Fun story
The N.A.R.T GTO is the car that started my love affair with cars. I grew up a bicyclist and didn't particularly like cars. We were out on a training ride on a Sunday and we stopped at a local Datsun / Mercedes dealer to get water refills from their out door spigot. There was a large group pf people in a huge wash bay standing around a car. We went in to see what was the fuss. Metal cycling cleats. lycra and all. The center of attraction was a blue N.A.R.T 250 GTO. (I never have been able to identify this specific car from research as the spec and livery changes) The car impressed me with it physical beauty and utilitarian nature. There was nothing on it that didn't serve a purpose. The interior was stripped and prominent were the driver cooling hoses, the Ferrari chrome shifter gate and the fiberglass seat. There was about three rolls of black duck tape holding padding in place. Not the clean race cars of today or the over restored show race cars at concourse events. I distinctly remember the twin white side pipes on each side and the large white roundels on all four corners. Soon a lot of people started to leave and the remaining people put their fingers in their ears. The car was fired and the noise was indescribable. We ran for the door (sliding on the cleats all the way) to get out of there as the pain was severe (took a week before the ringing in my ears stopped). The wash bay was a about 50' x 30' and a 20' ceiling and metal walls so you can imagine what a unmuffled Ferrari V12 race engine sounded like.
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After that I started hanging out at a local autocross track that ran near my house, met car people and while I was in college I started working on a local Super Vee racing team.
Now here is the second part of this:
Many years later after I was out of the car business I met and be came friends with Hank Borkowski a CT heart surgeon and he shared a story that when he was in school at Dartmouth he would hear a Ferrari 275 GTO carving through surrounding hills in the morning and he too fell in love with the car. When he could afford one he purchased and enjoyed the GTO for years before selling it to finance the start of his sons (Michael Borkowski) racing career.
As for the Gullwing, We all have stories about the one that got away and this is one of my worst. I co owned an independent automotive dealer ship and a local car dealer had a going out of business auction and there was a Mercedes Gull wing in the sale. A driver condition but all there. This was 1980 and the economy was a mess so money was tight. My partner and I scrapped together $40,000 to buy the car but the bidding when higher and we dropped out. The car sole for a couple thousand more that than that. I still have car anxiety over that to this day.
That will teach you to ask while I'm having my morning coffee.