche. Interesting. Older Porsches are now becoming quite reasonable. But, it’s a Porsche. In the Bay Area, everyone has a Porsche.
Then, an idea hit me. There was a car… more than a car… no, WAY more than just a car... this was... a DREAM. Ever since I saw the first one, I’d been in love. Maybe lust would be a better word. Dare I look? The Acura NSX. OK, what the heck. I doubt they are MORE expensive than the Ferrari, and the search is free.
HOLY CRAP!!! THEY’RE NOT THAT EXPENSIVE!!
Let me go on record here and say this: finding out that a dream you’ve always had is suddenly not that expensive – is a dangerous thing.
So, I began to do research. Red was the color. It had to be red. It just screams to be red. But, 1991-1994, all of the cars had a black top, regardless of the main body color. The only way to get a solid color pre-1995 was to get a black one. OK, so 1995 or later. Next problem was, I didn’t want a black interior and most were black. But, there were red ones made with a tan interior and those looked fabulous. Color choice made. More investigation. Turns out that in 2002, they switched away from the pop-up lights that were so distinctive, to halogen lights. So that narrowed it even further – 1995 to 2001. And, in 1997 the switched from the 3.0L 5-speed to a 3.2L 6-speed. Well, the 3.0 would do, but the target was a 3.2L.
Back to AutoTrader. Search – 50 mi or closer. Zip. 100 mi or closer. Nada. OK, 200 mi or closer. One - Sacramento, but it's yellow, but it's really expensive and it was a 2005 (which helped make it more expensive). OK, dammit – anywhere. 47 show up, in the whole country. Red/tan? Three. Pennsylvania, Florida and Louisiana. Maybe yellow wouldn’t be so bad. A 1998 one in Kansas. Damn. Over the next week, I had put all 47 in a spreadsheet, so I could even figure approximate cost of shipping or gas for driving.
Still, I had never driven one. I didn't even know if I would fit well (some cars I just don't) and if I would like how it drove. So, I posted to the "cars" list at work to see if anyone had one I could sit in and (fingers crossed?) drive. Well, I found one to sit in (yes, I fit), but he wouldn't let me drive it.So, I made arrangements to fly out to Sacramento one Saturday and arrange a test drive with the dealer. It took some talking and schmoozing - everyone wants to come in and get a test drive in a car like that. They have to believe you are a very serious buyer in order to let you actualy drive it. I was serious, but not about their car. But, I didn't let them know that, and also asked for a nice, winding road nearby. We did the outbound leg with the top on, and the return trip with the top off.
It drove FABULOUSLY!! I was totally hooked.
I was close to calling each of the three red ones and doing a road trip (well, you can’t actually call it a road trip on United, I guess, still…). But there was one car I forgot to get one data point on so I went back to AutoTrader to look for it. Now, if you were searching for Priuses, you would be selective so you weren’t overwhelmed. But with 47 in the country, you might as well just get all 47 and scroll to the one you want. It’s Monday night, about 10 PM.
WAIT!!! There are now 48!!
The new one is White/Tan, and it’s in Fremont (47 miles away). OK, it’s not red. But, it’s not in Pennsylvania either. 1997 3.2L 6-speed. 25K miles. (WOW)
The next morning, I called the owner. He said “You know, I just put that up last night.” (Yeah, and it was between 7 and 10PM – no, I didn’t say that.)
We talked and I arranged a test drive that night. It drove so well it’s hard to describe. And, it was in near mint condition.
So, I made arrangements to have it checked out at a dealer on Thursday. It checked out fine (“One of the cleanest cars we’ve ever seen.”) So, we haggled a bit over the phone, and I met him at the dealer and we did the deal.
The best part?
My wife looks at it and says, “This is my fault, isn’t it…?”
Priceless.
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