Death By Storage
The daily drama of selling older Ferraris provides a constant supply of material for this column, as the same set of problems endlessly repeat themselves in slightly varying scenarios. Rather than continually go through the same explanations, it’s often easier simply to tell people, “Stand by, and I’ll email you one of my columns that […]
Opening Pandora’s Black Box
A subscriber recently wrote, worrying about future maintenance costs of late model Ferraris: “My only fear is the outdated computer-controlled systems and the way obsolescence will drive maintenance sky-high for such systems. At least the vintage V12s don’t suffer ECU and “black box” syndrome!” While computer systems will certainly be problematic, our subscriber had merely […]
Collecting Ferraris for Art’s Sake
To the aficionado, Ferraris have always been industrial art, the pinnacle of technology and styling of their era. Many of my clients have described their Ferraris as user-friendly interactive art. In the last decade, auctioneers and the collectors have created a new world of art buyers intertwined with Ferrari buyers. Most auction houses sell art […]
Banking on Ferraris
From $17 million in 1990, 330 GTO s/n 4561 would have to sell for $47 million today just to keep pace with the cost of money One doesn’t have to be Fed czar Ben Bernanke’s tennis partner to know the world’s economic markets are volatile, but how does that relate to the present and future […]
4-Seat Supercars
Part II: Bring the kids. Contemporary 2+2s Modern four-seat Ferraris are user-friendly, entry-level supercars. You might compromise on the number of seats, but not on performance. Last month I reviewed Ferraris with more seats than doors, starting with the 250 GTE and going through the 412. This month, we’ll take you from the 456 to […]
Room for Four
Part I: More seats, less money. The early 2+2s In the late 1950s, Aston Martin and Maserati found a very lucrative market niche supplying GT cars to owners who wanted to bring the occasional extra friend or children along for the ride. While Ferrari had built four-seaters with bodies by Ghia, Touring, and Vignale, they […]
Modding the Prancing Pony
There’s always been a direct connection between how much fun your sports car is, and how fast it goes. Best of all is a machine that makes all the right noises, and few cars do that better a 12-cylinder Ferrari. Alas, when it comes to older Ferraris, what was once supercar performance is now dated, […]
Enzo Crashes: Repeat as Needed
As virtually everyone in the car world knows, on March 26 actor Eddie Griffin crashed a Ferrari Enzo at Irwindale Raceway in L.A. while practicing for a promotion for the movie “Redline.” The Enzo was owned by Daniel Sadek, “Redline” executive producer and exotic car collector. Because the crash was captured on video, news shows […]
Ferraris by the Numbers
Trainspotters are an odd English subculture who first wandered into the moors in rain, sleet, and snow during the Victorian era, recording serial numbers painted on the sides of passing freight cars, passenger cars, and locomotives. This information was dutifully handwritten into ledgers and logs so the numbers, locations, and travels of virtually every train […]
Pre-Sale Inspections—Here We Go Again
The daily drama of selling ultra-high-end Ferraris provides continuous material for this column, but the sale agreement is only the beginning of a long process. A sale should always include a pre-purchase inspection (and all too often a re-negotiation after the inspection), followed by escrow agreements, wire and document transfers, shipping arrangements, and follow-ups. A […]