This past Sunday, while driving around the feudal kingdom that is Long Island, I spotted five Ferraris. They weren’t coming from a show – just rich people doing their rich people activities. With a huge concentration of wealth in the New York metro area, this shouldn’t come as a tremendous surprise. Yet despite growing up here, it still makes me shake my head and think “Nice day for a cruise. That dick.” But this particular Sunday was different, because one of the five Ferraris I saw was an Enzo. I always thought the Enzo was ugly, especially compared to its contemporary competitor, the Porsche Carrera GT (which I also saw on Sunday, I kid you not). But in person, it most definitely does have an aura. The license plate – “1 of 399” – tells you just how rare they are. That wasn’t 399 Enzos for a year; it was the whole production run. So I made a u-turn and pulled into the shopping center where the owner was eating lunch and likely thinking about buying Moldovia. And then you know what I did? I lined up with a herd of 13 year old boys and took pictures on my camera phone. The best of the pictures is included here. It’s awful. It’s bad for a camera phone. But as they say on the internet, “Pics or it didn’t happen.”
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How many are left? I know a few have come to grief.
Cool story. I’ve never seen an Enzo (or Bugatti or McLaren F1) in person, but I have seen a few Carrera GTs and they seemed a lot smaller in real life. I was pretty unimpressed by them looks-wise, they just didn’t have that super car’presence’ in my opinion
wreckedexotics.com says that they know of 14 Enzo crashes.
The first and only Enzo I ever saw was yellow. How many of those were made???
Any time I see a Ferrari in Vermont, it’s reason to celebrate. Usually I can count on one hand the number I see every summer…
But I saw a Murcielago in July – that’s rare.
Driving an Enzo–or a CGT–anywhere on Long Island would be like flying your Bonanza inside the hangar.
Saw a black Enzo in Denver more than a year ago driving slowly (a break-in period?). I noticed this car from more than 1/4 of a mile away because it had an unmistakable stance even from that far away. Took two pictures of it with my camera phone, but for what reason? Just to say I saw one, I guess…
I used to test drive for a company that tested prototype cars at various stages of development. Exciting job being able to drive a variety of cars and trucks. Funny thing is that the Cayman S was the car that garnered the most attention (especially from kids in Japanese-tuned cars). Stopping for breaks was always interesting; hordes of onlookers would gather and snap photos, ask questions, etc. if you stopped for too long.
I live in SoFLA… I’ve seen more Enzo’s and Carrera GT’s than I can recall. I don’t know, when you seen them a lot it’s not a big deal any more.
Actually, that seems to be a pretty good picture. Maybe it would have been better on a regular camera, but the real problem is that the owner didn’t have the courtesy to park the car out in the sun instead of under a shade tree.
I agree; the Enzo is ugly, and the front end is especially hideous.
Formula 1 Grand Prix, Crescent Street in Montreal: Enough Ferraris to last the entire year.
I’ve never seen an Enzo in my neck of South Florida, but I’ve seen a Saleen S7 Turbo, Carrera GT, R32 and R34 Skylines, and plenty of Lambos, Ferraris, Aston Martins and whathaveyou.
I also know that the Enzo that was wrecked by Eddie Griffin during the promo blitz for that horrid “Redline” movie was rebuilt.
http://jalopnik.com/400068/exclusive-texas-man-rebuilds-15-million-ferrari-enzo-destroyed-by-eddie-griffin
Oh, and did you guys see the 2010 Mustang teaser pics?
http://jalopnik.com/5048034/2010-ford-mustang-gt-convertible-detail-teaser-shots
Samir,
Try Cavallino Classic in Palm Beach, I saw enough Ferrari’s to last me a lifetime.
ferrariman,
Go to Palm Beach, Boca Raton (around A1A), South Beach on a Fri / Sat night, or Bal Harbour, and you are bound to see one.
True story- I was driving on I-10 in the middle of West Texas about 3 years ago- not exactly exotic car central- when I spotted a red dot in my rearview mirror that passed my ugly SUV at such a speed differential that I could only guess that it was an Enzo. I was going 80 and it was actually frightening how fast I was passed. He passed me so fast that visually it was like being passed standing still by someone who was speeding very recklessly. At the time I talked myself into him going 170 or 180, but with time I think reason and reality have set in and I think it was more like 150- but that was on a normal interstate in broad daylight!
I would never claim that it was an Enzo based on that one sighting, but I saw him again a few minutes later going the other way much much slower and there is zero question what it was. I guess he was scouting stretches of road for cops(?) or more likely bumps or pavement flaws and then running them really fast. Obviously someone had come out to West Texas to play! The speed limits out there are an actual 75 and a de facto 90, with cops few and far between (and always using Ka band that can be detected miles away). So I guess it makes sense in some weird way, but it was the last thing I expected. Blogging was pretty new (at the time) and I remember live journaling the hell out of that Enzo sighting! I have never seen another one.
Funny what makes a special memory for people like us, isn’t it? I didn’t get to drive it, or touch it, or see it up close- but I’ll never forget it.
Justin:
Were you in Nassau County when you saw the Enzo? Glen Cove, perhaps? The guy who lived next to my undergrad college (Webb Institute) had a couple of Ferraris, including an Enzo. I never saw the Enzo in person (school mates did), but I saw other Ferraris leaving his residence (ok, I suppose “compound” would be more appropriate). Also, I often heard the Ferraris … OMG!
Sorry, this is one of those worthless me too posts that clog forums but anyway…that happend to me in westside LA. I’m used to the Aston Martins and Bentlys that park on the street everyday, and the F430’s and gallardos that come out on weekends. I try not to look to avoid giving any extra satisfaction to the pricks driving them. But when an Enzo was parked across the street I had to make a special trip to gawk.
In pictures they always seem ungainly and kinda goofy but in real life is a different story altogether. They look much more sculpted and purposeful in person. Wish I could’ve heard the owner start it up. I admit that given the opportunity, I would drive one.
ckb: You don’t have to listen…
thecavanaughs>
I know EXACLTY that feeling. I was on my gsx-r 600 between traffic patterns (I hate cruising next to cars because they don’t always pay attention) and I was thinking of switching from the left to middle lane when a ROCKET went by me right in the middle lane. I swear I checked my mirrors a few seconds before, but I was cruising at 75-80, and the guy (another bike) had to have been going 150+….in a 55! I have no idea what was going through his mind.
Even scarier was that it was nearing 9pm at night….not the most light out either!
We actually had a guy pulled over on lake shore drive a few years ago, doing 160mph on a bike. That takes some REAL balls as the potholes, pieces of car, pieces of tire, etc are quite frequent. LSD is very horribly maintained. I wouldn’t even do that on a dare, not because of cops, but because of fear of dying.
http://www.aldermanshiller.com/content/view/57/160/1/33/
Robstar and thecavanaughs:
Now I know what the people who saw me do 160mph on highway 400 in Toronto must have thought. It was around 4:30am and I did a test run in both directions to look for debris and police. I turned around, got on the onramp and floored it. I managed to get up to 160mph when a hill came up and I had to back off, because I couldn’t see over the hill, and my self-preservation instinct got the best of me
This stretch of highway 400 was completely straight and relatively deserted at night, perfect for doing a top-speed run. I was trying to reach my car’s top speed (186mph) but I didn’t quite make it. The real crazy part is that I figured my friend wouldn’t believe how fast I was going, so while I was doing this I was holding my digital camera in one hand filming the speedometer (my car is a stick too, but once I got to 5th gear, i no longer had to shift). Not the smartest thing I’ve ever done but I was pretty exciting. I’ve always wondered what the other people on that stretch of highway that night thought as I flew by driving about 100mph faster than they were
Hi Justin,
Just to aggravate you more, the Enzo owner also owns the Carrera GT. And the rest of the fleet would make any schoolboy go home and masturbate.
Rob: 1 of 399 lives east of Glen Cove, but not next to your school- I am not aware of that Enzo (I thought the next closest one was Tommy Hilfiger’s in Connecticut).
Justin: What town did you grow up in / catch the sighting?
@Nopanegain:
Wow, you just floored me with the detail of knowledge there. Although in this case, the Carrera GT I saw was a different owner, as it was within a minute of the Enzo sighting.
I find it tough to believe that nobody else in the entirety of LI would have an Enzo, even with only some 375 currently in existence. Considering that probably ~150 made it to the US in the first place, I would imagine the NY area (including Westchester, southest CT, and Northern NJ) would have picked up some 20 Enzos or so. Same for LA, SF. But it sounds like you’ve got the inside line!
As for where I saw it, it was in East Norwich. Or more precisely, in a small strip of stores on the westbound side of 25A, just west of the intersection with 106 (near that Chas Rothman steakhouse).
I grew up in Port Washington.
thetopdog> Do not pass go, go directly to jail!! You could have killed someone!
You know there _ARE_ tracks for that sort of thing.
Hate to burst the bubble (wait, no I dont), but there were well over 400 Enzos made.
Hate to burst the bubble (wait, no I dont), but there were well over 400 Enzos made.
Source? Not that I doubt you, I just never heard that before.
I’ve seen a couple in Dubai, and weird enough one in Beirut!!! not in the City, it was at the airport cargo terminal.
the story goes like this: the Enzo was offloaded from the plane, rolled to the front of the customs building, and it’s been rotting there for the past 3 years. why?
because the original buyer, gave it as a present to his # 1 employee. the guy owned a bank in lebanon “al madina”that was involved in a multi billion dollar money laundring scandal.
the car has since been under the court’s control (not that they drive it).
The sad thing is that the cover with the Ferrari emblem is on the passenger seat, crumpled, and the paint is a wee bit faded. this enzo has been sitting there for more than 2 years now with almost 0 mileage.
i’m trying to pull some strings to get to drive it, hopefully on the airport runway :P. but that’s a lot to ask. (it would be my first ferrari)
word is that the ruling on the case should come out soon and the car will be “unlocked” and there’s a guy i know who knows people that know people that Might with a capital M get me a Drive.
i’m keeping my fingers crossed.
in the end i took a couple of phone pics too, where do i post them?????
Nopanegain: thanks for clearing that up. As I said, I never saw it in person. I know that the people who live there have some pretty sweet rides …
Are you a dealer? How do you know this information? Am I asking too many questions? What is the meaning of life?
I caught site of a Gallardo a couple of months back running through a very small village in Ohio – my only conclusion was they were lost but I had to break out the cell phone camera and snap a shot too. Guilty as charged.
Interesting. When my daughter and I were driving one of the first six Nisssan GT-Rs in the country for five days in the West, we only got a single cellphone photo of us taken.
MrUnexpected :
September 11th, 2008 at 12:37 am
Hate to burst the bubble (wait, no I dont), but there were well over 400 Enzos made.
Um… Cavallino magazine, THE Ferrari history mag, puts total Enzo Production at 399, with 1 permanently enshrined at the Ferrari museum in Maranello. There are another 25 or so FXX versions that were sold to the Corse Clienti, the top tier of Ferrari owners.
Maybe you’re thinking of the F40, which debuted during the peak of the collector car boom and was manufactured in 1987-1989, for a total of 1315 cars. The F50, the other “super” Ferrari only had 350 cars made, 1 went to the aforementioned museum.
I am also curious of your source.
There were 400 made. They originally made the famous 399, but then they made a 400th that was to be presented to the Pope John Paul II, but then he died.
Shortly after it was to be given to the Vatican, the tsunami hit Southeast Asia, and the Vatican auctioned the car off to benefit aid in the region.
Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo presented Pope Benedict XVI with the check, while Formula One driver Michael Schumacher gave the pope a steering wheel to commemorate the donation which read: “The Formula 1 World Champion’s steering wheel to His Holiness Benedict XVI, Christianity’s driver.”
I’m always surprised that more piston heads don’t know this story.
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=108400
I have seen about 3 or 4 Enzos in the NYC metro area in the last 4 years, all in Westchester and Ct.
The most exotic car I have seen on the road lately was a yellow Daytona in Nyack! That made me say WOW simply because of the value and rarity of it!
J Lieberman: True, but in this case I meant that MY response was to be a worthless “me too” post, not the podcast. Sorry for the confusion, please carry on with more stories about exotic cars I’ll never drive, much less own (note: no sarcasm intended).
Wow, you just floored me with the detail of knowledge there. Although in this case, the Carrera GT I saw was a different owner, as it was within a minute of the Enzo sighting.
As for where I saw it, it was in East Norwich. Or more precisely, in a small strip of stores on the westbound side of 25A, just west of the intersection with 106 (near that Chas Rothman steakhouse).
Hi Justin- I recognized the area from the photo. Drop me an e-mail at my screename + @aol.com for the rest of the scoop. PS- Hope you enjoyed something at Messina Marketplace also…it is a good (albeit expensive) deli.
Saw a Saleen S7 in the wild in northern Cali. Now that’s rare. What are there, 100 total or something?
A few years ago I worked for an automotive parts supplier and I had the extreme fortune of taking a business trip to Ferrari’s assembly facility in Modena. During the lunch hour one of the employees showed me around the floor, and I got to see where they did final assembly of the Enzo. I saw a guy pushing around an entire unibody frame on carts, all by himself. Outside there was a corral filled with crash-tested Ferraris and Maseratis. That turned my stomach. I didn’t bring a camera, though, as that’s strictly forbidden at any car company.