Surprises from the previous owner | Page 3 | FerrariChat

Surprises from the previous owner

Discussion in 'Ferrari Discussion (not model specific)' started by imahorse, Jan 19, 2020.

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  1. ross

    ross Three Time F1 World Champ
    Owner Silver Subscribed

    Mar 25, 2002
    36,210
    houston/geneva
    Full Name:
    Ross
    not a ferrari story, but....

    in 1995 i lived in london but took a job in rome, so in anticipation of needing a LHD car, i went to the LHD Center to see what they had. it was run by this greek guy, and as i was looking around his lot he suggested i look at a car he had just gotten in on consignment.
    it was a 93 bmw M5. it had belonged to what he described as the second richest guy in greece, whose son drove it to london and then didnt want to drive it back and thats how it was on his lot. it was quadruple black - black paint, black windows, black interior, black headliner, i liked it. but the price was stupid. i bif a price and he declined. but i was relentless, and eventually he acquiesced and i bought the car. i called it darth vader.
    it had 1 key, and not much else. the driver interface was set to greek, and since i dont speak greek, i had no idea what anything said or meant. i also had no idea of maintenance history etc. so i took it to the the bmw dealer for a full service and reset to factory settings.

    he called me a couple days later and asked me to come see him. when i got there he sat me down, and said there was good news and bad news.
    the good news was that it had a dinan chip and was actually putting out 400 bhp, and had no rev limiter or governor.
    the bad news was that because of that, the warranty was void - too bad.
    the further good news was that the odometer was actually in km and not miles so it only had 16k km instead of miles. bonus !
    then he said he had something else to show me....so we went to the car and he said to pass my hand along the transmission tunnel along the driver;s right side, and feel the 2 switches there, which i did. i asked him what they were...and he said to turn the car on and flip the switches, which i did......then the flashing lights and siren came on !!! he said that by law he was obliged to remove these, but since i was leaving the country he was willing to leave them in....
    so i left them in.

    boy oh boy oh boy, was that fun. imagine being in italy with a car that was as stealth as possible in 95, that could blow off 911's at the stoplight, and run at 180 mph (which i did), and whenever i encountered a traffic jam (rather frequent in rome as you might imagine), you could just flip the switches and become a diplomatic car with siren and flashing lights - it was like the parting of the red seas ! i absolutely loved that car. it was marvelous.

    only once was i in danger of getting caught, but the rest of the time it was just a magic wand.
    i kept it for 3 years and sold it for what i bought it for - largely because of the extra features.
    wonderful car.
     
  2. RedNeck

    RedNeck F1 Veteran
    BANNED Silver Subscribed

    Jul 8, 2016
    9,875
    The CSA
    Full Name:
    Me
    Not a car story, but I bought my girlfriend (now my wife) a laptop off of craigslist and not only was there a black girl booty porn DVD in the drive but also some "homemade" videos of an overweight trailer park dweller

    Format C: and lysol....
     
  3. daytona355

    daytona355 F1 World Champ
    BANNED

    Mar 25, 2009
    12,655
    London
    Full Name:
    Sid Korshak
    wow..... a perfect cannonball run car....!
     
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  4. imahorse

    imahorse F1 Rookie
    Silver Subscribed

    Nov 25, 2017
    2,648
    WI
    Full Name:
    Dustin
    You'll have to show me when I visit
     
  5. JP365

    JP365 Formula 3

    Mar 8, 2007
    1,340
    Chicago
    Full Name:
    John F
    I bought a Citroen SM in 1988 when I was a junior in high school. Car was $1,200. Had to borrow 1,800 from my dad for the repairs. Perhaps I should’ve let dad look at it first ;) There was an unloaded 22 revolver in the passenger door armrest. I gave it to my dad and he turned it in to the cops. Sold the car a year later for $3,500.
     
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  6. RedNeck

    RedNeck F1 Veteran
    BANNED Silver Subscribed

    Jul 8, 2016
    9,875
    The CSA
    Full Name:
    Me
    Oh, that hard drive was formatted in short order....then the laptop was stolen. Caught a guy breaking into the house in the middle of the night, I ran downstairs and charged him as he was loading up the tv, he got away and snagged the laptop on the way out the door then got away. He had the advantage of clothes and shoes. Oh well, saving the laptop might have cost me my clean criminal record so I guess it worked out ok.
     
  7. EastMemphis

    EastMemphis Formula 3
    Owner Silver Subscribed

    May 25, 2019
    1,719
    Memphis, TN
    Full Name:
    John
    #57 EastMemphis, Jan 30, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2020
    Back around 1979 I bought a dead Opel Manta that was sitting in my apartment parking lot for years. The tires were flat and the windows so dirty that I couldn't see inside. Tracked down the owner and made a deal for $50. Had another Manta already so for $50, it was a box of cheap parts, or so I thought. Once mine, I filled the tires, changed out the battery and it started right up. Ran like crap with the old gas though. Popped the trunk and it was stuffed with ancient girly magazines. The guys next door to me were a bunch of Iranian students (before the fall of the Shah) who eagerly purchased all of them for $50. I kept one magazine, a Playboy featuring Farrah Fawcett on the cover.

    So for the cost of the battery, I had a complete spare car with a title. It soon came in quite handy as I smashed up my other Manta into a telephone pole while trying to negotiate a corner at high speed after a night of drinking. Young people are very, very stupid.
     
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  8. krazykarguy

    krazykarguy Formula Junior

    Apr 17, 2014
    716
    Fort Mill, SC
    Full Name:
    Matt
    During the initial clean up of our 355 Spider in 2017, we found a cigar butt inside the gated shifter.

    Our car also had a horrible aftermarket sound system, with live, un-capped 12v leads! All of it is gone now, and the hole in the dashboard filled with an ebonywood plate with a 308/GTO cavallino attached...

    Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
    G. Pepper likes this.
  9. up4speed

    up4speed F1 Rookie
    Silver Subscribed

    Feb 16, 2012
    3,543
    Long Island, NY
    Full Name:
    Chris
    I found a piece of German candy under the seat of my BRAND NEW Porsche in 2001.
     
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  10. Baracus250GT

    Baracus250GT Karting

    Sep 14, 2004
    108
    UK
    Full Name:
    Mark
    Amazing story! Absolutely epic!
    I bet you did see some idiotic driving though? People with no spatial awareness trying to get out of the way. Still way better than queuing up - haha!
     

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