"I would rather have a .....

....whore for a sister"

A few years back when I had some liquid capital burning a hole in my pocket I decided it was time to buy myself a toy. I had been working as a doc in an urgent care center just a few years after med school and had the opportunity to buy my first real "sports car". I test drove some exotics... a 1972 V-12 Maserati Ghibli in Miami (with bad brakes and almost wrecked it in traffic pulling out of the dealership), a 1966 Corvette Stingray, and the car I chose a 1993 Mazda RX7 (3rd Gen.).

But while I was looking I was on the hunt for a Maser... a childhood dream since I was a wee tike. Caught up with the owner of the Red Baron Auction House in Atlanta. My question to him was: "Do you have any Maseratis in your inventory." The owner (a big fat sloppy f*#k of a man) responded: "I would rather have a whore for a sister than own a Maserati, but could I interest you in a 1970's Mercedes 450SL once owned by Country Music star Conway Twitty?" (what the hell?) Well that was back in 1992.

Today with the resurgence of the marque as a high-end exotic Grand Touring Coupe, my question to that fat ass is: "So how much does your sister turn tricks for these days in this down economy?"

My 1971 Alfa Romeo GTAm replica finds a new home

Ciao Bella Finds a New Home

Crazy as this may sound, I had mixed feeling about selling my custom restored/modified "dream car", especially since the Alfa Romeo marque is celebrating its 100-year anniversary. The car affectionaly named "Ciao Bella" has a lot of sentimental value (far exceeding its dollar value in this current market)... and I had over the past months half-heartily placed it on Craig's List and eBay a number of times. I even placed ads in Alfa Owners and Vintage Race Car magazines.

But last week I decided to place it on eBay for Auction with a low reserve. It was the week before Myr Leake (Al's widow) visited.... felt sort of weird about it. But I figured I just did my "thing" with the car... was a project I saw through to completion, took her to a few car shows and won some awards and trophies with her... did not plan on racing the car (for which she was designed) so I felt it was time to pass her along to another who would driver her the way she was intended. Plus Sharon and I could use the coin to start work on our "next project" the restoration of a historic home in Conway, SC.

Myr's visit was nice. We stayed in and we cooked dinner, had a bottle of California boutique wine and talked about old times with Al. She was on a trip from Mass to FLA to visit family and friends and stopped by to spend the night with us. This was also the 2-year anniversary of Al's passing (end of Jan.) so this whole thing came full circle.

Anyway, the eBay Auction ended without anyone [16-bidders, with some 71 folks "watching" the item and over 3000 views (hits) to the site] meeting my reserve. Non-the-less I had two folks contact me post-auction to see if Ciao Bella was still available. Dr. Humberto Machado a cardiologist in Miami, FL won out with the highest offer and purchased the car on 1/20/2010. She has a new home with a true Alfisti who will protect and use her as she was meant. So that being said, all my "Italian Women" are out of the house.... (picture above was how my garage was filled in 2008 when I had two Italian exotics)