TEN YEARS GONE

    By the time you read this, May 21 will have come and gone, probably without a second thought for you.

    However, May 21, 2020, marks 10 years since Dad passed away. He’d suffered a stroke on the way to the events at Amelia Island in March, 2010; and spent the next two months in a hospital in Jacksonville, Fla.  By the time he died, he had returned to Atlanta and was in a rehabilitation facility.

    There was never any question in my mind to keep the Ferrari Market Letter going. Whether it would be my brother or me at the helm, we also had extremely capable staff who had already performed that task for five issues.

    My brother wrote the obituary for the issue after Dad died, but Chris lived in Chapel Hill, NC, at the time, so it was decided I would be the one to carry on in Atlanta.

    Perhaps it’s morbid to recognize the anniversary of someone’s passing, but that’s just what we do in the South. I also celebrate his birthday (October 5).

    How his death changed my life. I was working in public accounting, preparing tax returns that time of year. But as I’m fond of saying, with a degree in accounting, I knew I could run a business; and in fact, I had worked at the FML in some capacity all 34+ years prior to 2010.

    It takes motivation and dedication to work from one’s home and get the job done. Perhaps you’ve experienced this for yourself with the stay-at-home orders in place for the last couple of months. Fortunately we’ve been working from home since the beginning so there has been little to no interruption in production.

    There are a lot of distractions working at home, but I’m proud to say ten years and all those issues later, we still produce an issue every two weeks. I grew up knowing that an issue was going out every two weeks, that’s just the way he did it and it’s just the way it is.

    Okay, maybe not EVERY two weeks.

    In 1977 there were 27 issues. The calendar works out that every five years or so we ‘could’ make 27 issues. Instead, we adjust the schedule and take an extra week at the end of the calendar year. It will next happen in 2022. Like he promised from the beginning, we try to mail every two weeks, but subscribers definitely get 26 issues per year.

    In 1985, at the end of the tenth year of publication, Dad took the issue off and presented some statistics. Not just about the market letter (over two million sheets of paper used by that time) but also Ferrari’s production numbers. “Through 1975 Ferrari had produced slightly more than 15,000 cars. Now <December 1985> the figure is nearing 38,000. 308s were relatively new <in 1975>.”

    We’ve not changed much about the market letter in the last ten years, but you would hardly recognize a Ferrari Market Letter from 1985. Eight sheets of yellow 8 ½ x 11 paper <printed front and back>, stapled in the left hand corner. A semi-annual Asking Price Index with 12-cylinder Ferraris in one issue, then V-6 and V-8 in the next. One year print subscription via First Class mail was $50. Can you imagine?

    The new car in 1985 was a 328. Now 328s can be Classiche certified. In 2010 the ‘new’ Ferrari was a California. In 2022 the Purosangue will be unveiled.

    30 years to get to 15,000 cars. 40 years to get to 38,000. 70+ years and production is well over 200,000.

    Speaking of 70 years, I’d like to update you on my progress of collecting the 350 serial numbers for the Style Icons. The article from 4417, August 17, 2019, I had 252; forward to 4426, the issue dated December 21, and I had 292.  Would you believe I’m up to 315 now? But I digress.

    The last issue Dad wrote was Volume 35, Number 5, dated March 6, 2010. His article was titled “Nuclear Secrets for Iran”. The gist of the article was the subject of many of his rants and raves: sharing what information is in the database on a particular Ferrari. I’ll not hop on that soapbox, but suffice to say, the more things change, the more things stay the same.

    From Volume 0101 to 3505, there were 890 issues. This marks the 266th issue since. Some are better than others, but we are proud to continue. There is a long-standing joke around the office, generally raised on printing day … maybe THIS will be the perfect issue. While that may be our goal, there hasn’t been one yet, folks. Maybe next issue.

    Back in 2014, we published the 1,000th issue. A very astute subscriber alerted me to the impending milestone earlier in that year and I took the liberty to divert from Ferrari-related editorial content to patting us on our back.

    I also look at what Dad’s missed, because he wasn’t ‘just’ a Ferrari historian, all of his grandchildren have now graduated from college. The youngest from his alma mater, Auburn University – which went to the NCAA Final Four in 2019. If you know anything about the Roushes, you know we love Auburn sports. I hope we get to love Auburn football this year.

    He would certainly be lamenting the loss of the Formula One season; he watched qualifying through the race, even if it meant setting an alarm for 2:00 a.m. Not to mention Monterey Car Week, how he looked forward to that trip every year.

     I sat myself down and had a good cry after writing this article. Not a day goes by that I don’t miss my Dad. Much as I enjoy my work, I’d rather he be doing it.

    One year after his death, I reminisced about the past year and thanked those of you who had stuck with us, as Dad would say, whether you’ve been with us from the beginning or were a new subscriber.

    Ten years later, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank you again. As the renewal notice states “Tempus Fugit”.  Time Flies.  It certainly does, but I’m enjoying every minute!