Flemke - Is this your McLaren? (Vol 5)
Discussion
h0b0 said:
Could you not make your own wheel? It fits in with what you have done on the F1 in that you are making it "better" but can be returned to original.
You could, but altering (in except in the most superficial ways) a modern road car takes a lot of work. I know!In this case, issues would arise for the air bag, shift levers, and whatever those buttons on the spokes do. Those things could be accommodated, but it would take much more effort than one might expect.
It would probably make more sense to buy a second standard wheel, remove the existing secant, graft on a proper CF arc to the bottom, then cover the bottom section with leather. There would have to be some allowance for that wide aluminium spoke, but that could be done.
At the end of the day, however, even if I had enough time to do this, would I have enough time to enjoy driving the result? As it is, there are cars I have that I have not laid eyes on, much less driven and enjoyed, for several years. Taking on something like this would not ease that problem.
AlmostUseful said:
flemke said:
yorkieboy said:
A blue tdf 599 GTO!?
Don't know if they still offer it, but Blue Le Mans is the better version. For years (maybe still) Ferrari offered as standard options two dark metallic blue paints: Blue Tour de France and Blue Le Mans.
On the colour samples, the TdF seemed a bit brighter. For that reason, I guess, a good 95% of people would choose that one over the LM. That was however a mistake. In the sun across an entire car, as opposed to in a showroom within a little sample, the TdF looks thin and cheap.
Almost every dark metallic blue 612, 550, 575, 456, 360, 430, etc Ferrari that you see will be in TdF, which is why they tend to have a hairdresser's feel about them.
I was not trying to revisit the which-dark-blue-paint question for my own purposes. Rather, I was trying to offer a public service for present and potential Ferrari owners. They need all the help they can get.
flemke said:
Silver Smudger said:
flemke said:
...I was thinking about getting a Ferrari ... I was planning to have some dark Porsche badges made up to replace the Fezza ones....
Why would you want to put Porsche badges on a Ferrari?Wouldn't have to be Porsche badges. I was prepared to use a bit of black electrician's tape if that was all I had to hand. The F bonnet badge I can live with, but those wing shields are pure crap.
E65Ross said:
You really don't like Ferrari do you 
My contempt for them (which, to be fair, is disproportionate; they have sometimes done great things in racing, and in the distant past employed some outside designers to create beautiful road cars) began about 15 years ago when their unholy alliance with Mosley and the FIA began to flourish.I am contemptuous of them for numerous reasons, many of which I have related on this thread at various points.
Just this week a friend told me the following:
A year or two ago he was at Ferrari main dealer XYZ looking at something. The head salesman sat him down and said to him,
"I can get you the build slot for the 3rd 458 Speciale to be delivered to the UK. For you to have that car, you must order at least £29,000 worth of options - of which I (the salesman) shall choose £21,000 of them. We'd like you to finance the entire purchase price, but at least 50% of the purchase price must be funded as a loan from Ferrari Finance. When you sell the car, you have to sell it through us. If you make a profit, half the profit comes back to us."
QED
DocJock said:
flemke said:
Silver Smudger said:
flemke said:
...I was thinking about getting a Ferrari ... I was planning to have some dark Porsche badges made up to replace the Fezza ones....
Why would you want to put Porsche badges on a Ferrari?Wouldn't have to be Porsche badges. I was prepared to use a bit of black electrician's tape if that was all I had to hand. The F bonnet badge I can live with, but those wing shields are pure crap.
flemke said:
My contempt for them (which, to be fair, is disproportionate; they have sometimes done great things in racing, and in the distant past employed some outside designers to create beautiful road cars) began about 15 years ago when their unholy alliance with Mosley and the FIA began to flourish.
I am contemptuous of them for numerous reasons, many of which I have related on this thread at various points.
Just this week a friend told me the following:
A year or two ago he was at Ferrari main dealer XYZ looking at something. The head salesman sat him down and said to him,
"I can get you the build slot for the 3rd 458 Speciale to be delivered to the UK. For you to have that car, you must order at least £29,000 worth of options - of which I (the salesman) shall choose £21,000 of them. We'd like you to finance the entire purchase price, but at least 50% of the purchase price must be funded as a loan from Ferrari Finance. When you sell the car, you have to sell it through us. If you make a profit, half the profit comes back to us."
QED
I had a similar conversation with a Ferrari dealer recently hence my McLaren order I am contemptuous of them for numerous reasons, many of which I have related on this thread at various points.
Just this week a friend told me the following:
A year or two ago he was at Ferrari main dealer XYZ looking at something. The head salesman sat him down and said to him,
"I can get you the build slot for the 3rd 458 Speciale to be delivered to the UK. For you to have that car, you must order at least £29,000 worth of options - of which I (the salesman) shall choose £21,000 of them. We'd like you to finance the entire purchase price, but at least 50% of the purchase price must be funded as a loan from Ferrari Finance. When you sell the car, you have to sell it through us. If you make a profit, half the profit comes back to us."
QED
flemke said:
Silver Smudger said:
flemke said:
...I was thinking about getting a Ferrari ... I was planning to have some dark Porsche badges made up to replace the Fezza ones....
Why would you want to put Porsche badges on a Ferrari?Wouldn't have to be Porsche badges. I was prepared to use a bit of black electrician's tape if that was all I had to hand. The F bonnet badge I can live with, but those wing shields are pure crap.
epom said:
flemke said:
Silver Smudger said:
flemke said:
...I was thinking about getting a Ferrari ... I was planning to have some dark Porsche badges made up to replace the Fezza ones....
Why would you want to put Porsche badges on a Ferrari?Wouldn't have to be Porsche badges. I was prepared to use a bit of black electrician's tape if that was all I had to hand. The F bonnet badge I can live with, but those wing shields are pure crap.
Putting to one side their behaviour in motor racing (which has sometimes been, shall we say, ethically wanting), Ferrari's treatment of their retail customers is incredibly arrogant, patronising, and often bullying.
I gave above the recent example of my friend who was told that, were he to order a Speciale, he would be required, amongst other things, to allow the dealership to decide which options he would take and, were he to sell the car, the dealer would keep for itself half of any profit, but of course none of any loss.
Another example would be when Ferrari produce limited edition (as in, 400-500 units) models and they decide before the car is announced which of their customers will be allowed to buy the car.
Another would be the factory's practice of providing magazine testers with "standard production" cars for analysis, when the only standard thing about them is Ferrari's standard practice of doctoring the sample car with special tyres, fitting springs and dampers specific to the testing venue, lowering the car, etc.
Journalists have been threatened with excommunication from the factory if they are insubordinate enough to test and write about customers' real production cars, as opposed to the specially prepared factory versions.
Other car makers do various questionable things to get things their way, but Ferrari are plainly in a class of their own in that regard.
After a fallow period of 15-20 years when nearly everything that Ferrari made for road and track was crap, starting with the 355 Ferrari have done some very nice cars. Fragile, but otherwise nice. It is not unreasonable that a PHer would like some of those cars.
It is also not unreasonable that a PHer, while appreciating a Ferrari car, would wish to disassociate him- or herself from the Ferrari bull5hit: the arrogance, bullying and the rest.
I find the Ferrari "wing shields" to be a good example of what is wrong with Ferrari: poor aesthetic taste in the service of arrogance, a lose-lose proposition.
From what I could tell, the 599 GTO came with the wing shields as standard. I don't know that one could have got a car without them. If I was going to get one of those cars, I wished to get only the car, and not to be part of the Ferrari Fan Club. Hence my intention to cover or disguise the wing shields.
flemke said:
epom said:
flemke said:
Silver Smudger said:
flemke said:
...I was thinking about getting a Ferrari ... I was planning to have some dark Porsche badges made up to replace the Fezza ones....
Why would you want to put Porsche badges on a Ferrari?Wouldn't have to be Porsche badges. I was prepared to use a bit of black electrician's tape if that was all I had to hand. The F bonnet badge I can live with, but those wing shields are pure crap.
Putting to one side their behaviour in motor racing (which has sometimes been, shall we say, ethically wanting), Ferrari's treatment of their retail customers is incredibly arrogant, patronising, and often bullying.
I gave above the recent example of my friend who was told that, were he to order a Speciale, he would be required, amongst other things, to allow the dealership to decide which options he would take and, were he to sell the car, the dealer would keep for itself half of any profit, but of course none of any loss.
Another example would be when Ferrari produce limited edition (as in, 400-500 units) models and they decide before the car is announced which of their customers will be allowed to buy the car.
Another would be the factory's practice of providing magazine testers with "standard production" cars for analysis, when the only standard thing about them is Ferrari's standard practice of doctoring the sample car with special tyres, fitting springs and dampers specific to the testing venue, lowering the car, etc.
Journalists have been threatened with excommunication from the factory if they are insubordinate enough to test and write about customers' real production cars, as opposed to the specially prepared factory versions.
Other car makers do various questionable things to get things their way, but Ferrari are plainly in a class of their own in that regard.
After a fallow period of 15-20 years when nearly everything that Ferrari made for road and track was crap, starting with the 355 Ferrari have done some very nice cars. Fragile, but otherwise nice. It is not unreasonable that a PHer would like some of those cars.
It is also not unreasonable that a PHer, while appreciating a Ferrari car, would wish to disassociate him- or herself from the Ferrari bull5hit: the arrogance, bullying and the rest.
I find the Ferrari "wing shields" to be a good example of what is wrong with Ferrari: poor aesthetic taste in the service of arrogance, a lose-lose proposition.
From what I could tell, the 599 GTO came with the wing shields as standard. I don't know that one could have got a car without them. If I was going to get one of those cars, I wished to get only the car, and not to be part of the Ferrari Fan Club. Hence my intention to cover or disguise the wing shields.
Genuine question: How about Lamborghini? Have you owned one? Would you?
hondafanatic said:
Come on Flemke. You're sitting on the fence with that reply. Tell us how you reeeeeally feel.
Genuine question: How about Lamborghini? Have you owned one? Would you?
Owing to an unusual set of circumstances, I once found myself owning an Aventador.Genuine question: How about Lamborghini? Have you owned one? Would you?
I drove it once, did not like, and sold it.
I don't have a theological objection to Lambos. My issues with them have been the ridiculous width of the V12s, the 4WD, poor steering feel, and brakes that are so overservoed that a flea could get the car stopped.
I think the Murcielago is one of the best looking cars of the modern era, and of course what is not to like about a V12? I was really tempted about a year ago to buy a pale green manual one that Hartley, I think it was, had for sale. In the end, however, I decided that I couldn't cope with the width, at least not in southern England.
flemke said:
hondafanatic said:
Come on Flemke. You're sitting on the fence with that reply. Tell us how you reeeeeally feel.
Genuine question: How about Lamborghini? Have you owned one? Would you?
Owing to an unusual set of circumstances, I once found myself owning an Aventador.Genuine question: How about Lamborghini? Have you owned one? Would you?
I drove it once, did not like, and sold it.
I don't have a theological objection to Lambos. My issues with them have been the ridiculous width of the V12s, the 4WD, poor steering feel, and brakes that are so overservoed that a flea could get the car stopped.
I think the Murcielago is one of the best looking cars of the modern era, and of course what is not to like about a V12? I was really tempted about a year ago to buy a pale green manual one that Hartley, I think it was, had for sale. In the end, however, I decided that I couldn't cope with the width, at least not in southern England.
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