England Parts Trip

We were in England on a vacation in October 1999.  We had reservations to fly out of Heathrow on a Monday about 1 PM.  Since Maranello Concessionaires is only a few miles from there, I thought that it would be a good opportunity to see if they had any of my missing parts.

So we booked a B&B for Sunday in Egham where Maranello Sales is located.  The B&B was close enough that we walked to a restaurant across the street from the dealer for dinner that night.

     

Maranello Sales Blinds 
when closed

The next morning, we headed over there when the sign said that they would be open.  The receptionist listened about wanting parts for an old Ferrari and called someone from the back.  Then it was explained to us that we needed to be over at Maranello Concessionaires as they only had parts for new cars there.

The only problem was that the entrance to the dealer was about 100 yards beyond the round-about that was the direct route to the importer.  And now it was the middle of rush hour.  It took over 45 minutes to get to the next round-about and going back the right direction.

Once we got to the right place and found the parts counter, it was over an hour later.  I remember my conversation with the parts man:

Q: Hood (I mean bonnet) bumpers? 
A: No.  
Q: Trunk (I mean boot) light? 
A: Yes.  
Q: Backup (I mean reverse) light brackets? A: 
No.  
Q: Left hand exhaust?  
A: Yes.  
Q: What, you actually have it?  
A: Yes, but before you buy it, you must know that it was ordered by a customer who rejected it because there's a scratch on the chrome tip.

I didn't care.  We also picked up the set of exhaust straps, spacers, etc. needed to hang the new exhaust. 

At this point, we should have already been driving to Heathrow and my wife was getting anxious.  So we bundled up everything in the rental car and were off.  I didn't even have time to take any pictures of the transporters from Italy loaded with new Ferraris.  When we were unloading at Hertz, an attendant came over and was quite concerned as I pulled out the exhaust.  He was worried that we had had a mishap (I mean shunt) and the exhaust had come off the rental car. 

In order to get the VAT tax back, you have to show the goods after going through customs.  So this meant that we couldn't check the exhaust at the counter but had to carry it to the gate.  I was wondering what to do at the security counter, but they said to just send them through the machine just like a piece of luggage.  A stop by the VAT desk to get the paperwork stamped and off to the gate.  There they put on the checked baggage tags and showed me where to drop (I mean that literally) the exhaust.  The gate check was a steel chute like a circular children's slide that went down almost two floors.  I asked if I could carry them down, but no, they had to go down the chute.  So down they went one after the other.  I could just see them crashing at the bottom and bending up the ends of the pipes.  However, the only mishap was that one of the brackets was bent.

We made the plane with 15 minutes to spare.

Moral to this story.  Don't plan on buying parts the same day you have a plane to catch.