2manycarz Garage

[2manycars]

pgwbell said:

Here's a question for you Pete :-) Hope no one has already asked!

If all your cars were suddenly all valued exactly the same financially, and this value would never change for eternity, and you could only keep one?

Which one would it be?

I'll allow you your one choice and you can have an additional Range Rover for the everyday stuff ;-)

Too easy.

I’d keep the Fiat 695 biposto and scrap the rest. It’s really that good.

[2manycars]

Kewy said:

Wasn't part of the previous thread but already a fan from this one

How often do you switch between cars? Are we talking several different rides a week or do you tend to drive one for a few weeks and then pick something else?

Now these are the questions I love.
I definitely go through weird stages all depending on weather.

I can keep 6 cars on the drive and 2 in garage, sometimes I’ll only have the family wagon on the drive and everything else will be in my lockups.

If the roads are dry and I’m feeling in good health then I’ll treat myself and take the Fiat out of storage.
If it’s sunny then I’ll go for the 458 Speciale Aperta and drop the roof. If it’s sunny and I’m going for a long country drive then I’ll take the 16M or the DB5.
Raining I’ll just stay in the Lusso.
Cold I’ll take the M2
The Aston’s (AMV12 & Zagato) I don’t bother with as they’re a bit crap to drive but are beautiful to look at.
The Mclarens I’ve also retired because although they’re fast and handle well, they lack soul and I’ll always take my Ferrari’s over them.
599GTO is a long distant car
F355, 360 spider and 430 scud are slow but mainly more about the nostalgia and sense of occasion.
Lexus LFA & Porsche CGT, welllllllll you really have to wake up with your big boy pants on that day and weather better be simply perfect or else you’re in for a bad time. Think Paul Walker meets James Dean.
They are definitely widow makers.
All the Porsche’s just get thrashed because that’s the best way to use them.

Then there’s the times when my brain is just misfiring and I’ll simply be a passenger in the Bentayga for days/weeks at a time.

The Wraith and AMG GTS Edition 1 were just gym cars. They’d usually just smell from dirty clothes and wet towels.

The Ghost was also a stinky car as that’s what I’d take the dogs out in. Bulldogs so they fart a lot.

I’m planning on my 488 pista and Singer DLS being my daily’s, with my Senna and Monza SP2 being the fun toys.

The 812 SF will take over from my Lusso but not replace it as I’ll be definitely keeping that.

Cheers for the question

Pete

[2manycars]

Beefmeister said:

Good to see you back Pete, have been hoping there would be a garage thread!

The Singer - good Lord. Sat in the one at Goodwood and my god it's perfection.

Also if anyone reading is in Alderley Edge in Cheshire - go visit Pete's restaurant Parea - the food is bloody fantastic

Thank you, I’ve just changed the menu too and now we’re on Deliveroo.
It’s the strangest thing when people ask for Duck Pâté as a takeaway to be delivered on a Friday night!!!!

[2manycars]

AB said:

Excellent news, the SP1 just looks all sorts of wrong to me for some reason.

If I had to pick one of your cars though, the TDF is just achingly beautiful.

Would like to take my wife to Parea, looking at the menu, it's just my type of food and seems well priced too. I won't hold the Emile connection against you

The food is top notch (not just saying that because it’s my place but it is good) and very well priced, especially for Cheshire. I don’t get why restaurants deem it acceptable to charge £60 for a steak. That’s why I do a chateaubriand for £35. None of that frozen crap either, we go to the butchers a few doors down and only pick the best cuts.
Try the scallop fritters too, oh and the salmon teriyaki.
I don’t do red meat so I focus a lot on white meats and fish.
I have heard our steaks are good though haha

[2manycars]

Mr Adds said:

It it wrong that the Abarth 695 is my favourite? perfection to my eyes

It’s so wrong it’s right haha.

[2manycars]

covmutley said:

It is odd to me that the 695 is your favourite Pete, especially given that, of your stable, it is the only car that is even mildly attainable for me!

I would be really interested to hear why you rate it so highly (if you haven't already of course).

Cheers

It’s because it feels so connected to the road, and the handling is crazy good too. Like a go kart on steroids.

[2manycars]

johnwilliams77 said:

It's only because he hasn't had a good hoon of an s1 Elise

Pete, have you given any lotus cara a chance? The evora, Elise and exiges are wonderful things.

I’ve spent lots of time in Exiges and S2 Elises.
They’re alright but I wouldn’t spend the money on them, not when you can get better thrills from a MK1 MX-5 for a fraction of the price.
Also LOTUS:
Lots
Of
Trouble
Usually
Serious

[2manycars]

sinbaddio said:

Great to see you back Pete - and what a cracking review Parea got in Cheshire Life - top work again!

Thanks. I didn’t read the article myself but was told it was pretty good.
Gonna open a few more up over the next few years.
Would love to do a soup kitchen in Manchester for the homeless too.
That’s the dream anyway

[2manycars]

MYOB said:

Do you have a "supermarket" car? One that you can park in car parks and not worry about damage?

All of them, they’re just cars at the end of the day. Also the misses does the shopping as I get confused in Aldi.

[2manycars]

ntiz said:

Hi Pete

Not wanting to be weird but you have kind of made my day. I'm going through the process of having my 2 year old diagnosed with Autism at the moment which has been pretty difficult. Finding out that you are Autistic I guess gives hope that he could still develop.

So this is an usual one to answer as there’s no right or wrong answer.
You’ll get friends, family and concerned people saying “sorry to hear about your son having autism” like it’s a bad thing. I can definetly tell you it’s nothing to be sorry about. In fact there’s many professionals that think it might just be our next stage of evolution, but we haven’t worked out all the kinks yet.

Please allow me to put your mind at ease a little.
Sir Anthony Hopkins
Jim Henson
Guy Martin
Dan Akroyd
Daryl Hannah
Gary Newman
Woody Allen
Tim Burton
Michael Palin
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Issac Newton
Albert Einstein
William ‘Bill’ Gates
Charles Darwin
Hans Christian Anderson
Thomas Jefferson
Mozart
Michelangelo

The list is endless

All these people have/had autism. The one thing they all had in common, their needs were nurtured and that helped them grow.
Like Maria Montessori’s way of teaching. If you have a kid that loves bang their hands on the desk. Of course it’s going to drive you nuts, it’s easy to shout and storm off.
However, what if you put a drum set in front of them and got them lessons. Nurturing their needs.
You know why Slash is such a great guitarist? Because when he ran away from home as a child he ended up living with Eric Clapton for a while as kids.
The world will happily say that there’s something wrong with having autism, there’s not. It’s just different.

Did you know that the doctors that pioneered the lobotomy actually won the Nobel peace prize!!!!
So much so that the Kennedy family even had one of their daughters lobotomised!!!
We, as a species fear the unknown instead of exploring it. My Dad was always a bit of a dick with me when I was growing up as he couldn’t see what my Mum could see in me.
All I wanted was people to understand me when I was growing up but they didn’t so I was pretty much a mute until I was about 9 or 10.
Not speaking for years really helped me to listen and understand the world.
So to summarise, the only thing your son really wants is for you and his mum to understand him. Of course you’re going to have bad days, really bad days. Just remember though that it’s probably 10 times worse for him as he can’t portray what he’s truly feeling inside.
Most importantly, he’s not different nor is he special, he’s a normal child and probably just wants to be treated like that.
That’s what my brothers did with me and it’s moulded me into the man I am today. Lots of my autistic friends think along the same line as I do, unfortunately a lot of these were put in special schools as their parents didn’t want them in mainstream school for fear of being bullied.
Obviously this is all dependent on where your son is on the spectrum, so it’s not a one size fits all kind of thing.
I’m just giving you my take on it.

Hope this doesn’t come across as being too preachy.

All the best

Pete

[2manycars]

Bear-n said:

I hate to make a serious point, but many of the most successful people I work with are on the spectrum. I don't even see it as a disability, it's actually a quality.

Exactly man, I’d be gutted if I didn’t have autism. Weird I know but I love having what I have.
Thank you for the input. Really appreciate it.

[2manycars]

Doofus said:

He won the prize for medicine, not peace

Yes but it’s it just labelled as ‘The Nobel Peace Prize’???

[2manycars]

Doofus said:

No. The Nobel committee (the members of which vary, depending upon the field of achievement) award prizes for various things, and peace is just one of them.

Physics
Chemistry
Medicine
Economics
Literature
Peace

Ah that makes more sense. Thanks

[2manycars]

harrykul said:

Excellent post on Autism. My son has Asperger's (which took until the age of 10 to get diagnosed). The point about understanding resonates strongly with me: he had a horrible time at primary school and struggled, mainly because of their lack of understanding. We heavily researched his secondary school and he's come on leaps and bounds, regularly topping his class with A grades. To the new parent: research like hell about the facilities around you.

That’s fantastic news, I too have Asperger. That’s why I have no st filter and just say whatever is on my mind. Gets me into lots of trouble.
I’m also pretty socially awkward if I’m uncomfortable around someone.
I get lots of brain farts too, like my brain is rebooting mid sentence.
Sensory overload is a big thing too, tires me out in no time.
Now you can see why I don’t ever go in my own restaurant.
The noise, lights, smells, etc etc.
I’m very lucky to have the wife I do too. She takes it all in her stride and never gets bogged down with it.
She’s world class and I’d be lost without her.
Anyway...........back to the cars.
Looks like my Pista is actually on the assembly line right now and me and my brother will be some of the first in the UK to get theirs.
Happy times.

[2manycars]

markiii said:

Sneak preview of the spec?

White with blue carbon fibre

[2manycars]

giblet said:

Quick question. How far do you go to when trying to find a particular car you want? Do you just make a phonecall and have someone else hunt it down or do you browse the internet to find the right example?

I ask as for me the hunt is part of the joy (and sometimes despair) when buying a car. Granted my budget is somewhat different!

I just make a few calls and it’s usually sorted within a sort amount of time

[2manycars]

An Tiomanai said:

Loving the Pista spec. Looks so good

Thanks here’s my brothers spec and a few shots from the day.






There’s Chris Smith pissing himself laughing as we were just smashing in Subways whilst speccing them going “Yeah we’ll have that, yeah put that on too, carbon that up, lightweight this, strip that, burp!!”
Haha that was a funny day.
That’s me, my brother and our good friend Rob who already has some crazy cars.

[2manycars]

I have no idea why it’s upside down, can anyone flip it for me please.

[2manycars]

ntiz said:

Thank you for the very uplifting reply.

I will admit when we first realised what was going on I thought it was going to be very limiting and was quite up set. Since I have researched it a lot and we are trying to find things that he likes to focus him on. I could go into to detail about all we are trying to do for him but this isn't really the place. Thanks for taking the time this is actually the first place I have spoken about it outside of the family.

The good news is he might like Ferraris even more than you do!!!

First time he saw my Dads. Dived in head first couldn't get him out still has the same reaction now. Hoping to take him to Goodwood next year.
IMG_2425 by Elliot Simpson, on Flickr

Anyway that Pista looks awesome.

What a little dude, that smile is worth more than a thousand Ferrari’s.
Like it’s already been said, frame that picture and have it hanging where you can always see it. Great picture.

Pete

[2manycars]

ashleyman said:

Looks more like a photo from a stag in magaluf.

We were actually laughing at how much we’d just spent on a few cars and how stupid we were for doing that.