Guests in massive SUVs pull up to a red carpet spread over part of the Cuyahoga County Airport tarmac. This celebrity pathway led to a hanger filled with some of the fastest and most luxurious cars on the market, plus private jets exuding the comforts of premium leather and reclining seats. Pricey stuff, but some of the folks gathered here could pull out a checkbook to purchase a 400 horsepower sports car, or spend six figures to buy a private jet service. Mike Silvestro is one of the sponsors of tonight’s showcase. He’s CEO of Flight Options, which bills itself as the 2nd largest operator of private jets in the world.
MIKE SILVESTRO: We're basically an airline who doesn't know where we're going to be tomorrow. We'll pick-up anywhere within the continental United States within 10 hours' notice.
Silvestro says fuel costs and other blows from a bad economy have had a sobering impact on his customers.
MIKE SILVESTRO: I would say the extravagance in our world is gone. It's about what can I get for the most value for the dollar.
I’d like to talk to some of these “bargain hunter barons of business” but, alas, such an intrusion is considered a bit de classe`. So, I have to be content from a distance. Still, apparently no extravagance has been spared on this midsummer night’s dream, devoted to wining and dining potential customers. Servers from Sammy's Catering in spiffy black outfits circulate through the crowd, bearing trays of choice snacks.
SERVER: We're doing a lovely selection of raw bar with some fresh seafood. We also have a carving station with a chef doing pistachio-encrusted lamb chops and beef tenderloin. We also have some specialty drinks --- a Cleveland martini, I believe it's peach schnapps with an apple-flavored rum.
For those who want to fly fast --- on the ground --- Bernie Mareno is the guy to see. He heads the Collection Auto Group --- a collection of 17 high end auto dealerships in Northeast Ohio that is co-sponsoring the event. His dealers specialize cars that you enter through gull wings or scissor doors. Cars that you slide into on plush, Pharaoh Gold leather seats, that will keep you comfy as you’re tooling along at 187 mph. Mareno notes that such features don’t come cheap.
BERNIE MARENO: This car over here is $245,000, the Maserati is about $150,000. That Nissan's a value --- 98 grand.
In the sticker shock race, the Japanese, Italian and German wares finish well behind an English import --- a sleek, black beauty of an Aston Martin, available for a tidy $308,000. Throughout the evening, attendees slowly walk around it --- boys snapping shots with iPhones, and men with boyhood memories of watching Sean Connery evading bad guys on the big screen with a similar sports car, almost 50 years ago.
Outside of the movies…or a race track…where on earth would you get a chance to air out such powerful vehicles? I suggest to Bernie Mareno that they aren't exactly standard transportation for making that trip to the convenience store to pick-up a gallon of milk.
BERNIE MARENO: (laughs) Well, that's not true. It makes the convenience store trip a lot more fun. (laughs more)
There’s a distinct smell of burnt rubber as a Porsche Boxster pulls up to the curb to give potential customers a test ride. With a wink and a nod, I’m in. The organizers had hoped to take clients for a high-speed spin on the airport runway, but the FAA nixed that idea, so a much more compressed test track in the parking lot had to do --- orange cones arranged in a tight maze. Good for them that I’m sitting on the passenger side.
DRIVER: Hold onto the mic!
Although my driver isn't going more than 50 mph, the few split seconds it takes to reach 50, plus all the swerves, produce a G-force that does an overwhelming number on one's stomach. Let's just say it's a good thing I hadn't indulged in any pistachio-encrusted lamb chops.
DRIVER: Now, here's a bump and we're going to get some air. I grew-up watching The Dukes of Hazzard.
My knees are a bit wobbly as I clamber back out onto the sidewalk. A smiling engineer tells me that, the actual sound of the engine is purposefully piped into the car's cabin --- it’s kind of subliminal power play that appeals to prospective buyers. Bernie Mareno of the Collection Auto Group admits that his dealers are selling a lot more than transportation.
BERNIE MARENO: The cars obviously have way more performance than, realistically, any customer will ever use. Delivering a fantasy is what the cars are really doing. That's all part of the equation.
We all have our fantasies, I guess, but only some of us actually realize them. Tonight, I settle for being able to swagger up to the bar and announce, "I'll have a Cleveland martini, shaken, not stirred."
