No LaFerrari Aperta?

All of those accounts you referenced go to pretty great lengths to ensure the subject of their profile/ posts are the cars themselves. They never appear in the photographs themselves, and don't put their work/ personal information out there, whereas David Lee seems to be the subject/ point of his posts. The Ferrari's/other cars almost seem like an after thought. Just my personal view...

 

It is HIS account after all....

 

So after the incident I told you guys about yesterday Mr. Lee messaged me on instagram with this post: https://instagram.com/p/BTTFrlOAbbQ/


He's indicating that there is proof there to make it a competizione. I think he's grasping at straws

 

I agree and I completely understand wanting to stay anonymous... You can stay anonymous... you will just have to be the second owner.

I understand they didn't want the cars to just get locked up. Thats what I was going to do with the car... but I understand if they don't want that to happen. They had thousands and thousands of people who wanted one and only 500 cars. They got to choose who they sold a car to that they were losing money on. While it sucks for me... I guess if I was ford... id contemplate doing the same thing.

I will say this... I would reward my ford customers... If you were a ferrari guy and wanted a Ford GT but never owned a navigator or a mustang or a fleet of pick ups or something... Id cross you right off the list. If I wasn't good enough for you before... Im still not good enough for you

 

That's why I referenced them And there are plenty others like @ferrariphotopage; a smashing lad who works extremely hard to curate excellent content.

 

I think all it would take is knowing if that chassis # rolled off the assembly line as one of the original 4 cars; it would appear from Marcel's post, it did not.

Should be end of story. To my understanding now, it's just a Lusso turned into a race car. /shrug

 

that's why i can't stand that silly big 5 video guy, SHEmee ( actually less problem with cartu since i don't care much about instagram). these guys just wouldn't stop showing their faces making the most uneducated and generic commentaries about cars we have already known, and their fanbases are as toxic as internet groupies can be. and some of these so called car journalist/spotter/youtube persons often sounds like some pathetic fangirls that i just cant get bear watching.

 

Man you guys are harsh. I don't know - David Lee seems to be a nice enough guy. Whatever his faults may be (and we all have them), he's good enough to share his great collection (and yes, it is very impressive) with the public. I don't care what his motives are. I'm actually very private and low key, but I don't have an issue with how he chooses to enjoy his cars. He's not harming anyone. If anything, he gives a lot of people joy by showing his collection. As for exotic car vloggers like "Shmee" and others, I actually enjoy watching those vids. Whatever I may think of their personalities, they go to fascinating places and get access to some incredible collections. For anyone that likes Ferrari's and other exotics, what's not to like about watching them? It's just all in good fun.

 

I don't like the Schmee videos - but a classic example of someone who has been given a FordGT

Ferrari have obviously lent him an 812 before any of us customers get to drive it

I just don't get what these car firms achieve by this other than pissing off their "good" customers

IMO Porsche had the right approach with the 918 - let customers and potential customers drive the car before letting any of the press or bloggers near it
Unfortunately Porsche stopped this approach and I fully expect to see that Scheme will be given one of ultra difficult to get UK GT2RS cars

 

Would be cool to learn about the other 3 Comp. Lusso's, as well ...

 

The four 250 GT Lussi which were raced in period are chassis numbers 4213 GT, 4459 GT, 4965 GT and 5367 GT.

5847 GT was never raced.
Between 1972 and 1974, Tom Trana, a Volvo and Saab-Scania works rally driver, resident in Gothenburg, Sweden, used the eight year old Lusso 5847 GT for some rallyes in Sweden.

Marcel Massini

 

Completely understandable that it is his account, and he can do as he pleases with it. However, Ferrari is well within their rights to then deny him an allocation based on their lack of interest in his social media persona.

 

I actually don't mind Salamondrin so much, at least he's brutally honest.

Shmee even admitted on PH that he won't give negative reviews on cars given to him, because otherwise he might not get to drive any of the cars! It's pathetic, because nothing what he says about any car could be trusted (not that I'd take any word of his ''advice'' serious)

+1

And pissing of the good customers...is that so wise? I think not. These youtubers don't earn as much as they let believe, not nearly as much! The vast majority of these youtubers won't be long term customers. I don't believe it creates a huge link with the young kids, the ''future Ferrari owners'', either...if they want one when they have the money they'll get one, shmee or no shmee.

 

I enjoy watching some of their videos, but mainly to see car collections/museums or certain features of cars up close. I couldn't care less about their driving impressions or what daily life is with the cars they own or test.

They don't make much from those videos and most of the money is from their family or other businesses from what it looks like. There are people on YouTube that make a nice amount, but they have millions of subscribers and lots of views. Shmee only recently broke 1 million and it feels like it took forever considering how much content he puts out there. Meanwhile guys like Jake Paul get 50-100,000 new subscribers a day and put out daily videos that make a lot of money...way different level.

 

Thanks for the info Marcel, hopefully a future buyer doesn't get fooled on the car.

 

As is well known I always recommend to do the homework BEFORE one buys.
In this particular case (Lusso) a careful check of the various numbers is also highly recommended.

Marcel Massini

 

You know Camlet, I can't remember where I read it, but it goes something like.......

"After a certain level of prosperity only discretion becomes a necessity"

IMO far too much "sharing" is actually just a means of displaying a construct of a curated, filtered life. Pictures of big watches in front of the steering wheels of Ferraris etc, or your latest "Louis" trainers next to the Scuderia shield of your prancing horse make me shudder and cringe. This is the hyperlinked equivalent of revving your engine outside Harrods.

Instagram in an of itself is indeed an excellent platform but it has been hi-jacked by people's need for self promotion. I've seen the pics and videos and honestly, I'm not convinced mate.

And Trax - as for Ford requiring a YT/Instagram to buy one of their products, well, frankly I think that's appalling. They can SHOVE the car where the sun doesn't shine. I can't believe it's come to this. Some people like to keep themselves to themselves.

And as for Shmee - I find that his videos are irritating diatribes with no real insight in ownership, driving dynamics, nor the visceral sensation of these cars. These things are lost in his videos. So perhaps he's the best customer for a 911 GT2RS - a car for the instagram generation "it goes weally weally fast" - YOU on the other hand should buy yourself a Carrera GT.

 

Thank you, Marcel, for the info.

 

I completely understand the keeping to yourself mentality. I would say I am firmly in that category.

However... with only 500 cars and millions lost on the project... the only people crying and complaining are people who don't support the ford brand and only wanted there supercar. So in reality.. they will still sell all of their GTs and they will not have lost a customer because well most of the cry babies didn't have fords to begin with. Its only 500 cars... they can choose whom they want. And when they don't choose a person who hasn't bought a Ford in 20 years... and was going to keep the plastic on the seats stuck in some warehouse somewhere... Meanwhile they have sold the cars to people and they are getting ****loads of free advertising out of these youtubers etc... introducing excitement to a whole new culture a whole new set of consumers. Car guys will still want it. The point was to get the excitement beyond the car guys. Again, I don't like it... but if you don't see logic in it... then you are missing it.

 

I don't deny a thing you've said (other than the bit about people crying being only those who don't support the brand). Discretion, privacy and having a life beyond "posting on InstaFace" is quite important. And rather controversially I think the Ford GT is probably best looking car in the world today. I think it's wonderful (of course I've not driven it) and I know they could sell it many times over.

But if they're expecting me to send them a link to my "Insta" then I interpret that as them building a product which wasn't meant for me anyway. After all, vehicle design these days starts with the marketing department, so their actions speak volumes.
Are they making car to look good on "soshul meedia"? What will I need to submit next? My "agent's" detail? A contact at my PR agency? See ya, I'll buy something elsel and with that, I'll say this; these supercar makers are enjoying halcyon days at the moment. It wasn't always like this and it won't always remain like this!

 

David Lee blocked me on IG when I asked why a Ferrari collector and brand ambassador had to buy a LaFerrari secondhand.

For someone who is constantly talking about how humble and successful he is, he seems very insecure. Misrepresenting the cars (whether intentionally or otherwise) is also very curious for someone who claims to be a collector and ambassador.

 

I think what has ticked some buyers off is they're genuine enthusiasts of the brand who were denied an allocation so some celebrity who has never driven or owned a Ford before, got one.

Was some woman from Britain I believe and I think a YouTuber. I get the criticism in that regards; I'd be pissed as 05 GT owner who was told they couldn't give me a car and I saw that.

 

Amen!! I'm going to keep driving my Carrera GT and not worry about the bloggers/YT'ers/social media lovers. I deleted David Lee from my instagram a long time ago as I found his posts SO repetitive and nauseating, it becomes boring honestly and I don't understand what his goal is? Who cares, and since I don't have a social media following I won't be getting a Ford GT either, and I am fine with that. BUT I am a Ford customer having bought two in the last six years if that moves me up the list?

 

Social media and the internet in general had great initial intentions and are amazing tools, but as with most things, the lowest common denominator will prevail. It's all driven by money and advertising so in the end, mind-numbing dumb stuff will rise to the top and you have to search hard for quality stuff. Why watch an informative YouTube video that is 10 minutes and well edited when you can see dozens if not hundreds of videos of a bunch of loud cars rev in the streets of London...it's unfortunate and makes finding quality stuff very hard.

I used to be on Faceback in 2004 when it was only open to college students and by invite only (at that time you had to be invited by an ivy league student and I was at a non-ivy school while my friend was at Cornell). It was great...no ads, no fake accounts spamming you, genuine people with similar interests, etc. Once they opened it up to anyone and businesses, it became the crap it is today. Whatever.

I tend to ignore pretty much all that stuff now...it's too mind numbing. Forums like these and low key vintage car festivals where you can chat with owners is the only thing worth the time anymore imo.

I'm sure IG has good stuff, but I gave up on that place years ago.