Ferrari Mailing List: "First Ferrari" purchase story

[Tom Reynolds (kjtar]

Dear list, 
        In answer to Jim's request, here's my "first Ferrari purchase" story. 
       Somehow I found the Ferrari mailing list, think it must have been back 
in '97 or possibly earlier.  Anyhoo, at that time I was interested in the 
"single headlight" look (as SWMBO liked that look and I figured if she liked 
it, it would be easier to convince her a Ferrari would be a GOOD thing).  
Somehow or other I got us up to Poway, CA on a trip to the San Diego area and 
saw a fellow with whom I'd been corresponding who had a 250GTE2+2 for sale.  
Ron Beatty, I think his name was.  He was moving to Whidbey (spelling?) Island. 
 Since we were in the area, we met him at his house and he was nice enough to 
shepherd us along in the car, and I got to drive it while Karen sat crossways 
in the rear "seats".  Drove like a truck (hey, the tires probably needed air, 
right?) but sounded like a dream.
        Enter Matt Boyd and his Euro Mondial coupe.  Yes, I was interested, but 
at that time was still pretty new to "things Ferrari" and still kinda had cold 
feet, so I declined to even offer on it.  But, I *thought* about it quite a 
bit.  So, it went to Rick Lindsay, and now resides with (as far as I know) Dave 
Craig.  And, I did get to drive it, (thanks Dave) and it's wonderful car.  So, 
as you can tell, I'm getting closer...
        So, I start thinking about a 308gt4 and somehow I find out that there's 
this guy in Tucson, Dave Franco, who has one.  Maybe I called up Red Line or 
Dearing's, not sure, but anyway, I end up calling Dave and inviting myself up 
to see his car, and one thing led to another, and there I am, with him and his 
'74? Was kind of burgundy in color, very attractive.  I was thinking to myself, 
as Dave got in his carport to start the engine, "I'll be able to tell by the 
exhaust sound."  
        Dave cranks the car;
bbbbaaaaaRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!
Ah, yes, that's the ticket.  :)  The drive was just as good as the sound of the 
car's exhaust when starting.  Sounded great on the road as well, and while Dave 
was a bit reluctant to shift it from 1st to 2nd while the gearbox was still 
cold (well, relatively, this was Tucson, after all...and he did just have some 
pretty expensive transmission work done) I had no such compunction.  Difficult 
to move the front wheels when going slowly due to no power steering, but then 
again, power steering is for wimps, right?  Tracked like radar, shifted well, 
sounded great, what the hell else is there?!  Now the job was to find one.
        Enter AZFERRARI (Jeff, think he might still be on the list, he owns 
some kind of printing or sign shop in the Phoenix area) who sent me a link for 
an ad that appeared (or he cut and pasted it, not sure now) in the Phoenix 
paper.  Now, I'd been searching online and had email and phone conversations 
with a number of owners of cars that seemed to be likely candidates, but for 
one reason or another they came up wanting.  But, the car in the ad was in 
Scottsdale, only around 3 or so hours from where I was living at the time.  So, 
I called.  
        Turns out the guy who owned him, Dave McKay, was the first base coach 
for the St. Louis Cardinals.  (yeah, he was the one who told McGwire to touch 
1st base...).  I looked him up in the Baseball Encyclopedia, when I told him he 
said, "Oh, no, don't do that!"  :)  So, anyway, I was involved in negotiations 
with Dave, and then one Sunday evening I get a call from him telling me that 
the City Manager of Cave Creek (or some place around there) had called him and 
was interested in the car, but that Dave and his wife thought that since I had 
expressed interest, it was incumbent on them to let me know the situation.  I 
did not ask for (and maybe at that time didn't know about) first right of 
refusal.  However, knowing that the car, which I hadn't seen yet, was in 
jeopardy, I made what might have been one of the most momentous decisions of my 
life.  I'm sitting at my desk, Karen lurking in the doorway to the office, 
looking rather stern.  Well, first of all, I'm on the phone (instead of the 
"safe" order of things, when SHE'S on the phone...) AND I'm talking about a car 
(like she could care), AND I'm getting ready to spend $26,000.  (Which of 
course IS a big deal.)  She can, of course, hear the conversation, and it's not 
going the way she'd like it to.  I'm at the critical juncture, I pause, she 
looks at me and (hindsight suggests at this point) she starts shaking her head 
vigorously (side to side).  And, I say, "Yes."
        That was 1998.  I got a check, drove up there the next day in my '94 
Miata R with my baseball glove and a ball, 'cause I thought, what with him 
being an ex major leaguer and all, that we'd play catch.  Wrong.  His house was 
absolutely gorgeous, his office was like a baseball shrine, done very 
professionally, and he had just finished working out, so I had some time to 
spend looking around at various memorabilia.  But, not to play catch.  He gave 
me a bushel of Ferrari related paperwork, articles, books, etc. 
        Dave was the 2nd owner, the first being Dolf Strom, also of the 
Scottsdale area, an electrical engineer, who had made some modifications to the 
car - "Euro-ized" it. Dolf autocrossed the car.  He took the car on ski trips 
with his son.  Dolf drove the car.  Dave, otoh, basically went to Spring 
Training, then was basically on the road all year.  When he got home in 
October, he'd take the car to the dealership, have it gone over ("let them do 
what they know needs to be done") and then he'd occasionally drive it over the 
Fall and Winter until Spring Training came around again.  When he and his 
lovely (she was) wife had to go somewhere, they'd take the suv.  As a side 
note, Dave had Mark McGwire's Jeep, sold to him by Mark.  Dave didn't really 
want it any more, but the Cardinals didn't want Dave to sell it then because it 
still had all the McGwire paperwork with it, and they didn't want Dave to 
possibly be put in the position of profiting on the McGwire name.  (Remember 
the '98 baseball home run race?)
        So, without a PPI (but with a lot of advice from the list) Dave and I 
took the car out for a drive, and yes, God help me, I loved it.  Oh, sure, I 
wished the windows would have gone up and down faster, I wished the 
heater/ventilation would have been more efficient, I wished the windshield 
wipers would have moved more quickly, and I wished that the headlights would 
ALWAYS go up and down without "flipping."  But, aside from those minor things, 
(and after all, who remembers?) the car was a wonder.  So, $26,000 lighter, I 
made arrangements to have the car trucked to Dearing's in Tucson for a major 
service, 2 rear tires (thanks Brian B.) and some engine mounts (thanks Brian K. 
and/or Steve A.) and then another $2400 lighter and a month and a half later, I 
had 'Mario' home in Arizona.  As to the "proper care and feeding" that's 
another diatribe.
Best regards to all,
Tom Reynolds
Tulsa, OK