Well it has been a few years since I sold my 1981 5-speed 400I. I really enjoyed it, put over 20,000 miles on it, "serviced the engine" New guides, main and rod bearing, chain and guides etc. like a old girlfriend you did not want to spend the rest of your life with, high maintenance etc., But we had good times together and I find myself day dreaming about it sometimes. I miss drinking wine and walking out to the garage and sitting in it, and starting it, just to hear it run. I miss driving it in the rain and stopping at a red light and having the steam come up through the hood grill, and disappearing as you accelerate from the light. I miss driving it in the cold and snow, the dual heater controls and industrial strength wipers. One of my favorite drives was taking it to Colorado springs to attend a friends wedding in January from Tucson, good times. The confidence of the chassis and limited slip diff. on ice and snow was inspiring. I like resting my hand on the gear shift, while selecting a different radio station. I liked walking away from it, like the cool guys in movies who do not have to turn around to see the explosion, and letting the door shut by itself. I have great cars now that I can afford to live with, but I have great memories of my time with a 2+2 front engined V-12 Ferrari. Enjoy your wonderful cars! Image Unavailable, Please Login
What an awesome write up Fritz. Lovely observations, some of which I share with you. Thanks for posting this!
Thanks Brian and Bruce, I am back to my German roots with old Porsches and will stay here, but I still fondly remember my old Ferrari. I have tracked a friends 89 Testarossa and anothers 77 308 at Thunder hill and street driven a 355 and some other two seat Ferrari's, very special performance cars. But there was something very cool about picking up a friend and his luggage from the airport in your Ferrari, Large V-12 idling while we loading the luggage curbside, can not do that in Many other Ferrari's. Grocery shopping was another treat, except for that gas smell I could never get rid of! Going out to dinner with another couple and taking 'the' Ferrari, very cool I really enjoyed the usability of the car and the whole time Having one of the largest v-12 engines Ferrari ever made making that sound! I must admit I ran it in a lower gear than I had to around town just for that sound! Here is a picture of a time I drove it to a friends cabin in New Mexico, what a road trip car! Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here. Thanks to you I finally got my 1976 375gt4 running. The reb(no) got rebuilt. The one you told me about.
Like you say. There aren't many things more impressive than picking another couple for dinner in your 4 passenger Ferrari. That was one of the things I liked about my first Ferrari in 1970, it was a 1966 330GT 2+2
I often think about my 412 std and wish that it was still in my garage. It was a classy high performance car that was also practical. Mine was returned to its original European specs and was a blast to drive. Thank you for the post. Bob