Last April, I had the pleasure of attending a superb event at The Williamsburg Winery. Ferraris on the Vine brings the best in the auto world to Williamsburg. The 2011 theme was Ferrari vs. Ford. Look out for the 2012 edition.

Check out the website and my photos at http://ow.ly/6vVnX.

The interactions I had with auto connoisseurs and enthusiasts were incredible. The car pictured above is a 1958 Ferrari Ellena. I met the owner, and he told me a little about the car.In 1958, 183 of these cars were built and in 1971, only about 1000 were produced. The Ellena/Boano is considered the first series production automobile produced by Ferrari, especially because previous models had only been produced in very small numbers. It was built as a fast touring car and was not intended for racing. You can’t find many of these cars in such good condition these days. That’s because many of them were used as spare parts for the racing cars of the same era, or to make reproductions.

After meeting many of the owners, I can tell you that there are different types of upscale auto buyers. There are those enthusiasts who buy high performance machines to do nothing but enjoy the experience of driving. On the other hand, there are owners who simple just want to own a great piece of machinery. Their motivation is simply ownership. In any case, you can be sure that buyers of luxury autos do not typically acquire basic models with standard features. Luxury auto purchasers differentiate their four-wheeled possessions by adding customizations that make them unique and one-of-a-kind. That pretty much sums up two of the defining components of luxury – customization and uniqueness. As I continue to write I will introduce you to other components that make up the definition of luxury.