The Journey Begins...

Getting on the truck. Top shelf, of course. I could not bear for Beauty to travel cross country behind that yellow beast. Instead Beauty will ride above and leak oil on the Porsche.

Bon voyage, Beauty...

Almost immediately after the car was loaded on the truck, I wanted to know where it was as it traveled across the country for the next couple of weeks.

With Uber, you can watch on your smartphone app as the car comes down your street. But I can't see that with my Ferrari? That's just wrong! It seems that the dealer could easily have sold me an extra service that would give me real-time updates just like Uber. Seems like a business opportunity for some enterprising techie!

Road Trip

Justification:
I need a vacation. Eleven years since last road trip.
A new road car demands a Road Trip.
A new Epic Road Car demands an Epic Road Trip.
It is a rite of passage, a milestone.

This not an option.
I am driven to do this.
It is not however, something to be achieved,
rather it is needed, at a cellular level.
Essential for survival,
an essential phase of evolution.

It is a missing puzzle piece
that falls effortlessly into place.

What a man can be, he must be.  

(Maslow)

Adventure One - autumn, 2017
      Map - choice 1, north
      Map - choice 2, east
      
      Sequoia - meditate among the giants
      Muir Beach - Play frisbee on the beach with Katie for a couple of days
      Computer History Museum - check on documents, exhibit, materials, story
      Tahoe - drive around the lake
      
      Denver
      Albuquerque
      Grand Canyon, Kingman, Crater, Four Corners
      Phoenix
      San Diego

What to pack - see post on Cargo checklist

Interior

Sterling blue leather everywhere, white stitching.
Low profile.
Calm.
Appropriate for a man of my age.

The coat hook embedded into the seat back is a nice touch, nicely done.
There's even a cupholder. Just one.

Each rear seat could hold one shopping bag, but definitely not a human.

It's a car, not a billboard (de-badging)

We don't need no stinking badges.

The car is extremely over-badged. It's a car, not a billboard. There is no need for excessive branding, The number of occurrences of the brand names or brand symbols is at least 20. Imagine a t-shirt that had 20 sewn-in labels sticking out all over it. Totally excessive, intrusive, irritating, and they are not paying me to do all that advertising for them. It is unnecessary to SHOUT the branding. Go low profile.

Some de-badging is easy, such as the front grille horse and the rear deck Ferrari name, and the horse on the rear. Maybe I can design some sort of terrycloth seat covers that will cover the horses on the headrests.

Other besmirchments will be dealt with in a more customized manner, and will take time to design.

When a man traveled by horse, he would brand his horse in one place, not all over the animal, and it would be his brand, not some horse manufacturing company. 

I am a quiet man.

A minimalist.

One yellow badge on the nose, in the traditional placement.

That's it.

Internal badging on the door sills, and once in the cabin on the steering wheel center, or on the center of the dashboard, under the display.

Period.

Add badging in the form of a Personalized (Vanity) License Plate with the website URL. Plain frame.

The Diderot Effect

The Diderot effect is a social phenomenon related to consumer goods that comprises two ideas. The first posits that goods purchased by consumers will be cohesive to their sense of identity, and as a result, will be complementary to one another. The second states that the introduction of a new possession that is deviant from the consumer's current complementary goods can result in a process of spiraling consumption. The term was coined by anthropologist and scholar of consumption patterns Grant McCracken in 1988, and is named after the French philosopher Denis Diderot (1713–1784), who first described the effect in an essay.

The term has become common in discussions of sustainable consumption and green consumerism, in regard to the process whereby a purchase or gift creates dissatisfaction with existing possessions and environment, provoking a potentially spiraling pattern of consumption with negative environmental, psychological and social impacts.

In this blog post we explore the spiraling consumption that follows Ferrari ownership.

Understanding the Diderot Effect (and How To Overcome It)

Cargo checklist

Not going to happen!

Some necessities for extended Road Trip

Travel
Binoculars
Compass, backup to smartphone compass
Fire: Matches - flint - starter
Solar - convert to charge phone, etc.
State and National park passes.

Sleeping bag
Tarp

Tent

Ground Pad / yoga

Hammock

Hiking boots

Towel

Clothes 

Kit, toothbrush

Laptop, charger

Drone kit

SPORTS 

Frisbee, 2
Pool cue, chalk, tool

Soccer ball, pump
Driving shoes and gloves

Hiking Shoes, socks, t-shirts, pants
Hoodie

BUSINESS

Business cards 

Books 

Posters 

Note cards 

Pens

GO-BAG
Personal necessities:
Watch, ID, keys, phone

Water

Devices, airpods, chargers, 

Hat

Swiss Army knife 

Pens

Note pad 

Hand sanitizer
Food
Winter jacket, scarf, gloves

The Hermit's Ferrari

That's a rather interesting cognitive disconnect: a hermit with a Ferrari. What would a hermit DO with a Ferrari? Driving the car would require leaving the cave, but he's a hermit. There would have to be a lot of tension going on there.

The ideal Ferrari-owning hermit would have a cave large enough for his car, and property enough for a high speed road course and test track.

I'll work on that last part, but what remains is that the hermit (me) will, in 2 weeks, be in possession of a 2017 Ferrari California T. We're talking full time 24/7, just turn the key and off you go wherever you want, and you get to do it in a Ferrari. Are there any negatives here?

And, by the way, it has a retractable hard top, so within seconds it can morph into an open air king of the road. With a hermit at the wheel. Seems unlikely, and yet, it is happening...

Actually, a great road car is perfect for hermits. An escape capsule, but still a portable cave. Brief interactions with other humans for gas, food, lodging and in no time a hermit could explore a lot of territory. First stop Sequoia National Forest, and be a hermit sitting quietly among those wise old trees.

I mentioned this new Ferrari adventure to a couple of close friends. All positive reactions. They all want rides! But feedback like: "Are you crazy?" was completely absent. I guess it's the rides that cloud their judgement. Sure clouds mine...

Now we wait

Last night (September 8, 2017) I went to sleep for the first time in 17 years as a man who has a Ferrari on order, and I slept soundly until this morning when I woke refreshed and strong with the realization that I AM a man who must endure the next few weeks as a man who has a Ferrari on order.

It's the waiting game, a pastime that I would rather avoid at all costs Waiting a few minutes for the barber to finish with the guy in the chair... that's easy. But this is waiting a few weeks for my Ferrari. See the difference?

It has been shown that people who are Patient, who can Delay Gratification, are more likely to be successful than people who can not. See the marshmallow test on kids:

If I had my choice of Gratification Now or Gratification Later, of course I would take now, but in this case I have no choice. The wheels of Administrivia grind slowly. Contracts must be drafted, reviewed, signed, transmitted, funds must be arranged and wired, shipping arranged, and then the long trip across the country in a covered van before it gets here. I can only imagine how long that will take. I should expect two to three weeks, but expectations in complex transactions are seldom met, right?

Patience...

Two days evaporated just because the dealer sent the paperwork to the wrong address.
The sales rep was in training for 3 days and unable to even take some photos.


   Paperwork signed and Fedexed to dealer on 9/14
   Insurance binder emailed
   Funds wired on 9/15,
   I own the car.

   Wow.

Now... get it Here.
I want my shiny new car!
(he says in his 3 year old tantrum voice)

Update: September 15, 2017

   The transporter that the dealer was planning is based in Florida, and of course everything there is a disaster zone with the mother of all hurricanes having blown through there just a few days before. They didn't answer the phone when I called for information. It was time for me to get involved in the transaction or I could be looking at a long wait. I called good friend Mike Vietro, who is the Mike in Corvette Mike in Anaheim CA and Boston MA, who is the biggest vintage Corvette dealer in the planet. He gets cars moved around all the time. He answers in 2 rings, I tell him I need a car on Long Island delivered to me in San Diego, who would he use? He doesn't just tell me who, but he calls the chief scheduler/dispatcher immediately WHILE I AM ON THE PHONE... and Ka-Pow, the problem evaporates.

Thank you Corvette Mike! We go way back with Mike helping on several cars over the years. He sold me a brand new Monterrey Red Corvette roadster on the 4th of July in 2006, and on the 5th I took off up the coast road all the up into Canada for a buddy's wedding in Whistler. Then a leisurely tour of the western states and shooting pool at every stop along the unplanned way. I was practicing for a big tournament, but to the locals I was just some guy with a cue. There are many stories from that summer, and they are on the blog "FastMikie's Epic Road Trip". That was a great car, bucketloads of eye-appeal, and I drove it every day for several years before some other shiny object caught my eye.

The chronology of cars is chronicled at "Confessions of a Car Nut".

This is the waiting game. The funds have been irrevocably wired to a place across the continent, and now I have to wait for the product to be delivered. Time is of the essence in all transactions, as is Trust, and I must Trust that the dealer will do as they say. It's easy to second guess yourself, your decisions.

Waiting is way down the list of favorite things.

I can keep busy planning the next Epic Road Trip.
In a new Ferrari.
Wow.

And, we're back...

Here we are again after a delay of almost 3 years. No more Rational Mind. Surrendering to the Emotions. When you find The Car, all the common sense slips away. Love is a Madness, as I have always said.

And so, in the Fullness of Time, today I agreed to a deal on this 2017 California T and it is due to arrive here in about 2 weeks, in a covered van. This unit is used, 1800 miles, 4 months old. Currently located in Long Island, NY.

The color is Pozzi Blue and Sterling Blue interior with white stitching. Very mellow in appearance. I was looking through my journal from 3 years ago and these are the colors in settled on as the best. I've been looking for a car with this combination, and this is the only one available. Ferrari is no longer taking orders for custom built California Ts because they are changing the production facilities to the newly announced Portofino, which is probably just a next-gen California T, and they will deliver the first of those in a year. A Ferrari now is better than a Ferrari later.

Exhaust Note, Engine Sounds, and Specifications of the California T - Ferrari Website

Walk around video taken by my brother Jim - YouTube video

First road trip: Sequoia National Forest; another long delayed adventure.

Photos taken by sales rep, a couple of days ago:

Seat leather colors are off due to showroom lights. Seats are same color as dashboard.

Why

Is there any real justification for getting a Ferrari? Isn't it purely self gratification in public? This is the kind of second-guessing that happens before making the commitment to buying a Ferrari.  

I'm writing this after just giving the ok on the purchase of "The Car" and now all days forward will be as a person who has a Ferrari. There aren't that many of us. Some people own several, even lots of, Ferraris. But I'm a one-car guy. The Car will be my daily driver, so it has to be reliable, and friendly in traffic. 

Why would I get a Ferrari?

1. I fell in love with my first Ferrari in 1974, that's 43 years ago at this writing. It was a physical experience as well as emotional. The love object was a 1965 model of the 275 GTB. The curve of that long hood was sensational. Perfectly clean. Over the years there were times of famine, life without a Ferrari. For the last 17 years I was a man without a Ferrari. I think I am overdue. Here's my first Ferrari:

My first Ferrari: 1965 275 GTB, short nose.
Purchased in 1974 for 8,500 USD.

2. Ferrari has for most of my life represented the pinnacle of the art and craft of building automobiles. Beautiful, powerful, unique, luxurious, yadda-yadda-yadda. Of course anyone could argue agains this opinion, and it wouldn't bother me a bit, because I'm just fully into Ferrari. The point is that if a pinnacle exists then why not achieve it if you are so motivated, and you are capable of doing it. "What a man can be, he must be." These are the word of Abraham Maslow, and he ought to know Why people do what they do.

3. Current daily driver is out of warranty and 7 years old. I have owned it since new, and it's the longest I have owned any car. It's in near-perfect condition and with only 26,000 miles on it. Audi S5, 2011, with aftermarket Brembo brakes, just like the Ferrari, red calipers, sport exhaust, European grille, de-badged, tint, all brightwork painted except window surround, many extras. Interested? Available soon.

I earned it.
Assume for a moment that you are at a carnival, and you stroll down the midway, with games of skill and chance to the right and left. You know that these games are rigged, with very little chance of winning, and even if you do manage to win, you only get some cheap ashtray or whatever. And yet, there is that huge stuffed animal, the Grand Prize, but you must win many times to accumulate enough points to win it. It seems impossible. But you give it a try anyway, because for some reason that  Grand Prize speaks to you. That's kinda what happened to me. Against all odds, and over a period of 10 years, I built a software product and a company to market and support it, and slowly came back from bankruptcy, entered a period of poverty, then some time of barely being able to pay my bills, then reaching a point when I could be comfortable, and ultimately came the day when I could claim my prize. It was an "overnight success" that took 10 years.

That day was 25 years ago, on October 2, 1992. I traded my software company and my stress for a bank account and not stress, and then traded some of the bank account for my Grand Prize: a Ferrari 275 GTB/4:

Why the California T?

I need a car that is reliable and easy to drive in local traffic as well as on long road trips. This is the model that fits that requirement. Other reasons are the looks of the car remind me a lot of my second Ferrari that I drove every day for 2 years in the late 70s. The two cars feature a long hood line, front engine, rear drive. coupe, etc. The California T is even better because of the automatic hardtop conversion into a true convertible/roadster configuration. Two cars in one!

Yours truly in 1978, Big Sur, Highway 1, California central coast.
1966 Ferrari 275 GTB, V-12.

Why now?

1. Yesterday was my 75th birthday. I can live my remaining days with a Ferrari, or without. Every day that goes by without a Ferrari seems somewhat wanting, like a sundae without a cherry on top.

2. If not now, when?

Why not donate the money to a worthwhile cause?

Good thought. I do give plenty to worthwhile causes. The Car uses other money.