It’s probably best to start at the beginning, which in this case is actually back in 1999 with the release of the 360. In October of 1999 I turned 15 and was heavily in to Formula 1, and Ferrari were world champions with Eddie Irvine coming second in the drivers’ championship. I’m not sure why I gravitated to Ferrari, they had—within my memory—never employed a driver who I really rallied behind (a British driver for instance—Nigel Mansell maybe); perhaps it was all due to their success and prestige. Anyway, around that time I started to receive books on both the history of Ferrari and Formula 1 in general, and I remember the last chapter of the Ferrari history book taking a look to the future, and introducing the 360 Modena (as the Spider had yet to be unveiled). I suspect this is why I have always coveted the 360, and make it my mission, my dream, to own one.
Fast forward to 2012 and my moving up to London. I never forgot nor gave up on my dream, but until this time it had never really progressed beyond this. Moving to London achieved two things which brought the Ferrari dream alive: an increased income (no not millions, but enough for a single twenty-something to live on), and no need for an everyday car. Since graduating university, and up until that point, I had been in possession of a Kia Pro_cee’d Sport, which had done me well commuting to and from work everyday, the occasional ski trip to Verbier, and everything in between. However, I quickly realised that having a hatchback was unnecessary: as I walked to work (I currently bus), and was able to make use of the ample public transport solutions around London of a weekend. It really hit me after I’d been in London for approximately 18 months and was having my car MOT’d, and noticed that I had only covered around 3,000 miles since it’s previous MOT in mid 2012. In fact it didn’t even take this long for the dream of Ferrari ownership to get promoted to goal as that happened within a couple of months of moving—ever since buying my first car I had always considered what I might want to replace it with (I had more-or-less settled on an Audi but was oscillating between the S4 and the RS5 Cabriolet). It was one lunchtime, I had walked home and it had dawned on me I don’t need an everyday car (like an Audi) and I’ve always wanted a Ferrari, I wonder what ’s available on AutoTrader and that’s when I realised that for roughly the same cost I was anticipating for an Cee’d replacement, I could have the car I’d always dreamed of.
