Young at Heart; Neither fake nor replica, the BLS1 Sport Speciale is a modern tribute to an old Ferrari.

Byline: LARRY EDSALL

You've watched TV programs focused on vintage vehicles and wished you could own and drive such machines. But for Barry Smith, a former ad-agency owner in Scottsdale, Ariz., it became more than a wish.

Smith owns a DVD set of Alain de Cadenet's Victory by Design series and has watched the show dedicated to Ferrari over and over. He was mesmerized by the Testa Rossas and lusted for a 1957 250 TR. The model he coveted most was a TR60, a car that started a six-year Ferrari win streak at Le Mans.

Smith wanted it so much that he began serious research. He discovered that of the three original TR60s, one was destroyed in a crash, while the two survivors (should either be for sale) would demand a figure approaching $15 million apiece.

At the time, Smith's daily driver was a Ferrari 360 Spyder, a surprise birthday present from his wife, Lynn. (Another part of that surprise: She'd used his Porsche 911 Turbo as a down payment.) Since then, Smith has replaced the Spyder with a 1996 Lamborghini Diablo roadster. He and his wife share a Porsche 550 Spyder replica, and she has a customized Shelby Daytona Coupe replica, as well as an Infiniti FX35 for grocery getting.

The Smiths exercise their exotics, but even Barry realized that an original TR couldn't be jeopardized in such a way, nor was he eager to hire a full-time mechanic to tend to its fanatical needs. "I like to drive my cars,'' he says, not keep them locked in a museum.

But, oh, how he lusted for the TR. If he couldn't buy one, perhaps he could find someone to build him one that would look, sound and respond nearly like the original. Another bonus to this re-creation: Modern mechanical parts would make it comfortable to drive on a frequent basis.