The Prancing Skunk

Ferraris Online was founded 50 years ago in 1972 by Michael Sheehan.  It is now run by Michael, his daughter, Colleen, and her husband RJ.  It all started in the early 1970s, when Michael was a racing driver himself.  They began fixing crashed exotics for State Farm, USAA, and Auto Club insurance.  They quickly grew to be North America’s largest Ferrari Restoration shop.  They also did a great deal of business in Japan towards the end of the ’70s.

 

 

Today, they have a 4,000 square foot warehouse filled with the highest caliber vintage automobiles, consisting of racing memorabilia and an extensive amount of rare and unique Ferraris.  The front office pays homage to Michael’s racing days, with photos and memorabilia of decades of his racing past.  While they love to collect, they also broker sales, and are not only Ferrari historians, but expert appraisers of Ferraris as well, keeping on trend with exotic car values regarding Ferrari, general vintage market value, market trends, and all aspects of repair and restoration.  Their showroom is by appointment only, and for good reason.  The current collection is incredible, rotated often, and continues to grow.

 

 

Colleen is a well-known social media automotive influencer, and a trusted resource for car collectors of the highest stature.  She has upwards of 40,000 followers on Instagram and almost 20,000 subscribers on YouTube.  But, better than all those numbers, she is a delight to be around, and is an honest and trustworthy person.  Her million-watt smile is enough to take anyone’s guard down, and her excited and appreciative attitude about her profession are contagious.  Sitting in their impressive showroom amidst millions of dollars’ worth of vintage exotics, we enjoyed an engaging conversation about the business and the cars.

 

 

You deal with hundreds of people every month, many of which simply want to chat about the cars and look.  So how do you find serious clients?

It is mostly a mixture of referrals.  My dad has been in the business for over 50 years.  He started in 1972, and at that time had North America’s biggest European car restoration shop for classics, so he was able to grow a very large network over the years.  I have been into cars for a long time as well, racing with my dad etc.  About 10 years ago I started working with him as a career and I introduced the idea of social media to him, which at first, he was hesitant toward, but to-date has brought in a very good amount of new clientele.  Social media has been an amazing network, and very useful for the business, albeit a bit of a pain sometimes.

 

Yes, I remember when we were chatting at Velocity Invitational that you said you get people actually purchasing cars from social media posts, correct?

Yes!  When I post cars, even just on my stories, I have sold more than just what we spoke about.  Quite a few even before advertising them or having a specific post saying, “look at this car we have,” a car will come in and I will be like, “ooh look what just arrived,” in one of my stories, and somebody will be like, “how much?”  So, then I will send them information and I sold a lot of cars that way.

 

 

Do you have a “Gone In 60 Seconds” style list of cars that you guys want to either purchase for yourselves or to sell in the shop?

It depends.  Our business is not just one process.  There are a lot of different aspects of how we sell the cars.  Sometimes clients will come to us and say, “I am looking for a Platinum-level Dino, and also a Daytona, or maybe a good solid SWP, a 275 GTB shortnose,” etc.  So, we will go through our network and try to find those cars for the clients, acting as a broker.  With the cars you see here in the shop, we do buy and sell, as well as add consignments.  We have a few that we keep and won’t sell though, like the BMW.  If we are consigning for a client, they can let us know if they want us to advertise solely on the website and social media, or some of them request it to be listed on Bring A Trailer.  Bring A Trailer is great, but it takes high-quality photos, and high-quality video to get a sale for some of the top end cars on there, due in part to the provenance of some of the cars.  Also, the comment section can get a bit fiery at times.  Owners tend to be emotionally attached, so they don’t always do well with the comment section.  Since I am not emotionally attached to someone else’s car, I have had clients consign with me simply to list on Bring A Trailer alone.  As a reputable seller on any of these sites, people tend to trust when I advertise and are reassured if I am saying that the car is in good condition and that I have driven it, versus someone who is just posting a car for the first time.

 

I make it a rule to try to never read comments.

Well, in our situation, you have to read the comments whether good or bad when they are directed at a car that is for sale.  If someone leaves a comment about something on a car and I don’t respond and address it, buyers could think you are trying to hide something.  We try to be as transparent and honest as possible when selling cars of this caliber.  For instance, I am selling a Dino on there currently, and there is an entire thread in the comments about rust issues on those cars.  Not on my car specifically, but in general there are spots on those cars you need to look at when buying or selling.  So, I am staying out of that sort of thread.  Even though this is a valid conversation point, you have to be tactful in how you respond, and what you respond to.

 

Especially because you are well known in the community.  Lots of people know you from your videos.  And I appreciate that they are not just about selling cars, they are about the love of old cars and the lifestyle and how they make you feel as well.

Yes!  Many people my age are just into hypercars, and whatever the newest, fanciest thing is coming out, I want to showcase to them what makes the older cars so special and why they should pay attention.  The brand-new Ferrari Pista we have in the showroom right now is incredible, don’t get me wrong.  You can blast around with the 700 horsepower at your feet with the AC on and its great, but it doesn’t have the soul and the personality of the Dino.  You could get in five Dinos, back-to-back, and they will all be different.  They will drive different, feel different.  Some will fight you; some will mesh with you.  If you get in five Pistas back-to-back, they will basically all be the exact same, minus the options.  Nothing wrong with new cars, especially comfort wise, since older cars will fight with you and back talk a bit.  But I prefer the back talk.

 

 

Do you mostly own and sell vintage Italian, or do you also get into British and German etc?

We get into all kinds of stuff.  My passion is Ferraris.  I love other cars, but older Enzo-era Ferraris are where my heart is.  What you love tends to come to you right?  But right now, for instance in the showroom we have a ’59 as well as a ’62 Corvette, the Ford Model A, an Indy Lights racecar, a great Porsche on its way in, and many more.  Usually, it’s about 75% Italian, but lots of other stuff as well.  I recently sold a Nissan Figaro!  I own some odd ones, and my husband has a great odd one.  We recently did a video for social media that happened to be one of my favorite videos I have ever done.  My husband bought a Yugo!  And we have a friend who owns a GT40, and we were planning a video for the oddest combination of the two cars, making it look like the two were racing.  We were on a public road, and next to each other going the speed limit, (the Yugo is not even capable of breaking the speed limit in most places), we were nosing in front of each other and then backing off etc.  Well, a lady driving on the road decides to speed up and cut the GT40 off and gets up next to me and starts screaming at me that we can’t be doing this and it’s illegal etc.  She yells that she is calling the cops, so we leave and head back and park where we were going to take some photos, and as we are parking a cop car pulls up.  He asks what we are doing, and we explain who we are and that we are just taking some photos etc.  He says, “Well, I got a report for street racing.”  My husband says, “I am driving a Yugo!”  The cop says laughingly, “I know, the report was that a Yugo was racing a ‘blue and orange car.'”  So, the lady knew what a Yugo was, but not a GT40?  That made me laugh.  So, the cop laughs and let us go of course.  My husband said, “Man, the only time in my life I wish I actually got a ticket.  The ticket would have said, ‘for street racing in a Yugo.'”   It was so much fun.

 

What are your current projects that you are detailing and working on to get ready to sell??

Today the 330GTC needs the carbs tuned so my husband will do that before I can film it.  The PF coupe had the brake cylinder sent out to be rebuilt.  And there are a couple other small things that need to be done on other cars.  But these tweaks are imperative to being able to film the cars.  Because you can take pictures of a great car, but no one really will know how it drives, or sounds.  In a video, it doesn’t lie, and things are obvious.  Safety is another concern as well, because we need to drive and to sell safe cars.  The credibility of standing behind the cars we own and sell is important to us.

 

 

Have you ever thought about doing a reality tv show of your shop?

No.  I haven’t.  I am actually really busy doing things for the business every day.  I get a lot of DM’s from people saying, “oh man, you have the best life, and the best job in the world,” etc.  While I do think part of that is true, that it is one of the best jobs in the world since my life is all about cars anyway, most of my daily time is spent in front of the computer.  It is not as glamourous as one may like to think.  There are plenty of exciting things in this industry with this elite level of vehicles, but there are also a lot of behind-the-scenes things like detailing that is not as fancy.  The first time you detail the wheels on a vintage Lamborghini, it’s exciting, and you think, “wow, I am detailing a Lamborghini!”  Then after the 20th or 30th time, it’s not fun, it’s a job.

 

 

Do you deal with celebrities for their cars?

Yes.  My dad did a great conversion for Clint Eastwood.  That was probably my favorite mention.

 

How many of you work here?

Me, my husband, and my dad.  Me and my dad run sales, and my husband does basically everything else.  He has a background in computer tech, so he handles our IT, and he also worked as a mechanic for about 15 years, so he works on a lot of the cars as well.

 

Besides your IG handle, do you have a dream car?

(She points to a photo of her dad in a beautiful race car, racing in the Mille Miglia in the ’80s).  “LucyBelle.”  She is a 250 Testarossa with pontoon fenders.

 

Do you know where it is?

Yes.  I have not gotten to see it in person, but I do know it is in a private collection in Europe.  I recently found boxes of photos and VCR tapes of my dad racing, and this was in some of them.  I am not sure what to do with all the photos.  I have bought and displayed shadow boxes of my dad’s old racing suits to show those off at least, since they were just sitting in a box as well.  But things like this should be displayed and appreciated.

 

You should make a book documenting your dads racing!

That’s a great idea, I am going to write that down!  I did actually put an informational book together about the BMW I got to drive across the podium at Pebble Beach when I was a kid. (Shows the picture) I believe I was the first kid to ever drive a car across that podium.  And it is not a super simple car to drive.  It is a German BMW car that came out in 1930.  Most of which were used by the Nazi’s, and heavily modified for war practice, including putting fake tank treads on them to look like they had more tanks than they did.  Most of the only ones that have survived are in Europe.  Mine is the oldest BMW in the US and has been in many shows.  Legends, Pebble etc.

 

What is the scariest car you have ever driven?

A ’67 Camaro that was built for Pikes Peak.  It had a very on-off clutch and was on slicks.  I have to be especially safe when cars are crazy built like that and not push it because nothing is worth risking it.  It’s also not only the most powerful cars that make me nervous, but often times the expensive ones.  Driving $4- or $5-million-dollar cars on public roads and having someone pop out in front of you all of a sudden, you have to really rely on the brakes, which are sometimes not as responsive as brand-new cars, so it can be very nerve wracking.  I do like to get out on the PCH and really go through the gears like these cars are supposed to if I can.

 

 

Last but not least, what advice would you give to people who are young that might want to get into the industry?

It is a labor of love.  It is not always fun or glamourous, but it is so satisfying.  You don’t start at the top, with a great reputation and client connections etc.  It takes years to build.  I got lucky with my dad’s 50 years of experience, but just because I have his last name doesn’t mean people are going to automatically trust me.  I had to build it.  Work your butt off too.  I am here 7-days-a-week, sometimes working 10- or 11-hour days.  Even if it is not always exciting every minute of the day, I like to remember not to say I have to go to work, but I get to go to work.  I appreciate the privilege and the ability to be around these amazing cars and great people.  I am doing something I love, so the necessary mundane stuff can be not as bad when you have a good attitude about it, and sometimes being up on those details can open up opportunities to do more of the fun stuff such as going to the fun events.  And it makes the fun stuff that much better when you really appreciate it.  Just start with a passion, and then work your butt off moving towards your goals about that passion.  Include passion, honesty, and hard work in everything you’re doing, and you will get there.  And trust me, it will be worth it.