Wait over, and worth it!

Since I whined about waiting for transport of my car from Florida to Oregon, I thought I'd better share the joy of finally getting it. Took delivery of my 2003 360 Modena F1 this morning--several days later than anticipated, but on my actual birthday. Best present I've ever given myself. I was expecting to like it, but I had no idea! It is so far beyond what I anticipated that I can't choose the words to describe it. I'll add some photos from the delivery. Lucky guy, I am...

Here's the transporter meeting me at a local community college, the car being unloaded, and me getting ready for the first drive. It rode all the way--some 4K miles zig-zagging across the country--in the front, and wasn't moved (while several other cars were on- and off-loaded) until it got here. I've included some shots of a pristine '28 Ford Model A that had to be moved off to get my car out; interesting contrast of the old and the new...

 

I have only good things to say about my purchase experience. Doug Schoch (Schoch Enterprises, Dunedin, Florida) was extremely easy and pleasant to deal with, represented the car accurately, and went out of his way to make all the transportation arrangements for me. When he hadn't heard from me by the expected delivery day, he also called to find out if the car had made it, and helped me find out why it was delayed. He was/is clearly interested in my being happy with the car and the transaction, and seems personally excited for me. (This is an unsolicited plug; he does individual brokering of high-end cars, and had several other nice ones in addition to my 360. I can put any interested parties in touch with him.)

I was also pleased with VIP Transport, and particularly the driver. Tom was extremely careful with the car on both pickup and delivery. It was clear that he is familiar with Ferraris in general, and the peculiarities of the F1 models in particular--quite comforting to a worry-wart like myself. And, he seemed to share my excitement at getting my first F-car. I was a little disappointed at my communications with the VIP office when delivery by the specified date didn't happen. I suspect some of that was just my desire to get the car "yesterday," and once I had direct contact with the driver everything was fine.

dn

 

Appreciate your noticing & pointing that out, and particularly your including the fix. The bumper may actually need to be resprayed (again?) anyhow, as there's a scuff mark on the lower edge of the right front corner that's not visible in the pictures. First, though, I'm going to get some seat time...

dn

 

In response to the quoted post, and an earlier one by GoodWood, I will say that my *initial* impression of the F1 shifting mechanism is quite favorable. I had driven a couple other F1-equipped Modenas, both earlier models--a '99 and an '01--and both with significantly less mileage than my car has. The '99 was damn near undriveable, but it had obviously been thrashed and trashed. (Nearly every body panel, as well as the undertray, had evidence of damage.) I'm pretty sure most of its miles consisted of track time--and a lot of that was apparently *off* track, judging from the amount of dirt, grass, grunge, and scrapes on the undertray & the suspension bits. That car had extremely abrupt clutch engagement off the line, no matter how gently the throttle was applied, and the upshifts were slow, sloppy, and "hunting" in nature. It also popped into neutral when coasting (a problem I've seen mentioned & addressed somewhere else on the board). The '01 was much better cosmetically and mechanically, but the shifting was still not quite as crisp as my '03.

Having said that, the F1 seems to function best at either end of the spectrum, particularly on upshifts; i.e., during light-throttle, lower rpm upshifting and during full-throttle, high-rpm upshifting, the only driver input needed is a flick of the paddle. During what I'd call "moderate" driving (moderate throttle, upshifts at 4-6K), however, the shifts are pretty slow and involve a fair amount of surging (for want of a better term). This is easily eliminated, though, by a slight, partial lift & reapplication of the throttle at the right moment. (All these comments relate to driving in Sport mode. I've only driven the car once with Sport mode off, and most of the above seemed to apply then as well. The exception was that with Sport mode off, full-throttle high-rpm upshifts were noticeably slower and less crisp.)

Downshifts are pretty consistently a real treat! Crisp and precise, with excellent rev matching. They're only funky if you delay the downshifts until the revs of the gear you're shifting down from have dropped to about 3K or below.

Contrary to what I expected, I like the fixed location of the shift paddles. Since I like to drive with my hands at about 9:30 and 2:30 virtually all the time, I thought they would work better for me if they were fixed to the wheel (as in Formula One cars). What I hadn't factored in was the three-turn lock-to-lock setup in the street car, as opposed to a lot less in most race cars & less than one in a Formula One car. The slower steering ratio, combined with the fact that day-to-day street driving requires a lot more use of the extremes of the steering lock (and consequent hand relocation on the wheel) than racing does, means that for me the fixed location of the paddles works better.

You can find lots of opinion, fact, and fantasy on this board regarding the F1 vs. fully manual shifting. I feel like both sides of this can be well-argued, from a variety of perspectives (the "driving experience," resale, reliability, etc., etc., ad nauseum)--so it really comes down, once again, to personal preference. From my personal perspective, I've been fortunate enough to have a lot of both street and race performance driving experience, and have done enough heel-and-toe downshifting in my lifetime that I'm ready for something different.

MikeyD, and GoodWood, I feel your pain, and hope your waits are soon over. And, as in my case, well worth it...

dn

PS If you're wondering why I've spent so much time on a verbose posting, instead of driving my new F-car, it's because it has been *pissing* rain in Eugene all day. I'm not familiar enough with the car yet to trust myself with it in the wet, and I had to get my Ferrari fix somehow.