Aston Martin Valhalla

Hard Choices Aston Martin “Project 003” vs. Ferrari 430 Scuderia

Aston Martin Valhalla

Life is about choices. Recently I had to make a decision (and one that I expect zero sympathy for as most people would kill to be in this position) that wiped out 4 months of patient work and negotiations. It also pushed back achieving one of the garage goals’ that I laid out in a January article by at least several months.

Here’s what happened: Back in November 2018 I started the search for another Ferrari 430 Scuderia. I had been monitoring Scuderia prices for the past few years and they seemed to have retracted a bit and then stabilized. As the Scuderia is now a used 10-year-old car that is several generations removed from being the new, latest, must have, thing from Ferrari, it should be at, or approaching, the bottom of its depreciation curve. The Scuderia also now sits in an awkward niche. It is now far from being the quickest V8 Ferrari available, having been eclipsed several times over by newer models. It’s not suited for use as a limited depreciation daily driver given its track focused set up and is therefore unlikely to be anyone’s first choice as an entry level used Ferrari. The 430 Scuderia has also long been on the list of cars I regretted parting with, and if the chance arose, would like to reacquire.

While trolling through the main used car websites, I ran across a reasonable mileage black/grey 430 Scuderia at the Pagani dealer in Beverly Hills. A brief email exchange indicated that this Scuderia likely ticked most of the boxes in terms of what I was looking for, but we had a bit of a gap on price. At the time the salesman indicated that there was not much room to negotiate so we parted ways. I did bookmark the car and decided to check back in a month to see if the 430 Scuderia was still available and if their negotiating position might have changed. This monthly check in lasted several months before we finally had a breakthrough in February. We were now fairly close on price and within a band where a deal seemed likely. I went about doing my homework on the history of the car and was able to obtain a copy of the service records. The car checked out with the only immediate need being a set of four new tires due to age. At this point I had a few direct discussions with the owner of Pagani Beverly Hills, Vincent Golde, and we got to within $5,000 of where I wanted to be in terms of the purchase price. I asked Vincent too to give me a couple of days to think it over and promised I would get back to him. That’s when the whole situation took a rather unexpected change.

It started with a short private message exchange on Instagram with a current Ferrari F50 owner. We were discussing future supercars, both rumored and announced when the “Son of Valkyrie” / “Project 003” came up. I asked the gentleman if he had put down a deposit for one and he indicated he had a few months ago but thought a few build slots might still be available. Intrigued, I did a bit of searching on the internet before reaching out to my former boss at EVO Magazine and the fountain of all information on the automotive world, Nick Trott. Nick immediately replied that the “Project 003” would be something very, very special and that I should absolutely aim to get an order in for ‘Son Of’ immediately as there were indeed a few build slots left. Adding even more urgency to the situation, Nick indicated that Aston Martin would be unveiling the car at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show on March 5^th, after which any remaining available build slots would likely immediately disappear. Nick then generously offered to help with a contact at Aston Martin and he put me in contact with another extremely helpful former colleague who was able to open the door at Aston Martin. Four days, seven emails, and two phone calls later, I was sitting at the desk of the Sales Director at my local Aston Martin Dealership writing out a very sizeable deposit check for a “Project 003”. The team at Aston Martin were terrific and highly responsive. I am really impressed at how fast and the way in which they made this happen.

The rather sizeable deposit check on the “Project 003” more than consumed the funds had allocated for the 430 Scuderia acquisition and used up most of the cash I had on hand. I don’t keep a lot of uninvested funds in my bank account and I am very debt adverse. Hence taking out a loan, even just a short term one, to acquire the Ferrari 430 Scuderia was not a personally acceptable option. Hence the choice to put down the deposit on the “Project 003” meant that the 430 Scuderia would have to wait. Emotionally it was not an easy choice as I have wanted to reacquire a 430 Scuderia for several years now, Pagani Beverly Hills were very professional to deal with, and I was sure I had found an excellent car. However, there are always plenty of 430 Scuderia’s on the market, prices are very stable, so coming back around on the Scuderia at a later date should not be a challenge. In contrast, the window of opportunity to acquire the “Project 003” was tiny and needed immediate action to realize. The choice was also between immediate vs. much longer-term gratification as the “Project 003” will likely not materialize on the driveway until 2022. I’m very comfortable with the choice made here and can only hope that I eventually find another 430 Scuderia as good as the one I just passed up on.

Note: Project “003” was renamed the Valhalla later in 2019.

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March 2019

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Ferrari 308 GTB

The 308 GTB is a great driver’s car. It really is comfortable, agile, and a pleasure to drive. It may not be amazingly quick by today’s standards (but neither is a Daytona, Dino, Boxer, or F40 for that matter) but it still has plenty of power to tackle both the hills and highway. The following is a story of one of my more memorable drive’s in the 308 GTB.

This would be the first long drive in almost 4 months and the 1st after a major engine rebuild. One turn of the key and the reborn engine fired right up. As the low fuel light was bright red, off we went to the station for a tank of fermented dinosaur remains. 18 gallons later, we were ready to head to the highway for a gentle warm up run. All the gauges started moving north and then to the east right exactly as they should. Once everything was warmed up, it was off at the next exit and up into the hills for a short jaunt before heading back down to the coast to complete the circuit.

As soon as we started heading up into the hills, memories of why I am fond of this Ferrari came immediately back. It is a truly involving car to drive. With very few people out, the pace was quick and with the windows down, I could hear the 8 cylinder sound track bouncing between the valleys. Even the mountain bikers that I passed smiled and waved. While the steering lightens up once you get going, it still requires two firm hands and concentration to keep it on the right line. As the road curves back and forth while rolling across the hills, you constantly need to clang the stick through the metal gate to keep it on song. Keep the engine above 3500 rpms and it has plenty of teeth, below and it just gums at the road until the revs build back up. The way in which the exhaust starts screaming at 4000 rpms just serves to reinforce the sensation of power delivery. I used to drive the same route in a 512 BB but it is a very different experience. With the big Flat 12, if you get a bit lazy, you can just slot it into 3rd and use the huge reserves of torque to power you through all the twisty stuff. In a 308, you got to work hard to get it right.

This is road in particular brings out the best in the 308 GTB. To drive it right, you need a very responsive well balanced car which fits the 308 GTB profile perfectly. It is rock on one side and trees on the other, hence zero room for mistakes. At about the half way point, I almost lost it. Not due to over exuberance, losing the back end, or anything else on my part. The culprit was a stray black horse (looked exactly like the one staring back at me from the center of the steering wheel) which wandered out of the woods into the middle of the road. He stopped, I mashed the brakes and stopped after a bit of squirrely drama. We stared at each other, he shook his head a few times, and then trotted back into the woods. I have had plenty of humans stop me to ask about different Ferraris I have been driving but this was the 1st time a real Prancing Horse has done so.

Once through the hills it was a fast run down the coast and back home. We did a cool down lap up and back on the coastal road before heading in. As this was the rebuilt engines 1st hard run, I did check the engine oil and the level was spot on. Not a bad way to spend a weekend morning.

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March 2019

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Geneva Car Show Report

It’s very unlikely I will be able to go to the Geneva Motor Show this year. It’s quite inconsiderate of the Swiss to always schedule the show during US College Spring break week when we all go skiing as a family. I also always end up with a business trip that second Geneva week which inevitably puts me on the wrong side of the planet. Despite not being able to attend, it hasn’t stopped me from trying to stay abreast with what is going on.

Among the major players in the Supercar market, it has never been a more exciting or competitive time. Within a short eight years, McLaren has seized the high ground in terms of both performance and engineering. It’s taken Ferrari two years to catch up to the McLaren 720S with the just launched F8 Tributo, Ferrari is a similar distance behind with a Senna competitor, and I haven’t even heard rumors of an answer to the Speedtail. How Ferrari has managed to go from the clear leader in the Supercar market to a not quite fast follower in less than a decade will make for a good business school case study. With Aston Martin now making the pivot from being a High-Performance Luxury car manufacture to competing directly in the Supercar market with the Valkyrie, 003, and soon to be announced mid-engine line, the heat in Maranello can only be rising. With the involvement of Adrian Newey and Red Bull in these Aston Martin projects, performance and credibility are a given. On a personal basis, up to this point I have never owned an Aston Martin but am now seriously interested in where they are going. In the past, every time I was in the market for a Grand Tourer, I would look at both an Aston and the comparable Ferrari. While the Aston might have won on appearance, the Ferrari always was the superior car to drive and hence that’s what ended up in the garage. Of the other major Supercar manufacture, Lamborghini, it’s not one that has every had much appeal and nothing in its current line has changed my point of view. Not that there is anything wrong with Lamborghini’s just never been my thing. With the launch of the Urus, I will be interested to see if they follow Porsche’s route and essentially become a SUV manufacturer with a supercar (in the case of Porsche, sportscar) business on the side.

As interesting as things are with the majors, what a number of smaller manufacturers are doing is equally as exciting. I don’t think there have been this many viable entrants in this segment since the sixties. Of the two established companies, Koenigsegg & Pagani, both have steadily moved up in the market price wise while building viable niche business. In both cases they essentially now build automotive art that tends to live in collections. Koenigsegg continues to innovate around ultra-high performance using the same basic design (Koenigsegg must have hired one of the original 911 designers) while steadily increasing its presence. While Koenigsegg seems to be on its way up, Pagani seems to have stagnated. The Huayra never has generated the same amount of excitement as the Zonda with its never ending final/limited/bespoke editions. For its 20^thanniversary this year Pagani has promised something exciting. My guess is another bespoke edition of the Zonda.

Among the small manufactures, there have been a large number of exciting new entrants over the past couple of years. In some cases, these are “rebirths” of dead historic brands like Automobili Turismo e Sport (ATS), Gumpert Apollo, & TVR, plus the completely new launches of Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus (SCG), Zenvo, and finally established racing car manufacturers getting into the supercar business such as Dallara and Ginetta. Of the rebirths, so far both Gumpert Apollo and TVR appear to be more stillborn than rebirth.

Of the new entries, the one I find the most interesting actually will not be at Geneva in 2019, SCG. Outside of the racing car manufacturers that already have existing established businesses, I believe SCG is the one mostly likely to both survive and thrive. SCG has been approved as a US NHTSA Low Volume Manufacturer which allows SCG to make 325 road-legal cars per year. In fact though, SCG is not exactly new to the automotive business, they built their first car, the P4/5 back in 2009 and will have two road cars, the SCG 003S and the 004S in production shortly. The 004S will be the first 3-seater produced since the McLaren F1 and will likely beat the McLaren Speedtail to market by a few months. There are three additional cars in development post the 003 & 004 so the longer-term direction for the company is clear. While very ambitious, SCG also seems to be on very firm financial footing with a highly committed, wealthy, and experienced owner.

Of the two racing car manufacturer entries, the Dallara Stradale is a road legal track car and the un-named Ginetta supercar looks to be a Dodge Viper that fell into a vat of steroids. The Dallara Stradale is a bare bones barchetta with doors, a windshield, and a T-bar roof all as optional extras. It makes a Jaguar XJR-15 look practical. The Ginetta supercar has a targeted top speed of 200 mph and a 600 bhp front mounted engine, specs which are frankly quite ordinary by today’s supercar standards. At least it isn’t as bad as the ATS GT which appears to be a McLaren 12C in a body kit for a bit over a $1 mil.

Net net, it is a very interesting time to be a supercar collector and enthusiast. Competition is driving innovation and the number of choices continue to expand. McLaren has proven that with the right resources and a clear vision, new manufacturers can succeed. Both Pagani & Koenigsegg have proven that there is a viable market for multimillion-dollar bespoke automobiles. While the vast majority of the supercar manufacturers are based in Europe, SCG looks set to prove that a low volume US based manufacturer can succeed in the supercar market. I’ll be interested to see what new information and surprises emerge in Geneva next week.

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March 2019

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Ferrari F40 Road Trip to Italy

Once or twice a year, I get together with a small group of friends to drive some of the best roads in Europe. A few years ago we decided it was time to revisit Italy. Given the destination, it seemed only appropriate to take the Ferrari F40 on the trip. This would be the F40s first trip back to Italy since a very memorable trip in 2007. The 2007 trip was a wonderful experience with terrific receptions everywhere we went, including from the local police who on several occasions provided extra encouragement to shorten our journey times. Driving an F40 in Italy back in 2007 was probably the closest I will ever get to being a celebrity Ferrari Event

That year’s trip took place over 7 days and started on a small dark wet road in Surrey. Over the 7 days, I covered a total of 2,200 miles, crossed 8 countries, used 0 liters of motor oil, stopped for petrol 8 times, and killed an uncountable number of bugs. The F40 drove through heavy downpours, fog, sat in a few traffic jams, crossed the Alps twice (with the help of a few tunnels), survived a couple of roads that resembled lunar surfaces, and even enjoyed a few days of Tuscan sun. Despite all the challenges, never once did the F40 put a single foot wrong. The car really ran terrifically and was a joy to drive.

While we had several highly memorable drives that week, including one up the Alps to the St Bernard tunnel where we were greeted with flurries as we neared the tunnel entrance at 1900 meters, the best was the day spent crossing the spine of Italy from Florence to San Marino on the SS67. This is a truly breath-taking road and consists of 70 miles of winding tarmac across the top of the Apennine Mountains. In the F40, the entire road is driven in 2^ndand 3^rdgear with as little use of the brakes as possible. Getting into the flow of the road is critical and it becomes a dance of downshift, turn in, back on the throttle, upshift, back off the throttle, downshift again, turn in……and repeat for several hours. While you might not think the F40 would be the best car for this sort of driving, the steering is outstanding and it is very easy to place precisely on the road. The car also delivers a constant stream of unfiltered feedback so you know exactly what is going on around you.

We were very lucky that day as there was almost no traffic on the pass, and the few cars we ran into, we were able to get around in short order. The only exception was an Alfa that we closed up on, and ended up behind, at a red light in a construction area. With the light still red, the Alfa went shooting through the zone and disappeared up the mountain. About 5 minutes later, we came around a corner and found the Alfa parked off on the side of the road with the driver standing on a large rock waiting for us with both a video and still camera in hand. Clearly we had one fan.

On the subject of fans, one thing that stood out was the reception that the F40 received on this trip vs. 2007. This time around it was much more subdued and while we had a few police officers smile at us, we did not get the waves, or the encouragement to proceed more rapidly, as we had in the past. The last decade has not been kind to the Italian economy and it does show in a number of different ways.

Driving in a small convoy of Ferraris across Italy is always a special event and doing it in a Ferrari F40 made it just that much more special. The car never failed to impress or handle any of the multiple different challenges thrown at it.

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February 2019

Tag: #ferrari