cost of maintaining a Ferrari?
- Thread starter Pete
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An amazing Ferrari "Experience"
This has been a post I’ve been meaning to write for ages… But it’s been in that “important but not urgent” box that never seems to get done.
I am not sure whether this is a tale of the Ferrari Family or just great human spirit but even though is a bit rambling, stick with it – I hope to make it worth your while.
Many of you will know that I took my Ferrari “Bella” to Tasmania for a week’s drive around.
Well, Ferrari’s are wondrous but also funny beasts and, despite the fact she had been sent into our local service department for a thorough check prior, when she came off the truck in Melbourne she had developed a “sticky clutch”.
Some background (skip this paragraph if you care less about mechanical things)… Modern Ferrari’s have an electronic clutch – yes they have a pedal and that pedal is spring loaded but it doesn’t actually do anything – it just sends a signal to one of those very expensive and temperamental computers to disengage the clutch to allow you to change gears and then reengage once you let your foot out. This is why the F1 gear box has become so popular – even many of the purists (like me) who like to change our own gears are accepting the futility of the exercise when you’re just going through the motions and the computer does it all for you, especially when you consider it can changes gears itself without your assistance in 0.0025 of a second! This in turn goes to an actuator (have no idea what that is) that actually engages and disengages the clutch – it is this – a mechanical part - that was sticking.
It was too late to get it to the dealer before getting on the boat for the trip from Melbourne to Tasmania and after turning the car off and jiggling (the extent of my personal mechanical ability) the clutch pedal, it seemed to fix itself so we proceeded.
The first day in Tassie was fantastic – on top of having a lovely drive, being with my beautiful friend Leisl and have 5 people recognise me (I began to think that 95% of my book sales must have been in Tassie) and say hello – always good for the ego, the weather was perfect for driving a convertible – sunny but cool.
We got to a little town called Stanley and for those of you not from the Apple Isle it is not the A#@e end of the universe but you definitely can see it from there!
It was 4pm on Easter Thursday night and Bella decided this would be a great time for her to announce she didn’t like driving around Tassie and have the clutch stick again, but now we were not going anywhere.
With the smell of burning clutch we finally pulled into a little out of the way Motel because my mobile phone was not working (thanks Optus! – now moved to Telstra) and I didn’t want to abandon the car in a country lane way in the middle of no where.
The car has a 3 year warranty and that comes with assistance so I called Ferrari Assist for, well, an assist!
I explained to the guy behind the desk that my mobile wasn’t working and that it was a 1800 number so it wouldn’t cost anything so he said it was fine.
I explained to Ferrari Assist where I was which I think they had to Google or something because most of the time there was silence at the other end of the phone.
Problem was there is no Ferrari dealership or Ferrari trained mechanic in Tassie and the closest “World Assist” contractor was in Hobart (about 5 hours away).
They offered to tow the car to the Melbourne dealership but, because it was a long weekend that wouldn’t occur until the next Tuesday.
They would normally offer a rent a car but all cars in Tasmania were booked out for the long weekend so if I wanted one I would have to go back to the mainland and pick one up!
They offered me Motel vouchers up to $80 per night but even the End of the Universe Motel at Stanley was more than that and we had reservations at Cradle Mountain that night for a cabin that was $1,500 per night.
Other then that they couldn’t help.
I asked, which part of Assist weren’t they getting? Which, surprisingly did not get me too far!
They were convinced the clutch was gone… I thought if we could just “unstick” the actuator some how I could get moving and get on with my holiday.
“OK,” they said, “If I could find a mechanic to come and look at the car they would get Ferrari’s service manager to talk him through it and maybe get me going.”
Where the heck to you find a mechanic in Stanley who is prepared to look at a Ferrari and help at 4pm on Easter Thursday afternoon? Hello Yellow – no answer from anybody in Stanley and I am starting to get desperate, because on top of the “no assist” I’m looking at 5 days in not so sunny Stanley!
The guy behind the desk then piped up, “Hey, why don’t you call Chas Kelley?”
“Who’s Chas Kelley?”
“Well, I think he owns a Ferrari or Porsche or something – an F40 – he must know a mechanic who can help – he lives in Devonport.”
Well, I’m thinking:
a. With due respect to our Tasmanian friends what’s the chance of somebody living in sleepy Devonport owning a $2 million limited edition collector Ferrari?
b. Even if he does, what’s the chance of me being able to get onto him?
c. Even if I can what’s the chance of his mechanic driving 2 ½ hours at this time on Easter Thursday for a 10 minute look at my car?
“How do I find him?” I asked Motel guy.
“He’s in the book!” and so he was.
Well, I call his office and somebody answers “Chas Kelley Transport” – sounding promising.
“Hi, it’s Peter Spann calling. Can I speak to Chas please?”
“He isn’t here.”
“Damn!” I thought.
“But I can give you his mobile if you like?” I am amazed – I don’t give out my mobile number to anybody and my team are told they’d get fired if they gave it out!
Call the mobile – voice mail… Bugger!
“Hi Chas, my name is Peter Spann. You don’t know me but I own a Ferrari F360, I’m stuck in Stanley and Ferrari Assist can’t assist. I was told that you might own a Ferrari and I wondering who services you car because if I can find a mechanic they might be able to help me. Would you mind giving me a call?”
So what do I do now? I thought. Well, beautiful friend is getting a little tied of all this so time to thank the motel guy and book a room so she can have a rest – it is starting to rain and get cold, and I DO have that $80 voucher burning a hole in my pocket!
Of course my mobile’s not working so I have to wait in reception hoping this guy I don’t know who may or may not own one of the most expensive cars on the planet who just happens to live in Tasmania and may or may not have a mechanic who may or may not be prepared to help and who may or may not even listen to his message and may or may not call me.
Every time the phone rang I must have looked up like a puppy waiting for dinner, but amazingly only about 15 minutes later motel guy says, “It’s him!”
Enthusiastically I pick up the handset, “Hello is that Peter?” asked the voice on the other end of the phone, “this isn’t a prank is it?”
“No, no, it’s for real, I know it sounds odd but I really do own a Ferrari and I really am stuck in Stanley,” we had a brief discussion about what was wrong, what I’d tried to do already and the problem in general, “I just though that you might be able to give me the name of your mechanic?”
“Mmm,” he said, I own a trucking company and my car is maintained by our chief mechanic.”
“Bugggggggggggggggggger!” I thought again.
“Oh well, it was worth a try, thanks for your help.”
“No wait on, I’ll send him out.”
“What, to Stanley?”
“Yeah, it’s only a couple of hours, I am sure Chris won’t mind.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. Just sit tight, he’ll be there as soon as he can. I get him to call you when he is on his way.”
Well, I was dumb founded. Here was this guy who didn’t know me from a bar of soap sending his own personal mechanic 2 ½ hours drive on Easter Thursday night in the rain out to help me when the company I had paid $400,000 to couldn’t / wouldn’t assist! Amazing.
10 minutes later the phone rang again, “Hi Peter this is Chris, I’m on my way. I also called a mate of mine who owns a workshop near there and he’s on his way too because maybe he can help and save me the trip. If he can’t help he’s going to wait with you and I can use his tools when I get there.”
OK, this is getting truly amazing.
Mate turns up, many phone calls later, after some bonnet lifting, scratching of crotch, driving around slowly in circles and general head scratching, mate decides he can’t help so we wait.
In record time around the corner comes an immaculate, late model SS Commodore ute in shinny red (of course) with Chas Kelley Transport duly painted on the side.
“Hi, I’m Chris,” said the mild mannered man, “Let’s see if we can get you going hey? I’ll just call Chas and let him know I am here”
Many more phone cars later, more bonnet lifting, scratching of crotch (by mate), driving around slowly in circles and general head scratching, Chris decides he can’t help either. The car is definitely going nowhere.
Double dammmmmmmmn!
By now it’s dark, cold and very wet.
“Well, I’m not sure what to do now, look’s like I’m stuck in Stanley.” I bemoaned.
“No, don’t worry,” came back Chris, “Chas has already called in a favour from a toey in Devonport with a tray back (important so it doesn’t damage the car) – he’s on his way – should be here shortly so at least we can get the car back to Devonport and secure it for you until Ferrari can pick it up.”
So now I am officially “blown away”.
In due course said tow truck turns up and Bella is ingloriously hauled up on it’s back.
We jump in the supped up ute and we’re on our way to Devonport.
I try calling the rent a car companies but there is not a car in Tasmania to be found so I talk with Leisl and decide that one of us will fly back to Melbourne, pick up a car, bring it back on the boat and we’ve only give up a day of our holiday.
Chris pipes up, “Seems silly to me, let me call Chas again.”
Now I’m thinking, “this guy has already done more then enough, he’s already gone above and beyond, I find it hard to imagine he could do any more.”
“OK Pete, Chris has told me what’s going on, and we won’t have any of that. First, where are you staying tonight?”
“Well, I haven’t made any bookings because I was still hoping we could get up to Cradle Mountain and get on with our trip but I’ll find somewhere in Devonport.”
“Don’t be silly, if you are staying anywhere you are staying with us at our home, but there’s no point in that we can give you one of our cars and you can get on with your trip.”
“Umm, that’s very generous of you,” I reply still dumbfounded – are there degrees of dumbfoundedness – can you be more dumfounded then dumbfounded?, “But we are here for a week.”
“No problems, you can have my wife’s car.”
NO WAY! I’m thinking, “I can’t do that to your wife.”
“Nah, no problems, we have 30 odd cars – it’ll be fine.”
I mean, what do you say to that? I thanked him and he hung up.
“Oh, you’ll like his wife’s car, much better then a rental.”
“Why?” I asked not trying to sound ungrateful, after all there were gift horses involved and I didn’t want to look in it’s mouth, “What type of car is it?”
“A Benz E55 AMG.”
Oh struth, I’m thinking, this is getting ridiculous. So I momentarily contemplated driving around Tassie in a limited edition Benz supercar but my conscious got the better of me – these cars, apart from being 250 odd grand are 3 year waiting list jobs - so had to call Chas again…
“Look, Chas,” I said, “Thank you for your extraordinarily generous offer but I just can’t accept it. If I had an accident or something I couldn’t forgive myself, so far better for me to organise a rental. I’ll just go back to the mainland tomorrow and…”
He cut me off.
“Why can’t you just get one in Devonport?”
“All booked out.”
“No worries, I know the owner of the ---- franchise, I’ll give him a call.”
As you’ve guessed he calls back 5 minutes later, “Fixed,” he said, “They are driving it out to Burnie airport for you so it’s closer and you can get on your way to Cradle Mountain tonight. Chris will lock up your car in the shed until Tuesday when Ferrari come to get it – we’ll look after everything and you just enjoy your holiday.”
WOW – and I don’t mean the ASX code for Woolworths. I am truly amazed.
My sceptical side kicked in momentarily and I thought, maybe they are scamming me, maybe they are a gang of professional car thieves who has a connection in the sleezy motel in Stanley and my beloved Bella will be stripped, parted and shipped around Australia faster then you can say, nice apples, but then again I thought, well, who cares? At least I’d get a new car on the insurance!
½ hour later we arrive in Burnie and there, standing alone and shivering in front of the rent a car place is a lone man with a lone car – all the other rent-a-car offices deserted.
“You won’t believe how ticked off the guy who was supposed to have this was!” says rent-a-car man.
I look at Chris, “Well, we rent the odd truck from ‘em – ahh, 25 to be exact!”
Well, a little embarrassed but relieved all the same we say our farewells to Chris, Bella, rent-a-car guy, tow-truck-guy and a bevy of teenagers assembled to look at the car, not sure whether to be inspired or laugh because it is being towed.
In parting Chris asked, “Do you mind if I show my kids the car. I won’t let them touch it or anything but I am sure they’d get a thrill out of it.”
“Heck, they can touch it all they like!”
We drive on to Cradle Mountain. Over the next few days we enjoy a lovely time in Tasmania. The plain white poverty pack Conformidore does its job very well, although I DO miss Bella and can’t help but wonder what it would be like to steer her through the lovely twists and turns that driving in Tassie offer and finally we get to Hobart where I call Ferrari No-Assist to tee up the collection of the car.
Loh and behold they can’t get the car back to Melbourne because it exceeds their towing limit but if I like, they can arrange it for the little price of $2,700. Now the car only cost $1,300 to truck from Brisbane to Melbourne so I am starting to think I am being ripped off and decline, saying I’ll find my own way to get it back to Melbourne.
I call Chris to let him know and ask if he wouldn’t mind keeping the car a little longer then originally anticipated due to my new dilemma.
“Mmm, might be a bit of a problem,” he said.
“There, I’ve finally worn out my welcome”, I thought, considering they have already rendered me more assistance then I could have ever dreamed of and probably more than I would have in the same circumstances.
“You see, we have 87 trucks that come in and out of the shed every day and I am concerned it might get damaged, we have a dozen trucks that go to Melbourne everyday, we’ll just put it on the back of one of them and Ferrari can pick it up from the boat.”
What are these people, Mother Teresa reincarnated???
I see little alternative but to, yet again, accept his generous offer.
I must say at this point that once the car gets out of the (contracted) hands of World no-assist – which coincidentally also contract to BMW and when my X5 broke down were amazing – the Ferrari dealership in Melbourne were terrific and while there was a 3 week wait on the part fixed bits and pieces the Brisbane dealership either couldn’t be bothered with or had overlooked, and all done free under warranty - but still, I couldn’t believe that people who I had never met offered me so much assistance when the people I had paid to help couldn’t be bothered. And World-Assist even knocked back my $80 room voucher claim because I didn’t get the right type of receipt!
So I’m trying to think of a way to thank these guys. I tell this story to anybody who would listen (and then some) while we are driving around Tasmania and everybody seems to know Chas Kelley. They talk of his generosity, of the many charities he is involved in, all the great things he and his company have done for people and I start to piece together the character of a great man. Nobody had a bad word to say. I start to wonder how many people there are left in the world like that. How far I would have gone to help him if the roles were reversed and I found myself coming up short.
Is it just small town generosity? No, it must be more than that.
While in the Tamar valley we pick up a case of Tassie’s finest wines and when our holiday is over I call Chris to let him know we’ll be dropping in on him. Under howls of protest – “you shouldn’t have, I wasn’t expecting anything”, and so on he finally agreed.
5 minutes later I get a call from Chas, “can you come at 5 o’clock?”
“Sure,” I replied a bit bewildered.
When we got to Devonport it was dark so I called the office for directions and they gave me the street name.
“What number?” I asked.
“You won’t miss it.” Sure – it’s a bit hard when it takes up the whole block!
There were big trucks coming and going and a hive of activity.
We stepped up to the door and pressed the door bell and a good looking man in his mid forties opened it saying, “You must be Peter, we’ve set up a little surprise for Chris, come on in.”
We got to one of the big sheds where a number of people were waiting. Chas picked up his phone and called Chris and said in a menacing tone, “You’d better get in here fast!” and hung up.
When Chris realised there was a celebration rather then a problem he went bright red and we presented our meagre offering of thanks. He seemed genuinely startled that we would make such a generous gesture which left us thinking we should have done more!
On the way out I asked, “Hey where do you get something to eat at this time of night in this town?”
“Don’t be silly, you’re coming to dinner at my place,” said Chas.
“Thanks, but we’ve just got to have a quick bite and get on the boat.”
“Don’t you want to see the F40?” he asked tempting me.
“Of course, but what about the boat?”
“Don’t worry about that, I know the Captain!”
This has been a post I’ve been meaning to write for ages… But it’s been in that “important but not urgent” box that never seems to get done.
I am not sure whether this is a tale of the Ferrari Family or just great human spirit but even though is a bit rambling, stick with it – I hope to make it worth your while.
Many of you will know that I took my Ferrari “Bella” to Tasmania for a week’s drive around.
Well, Ferrari’s are wondrous but also funny beasts and, despite the fact she had been sent into our local service department for a thorough check prior, when she came off the truck in Melbourne she had developed a “sticky clutch”.
Some background (skip this paragraph if you care less about mechanical things)… Modern Ferrari’s have an electronic clutch – yes they have a pedal and that pedal is spring loaded but it doesn’t actually do anything – it just sends a signal to one of those very expensive and temperamental computers to disengage the clutch to allow you to change gears and then reengage once you let your foot out. This is why the F1 gear box has become so popular – even many of the purists (like me) who like to change our own gears are accepting the futility of the exercise when you’re just going through the motions and the computer does it all for you, especially when you consider it can changes gears itself without your assistance in 0.0025 of a second! This in turn goes to an actuator (have no idea what that is) that actually engages and disengages the clutch – it is this – a mechanical part - that was sticking.
It was too late to get it to the dealer before getting on the boat for the trip from Melbourne to Tasmania and after turning the car off and jiggling (the extent of my personal mechanical ability) the clutch pedal, it seemed to fix itself so we proceeded.
The first day in Tassie was fantastic – on top of having a lovely drive, being with my beautiful friend Leisl and have 5 people recognise me (I began to think that 95% of my book sales must have been in Tassie) and say hello – always good for the ego, the weather was perfect for driving a convertible – sunny but cool.
We got to a little town called Stanley and for those of you not from the Apple Isle it is not the A#@e end of the universe but you definitely can see it from there!
It was 4pm on Easter Thursday night and Bella decided this would be a great time for her to announce she didn’t like driving around Tassie and have the clutch stick again, but now we were not going anywhere.
With the smell of burning clutch we finally pulled into a little out of the way Motel because my mobile phone was not working (thanks Optus! – now moved to Telstra) and I didn’t want to abandon the car in a country lane way in the middle of no where.
The car has a 3 year warranty and that comes with assistance so I called Ferrari Assist for, well, an assist!
I explained to the guy behind the desk that my mobile wasn’t working and that it was a 1800 number so it wouldn’t cost anything so he said it was fine.
I explained to Ferrari Assist where I was which I think they had to Google or something because most of the time there was silence at the other end of the phone.
Problem was there is no Ferrari dealership or Ferrari trained mechanic in Tassie and the closest “World Assist” contractor was in Hobart (about 5 hours away).
They offered to tow the car to the Melbourne dealership but, because it was a long weekend that wouldn’t occur until the next Tuesday.
They would normally offer a rent a car but all cars in Tasmania were booked out for the long weekend so if I wanted one I would have to go back to the mainland and pick one up!
They offered me Motel vouchers up to $80 per night but even the End of the Universe Motel at Stanley was more than that and we had reservations at Cradle Mountain that night for a cabin that was $1,500 per night.
Other then that they couldn’t help.
I asked, which part of Assist weren’t they getting? Which, surprisingly did not get me too far!
They were convinced the clutch was gone… I thought if we could just “unstick” the actuator some how I could get moving and get on with my holiday.
“OK,” they said, “If I could find a mechanic to come and look at the car they would get Ferrari’s service manager to talk him through it and maybe get me going.”
Where the heck to you find a mechanic in Stanley who is prepared to look at a Ferrari and help at 4pm on Easter Thursday afternoon? Hello Yellow – no answer from anybody in Stanley and I am starting to get desperate, because on top of the “no assist” I’m looking at 5 days in not so sunny Stanley!
The guy behind the desk then piped up, “Hey, why don’t you call Chas Kelley?”
“Who’s Chas Kelley?”
“Well, I think he owns a Ferrari or Porsche or something – an F40 – he must know a mechanic who can help – he lives in Devonport.”
Well, I’m thinking:
a. With due respect to our Tasmanian friends what’s the chance of somebody living in sleepy Devonport owning a $2 million limited edition collector Ferrari?
b. Even if he does, what’s the chance of me being able to get onto him?
c. Even if I can what’s the chance of his mechanic driving 2 ½ hours at this time on Easter Thursday for a 10 minute look at my car?
“How do I find him?” I asked Motel guy.
“He’s in the book!” and so he was.
Well, I call his office and somebody answers “Chas Kelley Transport” – sounding promising.
“Hi, it’s Peter Spann calling. Can I speak to Chas please?”
“He isn’t here.”
“Damn!” I thought.
“But I can give you his mobile if you like?” I am amazed – I don’t give out my mobile number to anybody and my team are told they’d get fired if they gave it out!
Call the mobile – voice mail… Bugger!
“Hi Chas, my name is Peter Spann. You don’t know me but I own a Ferrari F360, I’m stuck in Stanley and Ferrari Assist can’t assist. I was told that you might own a Ferrari and I wondering who services you car because if I can find a mechanic they might be able to help me. Would you mind giving me a call?”
So what do I do now? I thought. Well, beautiful friend is getting a little tied of all this so time to thank the motel guy and book a room so she can have a rest – it is starting to rain and get cold, and I DO have that $80 voucher burning a hole in my pocket!
Of course my mobile’s not working so I have to wait in reception hoping this guy I don’t know who may or may not own one of the most expensive cars on the planet who just happens to live in Tasmania and may or may not have a mechanic who may or may not be prepared to help and who may or may not even listen to his message and may or may not call me.
Every time the phone rang I must have looked up like a puppy waiting for dinner, but amazingly only about 15 minutes later motel guy says, “It’s him!”
Enthusiastically I pick up the handset, “Hello is that Peter?” asked the voice on the other end of the phone, “this isn’t a prank is it?”
“No, no, it’s for real, I know it sounds odd but I really do own a Ferrari and I really am stuck in Stanley,” we had a brief discussion about what was wrong, what I’d tried to do already and the problem in general, “I just though that you might be able to give me the name of your mechanic?”
“Mmm,” he said, I own a trucking company and my car is maintained by our chief mechanic.”
“Bugggggggggggggggggger!” I thought again.
“Oh well, it was worth a try, thanks for your help.”
“No wait on, I’ll send him out.”
“What, to Stanley?”
“Yeah, it’s only a couple of hours, I am sure Chris won’t mind.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. Just sit tight, he’ll be there as soon as he can. I get him to call you when he is on his way.”
Well, I was dumb founded. Here was this guy who didn’t know me from a bar of soap sending his own personal mechanic 2 ½ hours drive on Easter Thursday night in the rain out to help me when the company I had paid $400,000 to couldn’t / wouldn’t assist! Amazing.
10 minutes later the phone rang again, “Hi Peter this is Chris, I’m on my way. I also called a mate of mine who owns a workshop near there and he’s on his way too because maybe he can help and save me the trip. If he can’t help he’s going to wait with you and I can use his tools when I get there.”
OK, this is getting truly amazing.
Mate turns up, many phone calls later, after some bonnet lifting, scratching of crotch, driving around slowly in circles and general head scratching, mate decides he can’t help so we wait.
In record time around the corner comes an immaculate, late model SS Commodore ute in shinny red (of course) with Chas Kelley Transport duly painted on the side.
“Hi, I’m Chris,” said the mild mannered man, “Let’s see if we can get you going hey? I’ll just call Chas and let him know I am here”
Many more phone cars later, more bonnet lifting, scratching of crotch (by mate), driving around slowly in circles and general head scratching, Chris decides he can’t help either. The car is definitely going nowhere.
Double dammmmmmmmn!
By now it’s dark, cold and very wet.
“Well, I’m not sure what to do now, look’s like I’m stuck in Stanley.” I bemoaned.
“No, don’t worry,” came back Chris, “Chas has already called in a favour from a toey in Devonport with a tray back (important so it doesn’t damage the car) – he’s on his way – should be here shortly so at least we can get the car back to Devonport and secure it for you until Ferrari can pick it up.”
So now I am officially “blown away”.
In due course said tow truck turns up and Bella is ingloriously hauled up on it’s back.
We jump in the supped up ute and we’re on our way to Devonport.
I try calling the rent a car companies but there is not a car in Tasmania to be found so I talk with Leisl and decide that one of us will fly back to Melbourne, pick up a car, bring it back on the boat and we’ve only give up a day of our holiday.
Chris pipes up, “Seems silly to me, let me call Chas again.”
Now I’m thinking, “this guy has already done more then enough, he’s already gone above and beyond, I find it hard to imagine he could do any more.”
“OK Pete, Chris has told me what’s going on, and we won’t have any of that. First, where are you staying tonight?”
“Well, I haven’t made any bookings because I was still hoping we could get up to Cradle Mountain and get on with our trip but I’ll find somewhere in Devonport.”
“Don’t be silly, if you are staying anywhere you are staying with us at our home, but there’s no point in that we can give you one of our cars and you can get on with your trip.”
“Umm, that’s very generous of you,” I reply still dumbfounded – are there degrees of dumbfoundedness – can you be more dumfounded then dumbfounded?, “But we are here for a week.”
“No problems, you can have my wife’s car.”
NO WAY! I’m thinking, “I can’t do that to your wife.”
“Nah, no problems, we have 30 odd cars – it’ll be fine.”
I mean, what do you say to that? I thanked him and he hung up.
“Oh, you’ll like his wife’s car, much better then a rental.”
“Why?” I asked not trying to sound ungrateful, after all there were gift horses involved and I didn’t want to look in it’s mouth, “What type of car is it?”
“A Benz E55 AMG.”
Oh struth, I’m thinking, this is getting ridiculous. So I momentarily contemplated driving around Tassie in a limited edition Benz supercar but my conscious got the better of me – these cars, apart from being 250 odd grand are 3 year waiting list jobs - so had to call Chas again…
“Look, Chas,” I said, “Thank you for your extraordinarily generous offer but I just can’t accept it. If I had an accident or something I couldn’t forgive myself, so far better for me to organise a rental. I’ll just go back to the mainland tomorrow and…”
He cut me off.
“Why can’t you just get one in Devonport?”
“All booked out.”
“No worries, I know the owner of the ---- franchise, I’ll give him a call.”
As you’ve guessed he calls back 5 minutes later, “Fixed,” he said, “They are driving it out to Burnie airport for you so it’s closer and you can get on your way to Cradle Mountain tonight. Chris will lock up your car in the shed until Tuesday when Ferrari come to get it – we’ll look after everything and you just enjoy your holiday.”
WOW – and I don’t mean the ASX code for Woolworths. I am truly amazed.
My sceptical side kicked in momentarily and I thought, maybe they are scamming me, maybe they are a gang of professional car thieves who has a connection in the sleezy motel in Stanley and my beloved Bella will be stripped, parted and shipped around Australia faster then you can say, nice apples, but then again I thought, well, who cares? At least I’d get a new car on the insurance!
½ hour later we arrive in Burnie and there, standing alone and shivering in front of the rent a car place is a lone man with a lone car – all the other rent-a-car offices deserted.
“You won’t believe how ticked off the guy who was supposed to have this was!” says rent-a-car man.
I look at Chris, “Well, we rent the odd truck from ‘em – ahh, 25 to be exact!”
Well, a little embarrassed but relieved all the same we say our farewells to Chris, Bella, rent-a-car guy, tow-truck-guy and a bevy of teenagers assembled to look at the car, not sure whether to be inspired or laugh because it is being towed.
In parting Chris asked, “Do you mind if I show my kids the car. I won’t let them touch it or anything but I am sure they’d get a thrill out of it.”
“Heck, they can touch it all they like!”
We drive on to Cradle Mountain. Over the next few days we enjoy a lovely time in Tasmania. The plain white poverty pack Conformidore does its job very well, although I DO miss Bella and can’t help but wonder what it would be like to steer her through the lovely twists and turns that driving in Tassie offer and finally we get to Hobart where I call Ferrari No-Assist to tee up the collection of the car.
Loh and behold they can’t get the car back to Melbourne because it exceeds their towing limit but if I like, they can arrange it for the little price of $2,700. Now the car only cost $1,300 to truck from Brisbane to Melbourne so I am starting to think I am being ripped off and decline, saying I’ll find my own way to get it back to Melbourne.
I call Chris to let him know and ask if he wouldn’t mind keeping the car a little longer then originally anticipated due to my new dilemma.
“Mmm, might be a bit of a problem,” he said.
“There, I’ve finally worn out my welcome”, I thought, considering they have already rendered me more assistance then I could have ever dreamed of and probably more than I would have in the same circumstances.
“You see, we have 87 trucks that come in and out of the shed every day and I am concerned it might get damaged, we have a dozen trucks that go to Melbourne everyday, we’ll just put it on the back of one of them and Ferrari can pick it up from the boat.”
What are these people, Mother Teresa reincarnated???
I see little alternative but to, yet again, accept his generous offer.
I must say at this point that once the car gets out of the (contracted) hands of World no-assist – which coincidentally also contract to BMW and when my X5 broke down were amazing – the Ferrari dealership in Melbourne were terrific and while there was a 3 week wait on the part fixed bits and pieces the Brisbane dealership either couldn’t be bothered with or had overlooked, and all done free under warranty - but still, I couldn’t believe that people who I had never met offered me so much assistance when the people I had paid to help couldn’t be bothered. And World-Assist even knocked back my $80 room voucher claim because I didn’t get the right type of receipt!
So I’m trying to think of a way to thank these guys. I tell this story to anybody who would listen (and then some) while we are driving around Tasmania and everybody seems to know Chas Kelley. They talk of his generosity, of the many charities he is involved in, all the great things he and his company have done for people and I start to piece together the character of a great man. Nobody had a bad word to say. I start to wonder how many people there are left in the world like that. How far I would have gone to help him if the roles were reversed and I found myself coming up short.
Is it just small town generosity? No, it must be more than that.
While in the Tamar valley we pick up a case of Tassie’s finest wines and when our holiday is over I call Chris to let him know we’ll be dropping in on him. Under howls of protest – “you shouldn’t have, I wasn’t expecting anything”, and so on he finally agreed.
5 minutes later I get a call from Chas, “can you come at 5 o’clock?”
“Sure,” I replied a bit bewildered.
When we got to Devonport it was dark so I called the office for directions and they gave me the street name.
“What number?” I asked.
“You won’t miss it.” Sure – it’s a bit hard when it takes up the whole block!
There were big trucks coming and going and a hive of activity.
We stepped up to the door and pressed the door bell and a good looking man in his mid forties opened it saying, “You must be Peter, we’ve set up a little surprise for Chris, come on in.”
We got to one of the big sheds where a number of people were waiting. Chas picked up his phone and called Chris and said in a menacing tone, “You’d better get in here fast!” and hung up.
When Chris realised there was a celebration rather then a problem he went bright red and we presented our meagre offering of thanks. He seemed genuinely startled that we would make such a generous gesture which left us thinking we should have done more!
On the way out I asked, “Hey where do you get something to eat at this time of night in this town?”
“Don’t be silly, you’re coming to dinner at my place,” said Chas.
“Thanks, but we’ve just got to have a quick bite and get on the boat.”
“Don’t you want to see the F40?” he asked tempting me.
“Of course, but what about the boat?”
“Don’t worry about that, I know the Captain!”
Peter Spann said:
I know if I owned, I would probably feel a little embarrassed seeing it on a tow truck.
Excellent read, Peter! (As always).
Andrew said:
Hey! I am NOT balding. I am also 5' 10" and I have lost 17 kgs in the last 3 months.
Grumble Grumble.
Another great read Peter.
As much as im aware that a great number of people in this world can be tools, there are more of us that will go out of our way for absolutely no reason to help strangers, it restores my faith in the human race.
He's obviously an exceptional character, they say the true measure of a man is shown in how he treats someone who can do absolutely nothing for him. He could'nt gain a thing from helping you, yet he did it all anyway, truly exceptional.
You've also reinforced Enzo Ferrair's famous comment....."We only put up with customers to fund our racing program" Its very dissapointing from them.
Thats not to say i wont buy my Ferrari someday because of their poor service though.....
As much as im aware that a great number of people in this world can be tools, there are more of us that will go out of our way for absolutely no reason to help strangers, it restores my faith in the human race.
He's obviously an exceptional character, they say the true measure of a man is shown in how he treats someone who can do absolutely nothing for him. He could'nt gain a thing from helping you, yet he did it all anyway, truly exceptional.
You've also reinforced Enzo Ferrair's famous comment....."We only put up with customers to fund our racing program" Its very dissapointing from them.
Thats not to say i wont buy my Ferrari someday because of their poor service though.....
Great story, Peter.
About 20 years ago I also spent a couple of weeks travelling around Tassie, although my mode of transport was at the opposite end of the scale to yours (ie. I was hitchhiking). I was amazed at how easy it was to get lifts, and how far out of their way people would often go to show me around or take me to where I was heading. One guy who took me and another German traveler from Southport to Huonville then spent something like an hour driving us all around the apple orchards there and relating the whole dynastic history of the apple industry in that region .
I even hitched out to Cradle Mountain, stayed in my $0 a night chalet (I didn't have a tent, so the ranger let me sleep on the floor of a ranger hut there), and then hitched back to Devonport late the next day after my walk out to the summit (after dark, but I still got a lift and was dropped off right outside the door of the youth hostel).
This was just after New Year, and I had the same problem regarding rental cars. Couldn't get anything in Launceston, hitched to Hobart, couldn't get anything there either, so hitched back to Devonport (all in one day, including a stop-over in Launceston on the way to Devonport for tea and scones with the driver's mother).
Just to get the whole experience, I flew in to Hobart on Christmas Day, couldn't get anything to eat as everywhere was shut until I finally found one little hamburger joint in the suburbs, spent that night throwing up and the next day recovering from food poisoning, and then spent the next few days around Constitution Dock with a flatmate who was into yachts and was going to crew one of them back to Melbourne. Don't know what it's like these days, but Constitution Dock at the end of the Sydney to Hobart was about as debauched as anything I'd ever seen.
Have always been meaning to get back there. It was a great holiday (except of course for the food poisoning). No Ferraris, but I did get to ride in a Jag.
Cheers,
GP
About 20 years ago I also spent a couple of weeks travelling around Tassie, although my mode of transport was at the opposite end of the scale to yours (ie. I was hitchhiking
). I was amazed at how easy it was to get lifts, and how far out of their way people would often go to show me around or take me to where I was heading. One guy who took me and another German traveler from Southport to Huonville then spent something like an hour driving us all around the apple orchards there and relating the whole dynastic history of the apple industry in that region .I even hitched out to Cradle Mountain, stayed in my $0 a night chalet (I didn't have a tent, so the ranger let me sleep on the floor of a ranger hut there), and then hitched back to Devonport late the next day after my walk out to the summit (after dark, but I still got a lift and was dropped off right outside the door of the youth hostel).
This was just after New Year, and I had the same problem regarding rental cars. Couldn't get anything in Launceston, hitched to Hobart, couldn't get anything there either, so hitched back to Devonport (all in one day, including a stop-over in Launceston on the way to Devonport for tea and scones with the driver's mother).
Just to get the whole experience, I flew in to Hobart on Christmas Day, couldn't get anything to eat as everywhere was shut until I finally found one little hamburger joint in the suburbs, spent that night throwing up and the next day recovering from food poisoning, and then spent the next few days around Constitution Dock with a flatmate who was into yachts and was going to crew one of them back to Melbourne. Don't know what it's like these days, but Constitution Dock at the end of the Sydney to Hobart was about as debauched as anything I'd ever seen.
Have always been meaning to get back there. It was a great holiday (except of course for the food poisoning). No Ferraris, but I did get to ride in a Jag.
Cheers,
GP
Awesome story Peter
Just your typical Tassie hospitality.
I've been wondering if you would post these events, I heard you'd broken down from our mutual friend (C.W.) at the chemist a few doors up from our office where I met you. Incidentally, I've played basketball with for the last 3 years until we both retired last year.
As you say, Chas Kelly is a bit of a local legend around here, sort of like a small time Lindsay Fox, if you call 100 odd trucks smal timel. He started off about 30 years ago and has built his business from there. Obviously a car fanatic, he successfully raced speedway for many years.
He also owns quite a bit of commercial and industrial real estate.
As far as his car collection goes, I'd love to see it and i think he likes to see it too. I'm not sure if its is current home (Approx 3 million to build about 10 years ago according to rumour) or his previous home, but one of the main living rooms had a glass type floor over the 14 car garage so he could see his Ferrari's and other cars. (Some say it was a wall and the garage adjoined it, I've never had either confirmed).
About 10 years ago it was reported in the local papers that he'd just paid a million dollars for the then latest model Ferrari. As I mentioned in a previous post in this thread, Targa Tasmania is a car rally around Tasmania over a number of stages. Anyone with the money to afford it can enter. Chas entered the brand new Ferrari and near wrote it off in one of the early stages. He'd only had it a few weeks and was hoping it would arrive for the race. I bet he wished it hadn't arrived on time!!!! The local papers showed the bent up Ferrari on the back of a truck.
I've just looked in the local phone book and his mobile is listed in there along with Chris's and a few others.
I've know Chris for a long time and he's a genuine nice guy (although I haven't had anything to do with him for a number of years) and he would have genuinely loved going to Stanley to do what he did for you. His wife and her family I've know for as long as i can remember. Her father is a painter and I've had him do my painting, both IPs and home. They all live about 2 blocks away. Your story blew me away, mainly because i just think, wow, what a small world.
Oh, and I too drive a plain white poverty pack Conformidore!!! lol And I likes it!!!
Glad you got a good dose of friendly Tasmainian service.
Cheers
Just your typical Tassie hospitality.
I've been wondering if you would post these events, I heard you'd broken down from our mutual friend (C.W.) at the chemist a few doors up from our office where I met you. Incidentally, I've played basketball with for the last 3 years until we both retired last year.
As you say, Chas Kelly is a bit of a local legend around here, sort of like a small time Lindsay Fox, if you call 100 odd trucks smal timel. He started off about 30 years ago and has built his business from there. Obviously a car fanatic, he successfully raced speedway for many years.
He also owns quite a bit of commercial and industrial real estate.
As far as his car collection goes, I'd love to see it and i think he likes to see it too. I'm not sure if its is current home (Approx 3 million to build about 10 years ago according to rumour) or his previous home, but one of the main living rooms had a glass type floor over the 14 car garage so he could see his Ferrari's and other cars. (Some say it was a wall and the garage adjoined it, I've never had either confirmed).
About 10 years ago it was reported in the local papers that he'd just paid a million dollars for the then latest model Ferrari. As I mentioned in a previous post in this thread, Targa Tasmania is a car rally around Tasmania over a number of stages. Anyone with the money to afford it can enter. Chas entered the brand new Ferrari and near wrote it off in one of the early stages.
He'd only had it a few weeks and was hoping it would arrive for the race. I bet he wished it hadn't arrived on time!!!! The local papers showed the bent up Ferrari on the back of a truck.I've just looked in the local phone book and his mobile is listed in there along with Chris's and a few others.
I've know Chris for a long time and he's a genuine nice guy (although I haven't had anything to do with him for a number of years) and he would have genuinely loved going to Stanley to do what he did for you. His wife and her family I've know for as long as i can remember. Her father is a painter and I've had him do my painting, both IPs and home. They all live about 2 blocks away. Your story blew me away, mainly because i just think, wow, what a small world.
Oh, and I too drive a plain white poverty pack Conformidore!!!
lol And I likes it!!!Glad you got a good dose of friendly Tasmainian service.
Cheers
What would you expect, its like a big happy family down there......
sorry, someone had to say it...i'll go now
sorry, someone had to say it...i'll go now
Job
Well, I AM in the process of renegotiating my contract as CEO of Freeman Fox... Maybe there IS an opportunity for a career change. Wadda ya pay?
geoffw said:
Well, I AM in the process of renegotiating my contract as CEO of Freeman Fox... Maybe there IS an opportunity for a career change. Wadda ya pay?
