Funfair for the Uncommon Man
The Prodigy as Maserati Owner

It was only in the fourth quarter of 2008 that Maserati of Indianapolis opened for business; until then, fans of the quintessential Italian marque had little option but to make the 100 mile trip east, to Cincinnati. No surprise, then, that the Trident is an even more uncommon sight in the city than it is in the rest of the country – and no surprise that one lucky owner, Bert Neff, should take pride in having bought the very first car that the new dealership delivered.

In truth, it was sheer chance – we like to think of it as ‘good fortune’ – that saw Bert become the proud owner of a GranTurismo. We’ll let him explain: “I already had a Mercedes E350, which I bought because a friend of mine in the auto trade pushed me to get it; it’s nice enough, but I didn’t really care much for it. I was up at Dreyer and Reinbold test driving a BMW, but to be honest I didn’t really know what I wanted – I just wanted something different. Anyway this car that I had never seen before whipped around the corner; I said, "What was that?!" My friend said he thought it was a Maserati, so we went around the corner to the dealership; they only had two or three cars at that time, and I looked at them. I thought they were really different, very cool, so I took a test drive. Now, I was looking for something different, and it certainly fit that bill – but what really convinced me to get it was that it was so comfortable.”

“I used to drive a Corvette when I was younger, so I have had a fast car; and my wife’s aunt knows a guy who owns four dealerships, so I drove a current Corvette and a few other things,” Bert continued. “As soon as you get in them, you can tell they’re not comfortable; one of the cars I tried was a Viper, and that was truly horrible. In the summer, the interior gets so hot – with the side exhaust, your leg feels like it’s being roasted. With the GranTurismo, it was the exclusivity that attracted me, the fact that this was a car I had literally never seen before, but it was the comfort that convinced me to buy it; and now I’ve had it six months, it’s the luxury and the performance that I like the most. With a car like the Corvette, you can go fast but you don’t feel in control, you feel like you could lose it. I’ve gone pretty fast in the Maserati, you’d probably better not print just how fast, but the car makes it feel much slower than it really is, I always feel secure.”

Bert is certainly enjoying the security his Maserati offers; when we spoke to him he had covered around 6,000 miles in six months despite it nominally being a 'third car'. “Some people have told me that I shouldn’t drive it too often, that it’s the kind of car you park in the garage and admire, and only use it occasionally,” he told us. “Honestly, I can’t see the point of that; it’s my car, and I’m going to use it. I cover around forty miles a day to and from my office, and I’ve used it every day of the week for that. It really has been my primary car over the past few months.”

While Bert has nothing but good things to say about his Maserati – when asked what he would change, he replied that “there is nothing on the car where I’ve thought, I wish that was different” – it’s no surprise that, with his involvement in construction, he still enjoys driving his SUV. “For sure, the Maserati is fast, luxurious and comfortable, but I still enjoy driving my Tahoe. So the GranTurismo hasn’t entirely spoiled me from driving other cars – maybe just that kind!”

As someone involved in construction, and handling the day to day problems of real estate rentals in an economic downturn, it is no surprise that Bert is about as straightforward and down-to-earth a guy as you could hope to meet. He is also acutely aware of his own good fortune. When we asked him how the Maserati made him feel, he was anxious to stress that the feeling of well-being the car brings does not mean he feels he is in some way better than others. “The car does make you feel unique, that you have achieved something, but not in a boastful way. I firmly believe that material things should not make anyone feel empowered. But it does make you appreciate what you have accomplished, that you have worked hard and now you’ve got a toy. Yes, I know – it’s practical, far more practical than a Corvette or a Viper, but let’s face it – it’s still a toy,” he laughed.

Bert also goes out of his way to ensure that he shares his success with those less fortunate. “I’m involved in an outreach program with a small town in Peru, right in the heart of the country near the Brazilian border,” he explained. “We went down there and built a church and a school; it is truly special going down there, seeing how those people live and just to be around them is incredible. I got involved because a pastor in our church had started it around thirty years ago. We are also involved in a number of things in our local community, and on a personal level I do what I can as part of the business – if a tenant of ours hits hard times we do all we can to help and support them, we don’t want to have anyone put out on the street.”

Being aware of how fortunate he is doesn’t mean that Bert doesn’t enjoy the attention his Maserati gets. “It gets all kinds of compliments, and people go out of their way to put down their window and say how nice the GranTurismo looks – and normally people don’t go out of their way for anything,” he told us. “People are constantly looking at it, everywhere I go; it’s a conversation piece, people always want to talk about it. We stopped at a liquor store and when we came out, there were about a dozen people around the car. And people don’t realize just how fast it is, either; one time on the highway there was a guy in a new Mustang with his girlfriend alongside him, and he was trying to get me to race, just showing off to her. Eventually I just floored it – I left him behind like he was stuck in neutral.”  Bert tells this story with a big smile, but he still exudes a degree of humility not often found in a businessman who has attained such great success at so young an age. 

Performance, luxury and exclusivity make the GranTurismo the ideal car for Bert – except that he already has eyes for something else. The good news is that it also wears the Trident badge: the even more potent GranTurismo S. “When I bought my car, they already knew about the GranTurismo S, with its 4.7-liter engine, but that wasn’t going to be available for another two or three months,” he explained. “If I were doing this over again, I would get one of those, but it’s not a big deal. The way I look at it, whether you live in a $2 million home or a $3 million home, it’s still pretty darn cool.” Coming from someone in real estate and construction, we think that comparing the Maserati GranTurismo to a $2 million home is a pretty darn cool compliment.

Favorite meal: Fish
Favorite TV program of all time: Benny Hill
Favorite movie: The Shawshank Redemption
Favorite book: The Bible
Favorite genre of music: 80's music
Favorite composer, performer or group: Billy Joel
Favorite hobby: Watching baseball - I used to play in the minors
Favorite vacation spot: Longboat Key, Florida
Where do you most want to visit for the first time: Italy
Favorite natural wonder: Underground caverns
Favorite man-made wonder: Statue of Liberty
If you had to change professions, what would it be: Be a baseball pitcher