StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Jalopnik wrote:Normally the headline would be “Florida Man Files Hilarious Lawsuit Against Ferrari.” But this isn’t just any Florida Man. This is Preston Henn, the Sultan of Swap, flea market baron, champion race car driver and famed car collector. And he’s so pissed that Ferrari denied him the opportunity to buy the LaFerrari Spider, he demands a trial by jury.


Of the 7,000 people who applied to buy the new Ford GT, only 500 were selected. That’s roughly…
Read more

First brought to light by Autoweek, this is truly a great story of a scorned and hot-tempered Florida Man against Ferrari’s famously, er, picky customer approval practice.

Henn is suing Ferrari North America for in excess of $75,000 because:

The publication of the statement that Preston Henn is not qualified to purchase a LaFerrari Spider is an untrue statement which harms Henn’s reputation, and holds him up to ridicule, disrespect, and disrepute in his profession, trade, occupation, avocation, and among his friends and business and social associates.

Henn, in other words, contends that not letting him buy a LaFerrari Spider hurts his stature as a Ferrari collector.

And apparently Henn fancies himself the Ferrari customer. He’s been a member of the Tifosi for six decades, was buddies with Luigi Chinetti and owns or has owned the Ferraris on this impressive list:

1965 275 GTB
1971 Daytona Spider
1972 BBC 512
1985 F 40
1986 black Testarossa
1986 white Testarossa
1995 F 50
2003 Enzo
2005 FXX
2015 458 Speciale
2015 488
2015 LaFerrari
550 Barchetta
599
BBLM
Maserati MC 12
Super America
Schumacher Ferrari Formula 1

The 275 GTB 6885 Speciale, in particular, is the car that Sergio Marchionne supposedly once told Henn was his “favorite Ferrari.”

When Henn first heard about the LaFerrari Spider, he went over to his local Ferrari dealership, intent on buying it to join the hardtop LaFerrari that he already owns. A reasonable desire for any serious Ferrari collector.

Ferrari didn’t think so. It told him he was “not qualified.”

Henn was confused. Surely this was a mistake, given his credentials in Ferrari’s little black book! Autoweek says he got busy, writing a bunch of letters to Ferrari and other FCA higher-ups, including Marchionne himself. In that particular letter, Henn included a $1,000,000 check as a deposit on the car.

The check was later returned, along with a message, telling Henn that he really shouldn’t be mailing large sums of money like that, it could get lost.

Henn’s lawyer writes:

By deeming Henn not qualified and publishing to third parties that Preston Henn was not qualified, Ferrari, acting through its employees and agents, uttered to unrelated third parties a false and defamatory statement, harming Henn’s reputation in the universe of Ferrari aficionados.

Publicly insulted, Henn is retaliating.

We’ll see how this all shakes out.

You can find the full court document here.

Archinist wrote:Why can he never buy one again, though? Ferraris can be sold from both car yards and private sellers. There is nothing stopping him from purchasing one from a used/new car yard or a online car store, such as eBay.

Napoleon the Clown wrote:

Archinist wrote:Why can he never buy one again, though? Ferraris can be sold from both car yards and private sellers. There is nothing stopping him from purchasing one from a used/new car yard or a online car store, such as eBay.

Oh, he can buy one used just fine. But I specifically said new. Because at this point Ferrari's going to update their policies to say "Do not sell to litigious asshats."

He's not after to plebeian models. He wants the models that are so rare and valuable that nobody fucking drives them. Models that, if sold, would be sold at an auction that Ferrari would approve, and would promptly make sure is by invitation only. In short, he's not going to ever own another "collectible" Ferrari.

He may also get his ass chewed out by a very annoyed judge.

Archinist wrote:

Napoleon the Clown wrote:

Archinist wrote:Why can he never buy one again, though? Ferraris can be sold from both car yards and private sellers. There is nothing stopping him from purchasing one from a used/new car yard or a online car store, such as eBay.

Oh, he can buy one used just fine. But I specifically said new. Because at this point Ferrari's going to update their policies to say "Do not sell to litigious asshats."

He's not after to plebeian models. He wants the models that are so rare and valuable that nobody fucking drives them. Models that, if sold, would be sold at an auction that Ferrari would approve, and would promptly make sure is by invitation only. In short, he's not going to ever own another "collectible" Ferrari.

He may also get his ass chewed out by a very annoyed judge.

Ermm.. what if a car yard is selling brand-new models, as they occasionally do? Or what if either a private person who gets a rare collectible Ferrari dislikes it and sells it on eBay when it's still brand new?

Archinist wrote:Ermm.. what if a car yard is selling brand-new models, as they occasionally do? Or what if either a private person who gets a rare collectible Ferrari dislikes it and sells it on eBay when it's still brand new?

Broomstick wrote:I wonder why Ferrari thought him unqualified to buy at the beginning of all this?

muse wrote:

Archinist wrote:Ermm.. what if a car yard is selling brand-new models, as they occasionally do? Or what if either a private person who gets a rare collectible Ferrari dislikes it and sells it on eBay when it's still brand new?

What if a tornado drop a cow through your roof and it poops all over your face? What do you do?

Elheru Aran wrote:

Archinist wrote:

Napoleon the Clown wrote: Oh, he can buy one used just fine. But I specifically said new. Because at this point Ferrari's going to update their policies to say "Do not sell to litigious asshats."

He's not after to plebeian models. He wants the models that are so rare and valuable that nobody fucking drives them. Models that, if sold, would be sold at an auction that Ferrari would approve, and would promptly make sure is by invitation only. In short, he's not going to ever own another "collectible" Ferrari.

He may also get his ass chewed out by a very annoyed judge.

Ermm.. what if a car yard is selling brand-new models, as they occasionally do? Or what if either a private person who gets a rare collectible Ferrari dislikes it and sells it on eBay when it's still brand new?

Car yards don't sell Ferraris. You want to buy a Ferrari, you go to the *special* car dealers or to Ferrari itself.

And in your second case... sure, could happen. Odds are it'd get snapped up by another person with more money than sense before this guy could get to it, though, because rich people don't bother with EBay (usually).

Archinist wrote: A question, why do people actually buy these cars?

Vendetta wrote:

Archinist wrote: A question, why do people actually buy these cars?

The status of owning a thing which is so rare and exclusive that most people will never even see someone who has seen someone who has seen one in real life.

I mean the guy already has an FXX which they only made 30 of and which when you buy it you don't even get to have it, Ferrari keep it and will bring it to a race track for you to play with and then take it home again.

Elheru Aran wrote:....did you just say they have 'moderately increased HP'? And that getting them oiled and polished costs millions of dollars?

Where the hell do you live? Second Life?

Archinist wrote:A question, why do people actually buy these cars?

2) Because you touch yourself at night

Zixinus wrote:

2) Because you touch yourself at night

How's that have to do with anything? Most people masturbate. Or does that mean something else?