Everyone who loves cars has their poster car. It’s the one car that you had nailed, tacked, glued, or taped to either you bedroom wall or ceiling. No matter how it was attached you would lay in your bed and stare at it every night before drifting off to sleep. It was usually some form of BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes Benz or some other super exotic brand of car. More than likely you could close your eyes and envision every line, crease or joint in your mind. You could swear that at certain times before a deep sleep would steal you away, you could feel the taught metal running beneath your fingertips. Of course you couldn’t because you were 10 years old and it was all a dream, oh but what a dream.
I too had such a car; it wasn’t as extreme as my friends’ versions. Theirs were usually Lamborghini Diablo’s in a bright purple or neon green, there is nothing wrong with that car. In fact from every angle the Diablo of the 90’s looks as if it wants to kick you in the nuts and spit in your face. It made no apologizes for having horrible ergonomics or that you couldn’t see anything out of any of the mirrors. The Diablo just didn’t care. And that’s why teenage boys loved it.
The car I dreamed of is the Ferrari F355. I wanted the yellow coupe, totally stock, no aftermarket wheels just the standard Ferrari rims. I thought as a child it was flawless, incredible, amazing from every angle. Anytime anything bad in my life happened, I would think that if only I had a F355 I would show them, teach them a lesson. “HA you didn’t know I had one of these did you.” I would leave them in a cloud of super expensive tire smoke and banshee wail of the naturally aspirated V8. Not sure why a ten year old would have a Ferrari but I was a child that was a stupid detail.
As I got older and much wiser you know more mature, part of me still wanted one. It was still my favorite car of all time. I had more modern love affairs with cars but this is the one that I can honestly remember had stuck with me all those years. To me as back then, the proportions are just astounding, from every angle it just looks, well, right. I remember the poster I had of the F355 was from a rear three quarter view with a smaller front three quarter view below it, no interior shots what so ever. It was during those later teenage years and the internet came to be that I saw the interior of the car. I honestly remember being let down. Like the wind had been taken out of my sails. The exterior was so incredible so perfect and the interior was just a letdown to me. Yes, I loved the Ferrari brown leather and the metal shift gate but after that nothing, none of the emotion I had of the exterior.
Now even older and as pricing of these cars joins the realm of the living and normal folks I realize sometime in my life I could potentially own my childhood dream. It’s that last part that scares me to death, what if I hated it? What if all these years I had been dreaming about the wrong car? What if it wasn’t as good as I always hoped, dreamt and prayed it would be? I’m not sure if given the chance to own one of these, I would take it. I don’t think that I could let down the ten year old in me. I think I would rather close my eyes and run my fingertips over the taught metal and open my eyes just as I walked out of the dealership while whispering to myself…
“See you tonight in my dreams”.
For me it was the Ferrari Testarossa. One of the posters I had is still framed and now hangs in my son’s room. I had the chance to take a drive in one and I don’t care what the interior looked like, it was one of the most incredible driving experiences of my life.
Very nice article!
My dream car was a 68 Shelby Mustang GT 500. Right after I turned 22 I had the chance to buy a 68 Mustang with a 305. I love that car. It’s super fun to drive, and chicks love it. I think I got as close to owning my dream as normal people get.
Now the down side- Once you own your dream car all the flaws in it become glaringly obvious and seem to be there just to spite you. My car is crazy cold blooded, runs like crap in the winter and over heats in the summer. The insurance is terrible. It gets 8 miles to the gallon (when gas hit over four dollars a gallon 1/4 of each pay check went to buying gas, sometimes I had to work extra hours just so I could afford to keep driving to work). Something is always breaking because it is 40 years old. It’s super easy to break into, hand hasn’t had a stereo for a while. Someone hit it in the parking lot and it has a deep gash in the rear quarter. I need to paint it again (yes again!).
All of that being said, I could never ever sell it, I’ll be buried in it. I just wish I had never bought it.
Sounds amazing. i really do love the Ferrari and i suppose years from now i could actually own one, i would just hate for what happened to you happen to me. I would rather be blind and lust for it from afar then actually see that if i had one i couldn’t afford to fix it, the insurance would be insane and the battery would always be dead and i couldn’t ever drive it.
While not totally exotic, I’ve had a love affair with the Ariel Atom the moment I saw that it was able to do this.