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Buy John Romero's Ferrari On EBay

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the california-is-the-one-true-ferrari dept.

TheMightyZog writes: "John Romero is selling his Ferrari Testarossa: eBay and his own site. Is anyone else distrubed by the graphic on the top of his home page?" At last check, the reserve was not yet met.

20 of 396 comments (clear)

  1. Vale adding feature by yobbo · · Score: 5, Funny

    The car comes with 50 free copies of daikatana. That together with 20 dollars of petrol, adds a combined total of 15 dollars to the price of the car! *BARGAIN*

    1. Re:Vale adding feature by dark_panda · · Score: 5, Insightful
      between him and john carmack there has been no one who has had as big an effect on the current game industry (with the except of warren spector and sid mierer)

      And the possible exceptions of...
      • Shigeru Miymoto (Mario, Zelda, all things Nintendo)
      • Gumpei Yokoi (R.I.P. -- died in a car crash in '97; responsible for the GameBoy among other things)
      • Will Wright (all things Sim)
      • Hironobu Sakaguchi (all things Final Fantasy and Square).
      • Peter Molyneux (Populous, B&W)
      Carmack might be a 3-D engine/DeathMatch god, there's no question on that one, but all of the above guys have had major contributions to the entire concept of a video game. (There are many others, of course, these are but a few...)

      J
  2. Comments from an Auto Enthusiast by Buran · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm vastly amused by the fact that this Italian supercar is humbled by the same annoying automatic seatbelts that I, to this day, cannot stand. It was DOT regulation at the time, so all US-market cars in 1991 had them, but ... you just don't think about that when you think about Ferraris.

    Incidentally, "testa rossa" is Italian for "redhead" -- I believe it was a reference to the fact that at least some of these had red valve covers (or something like that -- anyone know?) in the engine. Most are red to go with the meaning of the name.

    Don't care much for the wheels. I'd think a good set of BBS wheels, like the ones on this car, would be nicer. But if you have that much money to spend on a car, you have the money to drop $1500 on a good set of wheels and tires.

    --
    i am a soviet space shuttle
  3. to slashdot advertising department by woolite · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I would be most grateful if someone could send me the advertising rates for these kind of adverts.

    TIA

    1. Re:to slashdot advertising department by Chris+Burke · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hey, it's only advertising if you think someone will buy it. And linux users don't pay for anything, remember? :)

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
  4. No sidekicks please by oingoboingo · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd bid for it as long as it didn't include any annoying sidekicks that got in the way of your driving and always died at inopportune moments.

  5. Re:Quite frankly by CarbonJackson · · Score: 5, Funny

    Quite frankly, I am disturbed by John Romero.

    --

    MikeAtIF*ckStuffedAnimalsDotCom
  6. Revenge? by Gogo+Dodo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is /.'ing his server revenge for Daikatana?

  7. A Geek's Car by stuffman64 · · Score: 5, Funny
    As stated on his page:

    ...conversion from Naturally Aspirated (carburator) to Electronic Fuel Injection with a Motec system. You can have your passenger plug a laptop into the computer (behind the passenger seat, inside) and remap the fuel ranges while you're driving!


    I can see it now. While driving along peacefully at 65mph, obeying the speed limit, your 14 year old script-kiddie son sitting next to you remaps the fuel injector to inject the fuel at full capacity regardless of throttle position. Since he was running Windows, his computer crashes shortly afterwards and you find yourself cruising down the highway at 200mph. You put her in neutral, in a vain attempt to lose speed, but the engine over-revs and blows up. As you finally coast to a stop (about 10 minutes later), you teach your son a lesson.

    Never remap fuel settings in Windows!

    (Ok, so the above story wouldn't actually work because the butterfly valves would prevent any air intake to the engine, but who cares..)
    --
    --- At my sig, unleash hell.
  8. Heavily modified by slashdot.org · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Although this goes well beyond what should be discussed on /. and has practically no significance at all, I have to say that 'Heavily Modified' bothers me when it comes to cars like this.

    I always find it a bit sad. Like the original creators didn't do a good job. If you spend that much money, why buy a car that you don't agree with?

    And if you (apparently) plan to sell it, it's pretty silly. Almost no-one will agree your mods are so kewl. By now they are out-dated, start to fail (believe me, I had a 911 Turbo and the one mod caused me a major headache) and it's practically impossible to bring the car back to it's original condition.

    When a car like this is modified it usually means that it was just a rich kids toy. Not someone that bought it because they loved the car. For the true lover, there's nothing but the original.

    In any case, the $100K Buy It Now is horribly over-priced. You get an original Testarossa from the same year for a little more than half of that. And it will still be worth something 10 years from now. (for example, not that I anything about this car, so this is not a recommendation) ;o)

    1. Re:Heavily modified by psych031337 · · Score: 5, Interesting
      As stated before, this is far away from being "stuff that matters".

      What bugs me as weird though, is the fact that the car had a new angine at a little more than 33000 miles. I know that Ferrari's are not really known for longevity, but the engines are commonly seen as the best parts of the entire car. How can you kill an engine with that few miles? He must have a terrible driving style... I don't think I would buy that car based on that info.

      And it will still be worth something 10 years from now

      It might be worth somethin, but not a lot. A buddy of mine has worked at the Hamburg (germany) outlet of Ferrari for three years. He had the time of his life, for sure, but also had his illusions taken away from him. These cars rock if you turn them in for heavy inspection every 5000miles or once a year and face a 8000 bill every time. If you dont, the thing will fall apart under your ass in less than 5 years. EVERYTHING is inferior save the engine, gearbox and suspension. The interior is cheap and cracks and chuckles in fast turns. The door fittings (the rubber parts) are porous after two years of middle-european weather (mild winters, actually). They start falling off in the third year. Also, rusting is an issue if you don't live in the middle of the desert (or Italy). People who use their Ferrari on a regular basis (daily driving, at least when road conditions permit) buy a Ferrari exactly ONCE. The only regular customers are those who drive their car a few times a year (and even those get rid of it after 3 years max).

      Ergo: The image is better than the cars.
      --
      +++ath0
  9. Screw the Ferrari by slashdot.org · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm waiting for him to get rid of his girlfriend

  10. Re:Background? by Yakman · · Score: 5, Funny
    Could someone post some background on this story, like who is John Romero and why would one care that he is selling his car?

    John Romero was a "rock star" of the computer game industry in the early 90s. He then disappeared to work on the "ultimate computer" game. Instead fucking it up, releasing Daikatana, and now needing to sell his Ferrari to buy Ramen Noodles.

    In summary, he's no one relevant and you shouldn't care.

  11. Re:Question by Tet · · Score: 5, Informative
    Who exactly is John Romero?

    A few years ago he wrote a little computer game with John Carmack. You may have heard of it... it was called Doom. He went on to do Quake before falling out with Carmack, and leaving id software to start his own company, Ion Storm. They released the moderately successful Deus Ex, and the, erm..., not so successful Daikatana.

    --
    "The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." -- Delos B. McKown
  12. Apologies to Office Space and Mike Judge... by edmudama · · Score: 5, Funny

    Adrian Carmack: That's it? If you had a million dollars, you'd do two chicks at the same time?
    John Romero: Damn straight. I always wanted to do that, man. And I think with my rippin' Ferarri and my wad I could hook that up, cause chicks dig a dude with money.
    Carmack: Well, not all chicks.
    John Romero: Well the kind of chicks that'd double up on a dude like me do.

    --
    More data, damnit!
  13. Moderation. by Night0wl · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why is it they never give me moderation points when good stories come along?

    I'm a funny guy, I prefer to moderate when things are funny. Instead they give it to me when some company is fined millions involving thinks I don't know or care about.

    Or when something scientific has happened over my head. I don't have a clue what's going on.

    But this story, I see lots of moderation needing to be done here. "Who the fuck is John Remero?" +1 Interesting.

    "Daikatana sucked!" +1 Insightfull

    "I can't believe it's not butter" +1 Funny.

    But for once, I find my self joining those usually modded down. This is news for nerds? Stuff that matters? Please.

    I don't care if bill gates sells his wifes vibrator. I don't want to hear about it. We might as well start posting submissions for Penny Arcade.

    "It's Monday, and PA is back at it!"
    Posted by Whomever: Todays, 2:45AM
    Timmy_l33t was first in line this morning, with important news about penny arcade! Amazingly they've posted yet another comic, this one apperently asking /. to stop linking them, and that HomeLAN is considering cancelling there sponsorship, isn't that a hoot?

    Flame, troll, funny, I don't really care. :p

    --
    Computational Madness in a round package.
  14. Not even street legal by Faeton · · Score: 5, Funny
    There's no muffler and no catalytic converters, just pure sound blasting out of the turbo, which acts as a kind of muffler.

    The lack of muffler and cat makes this car illegal for use on normal roads. But nowhere in the ad does JR mention that. Yet another undocumented feature.

  15. His girlfriend's server by mizhi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    1) The picture on top is scary.
    2) Fuck Romero's site, I'm more interested in his girlfriend's server. She's got some nice pics there and she's quite the looker. :-)

    --
    Humorless sig goes here.
  16. Ebay Feedback by nyquist_theorem · · Score: 5, Funny
    From his feedback:

    minakokenshou (387) Jan-05-01 10:11:29 PST 503523037
    Praise : Took awhile, but very polite. Thanks!


    Hmmm, sounds rather like that last game attempt of his, doesn't it?
    --
    -- "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge." (Charles Darwin)
  17. Re:DOESNT HONOR BIDS! by Mr_Perl · · Score: 5, Informative

    To be fair, the guy complaining has 9 negatives and 12 neutrals.

    Not exactly ebay premo himself.

    --

    My poetry site welcomes the unusual.