Ferraris and the Euro
In late December 2011, the Italian Guardia di Finanza (Tax Police) swept into posh ski resorts, the Italian Riviera and other high-end areas in tax raids. Officers stopped hundreds of high-end cars — BMWs, Bentleys, and any Ferrari, Maserati or Lamborghini — unlucky enough to fall into their roadblocks. The driver’s license and registration were […]
So Many Ferraris, So Many Auctions
It doesn’t get any better than this year’s Scottsdale auctions for car collectors wanting to steal a week of summer in January while bidding on Ferraris. Collectors spent $184m to buy 2,183 cars during the annual auctionfest in and around Scottsdale. This year’s total easily beat last year’s $159m — and also beat the all-time […]
Ferraris 65-Year Race to Save Weight
Ferrari literally rose from the ashes of World War II in 1947 as a boutique race car builder armed with a diminutive pair of race-winning 125 Sports. The cars were light and fast, with a tubular chassis by Gilco and minimalist alloy bodies that were literally hammered out in local body shops. Gilco would provide […]
Ferrari Drives the Exotic Car Market
This column began with a search for a very-early production 2012 458 Spider for a client willing to pay the price of exclusivity. Conversations with the owner or sales manager at almost every Ferrari dealership in the U.S. quickly led into long discussions about the politics of new car allocations, the possibility of “extra cars” […]
A Lifetime of Ferrari Madness
I met Keith Martin before there was an Alfa Romeo Newsletter and long before it morphed into today’s Sports Car Market magazine. This was far in the distant past, when Keith fought the uphill battle of owning an Alfa Romeo restoration shop. As fellow restoration shop owners and Italian exotic car brokers, we rejoiced in […]
Restorations in Reverse
In May 2010, we were offered a 365 GTC/4, s/n 15197, in a restoration shop with new paint (not yet rubbed out) and boxes of N.O.S. parts needed to complete a nice “driver” restoration. It had one owner since 1984, but the owner died during the restoration process. We purchased the car and had it […]
Monterey 2011: Flocking to Top-Tier Ferraris
Total sales almost reached the $200m mark, a $26m jump over last year’s spectacular $172m result. RM Auctions led the show, with 123 of 144 cars on offer selling for a whopping $78.2m. Gooding & Company was very close behind, with 106 of 126 cars sold for a total of $78m. Mecum was third and […]
No One is Getting Rich from Ferrari Service
This column was inspired by two clients who emailed on the same day searching for “an honest shop and/or mechanic,” as both had heard too many tales of the high cost of Ferrari service. I replied that shop owners do not stay up late at night scheming how they can cheat clients. Instead, they worry […]
Ferrrari’s Cycle of Booms and Busts
Since 2008, the world’s economic markets have been, at best, volatile, but how does that relate to the Ferrari market of today—and tomorrow? As aspiring Ferrari-socio-economists, we always look at the past to know the future, so let’s start with the first fuel crisis of October 1973. As a gallon of gas went from 33 […]
Too Many Serial Numbers
Our story began when a client asked us to market his ultra-low mile, two-owner Ferrari F40, s/n ZFFMN34A0L0085788. With only 499 unusually well-documented miles, a mere two owners over 21 years and an unbroken paper trail from new, the pedigree didn’t get much better. The owner understood that a great set of photos is essential […]