Ferrari's Fire-Breathing Stallion

Business Week ^ | 8 july 2005 | Thane Peterson

[voletti]

Wheeeeeee.... Dream machine!

[Paradox]

Whoa! ProN for car nuts:

[Billthedrill]

I dunno - no cupholders. What do you do with your beer while you're racing?

[Michael.SF.]

[dhs12345]

Fun post!

Lets see... I sell my house, take out a loan...

Wonder what kind of gas mileage it gets? I know, if you have to ask, you can't afford it.

Wonder if premium gas is not good enough. Especially, with all of the additives.

[Publius6961]

I'm not as dumb as I look...

I purposely have avoided buying this boy toy.
With the money I save on insurance, I can get any normal new car of my choice every year!

[SaveTheChief]

Yeah, that's nice. But I kind of like this Ferrari.

[Michael.SF.]

Actually, if I could afford 200K for a car, I would rather get this one:

Ettore, would be proud.

[Capriole]

This is definitely NOT just a guy thing.

[ThePythonicCow]

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[spetznaz]

Erm, maybe I should inform you that 200,000 would not even be enough to buy the engine for the car you posted (the Bugatti Veyron). That car is expected to cost 1.2 million dollars. With 200K you'd still be a million greenbacks short. With that said you have great taste.

One thing I'd love to do is participate in a race between a Bugatti Veyron, a McLaren F1, and a Ferrari Enzo.

Ferrari Enzo:

Bugatti Veyron:

McLaren F1:

Zoom zoom!

[spetznaz]

Zoom-zoom ping.

[clintonh8r]

To me the McLaren F1 is the most desirable car ever built....the vision of one man, designed and built without regard to cost. Splendid.

[garyhope]

Before I actually got to the comments, I was going to say that a Ferrari post is like an Ann Coulter post,...ya gotta post the pictures for we pathetic old leches.

[bill1952]

Sorry guys. And Enzo, bless your late soul.

There just has not been a real Ferrari, Italian race car heritage inspired car since the 355.

Know why all the later F-cars squint?

They replaced the Italian designers with a Japanese one.
Seriously, they all look like Honda clones.
Even my wife didn't know the 360 was a Ferrari.
And we were at a dealer.

Before you think for one moment that she doesn't know Ferrari, this is her.
And this is a Ferrari.

[Spktyr]

All of those are (or will be) slower than the Koenigsegg from Sweden. The K can hit 245.

The Veryon is years behind schedule and still (apparently) has handling problems. There's recent photographs of a Veyron losing it at Sears Point.

[1FASTGLOCK45]

I was curious about the heritage too, now call me old fashioned but i don't want a 100+thousand dollar car with "paddle" shifter. I can't afford it of course but i want a regular old 5 or 6 speed manual shift gearbox.

[Michael.SF.]

Thanks. To be honest I did not know the Bugatti's cost that much. But to be sure they always were in a class by themselves.

There is a great story about Ettore Bugatti, when he was in his prime, perhaps you have heard, if so, sorry to repeat it.

It seems a loyal client in Paris had received his new Bugattti, but after some months, he found he had difficulty starting it on cold days.

Some letters were sent and ignored. Phone calls made, but not returned. The client, on a trip to Strasbourg decided to go out to the factory, as it was not to far away.

He found himself waiting for Mr Bugatti. And he waited. One hour, soon two and then three. At last in desperation, as Mr. Bugatti was departing for lunch, the man approached. He explained his letters, his calls and his problem with the car.

Mr. Bugatti's response was classic:

Surely Sir, if you can afford a Bugatti, you can afford a heated garage, No?

[Spktyr]

I wasn't all that impressed by the 355, honestly. The new ones look kind of weird, and I think the Enzo is rather ugly. I would say that the last *real* Ferrari was the F40 (which I drove twice and loved).


Last I checked, they're still designed by Pininfarina, not so?

[clintonh8r]

Correction...there hasn't been a real Ferrari since the 365-GTB/4 Daytona.