(Not so) Mellow Yellow
Ronnie Adams: Quintessential Self-made Businessman

Even car buffs can be caught off guard – guys who are keen drivers, who have a car they really like, who think they know about performance cars and can’t be surprised by anything on four wheels. But then they see something dramatic – a car which makes them do a double-take, which sends them to the Internet to find out what they can, and which ends up sitting in their garage. That pretty much sums up how Ronnie Adams came to own his Maserati GranTurismo; having seen one on the road, he did some research, and took one out for a test drive. But for a car guy, what clinched the deal was the real surprise – the color. For Ronnie’s GranTurismo is Giallo GranTurismo – a bright, canary yellow, a color loud enough to match the exhaust note.

“I’ve always been into cars – I’ve owned all kinds of cars, and I recently bought an Aston Martin V8 Vantage,” Ronnie told us. “I wasn’t looking to buy another car, but a month after I bought the Aston Martin, I saw the GranTurismo. I started looking into how the factory builds the cars, finding out all about it. And when I drove one, I thought the ride was incredible – it’s so smooth and stable, yet sporty. I had a 2002 Corvette Z06, and I was contemplating keeping it – but after I drove the GranTurismo, it just had to go. The ride and quality of the Maserati are a thousand per cent better; I had thought I’d miss the Corvette, but I don’t.”

“I first saw the GranTurismo in silver, and I did like it; and I also saw it in dark blue, which was really nice,” he continued. “But I had just bought the Aston Martin, so I thought, maybe next year. But then I saw this yellow one – and that was it, I bought it the next day! I never thought I’d buy a yellow car; it’s so bright, if you take it out to wash it on a sunny day, you have to wear sunglasses. But now, I’m trying to persuade my dealer, F.C. Kerbeck, not to order another one – the yellow GranTurismo, that’s my car.”

Ronnie is a successful real estate investor and developer; he is also one of the most personable, friendly and laid-back owners we’ve met. Relaxing in the showroom at Kerbeck, just across the river from Philadelphia, our conversation covered a myriad of topics, from how difficult it is to be a teacher – his wife’s chosen profession – to whether weightlifting to keep fit should be classed as a hobby or a necessity. But the cars were at the center of the discussion – no surprise, because Ronnie truly is a gearhead. “I’m thinking of having a four-car garage built… with a lift. So I could get eight cars in there. Mmm, maybe that’s bit extreme,” he mused at one point. “But when I buy a car, and like it, I keep it. I had the Corvette for six years, because I liked how it looks; it only had 19,000 miles on it, because it had such a terrible ride.”

With Maserati continuing to bring out new models, Ronnie may need more storage space. “I tried the Quattroporte, both the regular model and the Sport GT S; I thought it was a very nice experience to drive it,” he said. “I think you’re getting much more with the Maserati, unless you’re going to pay a lot more. I’d like to get one – but since I had already got the Aston Martin, and then I bought the GranTurismo, my wife wouldn’t let me buy three cars in a year,” he laughed. “I do think we will be picking up a Quattroporte in the next year. It has a nice ride; it seems Maserati offers an excellent, nice, tight, smooth ride.”

In any color, the GranTurismo looks dramatic, with its aggressive low-slung oval grille at the front, and the swooping curves draped over the spacious cabin. Paint it in Giallo GranTurismo and it becomes a knockout, something which turns heads whether moving or stationary. When asked what he thinks is the coolest thing about the car, it’s the reaction of others which Ronnie picks. “The thing I like the most is how everyone else seems to like the car. If I’m not on the road, the looks the car gets are ridiculous; even the Aston Martin doesn’t get the kind of attention that the GranTurismo gets – people are always asking about it, where they can get one.”

“Sometimes, as a car nut, I can get a little frustrated with my wife, because she’s not a car buff; when I bought the Aston Martin, she said, that’s nice – which really isn’t what you want to hear,” continued Ronnie. “But when I bought the Maserati, she wasn’t with me – and when I brought it home, that was the first time I’ve ever seen her get excited about a car. Now, we’ve been and looked at Bentleys and the like, but nothing gave her the same feeling as this car. I do think the yellow color helps a lot – and I’m really happy that she likes it. Maybe that’s the coolest thing about it – that my wife likes it, and it makes her happy. I did convince her that the GranTurismo was bought for her – it’s her car, I just get to drive it every now and then. She has driven it, a number of times – once I persuaded her that it’s just a car, go ahead and take it out. So now she feels more comfortable, and she enjoys driving it.”

It’s not just his wife – Ronnie told us that he hasn’t had a single bad reaction to the car from friends or family. And the car was instrumental in making a trip to the prom something truly memorable. “The son of a friend asked if he could borrow the car to go to the prom; now, he’s 17, and has been driving for all of three months, so of course I said "no". Eventually I told him: if his father was willing to drive him, then he could borrow the car. I had no clue the guy would say "yes",” he laughed. “So my friend takes his son and girlfriend to the prom – and all night long I’m getting text and picture messages about it! There’re people turning up in stretch limos, the usual thing; but when the Maserati arrived, the prom just about stopped. Everyone came out to look at the car – even the principal!”

“The next day, my friend tells me: I don’t want to get in that car again, I don’t want to see it again – because now, I want one,” he continued. “I’ve told my friends – if you want to mess yourself up, buy a hand-made car. Because once you’ve done that, once you’ve experienced one, you will never want to go back to a mass-produced car. When you look at it like that, it’s good value – the GranTurismo is about the same price as the Vantage, but the Aston Martin only has two seats.”

“I think the Maserati has probably spoiled me for other cars, because I was thinking - where do you go from here? Over the years, I’ve been one of those people who buys a car, but they’re always looking to the next car,” Ronnie explained. “I have a friend, and we counted it up – in the last 20 years, he’s bought 30 cars. But when he saw this Maserati, he said, if I could have bought this I’d have stopped 20 cars ago! For me, and I’m sure for a lot of enthusiasts, a lot of the fun is the chase of buying a car – once you’ve got it, you start looking for the next one. But with the GranTurismo, it actually gave me a sense of calmness, which is surprising.”

Throughout our chat, Ronnie was at pains to stress that, despite the color and attention-grabbing styling, the GranTurismo is not an arrogant status symbol. “To be perfectly honest, I never thought I’d be able to have a car like that; it’s humbling that it’s come around - you work hard, and you’re able to get something,” he told us. “Over the last five or six years, The Lord has blessed me immensely, so we’ve been able to get some things for my wife and myself. It’s almost like Christmas morning – when you go down to the garage, even with the lights off the car is still glowing. I thought we’d left a light on, but the car still glows with the moonlight. My biggest thing is that you’ve got to stay humble, or the car could really give you a big head, you have to watch out for that. Keeping things humble means that you need to understand that it doesn’t have to be like that – one blessing given could be another one taken away.”

Perhaps Ronnie’s current feelings for his Maserati are just an infatuation – maybe he will move on to something else in a year or so, especially since he is already looking forward to his wife allowing him to put a Quattroporte in the garage, alongside the GranTurismo – but we doubt it. “This car will outlast me. It should last forever – as long as we can keep buying gas. I’ll be 90 years old, and the car will still be here. It might have 300,000 miles on it by then, but that will be fine,” he said. “Every time I buy a car, I think I’m going to be good for a couple of years – although the time has been getting shorter and shorter, and I figure I can’t go on like that. But when I got this car – I’m good, I’m cool for now.”

Favorite drink, wine or spirit: Riesling
Favorite meal: Shellfish
Favorite TV show of all time: Seinfeld
Favorite hobby: Weightlifting – and cars
Favorite vacation spot: Cancun, Mexico – I don’t like flying.
Whom do you most admire: My wife – she’s a strong Christian woman, and I tell her: we have a lot of blessings, because of her. When you marry the right person, sometimes it’s still Hell. I think she has made me a much better person than I thought I could be. I keep telling her that she has to let me die first – I don’t want to be here without her.
Which figure from history would you most like to meet: Jesus Christ. Or perhaps a Malcolm X or Martin Luther King Jr.
If you had to change professions, what would you most like do: Teacher