Ferrari Mailing List: Re: TestaRossa

[Fellippe Galletta (fellippe.galletta]

On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 12:06 AM, Mike Fleischer <themightytoe [at] 
gmail.com>wrote:

> I apologize to those who own one...


It's nice that we have a little risk taking behavior on the list....hehe...

>
>
> Man I just can not feel the Ferrari love for that car.  Its so ugly.  It
> makes me recall the old Bricklin kit cars from the 70's, a cross between
> that and a Lotus Esprit, but not the good aspects of either...  I'm sure
> they sound nice and are fun to drive, I just would not be able to get
> past looking at it before opening the driver door...  MHO



You know, I'd traditionally agree with you. But somehow, someway this car is
old enough now that it's got that "vintage cool" look to it. The bumpers do
more damage on this car than a regular 308....if you take a look at the side
profile of a small bumpered dino 308, don't think it's bad at all.

I'd have to do the Dino badging and all....not that I'm embarassed but it
seems more appropriate.

BTW, what do you think of the Lamborghini Urracco and Maserati Merak
styling?

A Series I, euro spec, with QV rims, dino badging in either black or a dark
blue would work for me......just like regular 308s gotta be picky.




>
>
> Now the new Italia, so far from the pics, that thing is beautiful.
> First Ferrari that was drool worthy to me in a long time (last one was
> probably the F355, and before that the F40, 328, 512BBi, and so on), the
> others are lookers, but those ones (as far as modern F cars go) stand
> out to me.  Also any F car with the engine up front is a waste of time
> also.   There I said it.  Seriously, so what if the 1950's and 60's cars
> were front engine?  Those are not even in the same league as anything
> modern from Maranello.   And I will never ever get the Daytona's
> popularity, to me its just not that pretty.  Miami vice did much better
> with the TR than that Daytona spider.
>
> Nomex is on,


Yeah, agreed. I wish there was money for there to be a front engined V12 and
also a mid engined V12 as well. I like the Maranello and Fiorano but how do
you compare them presence wise to a Diablo or Murcielago?? You can't.

The front engined Ferrari is proof that marketing is what runs corporate
decisions (in case anyone was still doubting that, lol). When I hear Ferrari
comments like "a mid engine is not necessary for extreme road car handling"
, it is essentially saying that their clientele want this soft front engined
design and they'll go to whatever lengths they can to make it happen.....and
amazingly the Ferrari Engineers are quite capable of it too!

Some will come back and say that they prefer discretion and that the Lambos
are too 'outrageous' and 'gawdy'.....fair, but at the end of the day you
want your cars to be relevant, no?? :-)

The Maranello was fine, but the 612, 599....come on!

In this month's FORZA there is an interview with Piero Ferrari (a good one I
would add). At some point he says (paraphrasing)  "a Ferrari design is a
real Ferrari, not a design that is sold from one designer to a
company.....look at the California....would you agree?" ...

And the interviewer had the balls to say "the jury is still out on the
California".....hahah!

I think if you really want discretion, buy a freakin Aston Martin or
Bentley....or maybe even the new Maseratis. I'd take any of those cars for
styling over any of the front engined Ferraris.

Ferraris should invoke the same visual passion as they do for their engine
sound and connected to the driver feeling....that's all Ferrari has left
over their rivals at this point, IMHO.

As far as the Daytona, I don't think it is as stunning as cars of the old
school like 250s, 275s, etc. but for the right price I think it's a cool
car. It has a manly feel to it, and a legendary motor. That car would
probably make an awesome cross country car with that excellent stability and
ability to go up to 170 with a glorious noise. It's a better car than the
Miura I believe, even if not as pretty.

I think the 365 GTB/4 Competizione is a sick looking car that I would take
over a lot of cars new & old...but that thing is seven figures! LOL.

These are my opinions and I'm sure there will be a lot of defenders to these
front engined cars, but remember that my fire breathing Ferrari passion was
built on the 308, BB, 288 GTO, TR, and F40....cars that were worthy of the
name, and all mid engined.

For those who grew up on 250s and 275s.....Ferrari has yet to build a car
that resembles anything as godly.

Front engine is fine if you can build sex, otherwise don't. I think the
McLaren SLR is a serious attempt at a front engined supercar, but most
others can't pull it off.

Borrowing from Mike's Nomex,

FG