Los Gatos, California, was the home of a Ferrari dealer. As a kid, that’s all I knew about that little town. I grew up in Palo Alto, 45 minutes north. And the thought of a Ferrari made me shiver with excitement. Seeing or hearing one stopped me from whatever I was doing to watch the …
Rise and Fall of the Best-Known Ferrari Dealership Read More »
Brian Burnett has been referred to as a rebel. From the time he started ringing doorbells on weekends if he noticed a classic car in the garage, Brian was making deals. When he succeeded in buying one of those cars, he’d sell it on Monday, or trade it on Tuesday, in the library parking lot across the street from Los Gatos High School.
Fourteen years later, about a half-block away from that library, he would use what he learned to differentiate Ferrari of Los Gatos and become the number one dealer in North America, and perhaps, the entire world.
His journey travels through the world of Ferrari only a few people have ever seen or experienced. On the way, he made friends, created enemies, made millions of dollars, and lost everything in the blink of an eye.
This blog highlights some of the history of Ferrari of Los Gatos, recalls other interesting Ferrari stories, and corresponds with a book, THE DEALER—How One California Dealership Fueled the Rise of Ferrari Cars in America, that is a work in progress. If you have a Ferrari of Los Gatos memory, please share it share it here.
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Below you’ll find the first post. Welcome to the Ferrari of Los Gatos story.
Ferrari, From the Other Side Ever wonder how Ferrari became so popular when annual sales were under 100 cars in the early 1970s? Ferrari of Los Gatos opened its doors in 1976, and by the early 1980s, annual sales were more than a thousand, and the dealership became number one in North America, maybe the …
I lived in Silicon Valley from 1988 to 1991 and remember going there many times on the way to Santa Cruz. I took a Ferrari 308 GTS for a spin there once. The biggest memory I have is they used to rebuild muscle cars from scratch and take Polaroids of the rebuilds in a book …
The movie, Ford v Ferrari, debuts on the big screen Friday, November 15, 2019. As a guest of the Peterson Auto Museum, Wallace Wyss had the opportunity to attend a preview of the movie a few days before its official opening. Here is a reprint of his review courtesy of Mike Gulett from mycarquest.com. By Wallace …
