Good to the last drop?

Selling Ferrari, Maserati, and Lamborghini parts is all about speed. Generally, the customers of Ricambi America want their items quickly -- within a few days at most, but oftentimes overnight. Through our deep inventory and supply network, that's usually not a problem.  But today, something new happened.

I needed to visit Sport Auto, the local shop where my Ferrari gets serviced, to pick up the car after a track inspection.  (Our Ferrari Club of America chapter requires profession inspections of each car before a track day).  On the drive to the shop, I noticed that none of the local gas stations had any customers.  Huh?  That's odd.   Then I remembered that folks in Charlotte, 70 miles south of me, had been complaining for about three days of long gas lines and no premium fuel to be found.    The fuel shortage has not spread to the Piedmont of North Carolina and appears to be a direct result of hurricane Ike.   Pipelines, although not damaged during the storm remain shut-down, and the fuel flow to our area and trickled off to almost nothing. :(

It was an odd sensation driving my 348 away from the shop, knowing that the fuel in the tank was all I'd have for a few days until the trucks/pipelines get running again.  While a 348 doesn't exactly sip fuel economically, it's not as fuel hungry as a big-12 like the 550's or TR's.  Nonetheless, the 40 mile drive made me happy to know that my daily driver is an extremely efficient MINI Cooper. 

(edit:  talk about a rambling blog entry!! WTF.  Time to stop typing, and start selling more Ferrari parts and accessories)

Cookies, so yummy!

Over the past few months, we've had several customers of Ricambi America inform us that the online Ferrari, Maserati , and Lamborghini parts catalogs and exploded parts diagrams on our website weren't properly displayed.  Huh?  Although I absolutely believed their description of the problem, I was never able to properly reproduce the error, than therefore unable to solve the problem.  Afterall, we really believe our on-line parts diagrams are a great addition to the Ferrari parts world, and make for a richer shopping experience on our site.

Anyway, after installing the new Google Chrome browser, I began playing with some security settings.. then checking out how our site looks.   BANG!   I suddenly saw the exact same error that our customers had reported.  Oddly, when attempting to see the diagrams, the site would redirect to a "Error 404, page not found" error.   Egads!   

As it turns out, our site places a cookie on the vistors computer for standard shopping cart functionality and to determine the vistors screen resolution.  Why screen resolution?  The on-line diagrams attempt to resize themselves for each unique vistor to ensure as much of the image is presented on a single screen without those annoying scroll bars.  Without that cookie, the site wouldn't know what size picture to draw.    Our site, which runs Apache, was slamming customers to a 404 error when the cookie couldn't be set, and therefore the site couldn't redirect to the correct image sizing programs.   Blah blah blah... it was frustrating to customers for sure!!

Now, vistors seeking original, genuine Ferrari parts on our website will be presented with a nicer 'notification' page if the cookies aren't set, and gently ask them to adjust their browser settings. 

The good news is that with some simple browser settings, now everyone can enjoy the Ricambi America site.

A New Ride, A New Day

The daily driver in our family, a BMW wagon is getting a bit long in the tooth, and with 91,000 miles on the odometer, it is probably about due for a new home.   With so few choices of 'distinctive' cars to pick from, I thought perhaps we should investigate a Maserati GranSport.    Because we sell Ferrari, Maserati, and Lamborghini parts all day long, it occured to me how few Maserati customers actually need maintenance items.  Are these cars really reliable as daily drivers?  Could they be that 'civilized' in city driving?  Could my 3-year old son actually pop into the back seat comfortably?  What about a teenager?

Well, with a beautiful white/black GranSport at a local dealership, we decided to take it for a little test drive.   The child seat fits easily into the back, using ISOFIX/Latch mounts, the fron seats are incredible comfortable, and the F1 transmission is actually smoother than I expected at low speeds in traffic.   Of course, the real fun of a GranSport is out in some twisty roads with nobody else around.   Suffice it to say, this car was a blast!   With the a Ricambi America license plate frame, this Maserati would be right at home next to my 348.   

Obviously, a Maserati is a higher maintenance car than a Honda -- but its a lot more enjoyable on the road too, eh?  In addition to our deep inventory of Ferrari parts, we have plenty of Maserati clutches, brake pads, and other goodies which is car might consume.  And because our Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini parts catalogs are on-line it'd be even easier to ensure we keep the car running day-after-day.   15,000 miles per year?  That's the plan!  So, it is a real contender for the next bay in our garage.  Now, we just have to find a good home for the BMW.

Stops on a Dime, Part 2

In Tuesday's post I commented on a customer in the Middle East who recently bought some cool Hill Engineering slotted brake discs for his car.  Well, maybe there is something in the water this week, because another customer has just purchased a complete set of Brembo Big Brakes for his Ferrari too.    This are a significant step up in braking power from the stock system with massive 4-pot calipers and 332mm discs.  Nicely fitting inside the OEM 18" wheels on an F355, these are the ultimate in stopping power. 

There are lots of Ferrari accessories which might make a car look distinctive, but there are only a limited number of Ferrari parts which dramatically improve the daily performance and track capabilities of these cars -- braking components such as these are a great choice.

... now about that overnight shipment from Italy which was stopped in FedEx customs.... uggg...  maybe that'll be a post for tomorrow.

Zoinks!

Every day is a new adventure at Ricambi America. Just when you think you've seen all the really cool Ferrari parts you can imagine, we get something in the door that just really trips your trigger. Today, it was an original, genuine F40 tool kit. The pictures really tell the whole story. We actually got a few of them, so for some lucky F40 owners, here is a chance to have a brand new tool kit with all the goodies!


We also got an absolutely beautiful batch of custom slotted 348/355 brake discs into inventory. Actually, they were destined for my personal Ferrari 348 because of an upcoming track day. But, before I could even open the boxes, a customer in Oman gave us a call and purchased them for his car. Back across the Atlantic ocean they go... along with several other performance brake items to make his car stop on a dime (or is that an Omani rial?)!

Casual Friday?

I'm not sure if casual Friday has caught on at Ricambi America. Today we received a beautiful set of Wedgewood espresso cups, with the Ferrari cavallino in silver. Although we deal with Ferrari parts all day long (bearings, belts, hoses, wheels) sometimes its nice to stop and enjoy some over-the-top Ferrari branded merchandise.

Since we got several sets into inventory, I just had to use one myself and see if my proper Italian espresso (we have a nice Lavazza machine) tasted any better.... the verdict? YES!

This weekend looks to be nice weather and a chance to stretch the legs of my 348. I'll be attending a small car show in the Raleigh area, then watching a 'certain victory' (!!) of the Scuderia Ferrari at Monza on Sunday.

Ciao!

Day 1 - A Coffee Table from Ferrari Parts?

Actually, I'm not even sure what a blog is!! But, everyone has been telling me the things we're seeing and experiencing in the Ferrari parts world are interesting enough that I should write them down for the world to see.

Well, as my first post, I can simply say: I'm glad the US Dollar is finally gaining some strength against the Pound Sterling and Euro! This morning's outbound wire transfers to our suppliers were at the most advantageous rates we've seen in months.

In other news of the day, Ferrari parts do sometimes get lost in the world of FedEx shipping. Here's a Challenge Stradale wheel that came back to us (see above). Ooops... that'll make a nice coffee table one day! Luckily, it was only 1 of 4 wheels, and the gorgeous titanium lug nuts were unaffected.