something shared
My random thoughts out loud.
So on the Ferrari forum, Ferrari Chat, there was a thread. Seems a guy had a rare Ferrari and given the rise in prices could not determine whether to keep or sell it. He bought the car second hand so he did not know the complete history of the car.
He, the OP, called Nikki Lauda to get the best builder to have the car repainted and some minor touch ups. Nikki said he would do it because it was his build originally and he sold it to the first owner, who sold it to the OP. Nikki gave an estimate, but said do not send any money because you never know. Additionally, Nikki said hold up sending the car because he could not get to it for a couple months.
The OP said he would not drive the car because of the way it was and wanted it sent anyway. So contrary to Nikki's wishes, he sent the car with the cash for the ESTIMATE. Shortly thereafter, Nikki had a work related accident, so serious that he could not work for almost a year. Now the car that he did not want sent is sitting in his garage instead of at the OP's, where he could have informed him to hold off sending due to his situation.
Nikki gets back do work and despite an overwhelming backlog, along with other builds, starts on the car. As soon as he gets the paint off he sees the car has not been maintained right. Niki knew the original owner did not properly take car of the car. So the Ferrari had issues that a guy like Niki cannot simply paint over. He embarks on a rebuild to make the car concourse ready to represent for which his name stands. This takes time and costs allot more but Niki feels he has to do it out of pride. Meawhile the OP knows Niki has the car and is working on it. However, he does not know the extent of the work because it is one of those things that you have to get into to know.
The OP gets impatient, (I supose), and started his complaining thread without all the details about his contact with Nikki. It was unclear if he knew the extent of the problems that existed with his car He did not know about the complete rebuild. Many guys took what he posted as "the Complete Story" and wanting to help, piled on in support of the OP.
Nikki is meticulous and his attention to detail creates slow, but precision work. Finally the OP got his rebuilt Ferrari back but he thanks the guys who piled on with posts for their help? I thought, really, like this helped? Further, I was suprised that the OP only casually thanked Niki without mentioning the car needed a total rebuild to be up to Nikki's concourse Ferrari standards. He did not even mention all this was done until prodded by several guys who had been to Nikki's garage and saw the work...and then still did not mention everything. It was as if he down played what had to be done. As a matter of fact, he never properly thanked or mentioned that he was only charged for the repaint and the minor work originally discussed, when in fact he got a total rebuild worth 10 times more!
Now the car is ready for concourse or track and I was shocked to find out he sold it quietly to a guy I know! Small world
I do not know what made me think of this.
