JEFF STERNS CONNECTED THROUGH CARS

Jeff Sterns 0:00 So about the new Roma very, very interesting. It's a new v eight, two plus. Now what's interesting is they say two plus but they don't say two plus two. I think you'd have just as much luck getting someone in the backseat of a 911. Don't get me wrong if you had to get somebody across town, maybe sitting a little sideways, it's workable, but you wouldn't want to do any Grand Touring from the backseat. So Ferrari's idea is that many Ferrari's from the past that made both automotive and Italian design history, thanks to their elegance, sophistication and timeless lines. The Roma's design took its inspiration from the concept of sporty elegance celebrated in the most legendary Grand Touring Ferrari of the 60s. The most striking example of those are the wildly successful 250 GTS include including not just the lusso, but also the four cedars that were favorites of Enzo himself, Enzo Ferrari who were talking about, such as the 250 GT two plus two. These cars were front engine, simple, elegant, two plus two fastback coupe design. The Roma shares many of these characteristics and embodies an extremely modern design language. The pure, refined, not loud, perfect proportions cleverly conceal Ferrari's power and sportiness and the multi award winning VA engine punches out over 600 horsepower, and really underscores the perfect marriage of performance sportiness and elegance created by this new berlinetta berlinetta means coupe. So let's talk about the look of this car. So it's very understated. The front of the car looks like it was sculpted from a single block of metal created an overhanging shark nose effect on the car, it is absolutely stunning. The wide front hood or bonnet, as they say in Europe, and fenders, they say wings. In Europe, they flow into one another and it's a very powerful contributor to the design. But it's really effortlessly harmonious if I were to put it into my own words. engine cooling is done by just some small perforated surfaces only were strictly necessary, as opposed to kind of really accenting the vents. I mean, if we think about the mid rear engine cars, or you have the scoop coming in behind the door or in the door, you know, etc, which was kind of a Ferrari trademark, this is going the other way. So the V eight turbo, making 611 horsepower at 7500 RPM has an unbelievable instantaneous throttle response, which I find interesting, considering it's everything's drive by wire now. I mean, you're not pulling the cable to the six carbs. Right. So amazing throttle action. And this is based on or thanks to what's called variable boost management. So this is the turbo not like the old days not needing to wait for four or 5000 RPMs to flip the switch the V eight with a dual clutch gearbox, of course, that's the only gearbox available now, I love the concept of a dual clutch gearbox. I mean, obviously, a human can shift as fast as the Ferrari transmission. So it makes sense in racing. And it makes sense statistically, I personally, personally enjoy the visceral experience of driving a manual transmission. But the beautiful thing about a dual clutch gearbox is one one gear is revving. It spooling up the next gear to hand it over. So there's we're already good on the power curve and the gear below it for a downshift. Of course, we don't have to talk about the exhaust in a Ferrari. I mean, is there a better soundtrack in the world.

Best power to weight ratio in the segment. I got to be honest, I don't know what the other cars in the segment are. But power to weight ratio unbelievable. The room is also using a third generation electronically controlled mechanical diff in the back, which of course offers traction control, but splits the torque between the rear wheels but what's interesting is it impacts the torque between the inside and outside of the wheel. Very, very interesting. So on medium or low grip services really helps in coming out of corners. The rear spoiler that comes up, guarantees almost 200 pounds more rear downforce at nearly 200 miles an hour. I mean, that's important. Let's face it when you're approaching 200 than a Portofino without hurting the efficiency. So remember, we don't want to hurt the efficiency, the fuel economy, and we definitely don't want to hurt the beauty or elegance at lower speed. So in the Roma's cabin, Ferrari's designers came up with the idea to create two separate spaces, they call it cells, one for each driver and passenger. The idea is an evolution of the dual cockpit concept introduced and patented on the GTC for lusso. So the idea is trying to evoke a sense of continuity with the top of the range model in the Ferrari granturismo family, which also has its roots deep in the marks history, thanks to its own strong connection with cars or the likes of the 365 GTC for from the 70s. Let's talk about the infotainment system in the Ferrari Isn't that interesting? I I remember the days when people went for radio delete in Ferrari, because for purity and for let's just listen to the exhaust and let's not get distracted. But now we have infotainment that 30 to 40 buyer has a different demand. Now, when they're pulling up to that nightclub and one of the world's largest Metropolis is enjoying their single lifestyle. They're going to want some infotainment so the technology adopted for the Roma was derived from the SF 90 sturdily, it highlights the future nature of this new granturismo. So this is clear this a GT car when we talk about Gran Turismo, we're talking about something that we can travel distance in style. So the completely digital instrument cluster is integrated with the volumes around and protected by an elegant anti glare binnacle. Just like on a boat which extends out naturally from the dash so it looks organic, it looks proper. And to create a sense of symmetry. The passenger also has an optional they call it in quotes emotional display that allows them to share the driver information very interesting. So let's talk about onboard comfort or interior comfort. There are certain distinctive characteristics that make sure that the room is ideal for everyday driving in long term journeys. Now remember, a lot of Ferrari's are driven 500 or 1000 miles a year they're an occasion car. There are cars and coffee car there attract a car, there a theater car, they're pulling up to a nice party or charity event or that nightclub. We were talking about earlier car, but not so much for daily driving. That just wasn't the idea. Not that you couldn't enjoy that. Now we have a car that had daily driving and grand touring in mind. So they really didn't miss everything. The idea is a Ferrari that thanks to its typical Italian style and driving pleasure, it's a it's like a futuristic take on what finesse life in the 50s 60s Rome. If you think about portrayed by Fellini in La dolcevita that's the idea. That's a movie that inspired other great directors at the time, who also helped make the phrase dolcevita synonymous with life of enjoy luxury without concerns. Not just Italy, of course, but across the world. So if you can imagine being an actor with the girl with the hair scarf and big sunglasses and scarf going out the window or with the top down. But of course this is a coupe. So the Ferrari Roma is lanova dolcevita. So here's the cars. In the Roma competitive class, this is what Ferrari thinks they're up against. And then they want to compare against Porsche 911 turbo, Aston Martin DB 11 v eight coupe, Mercedes Benz AMG GT C, and a Bentley, Continental GT v eight. These would be the other cars on the shopping list. If you're looking at a Roma, I have to admit that's an attractive shopping list.

And I don't want to say Rome is at the top of my list. But like very often in my life. The last one I saw the last one I sat in is the one that I want most when people say, Jeff, what's your favorite I say the one I just drove. So I'll say for now since the Rome was the last one that I spent some time with that that would be my favorite. I hope you enjoy taking a look at this car as much as I did. Thank you very, very much to Ferrari Tampa Bay for giving me a chance to make this piece on the car and to show off their car and they were very hospitable. A great crew up there. This is Jeff Sterns connected through cars. See you next time.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

JEFF STERNS CONNECTED THROUGH CARS   please SUBSCRIBE, LIKE, COMMENT and SHARE! (thank you!) 1:05​ Don on riding in a Le Mans racecar with Derek Bell "we, we missed the apex, and I'm, you know, I've done enough driving on track to know the line and you know, how to drive the car and where we should have been. And I could see that we missed it. And I looked over at him instinctively. And he looked over at me, and he, and this is while he's managing the car close to 100 miles an hour in a corner. He looked over at me and said, 'How much do you weigh?' And I answered him, and he kind of it calculated in his brain. And he said, 'Ah, I understand now'. And he corrected, he corrected the slide, we were sliding away from the apex." 4:06​ Don reminisces who he has met, been around, ate with: Phil Hill, Carroll Shelby, Rubens Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna Gerhard Berger, Johnny Herbert Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell. 8:24​ Ducati is therapy. 11:48​ Don was at Frankfurt Auto show with Ferrari when 9/11 happened. Jeff was in a Cadillac, Land-Rover Rolls, Bentley, Lotus showroom. 13:50​ (the night of 9/11) Don: The president of Ferrari sitting next to Giorgio Djaro, the designer, and Pininfarina, who are two of the greatest Italian designers of design, most of the Maseratis and Ferraris that have ever been created. And there's these two guys sitting at the table next to me having dinner. While all this surreal news is coming over about New York. So I was staying in Modena in a hotel. And the only channel that was in English was CNN. So I was watching, you know, from, I'd get back after dinner every night, and I'd flip the TV on and watch CNN for four or five hours until the wee hours of the morning, just to try to stay on top of what was going on back home. And I was in Italy, in Italy for three weeks. So it was it was crazy. And when I came back, I remember in the in the car ride back, passing, you know, passing the city coming back from Newark Airport, you could still see the smoldering coming from the city that that many weeks later, and it was just so heartbreaking. 17:15​ Jeff: you know, kept me out of college? 20:25​ Don on travel: Geneva, Frankfurt & Paris for the Auto Shows, And car factories are fascinating: Detroit, Pontiac,Van Nuys, Lotus, Bentley, McLaren, Ferrari and Maserati. 21:27​ Finland-ice driving on a frozen lake. 23:22​ the Scandinavian Flick. 25:53​ Don on driving Bugatti Veyron. 26:48​ the best advice Don has ever given someone. 30:55​ Jeff reveals how he wants to die.

  1:30​ Don's first car was a Lotus Esprit. You'll never guess what his second car was! 3:49​ regarding Colin Chapman and Lotus "adding lightness" and his many patents. 3:50​ regarding DeLorean and Lotus. 8:22​ Lotus Esprit vs Ferrari Testarossa, the Esprit was close to half a second quicker to 60 miles an hour, despite having eight fewer cylinders. 9:33​ regarding Turbos 12:08​ Don bought his first Porsche 911 -air cooled. (...then 'vette, Mini Cooper S...) 13:29​ Don's perilous journey home from the dealership in a Porsche on the wrong tires in white out snow conditions (all night, through mountains!) One of them was in North Carolina. In my Lotus, my first Lotus that I bought, and I was with my girlfriend, and we were going to a winery to do a wine tour and a wine tasting. And I thought what a beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky. Sunny, great temperature. Is this. We've done? Is this upstate New York. No, this was North Carolina, in North Carolina. Okay. 19:32​ Don spins out on the way to a winery in a Lotus....eventually facing traffic! On a date (with who is now-his wife!) 26:26​ No brakes in a 944 Turbo S at 150 MPH! 30:00​ Regarding riding with Derek Bell in a Le Mans racecar. 33:19​ Derek looked over at me and said, How much do you weigh?

5:00​ Don started in the business at the age of 20 with a Mercedes Benz, BMW, Porsche, Audi dealership as a summer job in the roll of lease consultant. Jeff gets his his first franchise dealership job, gets promoted, gets fired for 1) forging a document or 2) dumping the owner's best friend's daughter or 3) telling jokes on the mic when the band took a break (at the same party I brought the wrong girl to or 4) introduing myself as "The Owner's Partner" at said party or 5) The bankers and politicians at the business meeting after the party (and why the party occured) didn't want to start until "The Owner's Partner" arrived..."you know, the funny one from the party". (it might have been numbers 2-5) 13:43​ someone from Don's dealership had leased a BMW five series to a bank president. Don went to the bank to handover the car and do paperwork. But, it was the wrong car! How did Don handle it (at age 20?) 19:29​ Jeff: A guy actually reached down into his pants during the deal in pulls out a gun 19:40​ Don: I was with somebody wants to pull the gun out. But it wasn't in a car dealership. It was in a bank. 19:55​ Jeff tells the story of when his father and his salesman "Joe" were robbed at gunpoint at Jeff's Dad's lot "Motortown" in Detroit.

2:50 Jeff & Steve met at Sarasota Winefest. Later, along with a gang of exotic car nuts also attended Barrett-Jackson and Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance! 4:40 Monaco, f1 races... 5:40 Ferrari factory in Italy, got a VIP tour. 7:43 Steve Huse- of St. Elmo Steakhouse in Indianapolis. Is this a top 10 Steakhouse. 11:08 we have a bottle from 1902 Chateau Lafite Rothschild 11:27 Stephen sold 34 Arby's a year and a half ago. 14:45 "try to cover by owning real estate as much as we can. So if something didn't go well we get converted to a different use and become a landlord. And that's that philosophy turned out to be a saving grace" 15:04 In and Out Burger. 17:15...to look back now at some of my teachers have probably thought I was a real below average guy. And I think mostly I was so bored in fifth grade school, just bored to pieces that, my behavior was not as good. I wasn't a bad guy just tended to be sometimes outspoken..." 17:44 Jeff: "... sometimes I meet hundreds of people in a month. I mean, financial success is certainly not the only measure of success. And it's definitely not the only measure of success with you. But certainly I've run into a lot of people with the ability to buy what I was selling, which could be this new kind of car, whether it be Cadillac, or whether it be Landrover whether it be exotic car, or BMW, whatever. And I cannot tell you how many of them let me know how below average students..." 18:23 Stephen: "I've always said the A students become doctors, the B students become lawyers and the C students hire both of those professions." 18:30 Jeff: You heard it here first, folks. 19:03 Stephen started a pizza chain, (Noble Roman) notching it up to about 130 stores and took it public on NASDAQ, right after Arby's. Then had Mustard switch was another upscale casual restaurant. Then steak and shake. 19:27 Stephen was hired to come in as a turnaround guy. 20:16 Stephen ended up moving Steak n' Shake from NASDAQ, the New York Stock Exchange. 23:35 on hot chili oil, sesame oil. 24:57 Stephen: " I lived in a little condominium. It Had no furniture I had a TV I bought maybe a Costco or Sam's. A cardboard box-that was the table. Lila and I were dating and we sold the two cars, we leased two other ones so we get some capital buy furniture. We still have some of that furniture." 29:00 Stephen is hospitalized 100+ days for COVID...almost checked out... 33:48 It was a littler airport with no control tower and people on a weekend flying in and out of there using whatever runway they felt like. And I thought it was kind of dangerous still do I look back on that one thing? Why did I ever do that? 36:37 Jeff: (selling cars) "I lost money on every deal. I always made it up in the volume." (Thank you Dave Sterns for that one!) 36:39 Ferrari tries to take Stephen's whole restaurant for a week . 42:42 What's in Steve's garages? 47:16 Why Stephen doesn't like to buy the first year of a car: the best. 47:35 Stephen's definition of success:

Clay goes to Pebble Beach and meets a very interesting client and finds the "hot-button"! On unselling cars. Developing trust and taking care of clients. Should you drink with clients? And some life lessons.

I'm very proud to present this episode we talk about why you shouldn't start a car with your hand through the window. And we also talk about my experience with a Bentley laying rubber in reverse into a new Rolls Royce. And...the crabs-falling-on-new-Bentleys story.

Clay talks about dealing with lies that customers tell and why he doesn't blame them, gets snubbed on an invite to a gay pool party, sees an act of impossible salesmanship, and learns at what speed a GT40 loses front tire contact on a set drive!

Clay Curtis loved exotic cars + his wife knew one of the bosses wives. Would this be enough to get him the job? Apparently so! Time will fly as you listen to Clay's crazy car and (sometimes death defying) customer stories. Clay spent many years peddling exotic iron to celebs, athletes, entertainers and the wealthy. Clay also became partner in a Jet charter firm! Have a good listen and like, subscribe and share the video!

Charley Woodsby is a self made, very successful man that is worthwhile to listen to due to his natural business acumen, experience that can only come with age (and it doesn't come with age if you don't pay attention!), his humility and faith, he's an achiever and never-give-up and work ethic. Charley is a great family man, friend and car enthusiast! After this conversation, I wondered how I got away with it at no cost! Charley is a wealth of knowledge and constructive reflection! Enjoy, subscribe, comment, share! 3:50 Charley talks about his new book RED LOBSTER THE BEGINNING Buy it here and I get a 5% cut! https://amzn.to/3dywoXQ Ge one for you and one as a gift!

5:28 How Charley really feels about the Bentley Continental GT back seat!

7:58 Is there really a Charley?

9:27 Charley on the value of his staff:

13:57 When Charley stopped driving Rolls:

15:53 When Jeff went through a barrier as a passenger in a Ferrari 360 and was the driver decapitated?

20:28 When Charley stopped riding enduro:

26:47 Charley gets into the restaurant business in NY then, culinary school.

28:50 Charley opened his first place:

29:26 Charley builds a bigger place and goes bankrupt. He was forced to take a job. He became a milkman...

31:22 Charley goes back into the restaurant business.

33:40 Charley is a partner / owner again...and the relationships would affect Charley's future:

36:20 and the Red Lobster concept and location was formulated:

36:53 Charley sets an as of yet unbroken record by opening 72 locations (of a non-fast food) in 3 years!

40:45 Always humble, Charley gives the credit to God. How do you not love that?

41:12 Cape Canaveral engineers to location managers?

43:30 Charley retires...and gets bored:

45:36 Charley on the necessity of college:

49:17 What did people interviewed in line at the original Red Lobster Lakeland, Florida location often say?

53:00 Why didn't the original Red Lobster offer desert?

59:24 Charley on firing employees:  

1:00:00 Charley on training:

1:00:37 Charley on the entrepreneurial spirit of his employees: