Mike Bass
My love of Ferrari started when I was about 7 or 8 years old. My grandfather lived near Shelton Ferrari, which has since become Ferrari of Ft. Lauderdale. Whenever we went to visit him, my grandfather and my dad would take me there to look in the window. I had thought that they were the most beautiful cars I had ever seen. Through the years I had owned many different Porsches and Corvettes, but my goal has always been to own a Ferrari. In 2010 that dream was fulfilled when I purchase my first, a red/tan 360 Spider. The car was fantastic and it brought me into the Ferrari and super car world. After purchasing that car I became involved in the club and made some of the closest friends you can imagine.
My Ferrari journey continued a few years later when I traded in my 360 for a 430 Spider, which happened to be from that very same Ferrari of Ft. Lauderdale dealership. It truly was a dream come true to get my car from the very same place my grandfather used to take me when I was young.
A few years passed and I decided I wanted to take the next step. I had then purchased a red/tan 458 Spider which I now own. I found the car on the Ferrari of Long Island website, which I had been watching for months. It was the first day the car appeared in the site and it was highly optioned and seemed to check all the right boxes. The only problem I had was that I found this car while I was lying on the beach in Florida and I wasn’t planning to come home for quite a while. I phoned the GM at the dealership, who had become a friend of mine, and he filled me in on the car and we agreed on a price. All that was left was to see it in person, but since I was 1,200 miles away there was only one choice. On Christmas Eve, my 2 close friends and fellow Long Island Chapter board members, Steve Morea and John Aalto, went in and did a FaceTime inspection with me. They told me that if I didn’t take the car, they would.. And just like that, the sale was completed. We have since traveled to FCA events in Arizona and Canada with the 458, I have even brought it to Cavallino. I couldn’t be happier with the car, the club or the friends I’ve made in the Ferrari community.
