PEOPLE: Steve Barney, This car dealer can't keep his ciao down

Steve Barney knew he wanted a change in 2000. He thought he'd get it retiring from Greensboro-based Foreign Cars Italia, the dealership he had owned or worked at for 20 years, selling Ferraris to Michael Jordan and dozens of Tar Heel businessmen. "It took me about six months to figure out that wasn't

He went back into high-end car sales, but now he's primarily peddling Lamborghinis. Customers looking for the $200,000 sports cars come to Surnmerfield, north of Greensboro. Barney, 61, built his Sport Auto Inc. dealership there because it's near his 21-acre Prancing Horse Farm, named after the Ferrari logo.

Last year, Sport Auto sold three Lamborghini Murcielagos, which carry a price tag of $280,000, and in December received its first two Lamborghini Gallardos - priced at $180,000. He expects to sell 30 Gallardos and five Murcielagos in 2004.

Barney, who grew up in Waterbury, Vt., the son of a nurse and a creamery worker, graduated in 1965 from New York University with a bachelor's in Italian. He joined the Navy, where his linguistic ability got him stationed in Naples. While there, he bought his first Ferrari, a 250 GTE. After getting out of the military in 1970, he sold Fiats to tourists in Rome until 1977. But he was receiving calls from Americans who wanted him to find used Ferraris. At the time, Italians considered the cars gas guzzlers. He also became friendly with company founder Enzo Ferrari. That helped when he moved back to the United States in 1977 to look for a place to open a Ferrari dealership. He chose North Carolina because of its favorable economic climate. Foreign Cars Italia prospered until the early 1990s, when a 10% luxury tax began to hurt sales. He sold 75% of the dealership in 1993 to Bud Sherrill, CEO of Hickory-based Sherrill Furniture. He sold the rest in 1998 to Hickory-based Paramount Automotive Group but stayed two more years.

When he was planning to open Sport Auto, Barney noticed that Lamborghini was attempting to compete with Ferrari. "It took a year of diplomacy and international intrigue" to win dealership rights to the Carolinas, southern Virginia and eastern Tennessee, he says. "But they know me as a successful Ferrari dealer." His customers are mostly doctors, bankers and business executives.

Sport Auto also sells Porsches, BMWs and Maseratis. As for himself, Barney owns two Ferraris - a Dino and a Boxer - and an Alfa Romeo. What's it like selling Lamborghinis, a make he used to downplay while pushing Ferraris? "It's like finding out that crow is edible."