Help me consider my next V12 car

Hey Ferrari fans and owners... non Ferrari owner here. 2nd post on the forum. I introduced myself in the "lurker's come out" sticky thread but I'll say again briefly I'm a 30 yr old electrical engineer in the off highway equipment world. I've owned a few interesting and fun cars throughout the years and have enjoyed modifying, maintaining them and driving them.

Now that I'm a homeowner my current fleet of cool 20-30 year old cars are costing me a lot of time and my project list constantly stays over my head. For reference that includes a 1982 Peugeot 505 turbo diesel 5 speed, 2002 Corvette Z06 track rat, 2002 Excursion 7.3L diesel 6 speed manual and my current V12 car implied in the title is my 1993 BMW 850Ci 6 speed. Throw in some icing on the cake for my team's 1990 Miata endurance racecar we race 2-3 weekends a year and my soon-to-be wife's 2017 GX460 (obviously I had to make her get something I wouldn't have to constantly fix!)

As you can probably imagine, this fleet of cars are constantly needing SOMETHING each at any given time. I've grown used to spending an average of $540 per month over the last 15 months I've owned the BMW (the others I've owned for several years) just for parts I either want or need. For the most part over this period it has been things I need, though. I have no issue affording the parts and I do all the work myself so I've saved tens of thousands of dollars over the last several years in labor. My problem is between taking care of our home, making trips to visit family or do other fun things, go endurance racing, etc, it's been hard to keep my head above water on projects. So I'm wondering if I just have too many older cool cars and if I should reduce, and if I was to reduce, should I consolidate upward so to speak.

(realizing I'm getting long winded)

The way I see it, I could get rid of my Excursion that I manual swapped (crying just thinking about it) and sell my first car I ever bought that I've been to the end of the earth and back in and with, the Z06, and sell my favorite all-around car of all the 850Ci (crying) and net around $60k in cash at current market prices. With some spare cash floating around I could conceivably borrow a reasonable amount of money and reach for a halfway decent 612 Scaglietti w/ F1 trans I suspect. Perhaps one 15y/o expensive car worth of things to fix would be a consistently shorter than my current list even if at higher operating cost?

So now you see why I am here. I realize that Ferrari ownership is no joke when it comes to maintenance and repairs. Going to RockAuto and getting parts shipped to my door is not a thing. Maybe even shade tree mechanic-ing it isn't even a thing? I'm really not sure, so I'm asking you all, the pros!

If I made the bottom line add up to purchase an acceptable 612, is that something I could conceivably put 7-10k miles on per year and maintain myself the way I do my current V12 Bimmer? Again basically I'm used to 6500ish a year in parts which is 65-92 cents per mile just in parts budget. Or do I HAVE to have it fixed/serviced at the Ferrari dealer (that I don't have within 3 hours drive)? I would try to find one with recent timing belt/cam seal service, sticky buttons unstickified, ideally not needing leather work etc. Something with a little mileage on it would be nice in theory since I plan to drive it. I probably wouldn't want to grossly exceed my current parts/service budget so you guys might have to tell me I'm still in "pipe dream" territory which is totally cool too. Maybe 612 owners plan for 1-2 dollars per mile in operating costs! I don't know! But I look forward to hearing your experiences.

Sorry for the wall of text...if you made it through, thanks!
Luke

 

Wow thanks for sharing all your experiences! Definitely some variance among the group as far as what to expect in operating costs. Love the fact Nospinzone has put 50k on his car in 9 years! That's what I'm talking about!! I'd love to be able to own and use a 612 that much or more for a couple of years at least. I think if maintenance is likely to be more like $2-3/mile as mentioned by Texas Forever that would make it pretty tough... In the end I'm a nothing special guy with nothing special financial means. I just tend to prioritize my driving options over other common people expenses like vacations, kids, etc.

As far as other options, I think the 612 F1 is my absolute farthest potential reach (today and near term). The 6 speed cars like 612, 360 and 550 are just far out of my reach (read: pipedream). I'm very, very interested in the 456GT 6 speeds, I think I can afford the price of admission on those, but looking at the engine bay I see some common parts to my 850Ci which makes me think there might be a pair of independently controlled Bosch Motronic 1.7 engines just the same. That's not the end of the world I guess but I suspect I'd be buying more parts and wrenching more on the nearly 30 yr old 456 just like I have to do on my beloved 30 yr old 850Ci and I prefer the interior (at least looking at pictures on the internet) of the later 612.

As far as other, other options, I've been looking at the AM DB9 6 speeds. From an operating costs standpoint I think they're comfortably below the F car costs, seeing as how many many of the parts are stamped FoMoCo and I can buy them at Autozone cheap because they're used on Tauruses and Escapes etc etc. Ffre92 is right, I WOULD miss the manual transmissions. I'm a die hard manual guy proven fully by my manual swapped Excursion I put together. But I've also wanted a Ferrari since I was a little kid watching Michael Schumacher in F1 so it WILL happen someday, just a question of if I do it in my early 30s or early 40s....or 50s?

And yes you're right, I'm not trying to sell my kidney, liver, left nut or other vital organs! LOL (Enzo was my poster car on the wall of my bedroom when I was a kid)

 

Realizing 575M F1 cars are around for similar prices. Hm this adds an interesting wrinkle indeed. I'm part of (what I perceive to be) the minority of people who truly appreciate the 612 Scaglietti's design so I would hardly consider it a curse to end up with one someday, but the 550 and 575M are impossible to deny, they are possibly the pinnacle of automotive design....

Aerosurfer thanks for sharing! I will definitely go "down the rabbit hole" you dug. I love iconic 90s cars especially when they're in iconic 90's toothpaste green!

 

FerrariFinally you are SO right about this and I know it. I'm not lucky enough to have taken my Vette to as many track days, but for a while I was going pretty regularly and racked up 6 events with it. I am lucky enough to go wheel to wheel racing a few times a year which is why my Vette hardly gets used now. It needs a new differential for the last 4 years and with my other projects eating fun money up plus the endurance racing scratching my track time itch, I just wonder how bad I need a dedicated track rat anymore that just increases the length of my project list. I don't know that I need a Ferrari either but it sure would be interesting to try. But same time....C5Z is indeed the best overall bang for buck performance car that exists, bar none!

 

Professional Ferrari Tech and Consultant, nice! Thanks for dropping in. I understand a large part of the Ferrari ownership population takes their car to the dealer for service. I was surprised to see a few members in this thread talking about maintaining their F car at home which is what I would *have* to do to be able to afford it. Do shade tree mechanics have to get their parts from the Ferrari dealers pretty much exclusively? Does home service affect resale value?

 

Road racing with one's closest friends is definitely a spice of life I wish everyone could experience. I'm lucky to have a close group of buddies who are great team players, great drivers, great mechanics, and equally questionable with their finances as I am LOL. If your dream is to go wheel to wheel then do it! The golden years are meaningless. One guy raced LMP1 at le Mans with Audi several years back and he was like 40 something years old. He had only been racing w2w for a few years!

 

This sounds dumb to ask, but it's important to me... do the 456GT, 575M or 612 have adjustable lumbar supports? I've got a decently managed but somewhat sketchy lower back with one artificial disc in it and having the adjustable lumbar is crucial for my comfort. The 850Ci has a great inflatable one originally and it's my most comfortable car. My Excursion has one too but something about that truck aggravates my back...