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My Civic & the Splitting Enzo

Feb 21, 2006. I was driving up to Malibu with my buddy Josh & girlfriend Paula (in her snow blizzard gear for some reason) to see Jolane the very cute southern redhead girl to purchase the 1997 Honda HX coupe she posted on Autotrader.com (i also found my SUV from autotrader). I was finally buying my daily driver. Although i couldn't find a green one the Civic Coupe with Utah plates had comparable color, mileage, body and engine type so i was quite happy with my purchase. Best of all the tiny 12 gallon tank gets me over 400 miles without even reaching the E. Thats over 35 miles to the gallon of not only highway but mixed driving.

Her husband a Pepperdine Law student showed me the car the day before to inspect and test drive on Pacific Coast Highway. I was beat with two other cars i didn't get to look at and for good measure i didn't have the money with me (it was Presidents day... Bank's were closed) so it was evident that i had to make a deal fast, i asked if he could hold it overnight for me and he agreed. When I asked to see the cars paperwork (title, registration etc etc...) we proceeded into their posh townhouse, the floor was enameled with the old Boston Garden style wood floor, plush furniture and a panoramic view of the coast. Both of their toddlers were crawling around in the living room, mom brooding over them with care, while i inspected the car's papers. Satisfied with the paperwork i said i would come by after work the next day (7:30 pm). The husband seemed to consider my proposition but quickly realized he had Laker tickets that evening against the Blazers. He suggested his wife and kids would be home and will be happy to accommodate me... I was a bit uneasy with the his willingness to send his family amidst the wolves just to sell a car and was almost certain Jolane would say no but she smiled and said 'okay thats fine'. For a moment i thought i was being setup for an ambush but quickly dismissed the absurd idea. I mean, what could they possibly want from a guy who lives near Pacoima buying a Honda Civic? Not exactly a flawlessly elaborate plan for a ripoff... Of course i hadn't planned on kidnapping her kids for ransom but i must admit the thought did cross my mind... just kidding. Damn white folks... In fear that the reality of kidnap or rape hits Jolane before my arrival the next day, i asked my friend Josh who is very white 'in appearance at least' to give me a ride to Malibu (lol) in hopes that it would appease Jolane's fears.

Driving pass the Santa Monica Mountain Ranges on Malibu Canyon Road Josh informs me of an accident on PCH in Malibu that occurred that morning. He said it was a major accident that involved a Ferrari. Accidents are a daily occurrence in California so news of an accident doesn't really stir up any kind of feelings. But a Ferrari is a big deal. Even though California is the largest Ferrari buying market outside of its home country Italy (... particularly Southern Cal of course) we hardly hear of Ferraris crashing into walls or lightpoles. I suppose because it is the young responsible affluent's or old farts that are afraid of so much a highway ding let alone drive fast. This fellow that crashed his Ferrari apparently isn't one of these young affluent's. He was racing a Mercedez Benz SLR on PCH, lost control and launched his Enzo Ferrari into a lightpole doing 162 mph splitting the car in half and scattering debris across the highway and walked away almost unscathed (just a bloody lip). Talk about a supercar race...Eriksson, his name, a Swedish national was the CEO of Gizmondo a handheld video game console that was never launched due to lack of investors told the Police that he was merely a passenger and that a German named Dietrich (probably made up) was driving. Well without getting into too much details, almost two months later, Eriksson, due to the strange circumstances of the accident is still under investigation. Allegedly this guy has ties to the Mafia, has a record in Sweden for financial crimes and interestingly enough has racing in his background, having run a GT3-RS Swedish Cup car (thats a Porsche for those who are not verse with road racing) sponsored by his company, Tigers Telematics plus the fact that he has another Enzo Ferrari & custom Mercedez in his Bel-Air Mansion not registered to his name and apparently belonging to British Financial Institutions. It is still a mystery how these cars made it to American shores. That bit of mystery is currently being investigated by Scotyard police in England...

The real tragedy however is not whether Eriksson is found guilty of a crime or that he gets deported but the Ferrari itself. In 2002 when Ferrari was in post-production-testing for the Enzo they had only planned to build 349 cars that were actually all spoken for even before the start of production. In the Feb 22 LA Times article about the said accident they said Ferrari built 400 cars, thats a 51 car discrepancy, but lets not get into that. The Enzo (named after its founder Enzo Ferrari) is Ferrari's super limited uber-super-car built only every 5 years starting with the 288GTO, F40 and F50 (... in line with their original supercar, the 1963 GTO... if you're trying to picture what the car looks like, Tom Cruise drove one in the Movie 'Vanilla Sky'. No not the car he drove to Penelope Cruz's apartment, thats a 66 Mustang Fastback, its the one in his dream... ) If you've ever purchased any of the previous Ferrari super-exotic cars you make the Enzo List by default... other than that you might have to pull the Swedish Eriksson trick...The remarkable death of the Enzo, while it may serve the car company's safety image, is lamented by the Ferrari clubs of not only California by in the entire world of sports car enthusiasts. This is one of the most sought after, reveled, and envied by many exotic car manufacturers in the world. Although is isn't my favorite Ferrari, it is one of the most beautiful cars ever built...

Posted by: Marc Gabay
Wednesday, April 12, 2006