Going out to Dinner Tonight

All in all, we as a community a BLESSED with the most amazing statesman of ANY brand. The stories we heard and the stories he well are PRICELESS!!

 

Yeah I still have to post the pictures and the story about Waffle House!

Valentino is the man. Had the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago and it was great seeing him again. Agree that there could not be a better ambassador for the brand. Missed out on the Waffle House (for good reason Hannibal) but can't wait to see the pics and hear the story.

Valentino is the man. Had the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago and it was great seeing him again. Agree that there could not be a better ambassador for the brand. Missed out on the Waffle House (for good reason Hannibal) but can't wait to see the pics and hear the story.

 

I missed out on waffle house too...

So LamboHQ reached out to a dealership to buy the car and the dealership responds by telling them "they were outbid"?

 

i know dealerships are in the business to make money, but to me this sounds like a case of slapping the hand that feeds you (more or less)

 

good thing the owner of the orange car wasnt at dinner with you guys...that could have made things humorously awkward. "sooo....balboni.....do you um....want my car?"

So he actually owns a Gallardo VB?

So LamboHQ reached out to a dealership to buy the car and the dealership responds by telling them "they were outbid"?

 

i know dealerships are in the business to make money, but to me this sounds like a case of slapping the hand that feeds you (more or less)

 

good thing the owner of the orange car wasnt at dinner with you guys...that could have made things humorously awkward. "sooo....balboni.....do you um....want my car?"

 

The owner WAS at dinner with us. His wife joked that he should offer to sell the car to Balboni.

 

So he actually owns a Gallardo VB?

 

He owns a Balboni edition that Balboni himself used for press here in the U.S.A.

He owns a Balboni edition that Balboni himself used for press here in the U.S.A.

Hahaha

Sounds like an unforgettable meal. Thanks for sharing and great pics.

The owner WAS at dinner with us. His wife joked that he should offer to sell the car to Balboni.

Is that Dave G (owner or orange Balboni)?

 

 

A little on a tangent here, but is there still a consensus that the Balboni drives differently than the standard 550s?

A little on a tangent here, but is there still a consensus that the Balboni drives differently than the standard 550s?

IIRC much more snappy due to the rear suspension setup being slightly different. Again, IIRC they had a soft recall on them.

Looks like it was a great night!!

 

Awesome pics Hannibal, thanks for sharing! I cant wait to meet Balboni someday (not to mention yourself, DoctaM3, and Rob D. of course!).

Looks like it was a great night!!

 

It was a good time!

 

Awesome pics Hannibal, thanks for sharing! I cant wait to meet Balboni someday (not to mention yourself, DoctaM3, and Rob D. of course!).

 

Thanks. I always enjoy meeting members from LP and you will be no exception!

Awesome pics Hannibal, thanks for sharing! I cant wait to meet Balboni someday (not to mention yourself, DoctaM3, and Rob D. of course!).

Me too !!!

Is that Dave G (owner or orange Balboni)?

No...it's not Dave G. Dave still has his yellow G. It's a new guy in town name Dan.

Pittsburgh

 

 

He just found out a balboni edition g he tried to buy a few years ago is owned by a gent at dinner with us. He was shocked. The guy bought it 24 hours before Balboni could close the deal. Small world.

 

Rob Rahm and Porschekid are here with us also.

 

 

Talk about awkward, and a little sad!

 

Why should Balboni of all people have been in a position like that to begin with?

 

 

So the story I got (and Docta can chime in and fill in the details) was that they only made 9 LP 550-2 Balboni editions with a stick. It may be they only made 9 orange ones....not 100%. Anyway Balboni has a blue car but decided he wanted an orange one. He found this one in Beverly Hills and was working on bringing it back. Our buddy who lived down south at the time bought it before the factory/Balboni could close the deal.

 

More pics in bound. After dinner we took him for a brief tour of the city and up to the top of Mt. Washington. He is so nice and down to earth and was just a pleasure to hang out with. He asked all sorts of questions about the city and the landmarks and I had a blast giving him the run down of our little piece of the planet.

 

 

Had a blast with Valentino. To clarify the story on the Balboni in town. The car that is owned by one of our members was the car he campaigned all around the US when the car was introduced. There were only 9 manual Balbonis made and only 2 in his favorite color which is orange.

 

After I told him there was a Balboni in town and it was manual, his eyes grew wide open and he slowly said, "what COLOR is it?" You could see the anticipation in his eyes & he was on the verge of tears when I told him "orange." It turns our that this company owned car was sold to the Cali dealer (I won't name them) after the campaign was over and LamboUSA attempted to buy the car back to gift it to Valentino. LamboHQ wired deposit on the car and was in negotiation to purchase. When day officials were slated to go out to sign documents, they were informed by the dealer that they were outbid and that the car was SOLD!!! The car disappeared into TX until it resurfaced a few months and was bought by one of our members.

 

He (Valentino) found the second Balboni in Italy (which he had previously signed) and bought it back personal about a year ago. Here it is at Serrata Italiano in Pebble Beach a few weeks ago.

 

 

Here is the car in question at our Hangar Party this weekend. I will post a picture and video of Valentino signing the car.

 

All in all, we as a community a BLESSED with the most amazing statesman of ANY brand. The stories we heard and the stories he well are PRICELESS!!

 

 

The owner WAS at dinner with us. His wife joked that he should offer to sell the car to Balboni.

 

 

 

He owns a Balboni edition that Balboni himself used for press here in the U.S.A.

 

 

So here is the video of Balboni talking about the car! Pretty damn cool if you ask me!

 

 

 

So the evening gets better--the stories we could tell but more importantly, the stories Valentino could tell would keep us up for weeks even months.

 

Sensitive to a long day for the old man, I sensed Valentino might be getting tired so I volunteered, as his host, to drive him back to the hotel and he agreed. On the way back he can't stop talking about how awesome the event was, the special encounter with the "lost" Balboni and just how great the entire day has been. Nearing the hotel, I mentioned that I was going back to the party but afterwards we have this crazy tradition of going the local Waffle House for post party snack and just a good decompression time. He quipped, "Waffle House? What's that?" I pointed it out just to our left and said its mostly a waypoint for bikers, truckers and the like but they serve breakfast a day long to which he said, "Hmmmm... oh. very interesting." I asked him if he wanted to go and he seemed to waver so I left him at the hotel and I was on my way back to the hangar.

 

Nearly 90 minutes later, we arrive at the Waffle House with a gang of a dozen over dressed post-party goers with the usual patrons (one of whom referred to my Ferrari as looking like it had 2 Corvette engines) and we are clearly the out-of-towners. To our AMAZEMENT, this is what we saw!

 

 

 

Valentino had walked the quarter mile to check out the mysterious Waffle House for himself. Not only did he make new friends in such a random place, he was clearly having a blast and seemed to savor the experience. "Is good, is good, no?" We all died laughing so hard. Little did the other patrons know who was in their midst. But isn't that the essence of Valentino. A truly humble man yet such a giant in the automotive world.

 

Valentino. The Man. The LEGEND. That's all you can say.

 

Sadly we wished him farewell the next morning that I took him to airport and he was off to see a few other LP brothers including LamborghiniKS and others in Houston then Miami if I recall.

 

 

 

Love it! I got a text from Ben that night with a pic of him, you and Balboni and I was so confused. Haha.

I would love to meet him someday. Childhood dreams and all that stuff.

Sadly we wished him farewell the next morning that I took him to airport and he was off to see a few other LP brothers including LamborghiniKS and others in Houston then Miami if I recall.

 

Yeah, he met Kris and me, since KS handed me the great privelage to join in on of the coolest experiences ever that night!

Shucks... Being in attendance of this event but not getting to experience any of this incredibleness... Feeling bummed

 

Shucks... Being in attendance of this event but not getting to experience any of this incredibleness... Feeling bummed

 

You were at the Hanger Party? Cool! What car did you bring?