Ferrari Mailing List: Re: "First Ferrari" purchase story

[jim (jimshadow]

I did not know that you bought it from Dave McKay. Did he sign the
glove/ball for ya at least?  Great story.  Thanks for sharing. :)

JIM
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Reynolds [mailto:kjtar [at] cox.net] 
Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2007 1:34 PM
To: JIM
Cc: The FerrariList
Subject: [Ferrari] "First Ferrari" purchase story

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
 
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