Near the end of last year, we decided to expand into video. We didn’t know exactly how to go about it or what the videos would look like; we just knew we wanted to do it. We thought people might enjoy a video series about cars. Our publication is growing steadily and to that end, we are deeply thankful for readers like yourself.
As we have grown, we decided this year was the ideal time to dive into video.
This past spring, I met Gino D’Orazio for coffee near Detroit. I was impressed by his candor and energy. A few days later, he had a conference call with Chris Burdick, Automoblog’s Founder who heads our office in Berlin, Germany. He felt the same about Gino. We hope you take as much of a liking to him as we did. Gino loves cars and in our line of work, loving cars goes a long way.
Gino is our first Video Content Director and Host. The fist episode of our first series, “What Makes Supercars Super” is below. Gino traveled to The Yellow Compass Group, a boutique Ferrari dealership, where he met Mike Berman. In this first installment, Berman, Chief of The Yellow Compass Group, shows us why Ferrari is so special to him and his customers. Through Berman, we begin to learn why supercars are in fact super.
Enjoy.
Transcript:
Gino: When I was 10-12 years old, I would actually take my Dad’s car magazines, take them into my living room and write books about them. I would take the course cars in there and write little facts about them, I actually have one with us today, it’s called “Cars”, by me, Gino. And there is not a lot of important in formation in here, largely just misspelt words and illustrations but it is a lot of fun and my classmates laughed at me when they saw this book and I didn’t care, at all. Because I have loved Supercars since I was little and it is very fitting for this video series that we are doing on Automoblog.net about what makes Supercars so super? It’s a question that has a lot of answers to it, if you think about it, but what makes a Supercar Super? So, with all of that said, I am going to allow you guys enjoy the video now so let me know what you think in the comments below, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel and visit us at Automoblog.net for latest reviews, car news, all that good stuff… I hope you guys enjoy it.
Gino: What makes this car super?
Mike: In my mind, the brand Ferrari is so iconic, it’s as recognizable if not more so than McDonalds and Coca-Cola… People pull up in a Ferrari at a coffee shop or local ice-cream place and it doesn’t matter if it’s one-year-old, one month old, 20 years old, people gather around the car and they truly go gaga, they are like, “it’s a Ferrari, this guy must be an international arm smuggler”… Well, it’s not necessarily the case, because many of these cars, that we refer to as classics, the 355, the 360, the 430, what have you, these cars are available for between $70,000 and $120,000, so for $70,000 – $120,000 dollars, you truly can come to the table with a lot of drama, and they are very reliable also…
Gino: Yeah, I feel like not a lot of people know that either but they are a lot more obtainable than the brand image would have you think, you know?
Mike: Whether it’s a 355 which is manufactured from 1995 to 1999 or 360 from ’99 to 2005, or the 430 from 2005 to 2009, they are not certain if that car truly is a year old or 15 years old, they have no idea… And when we are driving sometimes, we always look at our rear view mirror and you can see other people in the rear view mirror, behind they are like… “oh my god!”, it’s just funny, you have to just watch it to understand…
Gino: Do you think it’s the image of it being a Ferrari is what people think like God, that’s a special car, it’s a Ferrari?
Mike: It’s just so iconic, it’s something we aspire to when we were younger, when we started to watch Magnum PI and we see Tom Selleck seating in a 308 and we all had that epiphany even if you were 10, 11, 12 or 13 years old, you were like, I am absolutely that guy, I just don’t know where the hell I’m getting $60,000 and I am only 14 but I could see myself as that guy in that car and life gets in way, we get into our 30’s, 40’s or 50’s and we remember that fond memory and we say, “you know what, I can afford that car now”, I am able to walk the first time Ferrari buyer and the veteran through the proverbial mine field of that position and I came up with this and I tell everyone the same thing and it’s true; Look, I love ice-cream, as you can see, but joking aside… I love ice-cream and I always tell people, this is so true, Ferrari is the ice-cream and you all love ice-cream, I like chocolate, you like strawberry, I like the 355, you like the 360, it doesn’t matter, the model is subjective, meaning the flavor of the ice-cream is subjective but at the end of the day, we are all ice-cream lovers, we all love Ferrari, you have to buy what you like looking at, you have to buy what you like driving and I just love hearing these stories, guys call me up and I always felt every car has a story, the real focus, the subject matter is really the guy buying the car, his back story is incredible and they are truly incredible stories, you know? How he came to be so enamored with the brand and why he’s calling me here, it’s absolutely a fantastic… it is a great journey and when the car finally shows up at his house, and the back of the transporter opens and it comes out, it’s a very emotional time, and these guys have waited their whole lives for this to happen and it truly brings me joy…
Gino: You are right, it’s a whole journey from when they were little the whole story about why they wanted the car, the brand, whatever it is, there is a story that starts a long time ago and it ends with that delivery, and every bit of it is beautiful and capturing that is something in itself…
Mike: When that car shows up at that guy’s house, and the back of that transporter opens and it comes up and the joy on his face, he also has many, many years of trouble-free driving and if there is a problem, I am just as quick there to respond to that as I am, to deliver the car to the customer and make sure that we figure that together, myself, the customer and Alphonso, the master Ferrari tech and we are very quick to fix things if there is an issue…
Gino: I think it’s time for us to take a little tour around, just tell us about some of the cars you’ve got here in the background… So, 512 Testarossa, tell me a little bit about it.
Mike: 1991, Testarossa, 10,000 miles, very beautiful color, not many, blue Kiato and Crema and just a very lovely car, you know, what can we say, it’s a 12-cylinder stick, never to be manufactured again…
Gino: Come over here, this interior is beautiful, just come take a look… This thing is, it’s got the oh, I love that. That is beautiful. How many miles on this one?
Mike: 10,000 miles…
Gino: Beautifully cut, this thing is lovely, let’s talk about…
Mike: A true Supercar from the Miami Vice days.
Gino: Yes, Let’s start on a tour of GTS
Mike: 1989, 328 GTS, manufactured from 1985 to 1989. 1989 was the year that it had the ABS brakes and this is really a beaut, it has a transverse 8-cylinder and this is a real classic car right here…
Gino: Whoa, that is beautiful. Since we got here, I have kind of developed a crush on it, I’ll be honest, this thing is absolutely perfect… So 355 GTS.
Mike: Manufactured from 1995 to 1999, 355 meaning 3.5 liter, 5 valves per cylinder. And when this car came out, this was the highest horsepower possible… one of the highest horsepowers possible at the time. 107 horsepower per liter, so in the very, very high 300 horsepower range, this car is an incredible performance animal, Michael Schumacher calls this his favorite Ferrari, I totally concur with him, this sounds like a true Formula 1 car, it just screams and of course we have Fab Speed headers on it, we have Fab Speed cats and a Capristo exhaust, I’m also the Capristo exhaust for New Jersey… Also a great color.
Gino: Yeah. So, now let’s talk about 360.
Mike: 1999, 360 coupe, 6-speed, the stick is where it’s at, that’s all the money in these cars, gorgeous car, beautiful carbon fiber air boxes, again, Capristo exhaust…
Gino: This thing is beautiful, how muchhorse power on this?
Mike: It’s just about 400 horse…
Gino: This thing sounds phenomenal too.
Mike: It just screams… another 355, this is a 355 coupe, 1999; the last year they made it with the stick and I’ll just give you a little sound bite here…
Gino: Perfect
Mike: I love this car
Gino: Whoa, that is so flawless, does it have any upgrades on it?
Mike: Yeah, this has the Capristo exhaust, I’ll show you… Fab Speed headers, Fab Speed cats, and the Capristo exhaust with carbon fiber airbox.
Gino: Oh my God, that’s beautiful…
Mike: There is nothing like that 3.5-liter engine, it just has a mind of its own, I love these models, the 355, we sell a lot of them.
Gino: And then we have of course the 360 Spider
Mike: In Tour de France Blue, One of my favorite colors, I think the three colors of Ferrari are of course red, yellow and blue.
Gino: Yeah
Mike: Those are my three favorites; those seem to be the colors that sell the most… 2004, 360 stick, this is a big bang for the buck and the stick is what makes it, we sell a lot of these cars, they are a really spectacular…
Gino: Oh yeah…
Mike: And they sound just delightful…
Gino: We hear them a lot and TDF Blue is exactly what I would get, that is me a 100% of the way, I know the cameraman there, same thing TDF Blue, he is in love with this car…
Mike: This is my 1995, 355 Challenge race car, this is one of the very few left that slip through at the time of manufacture, and was actually given a title for the street, which is Fantastic. And this car raced in many championships as you can see right here, I believe that this is the number 77 car originally driven by Jim McCormick, and it raced in the world championships in 1998 in Montreal and we re-graphiced it so it makes sense to match our company’s color… And I use it now as a promotional tool. It will still do the job on the track at a 180 miles an hour expect I won’t be in it or I’ll be divorced…
Gino: Take a look at it, this thing is flawless…
[starts up engine and revs]Gino: So, this has been incredible and I just want to thank
Mike: for giving us this opportunity to go through, give us this tour and talk about these cars, it is absolutely astonishing, absolutely, so
Mike:…Mike: My pleasure…
Gino: Thanks a lot man, It’s nice seeing you, it’s nice seeing you guys always
Mike: Thanks
Gino: I hope you enjoyed our interview with
Mike:. Our video series on what makes Supercar is just beginning so go ahead and subscribe to Automoblog.net for the latest. If you enjoyed the video, give it a like and let us know what you think in the comments below. See you next time….
