
Car-obsessed 4-year-old gets birthday surprise. See his ‘personal car show' in Florida
A 4-year-old's obsession with what was once trucks turned him into a 'Porsche loving little boy' who got a 'special birthday surprise' in Florida.
In February, Nadja Jovanovic asked her Winter Springs community Facebook page if anyone would be willing to help make her son Kosta's birthday one to remember.
Jovanovic didn't think the request would end up 'accidentally creating a car meet' the day before Kosta's March 24 birthday.
'It's a very active Facebook group, we have like 15,000 members and randomly I got this idea because he loves race cars, McLarens and all that,' Jovanovic told McClatchy News in a March 26 phone interview.
At first, her family's plan was to take Kosta to the McLaren dealership so he could 'see everything up close,' she said.
'I said, 'you know if anyone with a cool car, any car, could come by' and a lot of people responded to it,' she said.
And through that Facebook group interaction, Jovanovic met Mike Mallozzi, someone who would surprise even Jovanovic during the birthday celebration.
Mallozzi, who's close with an organization called Dream Cars 4 Kids, a nonprofit that goes to children's hospitals and gives kids experiences with luxury cars, is also friendly with local police.
'I didn't know it at the time but Mike is also close with our local police department so on top of organizing Audis, Porches, Lambos, beautiful cars, to come, he even had the police come with their sirens and everything,' she said.
Although she only posted the TikTok video of a 'personal car show' for her friends and family, she said 'I have never seen that many positive comments on a video.'
'Everyone was just so kind, saying it restored their faith in humanity,' she said.
That's not all they said, though.
Some talked about how lovely it was to have a community band together for a celebration with one person saying, 'Something about strangers showing up for kids will always make me emotional. I just know this brought so much joy to all parties.'
And others talked about how the car owners were helping a dream they might've had as a child come true for a little boy. 'The drivers were once little boys who loved cars. This is so wholesome.'
'I just know the car guys were prolly even more excited than your son to do this haha,' another wrote.
'Sometimes the world is a beautiful place,' someone else commented.
Winter Springs is about a 260-mile drive northwest of Miami.
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So, I could have spent three times as much money and had a Toyota Land Cruiser of the same year in similar condition, but would it really offer me three times as much car? Truly, I don't believe so. Not only has my Series I Land Rover Discovery's iconic fusion of reliability, drivability, and functionality stolen my heart, but it has also forced me to ask why Toyota Land Cruisers seem to command such a massive premium over more overlooked alternatives from Land Rover and Jeep of similar vintage. How much of that inflated value is simply a result of pedantic internet comments and misinformed anecdotes? Who knows, but regardless, my 30-year-old Land Rover has undoubtedly brightened up my life in the somewhat short time that I've owned it. 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