The phone rings, and it's Henry, "Bro, are you ready?" to which I reply,"I'm always ready!" the excitement is starting to overcome my body , I feel the tingling but most importantly I start taking deep breaths anticipating his next words...
He says, "I know for sure we are doing at least 12-14 cars , one of them is called an AMR Rapid, and the other one, are you ready for this... A Ferarri F40," as my mind is using every millisecond to tell my mouth to react and say something, time all of a sudden slows down and for what seems like at-least a minute of me thinking of all the pictures I have ever seen of this vehicle, of how Richard Rawlings from Gas Monkey Garage had his hands on one and said how expensive it was, and the fact that I don't know much else about this car, my mouth finally catches up and I reply, "Are you f$%kin kidding me?"
Those words are going to be attached to such an emotional day for me, the fact that my mentor, my now good friend is in the process of making a dream come true for me that I didn't even know I had...
Side bar, here is some insight on my friend Henry, he is the owner of Socal Auto Detail Center down in San Diego, he has been in business for more then ten years, touching cars like Bugatti Chiron's, Pagani Huayra's , McLaren P1's just to name a few. He understands my love for cars that he always has me drive these cars that I work on. He's been a word class DJ, He has Played basketball Overseas and is now a better than the best Automotive Detailer that has taken me under his wing catapulting my Automotive Detailing Career into what it is now...ok back to the story.
I wasn't even thinking about driving the car yet, I told myself, "Dude all that matters is that you are going to work on the car, don't get disappointed if you don't drive it"...Fast forward to the next day and guess what... I FUCKIN DROVE THE CAR!!! I mean it wasn't on the track or anything but I felt like I did. So let me see if I could take your imagination with me to freeze that moment in time about the day I drove the Ferrari F40...
I see the beautiful red exterior of the race car, looking at every body line and NACA ducts, my eyes are scanning every inch of the exterior as if I was using a 3D scanner getting ready to add every dimension of that vehicle into my brains hard drive. As I'm scanning I get interrupted with "here, take it over there." First thought to run in my mind, is "Don't Panic!" The second thought is "will I fit?" Just to give you some context I am a 6'1 260 pound latino that seemed to have ate just a little too much for the past six months... ok enough of that , the third thought is "I better not stall this thing."
I start walking towards the iconic F40 , the last car that Enzo Ferrari had anything to do with , a vehicle that was destined to have 1315 units made and most importantly 213 made for the US. This car was the last vehicle according to some that was the most raw, and untamed vehicle made by Ferarri, a true Race Car for the streets before Ferrari design went softer and more luxury oriented (not my words).
I finally get to the door , I open the beautiful red light weight vented door, (mind you this car is so low to the ground that I'm sure it had to be just at my waistline.). As I'm opening the door , I look at the end of the car and see that iconic forward facing F40 logo on that aerodynamic wing put only on the driver side to remind the driver of the 40th anniversary vehicle of Ferrari, I turn and look at Henry with a huge smile as I'm getting in... I then look down and as if fate itself slapped me just like Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars (too early?) I couldn't believe that this was really happening.
A bright red bucket seat with subtle stitching calling my name just like a siren that is trying to lure me into the ocean..., the interior wrapped in black and red accents with that ever so amazing black stallion on the steering wheel saying lets ride away and lets go as fast as I can go... The most beautiful yellow and black weave of my favorite composite material on this planet, Carbon Kevlar, coming out of the body of the vehicle as if I was about to get into a fighter jet and not a car...The door that looked more like a carbon kevlar window with a string running across it because Enzo Ferarri said "WHY DO I NEED INTERIOR DOOR PANELS ON MY RACE CAR?" (well maybe not in those words but still I'm sure thats what he was trying to insinuate.) All the door needed was the wire that goes to the latch to be pulled on to open the door and that's what it got...
Now it's time, my brain has tried to compare this amazing vehicle to comparisons of stories of fabled creature and time travel in milliseconds and just as I was finishing that last paragraph. I have one leg inside slowly sliding into the bucket seat, hoping that when I contort myself to get into the car I don't cramp up because it has happened in other cars before, my breath gets shallower and shallower and slowly but surely I am now tucked into my place in the world, and yes my place in the world is in this city of Costa Mesa, this location of Finish line auto club, this garage belonging to father and son John and Jeff, in this Red (my favorite Color) race car , in this Ferrari F40 that Enzo built back in the 80's with just the right proportions to allow me to fit in it in 2022 at the age of 38 weighing 260lbs and coming in at 6 foot 1, this is where I belong right here , right now, its not the past not the future but this moment is in the present and I am living in the moment that no one will ever take from me and one that I will be forever thankful for everyone that played an important role for me to be here. This is the start to phase two in my automotive detailing career.
Thank you Henry , thank you John, Jeff, Tony, Jen, Noah, Mom, Dad , Yenny...thank you to everyone and the man above, for making my life what it is today, and with that , I put the key in turn the ignition and hit that start button only to float away into another day dream with the subtle vibrations of the engine massaging the goosebumps into every inch of my body, the sound of the engine serenading my ears as if it were listening to spiritual binaural beats bringing me the knowledge of Thoth himself , and my eyes experiencing the most lucid dream/reality of being in a piece of history that was imagined by a human being pivotal to the greatest invention in the history of this world the automobile. A dream with in a dream or reality with in the moment , what ever it is, I wish I was able to bring you with me on this experience...until the next one.
Breath taking wasn't it.
