Dreams come true! I bought an F50 & Enzo
Discussion
So a little bit late but thought some of you may enjoy reading about the journey (Or at least seeing the pictures 
)
There’s always been a “list” I’ve had in my head of fantasy cars and for me the two that have always hovered around the top are the F50 & Enzo. Over the past 18 months I’ve gone hunting and I can’t actually believe it, but I bought both.
I’ll start at the begging. About 18 months ago I decided that it was time to start being a little bit more stupid (Well majorly stupid) and take the plunge on an F50.
We viewed several cars and the fascinating thing about these tier of cars is that there are so many of them that frankly just never get used. I looked at one car, not delivery mileage but reasonably low and it came with 2 service invoices!... That was it! This is surprisingly not uncommon as sadly so many of these cars live in storage areas for years at a time with little to no use. Criminal if you ask me, they should be used! After all if you just want to look at it, buy a poster. It’s much cheaper! After some hunting and traveling to look at several cars I settled on one, checked over the original luggage set (which very few of the cars seem to still have, most having been kept by one of the owners at some point), gazed over the hand signed letter from Luca Montezemolo, and geeked out over the “F50 racing boots” that came with the car from new. Again, like the luggage something that, perhaps unsurprisingly, often got held back by a previous owner as a momentum.
After waiting for what seemed liked 345 years for the car to be serviced, exhaust to be changed (Standard exhaust just a tad sedate for my liking) the car arrived! As it was backed off the truck I could see the weave of the carbon fibre through the paint, SO COOL!
Hopping into the driver’s seat and taking it straight for a drive the first noticeable thing is, perhaps obviously, how raw the car feels. The ride is harsh (but not unpleasant), the gearbox is smooth & precise & the steering is perfectly weighted. But F***ing hell the care is loud! The car does without power steering but even at very low speeds it’s perfectly acceptable. Compared to my XJ220 (which similarly does without power steering) it’s much easier. Doing a 3 point turn in that is somewhat more of a challenge... The exhaust noise is what gets you though. A high pitched formula 1 scream, although from inside the car a lot of what you hear is engine noise rather than exhaust noise, I guess this adds to the “raw” feeling. I love it! It was even better than I ever thought it would be when 18 years before I was staring at the 1/18th scale model I had. Described briefly the F50 feels like a feral 355! All the things I loved about my 355, the high pitched noise, the lovely balance & the idyllic click-clack gear change are all there. Ironically I actually find the F50 much easier to drive quickly than the 355, it just seems much more controllable and confidence inspiring than the 355, especially when the back end moves out.
Last summer about 15 of us did a road trip over the west coast of Scotland, this gave me the perfect opportunity to use some of the fitted luggage, and for one simple reason….it was all that would fit!! There is quite literally a “plastic box” in the front (Ferrari would call that a boot apparently…) which will take nothing other than the curiously shaped bag supplied with the car. We managed to fit 2 toiletry bags and a phone charger it in…and no I’m not joking! So the rest of the luggage had to go in one of the other cars or the passenger foot well (to the annoyance of my very hungover passenger).
Sadly, and somewhat embarrassingly) I haven’t managed to use the car much this year as I’ve been away for most of the summer, but as soon as the weather clears up, it will be getting used!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Enzo
The Enzo for me had always held the “Dream car” title if you like. Since the day I saw it, I always wanted one. It was the car that anytime anyone asked me “What is the ultimate?” I would always answer “Enzo” before they’d even finished asking the question. The 8 year old boy in me just loved the fighter jet styling, although some may argue it’s not a conventionally beautiful car, it just looks so brutal! I remember reading an article a number of years ago, I think it was Evo, where they described the cars angular lines as the work of an origami expert, I always loved that!
I came very close to buying one (quite out of the blue) about 2 years ago, however the deal fell through quite early on and that was that. So the Enzo dream was placed right back onto the back burner and that was that. Fast forward just into the New Year 2015, after having had 6 months of experiencing the lunacy of the F50, I decided it was time to find an Enzo.
The search for one, it must be said was CONSIDERABLY, harder than the F50 search (which in many ways was a fortunate accident that I found the car I ended up buying). My brief for the Enzo was – Red ideally, but any colour would be considered however it had to have a few miles on it. I wanted a car that I had the option of using if I wished. This is where it became a massive challenge…
Should one wish to acquire a delivery mileage or low mileage (5k miles or less) this is a relatively easy task. There are “lots” of cars sitting around in storage units waiting to be bought up by someone who will never drive it, perhaps maybe take it to a car show once a year, but that’s it! Problem with those cars is that should one wish to put any type of miles on them it starts to impact the cars value quite considerably! There’s also the issue that, as with any car that has been sitting unused for 10 years, it will require a fair amount of recomissioning. It is simply not good for cars to sit unused for lengthy periods of time.
So the hunt begins… after around 3 months I was offered a car, which on the face of it ticked all the boxes. Original car, decent mileage (by that I mean it has done more than 4 miles…) however at the last moment the seller decided he wanted to keep the car and alas we were back to square one. We then found another car, registered outside the EU which meant a little bit more hassle but that in itself wasn’t a problem. However, just as we were away to fly out and view the car – deathly silence from the seller and again, the car became unavailable...
Eventually after 4-5 months the perfect car came up. We flew out to view the car, drooled over it and the other nice toys that shared their home with it. Shook hands and the deal was done. It was quite an eerie feeling sitting at the gate in the airport thinking I’d finally done it! It just seemed so surreal. I had to laugh when my friend pointed out the couple opposite us with their duty free bag & that sadly my purchase wouldn’t fit in my hand luggage…
About a week later the car was collected. Whilst waiting for the paperwork etc to come through We had the car serviced, gifted her a nice new exhaust (again as standard it’s a little bit too quiet for me…perhaps I’m a little deaf…who knows ) and shipped her up to her new home. She arrived the Weekend of Goodwood Festival of Speed, which I was at, meaning I wasn’t there to see it roll off the truck ?. I arrived back home late on the Saturday night so decided to be sensible & wait until the following morning to take her out. So I came home, poured myself a large glass of wine & just walked round the car. The cool thing for me about seeing these cars up close, are the beautiful details you notice that you simply don’t see in photos or at a quick glance in the flesh. The front bonnet, so light a small toddler (if they could reach) could open it with 1 finger. Once open the underside’s beautiful unfinished carbon is naughtily visible. I loved the grooves on the edge of the carbon fibre door cards and the way the dashboard is so bare that you can actually see the air conditioning hoses behind the vents. So cool! 
The next morning I got up at 5.30 (I say got up I really didn’t sleep much, think kid at Christmas). I fired her up and HOLY F**K she’s loud. The whole garage vibrated and I’m fairly sure anyone within a 30 mile radius must have heard it…
As I drove her out the drive and engaged the lifting gear to make sure I didn’t scrape the front. The lifting motor is so loud and mechanical, just like on the F50. Which pretty much sums up the car, everything about the car is just much more raw.
I’d never driven one before and wasn’t really sure what to expect. I must admit I just assumed it would be like a slightly rawer version than a 430. It wasn’t… Everything, the acceleration, the brakes, the way it turned into corners & changed direction, everything just felt such a step ahead. It really did make me wonder what a LaFerrari must be like…
I couldn’t tell you an exact time I returned home, probably about 10 maybe 11. I just drove way into the countryside and got as lost as I could! It was so much better than I ever expected it to be. I loved it. All I could think was how sad it is that people own these things and never use them. Such a waste!
I used it every day for the following week, going on pointlessly long journey’s to get a pint of milk, only to return home and go straight back out again for a drive. It’s fantastic! Sadly now the weather is typically miserable so she remains in hiding until the sun returns, wish I could just hibernate over the winter period and wake up at the begging of spring!
)There’s always been a “list” I’ve had in my head of fantasy cars and for me the two that have always hovered around the top are the F50 & Enzo. Over the past 18 months I’ve gone hunting and I can’t actually believe it, but I bought both.
I’ll start at the begging. About 18 months ago I decided that it was time to start being a little bit more stupid (Well majorly stupid) and take the plunge on an F50.
We viewed several cars and the fascinating thing about these tier of cars is that there are so many of them that frankly just never get used. I looked at one car, not delivery mileage but reasonably low and it came with 2 service invoices!... That was it! This is surprisingly not uncommon as sadly so many of these cars live in storage areas for years at a time with little to no use. Criminal if you ask me, they should be used! After all if you just want to look at it, buy a poster. It’s much cheaper! After some hunting and traveling to look at several cars I settled on one, checked over the original luggage set (which very few of the cars seem to still have, most having been kept by one of the owners at some point), gazed over the hand signed letter from Luca Montezemolo, and geeked out over the “F50 racing boots” that came with the car from new. Again, like the luggage something that, perhaps unsurprisingly, often got held back by a previous owner as a momentum.
After waiting for what seemed liked 345 years for the car to be serviced, exhaust to be changed (Standard exhaust just a tad sedate for my liking) the car arrived! As it was backed off the truck I could see the weave of the carbon fibre through the paint, SO COOL!
Hopping into the driver’s seat and taking it straight for a drive the first noticeable thing is, perhaps obviously, how raw the car feels. The ride is harsh (but not unpleasant), the gearbox is smooth & precise & the steering is perfectly weighted. But F***ing hell the care is loud! The car does without power steering but even at very low speeds it’s perfectly acceptable. Compared to my XJ220 (which similarly does without power steering) it’s much easier. Doing a 3 point turn in that is somewhat more of a challenge... The exhaust noise is what gets you though. A high pitched formula 1 scream, although from inside the car a lot of what you hear is engine noise rather than exhaust noise, I guess this adds to the “raw” feeling. I love it! It was even better than I ever thought it would be when 18 years before I was staring at the 1/18th scale model I had. Described briefly the F50 feels like a feral 355! All the things I loved about my 355, the high pitched noise, the lovely balance & the idyllic click-clack gear change are all there. Ironically I actually find the F50 much easier to drive quickly than the 355, it just seems much more controllable and confidence inspiring than the 355, especially when the back end moves out. Last summer about 15 of us did a road trip over the west coast of Scotland, this gave me the perfect opportunity to use some of the fitted luggage, and for one simple reason….it was all that would fit!! There is quite literally a “plastic box” in the front (Ferrari would call that a boot apparently…) which will take nothing other than the curiously shaped bag supplied with the car. We managed to fit 2 toiletry bags and a phone charger it in…and no I’m not joking! So the rest of the luggage had to go in one of the other cars or the passenger foot well (to the annoyance of my very hungover passenger).
Sadly, and somewhat embarrassingly) I haven’t managed to use the car much this year as I’ve been away for most of the summer, but as soon as the weather clears up, it will be getting used!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Enzo
The Enzo for me had always held the “Dream car” title if you like. Since the day I saw it, I always wanted one. It was the car that anytime anyone asked me “What is the ultimate?” I would always answer “Enzo” before they’d even finished asking the question. The 8 year old boy in me just loved the fighter jet styling, although some may argue it’s not a conventionally beautiful car, it just looks so brutal! I remember reading an article a number of years ago, I think it was Evo, where they described the cars angular lines as the work of an origami expert, I always loved that!
I came very close to buying one (quite out of the blue) about 2 years ago, however the deal fell through quite early on and that was that. So the Enzo dream was placed right back onto the back burner and that was that. Fast forward just into the New Year 2015, after having had 6 months of experiencing the lunacy of the F50, I decided it was time to find an Enzo.
The search for one, it must be said was CONSIDERABLY, harder than the F50 search (which in many ways was a fortunate accident that I found the car I ended up buying). My brief for the Enzo was – Red ideally, but any colour would be considered however it had to have a few miles on it. I wanted a car that I had the option of using if I wished. This is where it became a massive challenge…
Should one wish to acquire a delivery mileage or low mileage (5k miles or less) this is a relatively easy task. There are “lots” of cars sitting around in storage units waiting to be bought up by someone who will never drive it, perhaps maybe take it to a car show once a year, but that’s it! Problem with those cars is that should one wish to put any type of miles on them it starts to impact the cars value quite considerably! There’s also the issue that, as with any car that has been sitting unused for 10 years, it will require a fair amount of recomissioning. It is simply not good for cars to sit unused for lengthy periods of time.
So the hunt begins… after around 3 months I was offered a car, which on the face of it ticked all the boxes. Original car, decent mileage (by that I mean it has done more than 4 miles…) however at the last moment the seller decided he wanted to keep the car and alas we were back to square one. We then found another car, registered outside the EU which meant a little bit more hassle but that in itself wasn’t a problem. However, just as we were away to fly out and view the car – deathly silence from the seller and again, the car became unavailable...
Eventually after 4-5 months the perfect car came up. We flew out to view the car, drooled over it and the other nice toys that shared their home with it. Shook hands and the deal was done. It was quite an eerie feeling sitting at the gate in the airport thinking I’d finally done it! It just seemed so surreal. I had to laugh when my friend pointed out the couple opposite us with their duty free bag & that sadly my purchase wouldn’t fit in my hand luggage…
About a week later the car was collected. Whilst waiting for the paperwork etc to come through We had the car serviced, gifted her a nice new exhaust (again as standard it’s a little bit too quiet for me…perhaps I’m a little deaf…who knows
) and shipped her up to her new home. She arrived the Weekend of Goodwood Festival of Speed, which I was at, meaning I wasn’t there to see it roll off the truck ?. I arrived back home late on the Saturday night so decided to be sensible & wait until the following morning to take her out. So I came home, poured myself a large glass of wine & just walked round the car. The cool thing for me about seeing these cars up close, are the beautiful details you notice that you simply don’t see in photos or at a quick glance in the flesh. The front bonnet, so light a small toddler (if they could reach) could open it with 1 finger. Once open the underside’s beautiful unfinished carbon is naughtily visible. I loved the grooves on the edge of the carbon fibre door cards and the way the dashboard is so bare that you can actually see the air conditioning hoses behind the vents. So cool! The next morning I got up at 5.30 (I say got up I really didn’t sleep much, think kid at Christmas). I fired her up and HOLY F**K she’s loud. The whole garage vibrated and I’m fairly sure anyone within a 30 mile radius must have heard it…
As I drove her out the drive and engaged the lifting gear to make sure I didn’t scrape the front. The lifting motor is so loud and mechanical, just like on the F50. Which pretty much sums up the car, everything about the car is just much more raw.
I’d never driven one before and wasn’t really sure what to expect. I must admit I just assumed it would be like a slightly rawer version than a 430. It wasn’t… Everything, the acceleration, the brakes, the way it turned into corners & changed direction, everything just felt such a step ahead. It really did make me wonder what a LaFerrari must be like…
I couldn’t tell you an exact time I returned home, probably about 10 maybe 11. I just drove way into the countryside and got as lost as I could! It was so much better than I ever expected it to be. I loved it. All I could think was how sad it is that people own these things and never use them. Such a waste!
I used it every day for the following week, going on pointlessly long journey’s to get a pint of milk, only to return home and go straight back out again for a drive. It’s fantastic! Sadly now the weather is typically miserable so she remains in hiding until the sun returns, wish I could just hibernate over the winter period and wake up at the begging of spring!
Edited by lambo_xx on Friday 15th January 14:19
lambo_xx said:
. Described briefly the F50 feels like a feral 355! All the things I loved about my 355, the high pitched noise, the lovely balance & the idyllic click-clack gear change are all there.
You know what I completely agree with you on that! I was lucky enough to have a short (and I mean short) drive of an F50 last year and the first thing I noticed was how much like my 355 it felt. But the steering felt better on the F50, the F355 has always been a bit light.Not sure about the feeling at speed as I didn't get the chance. F50 is possibly my favourite car of all time, would definitely have one over an F40 any day. I'm extremely envious of you!
Ooof, now there're some cars! For me, out of the Enzo and F50 it would be the XJ220 that I'd like a punt in. I just love 'em. OP - if you fancy writing a few words on what that's like I'm all ears.
Handily, I live a short walk from Joe Macari. I look past the Aston One-77, the Ferrari La Ferrari, even the 250 Lusso they have in the showroom at the moment just for a better look at the XJ.
http://www.joemacari.com/All-Cars-for-Sale/_prod_J...
Handily, I live a short walk from Joe Macari. I look past the Aston One-77, the Ferrari La Ferrari, even the 250 Lusso they have in the showroom at the moment just for a better look at the XJ.
http://www.joemacari.com/All-Cars-for-Sale/_prod_J...
Edited by Snubs on Wednesday 13th January 13:40
Awesome, top 2 ferrari's imho with the 355gts 3rd (which i managed to own for a few years!) I managed to get a ride in the enzo a couple of years ago at the supercar event- bloody amazing! and I was hoping an F50 would be there- but alas no. Enjoy them, on the road as nature intended! Thanks for posting up.
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