In a message dated 5/9/02 5:05:13 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 531guy@comcast.net writes:
<< What is this fascination with Ferrari's anyway? Granted there are some nice Ferrari's but they are far from being the ultimate car in the opinion of many of those knowledgeable about cars. I have a friend who knew Luigi Chinetti (winning race car driver and North American importer for Ferrari) in the early 60's. When Chinetti had visitors, he would take them to see the great car collection of Dr. Sam Scher in N.Y., these were not Ferrari's! At this time, (my friend relates) Mr. Chinetti was driving a Ford station wagon, and it wasn't even new. >>
How about they're completely hand made by artisans who are absolutely nuts
about craftsmanship and passionate about racing and winning. I know an
Italian gentleman who's father was a test rider for Moto Guzzi and rode the
V-8. He builds Cobras, has the hottest Milano in Marin and spends all day,
every day working on exotics. You know what turns his crank? Working on old 5
window pick up trucks. Another friend of mine had one he was getting ready to
sell, and he could hardly keep the Italian away! AND, what he did, he didn't
charge for. People sometimes are very attracted to something different from
what is part of their life. You can even make an argument that Ferraris
aren't very good "cars." GTOs were notorious for particular spots in their
fenders that would ALWAYS rot out. If you rebuilt it with that in mind you
could prevent it, but when they left the factory they were rich boys toys,
built for speed, not to last. That so many have lasted this long is almost a
miracle, but bless those who have spent the money to keep them around. I
forgot to mention, older Ferraris are BEAUTIFUL to look at. The earliest ones
were a little tubby, for a while that were just gorgeous and then they got
angular. It's a matter of taste, but my opinion is the GTO is one of the
prettiest cars ever made. That's the fascination with Ferrari. What relates
to hand made bicycles is the passionate commitment to form and function, that
is what creates industrial art and functional sculpture. One of the best
quotes that was posted not long ago was from eritchie. "to honor the master
is to do better than he," or words to that effect.
Stevan Thomas
Alameda, CA