I've driven my Viper to work for years (but it's not a long commute), and drive most every day that there is good weather (about 10 months a year here). But I'll readily admit that this is an exception rather than the rule with Vipers.
There are many places where I won't ever leave the Viper, like the movie theater parking lot or some other area where it's going to be unattended for some time and not clearly under bright lights in a public place.
One point though is that if you do leave a special car like the Viper or a Ferrari in a mixed neighborhood there's a good chance that nobody will mess with it because the kind of person that would normally hang out in a seedy part of town and dare to leave an exotic car alone there would probably also kill any young punk who messed with it.
I was driving through a nearby affluent town a week ago and ended up behind a 512TR. I've always liked the TR, and the 512 TR is my favorite version of the model line (although it's twice as costly used as an earlier TR).
As we drove through town I was following right behind him, and really marvelled at how good the car looked, especially low and wide, still very unique and impressive after so many years.
But I was surprised at how many people shifted their gaze to my Viper after looking at the TR. Granted, it was painted an unusual metallic charcoal as opposed to the more striking Ferrari red, and I had my hardtop off (the best look for the R/T10), but I was still surprised at the attention given the supercar Ferrari in front of me.
After going through town he happened to take the same entrance onto the freeway that I was going home on, and I did get to hear that great V12 shriek. It's a wonderful, mechanical sound. It was however overwhelmed by my Corsa exhaust as I blew past him.
I figured that he wasn't going to bite, but I was actually more interested in seeing the raked side and sleek front of the TR as I passed. The driver was younger than I thought that he would be (early 30s maybe), and I gave him a thumbs up as I passed.
I remember reading about needing to pull the engine on the TR for the 15K service, which usually costs around $7500, and the fact that Italian supercars were built more for high speed running than the kind of abuse that the Viper takes in stride kept me away.
Still, the Testarossa is and was an exotic supercar, and even figuring the maintenance costs it works out to about the same price as a new Porsche 911, but it's never going to be mistaken for anything common (except maybe as a kit car copy, from someone who doesn't know any different).
Your TR looks stunning, and owning a Ferrari is one of those things that only a tiny few people can ever claim in their lifetimes.
Enjoy!
