My Story

Thank you for visiting my site. I hope the VIN registry page and reports are useful. I wanted to use this page to share and document some of the classic Italian Exotics I grew up with. If you enjoy, please subscribe to my youTube and Instagram accounts! For information on how I grew up with some amazing cars read below, I was definitely very blessed (and spoiled) at a young age!

My automotive journey begins...

My history with cars started at a young age as I have memories of driving back roads outside of Cleveland whilst sitting wedge atop the “storage chest” in the back my dads old Jaguar XKE. He actually went through a few XKE’s, but it was fun to feel the undulation of the road help him “shift” when I was old enough to try to move the gear lever.

The Exotic roadtrip takes off...

Around the time I was 13 years old and in middle school my father decided to purchase his first "Italian exotic". A preowned 1982 Ferrari 308 GTSi. Definitely inspired by the old Magnum PI show for sure as we also had a Doberman Pinscher! Like the Jaguar he actually went through a few different 308’s over time. To pick up the car which he found in Florida, he and I flew down to Ft. Lauderdale, got the car and then drove it back overnight. I still remember helping him navigate back as the passenger using the AAA "trip-tik" which was a spiral bound set of maps that flipped up which a AAA person would use a highlighter on to show the route needed. This was before there was anything like GPS navigation. After helping get through a confusing set of interchanges in Atlanta, Georgia we stopped in a parking lot of a truck stop for a few hours of rest to sleep in the car. Even relatively “new” the passenger window gasket still had me getting wet inside the car as it wasn’t a perfect seal. Ha. Hitting the toll booth again the worker exclaimed wow that’s the Magnum PI car! Remember most cars of the time were big boxy square shapes. Something like a small red Italian exotic was quite rare in the north east. He had the car through my time in middle school and I still recall standing next to the Ferrari with the neighbor kids in the garage during our cold snowy winter months while waiting for the school bus to pick us up.

Enter the Bull

Right at the start of my High School years my father decided to replace the Ferrari 308 with a different exotic car. While not commonplace the Ferrari was still only a bit faster than cars of the era especially with USA emissions regulations. The larger iconic car of the time was the Lamborghini Countach. Made popular by movies like "The Cannonball Run" there was probably no bigger automotive exotic name out there save perhaps for the Ferrari Testarossa. Around May of 1987 he took one of the last rides in the Ferrari 308 (that and other videos you can see on my youTube channel) and replaced it a few months later with a preowned 1983 Lamborghini Countach. As all of his cars were, it was Red/Tan.

I have a ton of memories with the Countach. From helping to clean it, going along to car show events like the large “Italian Happening” in the Dearborn, MI area at the time, to even driving it once or twice with him after I was old enough and got my license. I don’t know that I quite realized at the time how special the car was. But seeing it in the garage was both cool and semi normal. On the flip side I recall events like a lady at a gas station freaking out near the top of her lungs about how “it was a UFO car!” or the story my dad told about some guy driving the other side of the road stopping and starring at the Countach, only he didn’t stop and slowly rear-ended the car in front of him then raised his hands like – “well what do you expect?”. If the Ferrari was a rare sight, the Countach was on another level. I remember watching the 60 minutes special video on the car at the time as well which incidentally also was aired in 1987.

I actually kept a number of my old doodles as a kid that had the Countach in it, as well as found and purchased an old vintage Trapper Keeper same as the lambo one I had as a kid. It now doubles as a photo album for me holding images of these cars as well as my old drawings. There are a number of videos I have on the car on my channel that I have and am still uploading to as well as photos and videos of related events. As mentioned we attended several car shows with the car, but also around the same time period took several trips to Los Angeles for vacation. Much of those trips was stopping at various exotic car dealers just to look and talk for fun, many of which were documented by my father on video tape. A friend at the time who had a Ferrari 512bb eventually sold it and also purchased a red Countach too. There was one day where he, and our mechanic George Evans arrived so we had three countach at once in our driveway. Definitely special.

As you can see I had a fair bit of history growing up with the Lamborghini right during High School. My father did a few changes over time, from changing the wheels from silver to gold and removing the back bumper. He also did a full engine out cleaning and refresh with Red, Silver and Blue anodized aluminum parts when he had the transmission out for clutch work as well. All that work done at Evans Automative in Columbus, OH around 1991.

The Ferrari 348

After a while of Countach ownership my dad decided to jump back into Ferrari ownership with a 1991 Ferrari 348. Yeah don’t ask me either. In all seriousness though at this point he started to leap frog a bit but also tended to have times where he had BOTH a Lambo and Ferrari overlapping a little more. The Ferrari 348 was definitely a cool car. A targa again like the 308 and the odd bits like the radio hidden underneath the leather cover.

The Diablo

Near the end of the 348 my father jumped back to the Lamborghini brand. Now with a 1992 Diablo. This car went to many local events where it won some small awards. One of my younger brothers also was tasked with helping to drive it back to service in Columbus. Somehow I was passed over for that... hah.

Three Ferrari 355

After the Diablo my father went through a few Ferrari 355. As normal all Red/Tan cars. One appears to have been gated the others may have been the early F1 automatic clutch versions. I seem to recall one of the cars may have had issues, hence the swap. The other likely to try different transmissions or just due to finances at the time. I don’t have many photos of this car especially as I was long out of the house at the time. At this point my parents had moved to a larger home with a larger garage as well.

The Diablo SV

After the F355 my father jumped back into a second Diablo, an SV. I don’t have much info or photos on the car. It is possible it was only owned briefly as most of the other garage photos appear to be the plain Diablo from earlier. So interior shot below is from the original car from a video I have.

Ferrari 360

My fathers last Ferrari was a 2004 F360 Spider. Like many of these cars I never got to drive it, but did get a chance to sit in it and see it over Thanksgiving in the mid 2000’s. This actual car was up for sale a while ago and sadly I didn’t have the ability to purchase it at the time. Maybe that is a good thing due to maintenance costs and such. Though it might have been cool to have owned one of his actual cars. I still think the lines of the 360 are great especially the rear with the challenge grill.

The Murcielago

The last Lamborghini my dad owned was a 2003 Murcielago. Another red tan car and six speed gated like the 360 and most other cars prior. I recall him lamenting the fact that many cars were going to automatic paddles and that eventually most 6MT cars would be a thing of the past. I don’t know that I ever had a ride in this car or the F360.

End of the Road

Sadly my father passed away from Parkinson’s Disease about a decade later. While he briefly had one or two others cars (a Porsche 911 cabriolet and a classic Acura NSX) his decline I think ended future exotic ownership. For me the memories still endure as does the automotive passion. I feel that the Ferrari 308 and Countach are definitely the most nostalgic cars for me, partly due to the era and the age I was at that time. While I can’t afford to own many of the higher level exotics he did, I am fortunately blessed to be able to take a stab at exotic ownership in some of the lower priced classic cars around these time periods. While I loved the lines of the 308 and classic looks, I opted to go for something on the most modern end for driving enjoyment and reliability and comfort. I was finally able to find a gated Lamborghini Gallardo (Arancio Borealis – orange – not red – sorry!) which is now in my garage!

I hope you enjoyed reading! If you liked these photos and stories please be sure to subscribe to my youTube Channel for many of the old videos.

Thanks for reading & drive safe!