MovieChat Forums > Scent of a Woman (1993) Discussion > The Ferrari sales person and the gray gh...

The Ferrari sales person and the gray ghost conversation.


What does the gray ghost mean?
Why doesn't the sales person doesn't just like them take a ride, especially when Al is going to buy the car with $107k?
Did Al really just gave the sales person $2K so the kid and him could take a ride?
This whole scene doesn't make any sense.



Freddie Bisco:
Yeah, this is a valid Oregon driver's license. And we let appropriate customers test-drive the Testarossa. But you're seventeen years old and you're riding with a blind companion. That we don't do. This is a $190,000 piece of machinery; I'm not letting it out this door.

Charlie:
Well, how about this one over here?

Freddie:
That's a Cabriolet t; the same deal! You think I'm gonna let an unaccompanied kid get behind the wheel of a $110,000 car?

Col. Slade:
He will not be unaccompanied. I'll be with him. I'm his father.

Freddie Bisco:
You're his father?

Col. Slade:
Yeah.

Freddie Bisco:
I have an idea. Why don't I take your father for a test drive?

Col. Slade:
What's your quota, Freddie?

Freddie Bisco:
Don't worry about my quota, I do very well.

Col. Slade:
How many Ferraris you sold this month?

Freddie Bisco:
That's not relevant to this discussion.

Col. Slade:
Freddie, the Eighties are over. You tryin' to tell me these things are just walkin' outta the store?

Freddie Bisco:
This is a Ferrari, sir. This is the finest piece of machinery made in the automobile industry.

Col. Slade:
Well, if you like it so much, why don't you sleep with it? Why are you selling it?

Freddie Bisco:
I'd love to accommodate you, but-

Col. Slade:
If this car performs the way I expect it to, you will get a certified check of $101,000 and change when you come in here tomorrow morning.

Freddie Bisco:
That's $109,000 plus $950, plus tax.

Col. Slade:
Freddie, for you- one-oh-seven, all in. Plus a case of champagne. Go with your leftover turkey. Whaddya say? Don't worry about the boy. He drives so smooth, you can boil an egg on the engine. When we bring the car back, I'll peel the egg for you.

Freddie Bisco:
Listen, you've made me laugh, but I can't let the car go out.

Col. Slade:
Want a deposit?

Freddie Bisco:
This is not an installment item, sir.

Col. Slade:
[Takes Bisco aside] Freddie. You're no spring chicken, are you?

Freddie Bisco:
Well, you know what they call me at the home office. "The Gray Ghost." You know why they still keep me around? There's no kid here who can move a Ferrari like I can. I'm known from coast to coast like butter and toast. Ask anybody about Freddie Bisco. When I get a Ferrari- [Snaps his fingers] -out the door.

Col. Slade:
Ha! You just made me laugh, Freddie. [Holds up a folded set of bills] $2,000. Unless you take it you're gonna make me cry. [Bisco hesitates, then takes the money.] I'm a Gray Ghost, too

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I’m guessing by the gray ghost comment he meant they were both old timers. So yeah I believe Freddie took the 2K down to let him test drive the car. As for if Freddie really believed he was going to comeback and buy is doubtful. Just like Slade didn’t believe Freddie Bisco story either that he could sell any Ferrari just like that.

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Great explanation. I thought Freddie was serious about his excellent reputation as a salesman. And maybe once upon a time it was true. But Slade recognized Freddie's BS old timer story, just like we and Freddie recognized Slade's.

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