The Prancing Skunk (Ferraris Online)

Colleen Sheehan - Owner/Operator for The Prancing Skunk (formerly Ferraris Online)

If it’s time to find a new home for your Ferrari or other exotic, please contact us. This is the perfect time to buy, sell or trade. Our program of newsletters and client-specific e-mails combined with a high-profile web presence and a world-wide client-base culled from over 40 years in the Ferrari business will work for you, just as it has for hundreds of other sellers. With thousands of Ferraris sold, no one is better qualified to help you sell your Ferrari or other exotic cars.

Contact: Colleen Sheehan at sales@ferraris-online.com | (949) 646-6086 | Visit Online!

                 

• Your dad started in Motorsports; what/where/when/how… What kinds of cars? Was he already a body/paint guy? How did he get into the world of fixing crashed cars for insurance companies?
• What’s in a name… What’s the backstory behind “The Prancing Skunk” 
• If you’re going to buy a Ferrari – where should people start? Is the 308 always the gateway? Or are there other models to consider? What would you recommend for the first time collector? Which is the best, which is the worst (per se)?
• Let’s talk about the business of brokering cars – how does that work? Buying, Selling, Consigning? Online versus Traditional. Thoughts on Auctions? 
• 51 years in the business – what does the next 5- 10 50 years look like?

and much, much more!

Crew Chief Brad: [00:00:00] BreakFix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from all over the autosphere, from wrench turners and racers to artists, authors, designers, and everything in between. Our goal is to inspire a new generation of petrolheads that wonder. How did they get that job or become that person?

The road to success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.

Crew Chief Eric: With over 50 years of experience as brokers of exotic cars specializing in Ferrari. Lamborghini, Maserati, and collections of other exotics. Ferraris Online was founded in 1972 by Michael Sheehan, offering experience as an expert witness regarding exotic car values, market trends, appraisals, and all aspects of repair and vehicle restoration.

Ferraris Online is still run by Michael, who is now accompanied by his daughter Colleen and her husband, RJ and Colleen is here with us to share their story, starting with how [00:01:00] they began Ferraris online by fixing crashed exotics for State Farm, USAA and the Auto Club insurance companies and quickly growing to be North America’s largest Ferrari restoration shop.

Joining me from Exotic Car Marketplace, along with other Brake Fix episodes like What Should I Buy Italian Cars, is my co host tonight, William Ross, to help me welcome Colleen to the show. So welcome aboard. Welcome to Brake Fix. Thank you very much. I’m glad to be here. Colleen, we normally always start a Brake Fix episode By asking for your superhero origin story, who, what, where, when, and why of the topic at hand.

But in this case, we actually have to start even further back before you were talking about your dad, your dad started in motor sports. So let’s dig into that. What kind of cars he got into Peyton body, all those kinds of things. So take us on that journey.

Colleen Sheehan: It’s actually such an interesting story and I love it.

It’s just. Something that you don’t hear nowadays, especially. So my dad hitchhiked from [00:02:00] Canada when he was 19 years old. He came down to California and he started working on VW buses. It happened in a very kind of weird way. Porsche broker around here would ship parts here to California using the buses and then basically cared about the parts.

They really didn’t care about the buses. So my dad started buying the buses from this Porsche guy and would kind of fix them up and sell them. This was in the late sixties, early seventies. So he helped with the whole VW bus, hippie. era. And then after doing that for a little while, he bought his first Ferrari.

When he sold it, he made quite a bit of money on it. And so he decided I’m out of the VW bus business and I’m gonna start working on Ferraris and selling Ferraris.

Crew Chief Eric: If I might ask, what was that first Ferrari?

Colleen Sheehan: [00:03:00] So the first Ferrari was a PF Coupe. I believe he bought it for my dad’s in the other room. He bought it for 2, 000.

And how much did you sell it for?

Crew Chief Eric: 2, 500 in 1960 seventies dollars. So we got to translate that for inflation, right?

Colleen Sheehan: So that was really the kickoff of his business. So that would have been 1972.

Crew Chief Eric: Was he racing that Ferrari at that time or was he racing other cars?

Colleen Sheehan: So that was before he really got into racing.

That kind of evolved with the business. So it started with the service and sales. And then very quickly after that got into racing.

Crew Chief Eric: So you’re working on. Specifically, I guess, restoring exotic cars, focusing on Ferrari, starting with that. How do you build that sort of clientele? Was it just because there weren’t so many other people doing that kind of work at the time?

Colleen Sheehan: Yeah, that’s a big part of it. So back then there weren’t as many dealers and brokers as there are today. It was also the world seemed a lot bigger, I guess, when you [00:04:00] don’t have the internet. If you own an exotic car and you’re in this area and there was no one else to go to, then you go to that guy and word of mouth in a small community like the exotic car community, word spread really quickly.

And that’s kind of the only way to do it back then.

William Ross: How was your dad sourcing all the parts in that back in that time? Was he actually trying to source them back? from Italy, or was he like just going through junk yards or, I mean, how was he coming about getting all that stuff?

Colleen Sheehan: Actually not sure how he got some of the parts back then, especially in the beginning.

I know after years in the business, you have all the right connections, but I’m really actually not sure at first how he first started getting all the parts.

William Ross: Yeah. I can see that had to be quite a chore.

Colleen Sheehan: Oh yeah. I could only imagine.

William Ross: That’d be a job in itself. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Colleen Sheehan: Right. Figuring all that out in the early seventies with a business that not many people are doing definitely must have been a huge challenge.

Crew Chief Eric: And also being in [00:05:00] California, a lot of the clients had to have been, let’s call them Hollywood type celebrities, right? Because to afford a Ferrari, even then was grades above. Even some of the best sports cars, I mean, you compare it to the Porsches and they were cheap by comparison. I’m sure there’s some interesting stories about folks that walked in the door wanting their Ferrari repaired or, or even restored or what have you.

So any of those that you can share?

Colleen Sheehan: Oh, yes. One of the things I found very interesting, my dad and I did kind of a breakdown one time because his client base, it actually used to be lawyers, doctors, contractors. Basically, if you owned. A big contracting company built houses or were a lawyer, a doctor. You could afford a Ferrari almost seemed like it wasn’t so unattainable back then.

I mean, for a lot of people, it still was, but now just the prices. Seems a lot harder nowadays, but some of the people, I mean, one of the things, besides just restoration and repair, my dad did a [00:06:00] lot of the conversions. So like the Daytona spider conversions was a big one. My dad and Strayman were actually the two big Daytona conversion people, and they happened to be down the street from each other.

That was a really big thing. And. Clint Eastwood actually wanted my dad to convert a boxer for him into a target top, which he did. There’s been a couple of the celebrity cars that are pretty cool. And occasionally we’ll come across some of the cars that he used to work on. Lots of the Daytona spiders have.

Come back to us and we’ve sold them. Sometimes we’ll get cars in. My dad used to put stickers in the windshield, you know, just the service sticker and I sold a three Oh eight that a guy had bought from my dad and still had all the service records. From the old shop and still had the little sticker in the window and all of that.

So it’s fun to see those cars come back around.

William Ross: Yeah, it’s gotta be really cool.

Colleen Sheehan: Oh yeah, definitely.

William Ross: Did your dad just like [00:07:00] basically self taught himself how to do the repairs? Or, I mean, he had the mechanical aptitude to be able to. Get into it, engine, body work. I mean, I sound like he was pretty much doing everything and anything that needed to be done on the cart.

Colleen Sheehan: Yeah. And then he did grow the business to where at one point he had 30 employees. So he had a head mechanic, head fabricator, all the guys. And funniest part is they’re still around today. They run big shops of their own and they’re. Some of the best in the business today.

William Ross: Well, you learn from the best, right?

Yeah, you’ve got to.

Crew Chief Eric: Sometimes we have to ask, you know, what’s in a name. And so today you guys are recognized as Ferraris online, but in 1972, you weren’t called Ferraris online yet. As the article in garage style magazine was put out the prancing skunk. Is that the original name of the company? Where did that name come from?

How’s the name of the business? evolved.

Colleen Sheehan: So it’s evolved quite a lot. The initial restoration shop, my dad’s first [00:08:00] business, it was actually called European Auto Sales and European Auto Restoration. Back in the early 70s, it was not a common name and it spoke for itself on what he did. So it was kind of perfect.

For the time, whereas today, if you look, there’s all kinds of European, you know, sales, European, something. So as time evolved, Ferrari’s online came about because after many, many years in the restoration business, my dad decided he no longer wanted to restore cars. He just wanted to do sales. He didn’t want a whole bunch of employees.

And so he downsized and. Became Ferraris online, which was also a name that just kind of spoke for itself for what it was. They’ll do business as far as online, but our official company name is prancing skunk automotive. That whole thing actually came about because of my dad racing back in the seventies, he would race all kinds of different Ferraris, but other cars as [00:09:00] well, eventually he would buy a big race trailer and he put the prancing horse on the side of it.

And Ferrari is a bit touchy. They don’t like people who sell their cars and they don’t make money off of it. So they were not a huge fan of my dad. They tried to sue him over having the prancing horse on the side of the trailer. The actual badge, the Ferrari badge, the shield, is non copyrightable, so Ferrari doesn’t own the badge.

So the only thing they actually own is the prancing horse itself. Kind of as a middle finger to Ferrari, him and my mom had designed the prancing skunk. And that replaced the horse, and it’s just kind of stuck around ever since. It’s unique.

William Ross: Where’s the t shirts for those? I want a praising skunk t shirt.

Colleen Sheehan: I have hats, actually. I have the stickers that are the exact size [00:10:00] of the fender badges. Oh, really? Uh, yeah. So they fit right over the real fender badge on a Ferrari. And then I have some baseball caps. I’ve made jackets, all kinds of stuff.

Crew Chief Eric: I would totally wear a prancing skunk t shirt. I think that’s fabulous.

Yeah, that’d be fantastic. It also reminds me of the Volvo guys with the prancing moose, like same kind of thing, right? So I think that’s really slick. So let’s dig into the racing just a little bit more. So you said your dad raced some Ferraris. What kind of Ferraris? And when he wasn’t racing Ferraris, what else was he putting on the track?

Colleen Sheehan: So he raced everything non Ferraris. So like Formula Ford and Formula Russell, he had a Corvette. He named Porky that he raced at the Long Beach Grand Prix. So many different cars, a Curtis, all kinds of stuff. But as far as Ferraris go, probably my favorite one he’s raced. Was the 1957 Testarossa, pontoon fender, Lucy Bell, the white one with the blue stripe, and he raced that [00:11:00] in the Mille Miglia.

I mean, he’s raced the 1970s, 512 M, 206 SP, 750 Monza. He’s owned a lot of comp Daytonas and raced numerous comp Daytonas. Actually the cool one. So the comp Daytona is one of my favorite cars. There was 15 original comp Daytonas, and then a prototype. He actually bought the prototype in the seventies and used it as his daily driver for years.

William Ross: Hey listeners, they have one for sale right now too. Just FYI.

Colleen Sheehan: We do. And that one, I don’t mind if it sits in the showroom for a while. Probably a little selfish on my part, but I just love it so much.

William Ross: Turn some heads, driving that into that cars and coffee or if you just went to over a week last week, I saw that post on that.

I saw that must’ve made it an entrance.

Colleen Sheehan: Oh yeah. It’s loud and you know, it stands out as a presence, but it’s awesome. Yeah, and I don’t know why I love those cars. So, I mean, I know why, but [00:12:00] they’re not the most comfortable. They have a heavy clutch, no power steering. They’re really heavy to try and drive around town.

They’re meant for high speeds, but I think that’s part of the charm of them, in my opinion.

William Ross: I agree.

Crew Chief Eric: So coming up through the seventies in the Ferrari world, you’re still in that sort of transitional period from the classic. I want to call them the flowing bodies or the round bodies. Like when it started with like the 57 Testarossa forward, those nice, like almost Aston Martin looking bodied Ferraris, not to make that comparison, Ferraris or Ferraris, but you get to the seventies and then you got the Dino.

Which made a huge right turn for Ferrari. And then the dawn of the 308, I’ve said it jokingly before the 308 and the 360 as well, were two of the Ferraris that sort of kept Ferrari people in business, just like the 944 did for Porsche, right? It was like every man’s car if you were in that market. So during that time, did you guys see a lot of, [00:13:00] let’s say 308s coming through and things like that, where that was.

The hot ticket item?

Colleen Sheehan: Yeah. Well, the 3 0 8 was Ferrari’s first real mass produced car across the different variants. They’ve made over 12,000 of them back then. That was crazy. Previously, I mean, the Daytona’s, they only made less than 1300 Dino’s, a couple thousand. That was their first really big production car, and it was a huge hit, and it was definitely helped by the whole Magnum PI thing, but also.

A lot of people do forget about the Dino 308, the 308 GT4. And that was the interim car between the two, which was not as popular. So they went to the Bertone style body design, which was the very wedgie angular look. When it first came out, people were kind of like, Oh, I don’t know about this. But then they revised it with the 308 we come to know today, and it had a little more, I don’t even want to say curve.

It just wasn’t [00:14:00] quite the same harsh angle. So it was more widely accepted. And by that time, Bertone started to make a name for himself. I mean, with the Monte Estrados, a bunch of other cars, it was a very popular look. So it definitely caught on really quick.

Crew Chief Eric: Before we move on to our next segment, because I think there’s a whole conversation around buying Ferraris, and I’m understanding what to buy and things like that.

It’s part of what you guys do, not just a restoration part and whatnot. I got to ask this pit stop question because you just dropped some vehicles on us that you really like, but are Ferraris the sexiest cars? Is there a Ferrari that’s the sexiest of all time? Or is there something for you that is even more beautiful than any Ferrari?

Colleen Sheehan: No, it’d be Ferraris. It’d definitely be Ferraris pinpointing it down to one, probably not Lucy Bell. But the other 250 Testarossa pontoon fender, it’s black and it has a red stripe around the nose. That car has to be the sexiest [00:15:00] car of all time. It is just drop dead gorgeous. That one I think has to win.

Crew Chief Eric: I’m of a different school of thoughts. I mean, I’m a huge. F40 fan, you know, it’s the last car that Enzo blessed before he left us. It’s just, I don’t know, there’s something just about that car. I just saw one again the other day in person and it’s just, it blows my mind every time I see one. So that for me is always the top of the list, but the 57 Testarossa for sure.

Gorgeous car, but the antithesis of that, right? The ugliest car of all time. Is there such thing as an ugly Ferrari?

Colleen Sheehan: If you put it just in the realm of Ferrari, there’s gorgeous Ferraris and then there’s a couple ugly Ferraris. Now if you put them in the realm of cars in general, definitely I would take the ugliest Ferrari over lots of other cars.

There’s lots of other cars that would definitely be, in my opinion, uglier. If I had to pick,

Crew Chief Eric: please say the Mondial T, please. I

Colleen Sheehan: was actually, that was going to have to say. The [00:16:00] Mondial is, uh, not high on my favorite list.

Crew Chief Eric: You hear that folks? It is now confirmed by an expert. Weird science killed that car.

Colleen Sheehan: But if you take that car and put it up next to a whole bunch of other non Ferrari cars, looks wise, I would probably still pick that one, but. I know the maintenance that comes along with them and a lot of the reliability issues. There’s some that are very well serviced and maintained, but for the most part, I’ve had more of those leave me stranded on the side of the road with an ugly car than actually.

You know, do real well for me, maybe they just don’t like me either. So maybe the feeling’s mutual.

Crew Chief Eric: That’s a great follow up to where we’re going with this. William was with us recently and we did an episode all about buying Italian cars specifically targeted towards the first time collector. So now we’re going to hone in a little further and talk about Ferrari.

We mentioned before the 308. They’re so plentiful. That’s sort of the [00:17:00] gateway. Into the Ferrari world. If you’re going to buy a Ferrari, where should people start? Should they start that far back? Is there something more modern? Is there something that’s more of a compromised car to get you into the world of Ferrari?

That then lets you sort of build up from there. What should people consider if they’re looking to buy a Ferrari

Colleen Sheehan: that is very much dependent on. Each individual person, some people would probably prefer something a little more modern three sixties and four thirties are always kind of a good beginner choice.

I’d say a four 30 cause they don’t have the cam belt. So the service requirements are a little less. The three Oh eight is great. If you want a good classic, that is fairly reliable because they have pretty bulletproof ECUs and they’re. Not horrid to work on and parts are readily available because they made so many.

So you’re not going to get killed trying to find parts, but I also think that you should buy whatever you’ll be [00:18:00] happy looking at in your garage, you know, and happy driving down the street. I deal with so many different buyers. Some of them are investors where they’re buying cars. Cause they think in a few years they’ll be worth more.

I have buyers who are, you know, just enthusiasts who just really like certain cars and everything in between say your favorite car is the Mondial, you know, or, or whatever it is that. You really want that you look at and it just makes you happy. That’s what you should go for. My biggest recommendation would be to buy the best car you can afford.

Don’t buy something cheaper. Cause it seems like a deal. Cause usually when that happens, you get eaten up in deferred maintenance costs and other issues that could pop up if you can, depending on the budget, get the best car you can for whatever your budget is. The 308 is a good starter. If I had to pick a couple of good starter Ferraris, 308s are great.

360s or 430s are [00:19:00] great. So those would probably be my two go to kind of starters.

Crew Chief Eric: I’ve got a couple I want to throw at you just to get your feedback. So a lot of people don’t realize, but I’ve brought it up before, and I brought it up on the Italian car episode. What about the 208 Turbo? Same body, smaller engine?

Colleen Sheehan: Oh, yeah, no.

Crew Chief Eric: I

Colleen Sheehan: Those are just gutless until the turbo kicks in and then it’s there. No,

Crew Chief Eric: that’s so eighties though. You look at the nine 11s and the Audi Quattros and the Renault fives and you have to have that period appropriate turbo lag. That’s what I like to call it.

Colleen Sheehan: Definitely period appropriate packs a little punch, but they’re not the worst, but just

Crew Chief Eric: they’re quirky.

We’ll get to that. So another one that. comes up is the four or five, six GT

Colleen Sheehan: out of the four 56 line, the M series is a bit better because they made some improvements. Basically they had valve guide issues at [00:20:00] first, long story short, it would cause a lot of smoking, quite expensive. If you ever have to fix that.

If you have a four 56 GT, one of the earlier ones, or you’re looking to buy one, my big recommendation is see if the valve guides have already been done. Because if not, it could cause a problem in the future that would be very expensive to resolve. The M has taken care of those issues with some other upgrades.

So overall, just a bit more reliable. They’re both great cars. So those are definitely a good option.

Crew Chief Eric: And I hear a lot of people say, I’m going to buy a 430 Scud and put a 6 speed in it. How do you feel about the converted cars?

Colleen Sheehan: I don’t mind. I know that there’s plenty of purists who hate anything converted.

The 430s are easy to convert because they made so many factory 430 6 speeds. The parts are much more easy to find. Plenty of good shops that could do that conversion. Once you get into the more limited edition cars. So we actually just [00:21:00] sold today a 599 6 speed conversion. The problem with those conversions is they only made 30 factory 599 six speeds.

That means you really can’t get the original part. And the four thirties had used shift cables. Whereas the five nine nines use shift rods. When the conversion on the car I just sold started, they tried to fabricate the rods, but there was vibration issues. Just couldn’t get it right. They wanted to go with cables, but the owner really just wanted the factory.

So we sent the car somewhere else and they were actually able to source the factory original, like from the factory parts and to have those installed in the car. Well, that’s great. But then the next problem is the more modern the car, the more complicated the computers. So getting the transmission to.

Speak correctly with the rest of the computer and everything actually function without warning lights and all kinds of [00:22:00] things going wrong is very difficult to do. Luckily, the mechanic is a computer genius and was able to make everything function seamlessly. So it drives just like the factory. 6 speed 599.

But doing that is extremely difficult. 430s, go for it just because it’s not hard to do and I don’t care what people do with their own cars. Do what makes you happy. But for stuff like the 599… Be aware, it’s a lot more difficult and it’s going to cause some headaches in the future while you’re trying to do it.

Crew Chief Eric: The darker side of that conversation you alluded to earlier, when we were joking about the Mondial T and how it leaves you on the side of the road. And, you know, people are scared of Ferraris. We even talked about this in some other episodes. It’s like an engine is an engine is an engine. If you can figure out how to take it apart without breaking it, you know, you probably can work on it.

There are some, let’s say reliability issues with the Mondial T that might be one to stay away from. I’ve heard some horror stories about the three 48, the three 55 with the joystick, you [00:23:00] know, things like that. So are there Ferraris that are just a little bit more troublesome? I don’t want to call them bad.

I just want to call them maybe a little bit more temperamental or labor intensive. That you should be aware of if you’re shopping.

Colleen Sheehan: Yes, absolutely. And that doesn’t mean that just cause I named one car, they’re all bad. There’s just certain models that have known issues that could go wrong. Just like with the, the four 56, the valve guides, it doesn’t mean every four 56 is going to be bad.

It just means that it’s something to be aware of. And especially if you’re looking to buy one, you just want to do your due diligence. I know it could be an issue in the future if it’s not something that’s already been taken care of or other cars like the 355 Spyder with the top issues, even if that’s been taken care of before doesn’t mean it can’t break again, other cars have reoccurring issues.

So there’s no lack of Ferrari models that do have their issues. You know, their [00:24:00] problems that could, and quite often do occur for me personally. I’ve grown up around these cars my whole life. It’s kind of like, Oh, okay. Well, the dash and the six 12 went out. Take it to the shop, get it fixed. Cause that’s something the 612s, the 599s, they’re pretty solid cars, but the dash is a weak point for them.

It’s happened plenty of times. So for me, I’m just like, okay, well gotta go get that taken care of. But I know for a lot of people who don’t deal with so many cars all the time, it’s a big deal and it is expensive when that kind of stuff happens. Kind of part of the territory though,

Crew Chief Eric: out of all the cars that we mentioned and plenty of others that we haven’t, is there one that sort of just checks all the boxes?

That’s great at everything, right? You can take it up in the canyons. You could autocross it, maybe take it to the track. You could show it, you could drive it to work. Is there one that just does it all?

Colleen Sheehan: I think that’s a very individual question for me. That would be the comp Daytona. I would drive that everywhere.

You can take that to the track, take that to the canyons, puts a smile on my face every time I start it. But I [00:25:00] know a large majority of people probably wouldn’t want to drive that around everywhere because it, you wrestle with it, you know, it is difficult to drive, goes back to what I said about buy what makes you happy, whatever that car is, that just puts a smile on your face.

Go with that one.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, now we’re going to switch gears a little bit and we’re going to talk about an area of this business that both you and William are familiar with. And that’s the buying and selling a brokering of these cars. So it’s more than just having a passion and a love and saying, I want that red one.

Or that yellow one. There’s a whole process to buying a Ferrari. It’s not, let’s say, as easy as, you know, just running down to CarMax kind of deal. So let’s get into buying, selling, consigning, online versus traditional, and maybe your thoughts on auctions, specifically those that do feature Ferraris.

Colleen Sheehan: Sure.

It’s not just one kind of set thing. We do a lot of consignments. We buy and sell. We sometimes just middleman broker where we know somebody who owns a car and somebody asked me to find [00:26:00] them that car. And I kind of put it together. So cars never on consignment with me and it was never really for sale. I just know of buyer and seller and put it together.

So a lot of different sides to our business. Each car, because they’re so different, each deal ends up being very different, which is part of the fun of it. It’s never mundane. It’s never boring. Always have to learn something new. It’s always something new and different. Currently we have behind me, the showroom, we have about 4, 000 square feet, probably about 25 cars in there.

Some we’ve bought a lot on consignment. Luckily my dad, since he’s been doing this for 51 years now, he’s built a very large client base. And I started working with him about 10 years ago, and I’ve been around the cars my whole life. So when you’re in this business, a lot of people just see expensive cars and think they can make a bunch of money.

From what I’ve found, those people don’t really last that long. It’s not like real estate. It’s [00:27:00] not like, okay, if I sell a million dollar house, I can get 4%. You have to have a passion for what you do. Otherwise, there’s lots of options with other dealers and brokers where people can go elsewhere with someone that just kind of meshes with them better.

Having a real interest and passion for these cars does make a huge difference in this business.

Crew Chief Eric: So now that a lot of things are much more digital, going back to the Ferrari’s online part of your name and your evolution. More things are online, you know, the advent of things like bring a trailer have really changed the way we look at buying and selling cars.

Do you see traditional sales still being the thing? Do you have people coming in the showroom? Are you doing more things virtually now?

Colleen Sheehan: We’ve done things virtually for a long time with so many years in the business, having a good reputation helps. When somebody calls me asking about a car I have, and I tell them everything I know about it, and I’ll tell them everything.

I don’t want there to be any surprises if they buy the car when it gets [00:28:00] delivered. And I also always recommend they have a pre purchase inspection done if they would like. Many times people will buy cars either because they know our reputation and they know that what I’m telling them about it is. How the car is, or they’ll have it inspected.

If it clears a third party inspection, then they’re happy with it. So for a long time, it’s been a lot of just online business, which is why we started doing all the videos with the cars, because seeing static photos is nice, but you want to hear it start. You want to see it run through the gears. That was a big part of it.

Since everything is going more online nowadays than having a good video is very important.

Crew Chief Eric: So you mentioned investing in exotic cars and obviously you guys carry brands other than Ferraris. We mentioned in the introduction, Maseratis, Lamborghinis, and we’ll talk about some of your YouTube videos with some very pretty Porsches as well.

[00:29:00] Cause there’s different car markets, right? Especially in the Italian car market. How does it weather the storm? You know, looking at our economic. Climate over the last couple of years. Has it maintained, has it been pretty steady? Is it rocky? Like what does it look like in the market space?

Colleen Sheehan: It’s interesting because the market’s cyclical.

What goes up must come down, whether it’s exotic cars, real estate, stock, whatever it is, it’s all part of the market and you have good months and bad months or good years and bad years. The last couple of years have been very interesting. When 2020 hit and the lockdown started, sales stopped for about a month.

People who had been in the middle of buying a car with me would call me up and say, my stocks just tanked. I have to back out, sorry, which I understood, but after about a month, people started getting bored and window shopping, there was a real uptick in sales. And that continued for [00:30:00] the last couple of years were really good.

Recently, the economy’s seen some rough patches that has had an effect. So sales slowed a little, but what is really interesting to me is. Back to the sales thing real quick. We have kind of two separate things where we do what we advertise and then the quiet deals. What we advertise on our website is not everything we have for sale or are in the middle of selling.

Quietly, we’re always selling all kinds of bigger stuff that people don’t want publicly advertised. When the market recently kind of took a little slump that hit the showroom style cars. Pretty hard, the 308s and that kind of area of cars, but behind the scenes, we had more requests than ever for the 288s, F40s, F50s, all the bigger cars, especially of that kind of era right there, the supercar, those have been very popular and seem very [00:31:00] untouched by the economy.

So not all cars. are hit equally when the market is hit in any given way.

Crew Chief Eric: So it sounds like, if I infer correctly here, that it’s still a good time to invest in a higher end Ferrari, even in today’s climate.

Colleen Sheehan: Well, I definitely believe that a lot of these cars are good long term investments. I can’t, and won’t even pretend to try and predict what tomorrow’s market may bring.

But years from now, the F40, it is a poster car for so many people, not only older generation, but younger generations too. So when you have the 20 year olds and 30 year olds and 40 year olds who love the F40. And had that poster on their wall in five or 10 years when they have their own company and can afford their dream [00:32:00] car, then that’s what they’re going to be buying five years out, 10 years out, those cars are still going to do really well because they’re the poster car.

Now, eventually that’ll change and it’ll become something else. In my dad’s era, the poster car would have been, you know, one of the old two fifties or a two 75 or one of those cars. And that was the poster car back in his generation. And today, if you ask a 25 year old, what an F40 is, yeah, they’re going to know.

If you ask them what a two 75 GTB four cam is, they might look at you. Like you just spoke a different language, the generation shift. But this current generation, this one of that kind of era car will last for a while. Cause the 280 F40 F50, like the big five today have reached quite a few generations. It appeals to so many people that I think those ones will last for quite a while.

Crew Chief Eric: And the same could be said about Lamborghini, right? With the Miura and the Countach and Diablo’s and so on. [00:33:00]

William Ross: Oh yeah. I agree with everything you’re saying. I mean, it’s absolutely correct. I mean, it’s. You know, the generation, they know what those cars are. I think it helped to, uh, with the video games, like a Gran Turismo.

So they have put those in there and having those in there. So these kids can play it. So they know what those cars are. But then to her point also is you tell them what a two 75, four came as you write, you’re like, what, uh, who. Yep. Which unfortunately, cause they’re such a gorgeous car. I mean, it’s like, it’s what they’re familiar with their eyes and seeing it, what they deal with.

And those things are be good for the next 20, 30 years. That’s how much you appreciate who knows, but they’ll go up in value. Either they’ll go up quickly, then level go up. Yeah. And it says, keep going up, but if you got the money, buy one.

Crew Chief Eric: We continue to funnel down in our purchasing here, but our, our buying power increases as I continue to us down this path.

So being a. Motorsports petrol head growing up around the racetrack. You’re right. The F40 was the poster on the wall next to the Testarossa and the Countach and a lot of other cars that were on my wall. But just to the right of that were [00:34:00] things like the 333 SP, you know, the IMSA GT car, the prototype car.

And then you have things like Schumacher’s V10. So should people also turn their attention towards the motorsport side of Ferrari for like the F40 Evos and a lot of the challenge cars? Those good investments as well.

Colleen Sheehan: It very much depends. So as far as the Formula One cars, those have been great investments.

We have sold quite a few of those. The prices always amazed me and the prices have only continued to go up. So an F40 is a dream car, but the Formula One cars, that’s a different kind of dream. That’s almost, even if you are a billionaire, that’s. A dream on a different level, because most people can get in an F40 and drive one if they have the money to buy one.

Whereas the Formula One car is not nearly the same. You might not even be able to fit in it. If you do, then you have to be very skilled in order to To actually drive it, [00:35:00] even if it’s at, you know, six tenths of its potential, even just driving it carefully around the track takes some skill. Those are kind of a different level, but on the opposite side, they’re also pieces of.

art and history. I’ve had lots of clients who buy them because it’s literally if you already have everything else in your showroom, what else can you add? That’s kind of just the cherry on top. And that’d be a Schumacher F1 car. So we’ve had lots of people who have bought Schumacher F1 cars just. To have that gorgeous historical piece of art sitting in the middle of their showroom.

I’ve had lots of clients who do buy them to race them. There’s a program through Ferrari cliente where if you pay Ferrari enough, they will have your car waiting for you at the track with your race suit and the lunch ready and the mechanics all there, everything you could need. You just pay them a couple hundred grand and, uh, you can go racing.

Crew Chief Eric: We all [00:36:00] gravitate to Schumacher, right? Eight time champion or. Or whatever, a Formula 1 in Ferrari, you know, he ran many other cars even before his time at Ferrari. But there’s other drivers that carried the banner too, right? You got Barry Kelly, you’ve got Eddie Irvine, you’ve got Alan Prost, Nigel Mansell, Berger.

I mean, the list goes on and on. So do those older Formula 1 cars carry the same kind of, let’s say value? I mean, they, they have a different. Provenance, but what do they look like in the market? Are they all just sort of tucked away?

Colleen Sheehan: I mean, a lot of them are tucked away, but it depends. So like the Niki Lada, the three 12 T2, that one is very recognizable, recognizable driver.

That one would demand a big premium. Part of the generational shift. People do tend to move towards the Schumacher cars just because that era and the name is. So recognizable, but Nikki Lotta’s definitely another big name. We did sell Kimi Raikkonen [00:37:00] car, his championship car, and that one went for good amount.

So there are definitely other names that people love and want and remember the names, remember the races. But Schumacher is the biggest, just hands down. He’s the biggest.

William Ross: Just because of the era and what he did just sticks in people’s mind. I mean, he was. Unprecedented time is how many championships everything and what he did and everything like that.

So, I mean, he just stood out. He was a fabulous driver, but you know, I’m a bit older. So I look more back at the older generation guys and what they drove and yeah, just the raw car. I mean, there was, didn’t have ABS, any of that kind of stuff. So. I have a lot more appreciation for those guys back at that day, like with louder, Jules Villeneuve, you know, but then you go back to Jimmy Clark and, you know, Phil Hill, those guys.

Oh yeah. I appreciate those guys that much more just because of one, what they were driving. And two, I mean, look how many people died just every weekend. And so it’s. Big respect for those guys back then. But yeah, Kelly’s correct. The fact is, you know, it’s what [00:38:00] people they have in their head and their mind, but they watched racing, then they can afford it now it’s in their living room or if they can fit in it, they can drive it.

It’s one of those things. So, but it kind of boils down to personal preference in regards to that. Yeah. I agree that the Schumacher cars, they’re just going to keep going up in value for a while.

Colleen Sheehan: Oh yeah. I agree with you. I like the older cars. that were more raw and harder to drive the older generation of drivers just in the market in general.

Schumacher is, he takes top in the market.

Crew Chief Eric: Yeah.

Colleen Sheehan: Not my personal feeling. That’s just what I’ve noticed.

Crew Chief Eric: Lastly, on the conversation of buying and selling Ferraris and other exotics, what are your thoughts on the auctions? Feel like they’re seeing a resurgence. These days, you are seeing more Ferraris and other exotic showing up at places, you know, like Meekum and broad arrow and other things like that.

So is that an avenue that people should consider should pursue?

Colleen Sheehan: Auctions are very interesting because [00:39:00] from a buyer’s perspective. You have a little bit of time beforehand to go look at the car. Maybe they’ll let you start it or they’ll start it for you, but you can’t drive it. You can’t put it on a lift and have a real inspection done.

And then when it comes down to buying the car, you have a couple minutes. To bid as it rolls across the block and that’s it. So from a buyer’s perspective, it is a fun time. It’s a fun way to buy a car. Have some friends there, have a couple drinks, bid at the auction. It’s fun. But if you are looking seriously at the car and the quality of the car and you want a good inspection, all that kind of stuff, then you just don’t have enough time at the auctions.

There’s no real way to have a good inspection and to know all the details about the car. There’s pluses and minuses. So if you’re a seller, then the exact kind of scenario works for sellers too, where your car is crossing the block. There’s a [00:40:00] couple of minutes. And if you have the right buyers in the room, you do great.

If you don’t have the right buyers in the room, it doesn’t sell or it sells for a low price. With the auctions, it’s kind of a attempt to get lucky. Sometimes it’s a good gamble and you win. And sometimes it’s a bad gamble and you don’t win.

Crew Chief Eric: And my point for bringing it up is that I feel that what you do, Colleen, and what William does as well, dealing in this market space is that.

It’s that personal touch that’s really, really important to say, well, you know, maybe I am the lowly owner of a Monday LT and I want to find it a new home and you’re going to help me do that. And it’s not that, well, I’m going to take it to X, Y, Z auction and hope that it sells and be satisfied with what I get for it.

Right. And it’s not always about the money sometimes, at least for me. And I know for a lot of other petrol heads, it’s about knowing that it’s going on to a better place. And sometimes with auctions, you can look at it the other way. You kind of wonder like. Did that car get passed up? Like it wasn’t good enough to be sold through a caretaker.

For me, there’s lots of angles in [00:41:00] that conversation, but I want people to kind of realize they’ve got more choices than to just kind of put it out there. Yeah. Kyle mentioned before, like her

William Ross: father being in it so long and there’s a reason he has, they both have, that rather large I’ll say black book of names, contacts, networks, and why those people keep coming back because it’s a relationship and they trust them to know the fact is they get a car from them.

They know they’re not going to drive it half a block away. It’s going to catch on fire or some breakdown. They’re going to come back and, you know, you get that repeat business. As that adage is, you know, that person tells two people, those two people tell four, you know, so it’s getting your reputation, go to an auction, especially if you had too many cocktails, you get caught in the thing, you end up paying too much money for it.

All right. All you can do is go look at it for a couple of minutes and straight. They started to me. I’m not a big fan of that. And I could never understand why someone would go by especially a couple hundred thousand dollar car, let alone multimillion dollar car at an auction because. I would be scrutinizing the heck out of it to be sure I know what I’m getting.

So again, it’s everyone’s own preference.

Colleen Sheehan: It is. [00:42:00] So if you’re looking at some of the very expensive cars that cross the auction block, I’ve had clients who have asked me to look at the car, talk to the auction beforehand. So sometimes I’ll contact an auction weeks beforehand to get. Extra information and details on a car for a client.

A lot of times they will do that, especially when you get into the higher dollar cars, if they provide more information, they try harder. You’re trying to buy a three 60 at auction. They’re not going to spend days answering every little question you have before the auction. They don’t care. They have hundreds of cars running through and don’t have time for that.

Does kind of depend on the car you’re buying at auction.

William Ross: What do you think the percentage is at auctions that it’s dealers buying the cars as to compare and it’s an actual person buying the car for themselves? It is a good percent. I talked to him and they asked me about it and I asked him, I go, look, I go, you’re They are competing against a majority of those [00:43:00] people in that crowd are dealers buying those cars.

And they’re used to that. Okay. Look at a car and evaluate what to do it. You know, as someone’s buying for themselves, you know, it’s got an emotional investment in it. Oh

Colleen Sheehan: yeah.

William Ross: I don’t think a lot of people realize that in those auctions, that there’s a just ton of dealers that are in there buying cars just for inventory.

Colleen Sheehan: Oh yeah. It happens a lot. And you know, dealers buy cars at auctions and sell them at auctions. Dealers a lot of times will have very close relationships with auction houses. So there’s a good percentage of that, which isn’t a bad thing. I mean, there’s nothing fake about it. If a dealer buys a car at auction, he thought it was a good price.

And so he buys it. He’s selling one at auction. He thinks it’ll be a good auction for that car. And that’s how he sells it. It’s very upfront. At least. Sometimes when you see the sell through rate at auctions, you have to take that into account. You know, Monterey Car Week isn’t all just this huge chunk of end user buyers that put their money in the auctions.

Crew Chief Eric: It’s time for another Pit Stop question. So you can’t talk about Ferrari without [00:44:00] talking about motor sports. We’ve crossed that threshold several times in this episode. So I wonder Colleen, Ferraris have been run in a multitude of different racing disciplines from grassroots sports car racing through world challenge and IMSA in GT3 and GT4.

Obviously they had prototypes back in the day and then in formula one. So if you had to turn on the television and say, I’m going to watch a Ferrari race this weekend. What discipline of racing would it be in and why?

Colleen Sheehan: So honestly, my favorite form of racing to watch is rally cars.

Crew Chief Eric: Oh, there we go.

Hallelujah. Finally, somebody, I felt like I’m the only person on the planet that likes WRC.

Colleen Sheehan: Oh, no. It’s incredible, especially I love the Lancia rally cars. Those are incredible.

Crew Chief Eric: I grew up in the group B era. So for me, I have a soft spot for it.

Colleen Sheehan: Group B. I mean, I understand why they had to cancel it, but that was one of the best forms of racing to ever [00:45:00] exist.

Seeing as Ferrari never actually got into rally racing, they made a couple of cars trying never got one in. So it’d have to be F1 just because the history behind formula one. Today’s races, they’re fun to watch, but I personally, I end up watching clips from old races more than I do new races of just about anything.

I just love the older era and probably the older era, it was much more visceral and raw and dangerous. It’s still dangerous today, but I’m happy they’ve made such safety improvements because I definitely don’t want to see any drivers get hurt or killed. But back in the day, it was just so dangerous and raw.

These guys knew when they strapped themselves into these cars that they may not go home that night. That in itself is just incredible to me. And they go out there and go so fast, do so well. They’re [00:46:00] incredible. So, I think… I’d rather just watch old F1 on rerun.

Crew Chief Eric: So with the hundredth anniversary of Le Mans right around the corner, what are your feelings on how Ferrari has teased us about a new prototype coming and competing in the LMDH class?

What are your thoughts on Ferrari returning to Le Mans?

Colleen Sheehan: I would love it. When I first saw that car, my phone started going nuts right when they released it. And I had four people texting me photos of that car. And I was just like, what is this? And I got very excited. That’ll be fun to see.

Crew Chief Eric: I bring it up because Ferrari has been an important piece of history across not only the automotive industry, but in motor sports as well, to me as utilitarian and perfect as Porsche’s can be right there, an engineering company at the end of the day.

But a lot of times people forget the Ferrari is too. They’ve always pushed the envelope and forced, let’s say the rest of the Italian makers to follow them [00:47:00] and suit being all partnered together. But also I can’t find a single brand that doesn’t say. I built a car to compete with Ferrari. It just, it doesn’t happen.

It doesn’t matter if you’re, you know, an American brand, Japanese brand, you know, German, whatever, everybody’s comparing themselves to Ferrari. And so I’m really curious to see what they do at Le Mans and some of the other endurance races. Because for me, I think it transcends even what they do in formula one, because formula one has this recipe that they have to follow.

It’s like a spec race. You know, it’s like all the Miatas are the same, but in endurance racing, the car doesn’t have to run for 90 minutes. It has to run for 24 hours straight, you know, at LeMans or Rolex or whatever. So I really want to see how they take everybody. Into the next hundred years of sports car and prototype racing.

So I’m with you. I’m super excited. I’m stoked to see what happens. And I bet they’re going to surprise everybody.

Colleen Sheehan: And people forget that Enzo Ferrari did not care about his street cars. He only cared about the race [00:48:00] cars. He basically sold street cars in order to fund his racing. So it is literally the heart and soul of Ferrari is their race cars.

Crew Chief Eric: And when that didn’t work anymore, he just got Fiat to pay for it. That’s what I’ve heard. No,

Colleen Sheehan: no, exactly. That’s exactly what I did. He was like, okay, sure. I’ll sell to Fiat. They’ll take care of the street cars. I don’t care about anyways. So I just can keep running the race shop.

Crew Chief Eric: It’s the art, it’s the passion, it’s all of it.

It all wraps up into everything we’ve been talking about here and why these cars are so sought after and why there’s people like yourselves that specialize them and keep those legacies going. So that’s super important. Now, as we kind of round out the conversation here about Ferraris online, now the prancing skunk, you guys, as I mentioned before, cater to more than just Ferraris.

So let’s talk a little bit more about some of the other cars that you sell and some of the cars that you feature on YouTube. And like I said, I’ve been watching you drive around. out in some really cool looking [00:49:00] nine 11’s lately. So what else is on the docket that you guys are interested in and are willing to sell and work with people on

Colleen Sheehan: all kinds of things.

We have sold so many random different cars. So currently in the showroom, just this week, we got into Panteras. We have a couple of C1 Corvettes, a 59 and a 62. We have a Ford model. I

Crew Chief Eric: was sort of going back to what you’re doing. With social media. And that’s why I bring up these YouTube videos and some of the other cars.

So tell our audience, maybe they’re figuring this out for the first time, or maybe they’re already followers. Take us on the journey of what you’re doing and what you’re posting out on social media and what you’re trying to showcase with respect to the Prince and skunk

Colleen Sheehan: across the different platforms, basically for the YouTube channel.

That is all the car reviews I do on mostly cars I have for sale. Sometimes like the 288 GTO that I just posted, it was car I had just sold and it was local to me. So [00:50:00] the buyer let me do a video before we shipped it off to them. So that was great. Sometimes I’ve done videos on like when me and my dad go racing and stuff like that.

But 95 percent of the YouTube channel is car reviews. I don’t like being sales pitchy with the videos. I don’t want it to seem like an advertisement. Part of my thing is I love older cars. I have so many friends in the car world who all love the latest, greatest hyper car Pagani or whatever, and they’re cool.

They’re nice cars. But I like the old one. I like classic cars that have a soul and a personality. They tell a story and just have a real history to them. And I just don’t feel like enough of this generation appreciates the older cars. Cause at some point, yeah, sure. People are, you know, makers are coming out with thousand horsepower, 1500 horsepower, all kinds of crazy stuff.

What are you going to do with it? It’s unusable at [00:51:00] a certain point. I think that the history behind the cars. Where all these supercars started, you know, 50 years ago, that is so much more interesting to me and so much more fun to drive. And so I try and kind of give the history on these cars and some fun facts and you know, just all the details that might get younger people more into some of the older cars.

So that’s what I like to do on the YouTube.

Crew Chief Eric: And what I especially appreciate about what you’re doing with them is. They’re not just model cars in the showroom. Like you see that all the time. Like everybody’s got this video review that they’re trying to do. You take them out and you drive them. Maybe not all of them, but a majority of them are taken out and they’re driven on the roads.

Cars are meant to be driven. They’re meant to be appreciated and enjoyed. So I really respect that. I really like that. And I hope that the audience does too. And that’s one of the fun things I look forward to every time you put something out is where’s she driving this thing next? Where are we going?

Like what adventure are we up to? So that’s a lot of [00:52:00] fun. And I really like that. You know, you guys just celebrated your 50th anniversary in 2022. So that begs the question, what does the next five, 10, and maybe the next 50 years look like for you guys? What are some exciting projects, some changes, some things that are coming up?

Colleen Sheehan: As we talked about earlier, my dad used to have a big restoration shop and he shut that down a long time ago before I. Join the business, but we are actually currently looking into adding a little service center here. Kind of like how my dad did at first, start small, work our way up, decide how many people and all that as we go, you know, start with one and get bigger.

Eventually we’ll see where that takes us. I don’t like putting too many plans set in place. I’d rather just start, see how that goes and then maybe add on as. As time goes, but my dad and I are also getting more serious into racing. We’ve always done it together for fun. [00:53:00] So he did some of the West Coast Trans Am last year.

We both want to do it this year, more heavy into racing and the little service center. So those are two big projects we have coming up.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, if you’re running in Trans Am, Camaro or Mustang?

Colleen Sheehan: Well, actually, um, Ferrari.

Crew Chief Eric: Really? In Trans Am?

Colleen Sheehan: I know, I know. He ran his, uh, Lamborghini Gallardo last year in it. They have a XGT class, Gallardo GT3.

And then I’m working on getting the 458 Challenge Evo and we can run together. It’ll be a blast. And we definitely get some money. You know, from all the, the other guys in Trans Am, they’re kind of like, what are these guys doing here? But

Crew Chief Eric: did you miss the world challenge paddock? Like, what are you guys doing here?

Right? Yeah. Trans Am East. It’s like a or B, you know, pick which one you want, but good for you guys. That’s awesome. Definitely be rooting for you. So, with that, Colleen, any shout outs, promotions or anything else you’d like to share that we didn’t cover this far

Colleen Sheehan: 1 thing. [00:54:00] So, uh, my. Personal Instagram is all about cars too.

So it’s Colleen and then Comp Daytona. So Colleen365GTB4C, just like the Comp Daytona. And it’s like 95 percent car stuff. So my husband runs the Ferrari’s online page, but since I run my personal one, I do stories all day, every day, just kind of around here and cars we get in and that kind of stuff. So it’s more behind the scenes of like what we’re doing around here in case anyone’s interested in that kind of stuff, the real promotions, I’m just happy that I get to share my knowledge on these cars and all the fun things that I have learned over the years, or even just learn as I go, there’s.

So many fun, unique things about these cars and being able to share that with people and find other people who are just as passionate is one of my favorite things, especially about the social media aspect. There’s so many people who love seeing this kind of stuff [00:55:00] and it just makes me happy to be able to share it.

And then they share my passion and I’ve made lots of good friends. Thank you to all those people who have become my friends over the years and share my passion. And I look forward to meeting lots more gear heads. And I love this, this automotive world and the amazing people you get to meet.

Crew Chief Eric: Today, the prancing skunk known to many of us as Ferraris Online has a 4, 000 square foot warehouse filled with the highest caliber vintage automobiles consisting of racing memorabilia and an extensive amount of rare and unique Ferraris.

The front office pays homage to Michael’s racing days with photos and memorabilia of decades of his racing past. While they love to collect, they also broker sales and are not only Ferrari historians, but expert appraisers of Ferraris. Keeping on trend with exotic car values regarding Ferrari, general vintage market values, market trends, and all aspects of repair and restoration.

You can learn more about Ferrari’s online by checking them out@www.ferrari with an [00:56:00] s-online.com, or follow them on social. at Ferraris online LLC on Facebook and LinkedIn or at Ferraris online on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. And with that, Colleen, I can’t thank you enough for coming on Brake Fix, sharing your story and your passion for Ferraris.

And I again have to congratulate you guys for hitting that 50 year milestone. And here’s to another 50 years as a staple in the Ferrari and exotic car community. So thank you all for what you’re doing and keep up the good work.

Colleen Sheehan: Thank you so much. This has been awesome. I really appreciate it.

Crew Chief Eric: Fantastic.

Thank you much.

Colleen Sheehan: Have a good night, guys.

Crew Chief Eric: Thanks.

Colleen Sheehan: Bye.

Crew Chief Brad: If you like what you’ve heard and want to learn more about GTM, be sure to check us out on www. gtmotorsports. org. You can also find us on Instagram Also, if you want to get involved or have suggestions for future shows, you can call or text us at 202 630 [00:57:00] 1770 or send us an email at crewchief at gtmotorsports.

org. We’d love to hear from you.

Crew Chief Eric: Hey everybody, Crew Chief Eric here. We really hope you enjoyed this episode of BreakFix, and we wanted to remind you that GTM remains a no annual fees organization, and our goal is to continue to bring you quality episodes like this one at no charge. As a loyal listener, please consider subscribing to our Patreon for bonus and behind the scenes content, extra goodies, and GTM swag.

For as little as 2 and 50 cents a month, you can keep our developers, writers, editors, casters, and other volunteers fed on their strict diet of fig Newtons, gummy bears, and monster. Consider signing up for Patreon today at www. patreon. com forward slash GT motorsports, and remember without fans, supporters, and members like you, none of this would be possible.

Skip ahead if you must… Here’s the highlights from this episode you might be most interested in and their corresponding time stamps.

• 00:00 Introduction to Break/Fix Podcast
• 00:27 The Origins of Ferraris Online
• 01:26 Michael Sheehan’s Journey
• 02:39 Building a Ferrari Restoration Business
• 04:58 Celebrity Clients and Unique Projects
• 07:37 Evolution of Ferraris Online
• 10:21 Racing Ferraris and Other Cars
• 16:53 Buying Your First Ferrari
• 22:33 Challenges and Considerations
• 25:14 The Business of Buying and Selling Ferraris
• 29:05 Economic Climate and Market Trends
• 29:31 Impact of 2020 Lockdown on Sales
• 31:10 High-End Ferraris as Long-Term Investments
• 32:24 The Appeal of Classic Ferraris
• 34:08 Motorsport-Inspired Investments
• 38:35 The Role of Auctions in Exotic Car Sales
• 43:57 Ferrari’s Motorsport Legacy
• 48:40 Expanding Beyond Ferraris
• 52:16 Future Plans and Racing Aspirations
• 56:11 Conclusion and Farewell

Bonus content available as a #PITSTOP mini-sode.

Consider becoming a GTM Patreon Supporter and get behind the scenes content and schwag!