Thanks for nothing Ferrari

norman falkiner · 09-27-03, 04:19 AM

One of the highlights on our great trip from Oz was a prearrainged visit to the Ferrari factory. During the Monza Gp we were told that "luca de boss" had banned visits to the factory as there was a new model coming down the line.This seemed a little strange as I am sure their planning would be better than "hey we are sending a new model down the line don't let anyone see it" Well after a lot of calls calling on every last contact they finally agreed to allow five of our thirty to go on the tour.So much for the new model story. The guys who did go after a ballot said the place was crawling with people as you would expect the day after Monza. Ferrari did not win many friends over this as there were many enthusiasts well capable of buying a Ferrari on this tour. The attitude of "tell someone who cares" appears alive and well at Ferrari.

ChrisL · 09-28-03, 11:00 AM

Sorry to hear that Norman. I assume that you weren't one of the five drawn from the ballot.

I guess this is not in the same league, but the Triumph Motorcycles factory in the UK recently closed its factory tours when someone took a picture of one of its camshafts in the R&D area. I suspect that there isn't much damage that can be done by one picture of a camshaft but it probably spooked them when it turned up in one of the motorcycle magazines. Unfortunatel we the public are the ones who lose out.

Julian West · 09-29-03, 06:19 AM

Interesting...

Myself & a few others used to do factory visits quite often. It used to be a case of simply phoning themup, explaining we were just a bunch of interested enthusiasts & more often than not a factory tour would be laid on.

More recentley it's not as easy, at Lotus we were all informed 'NO CAMERAS' & some manufacturers have stopped doing tours alltogether.

Best of the bunch tho is the Morgan factory, where they let you just wander round on your own & all the staff are happy to chat! No wonder their wonderful cars take so long to make!
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norman falkiner · 09-29-03, 07:17 PM

It should not be over looked that this was a tour with a long leadtime of organising and the Ferrari visit was to follow visits to Jaguar,Porsche,Mercedes and Lamborgini. Cameras were not to be used at any of these which is fair enough. Ferrari on the other hand just basically lied as to the reason we were unable to tour. It was very disappointing as I had held Ferrari in high esteem but I guess I was wrong. Porsche and Mercedes even showed us their collections not normally ever seen. These were hidden away in secure locations and it was magic being allowed to wander and pull the wraps off anything we wanted to see. Mercedes in one area had a whole wall of pidgeon holes with F1 cars in each. Amazing stuff and our thanks to them for allowing us the opportunity to visit. Contrast this with Ferrari. Regards

**brianstewart** · 09-30-03, 02:23 AM

Had a similar experience to Julian at the De Tomaso factory a couple of years ago. Just wandered in, said I was an enthusiast and they supplied a lovely lass to show me round, no restrictions on photos, lots fof interesting things to see and she even took me out to their storage facility where they have one of every model produced plus F1 car and all sort sof other goodies. Lamborghini turned me down for the same reason as Ferrari gave Norman (Murcielago being developed in this case...)