Ferrari 400 - Petrol Filler Cap - compatibility

At the IHWC trip it was a co driver who mentioned that his petrol filler cap was identical as used on my 400. This is likely something very known and used on various Fiat and Lancia models. Nevertheless I thought it was a remarkable and funny discovery. And it's a nice addition for my compatbility database. For the records, the car was a Lancia Beta Coupe.

Just for good old times sake a small video capture of this cute Italian Coupe. In combination with a AGIP tankstop. This was taken on last year's trip.

Italia Zandvoort 2014 - Ferrari 400i spot

Today I went to Italia Zandvoort 2014. Grazie Mille Don Pedro for the entrance tickets and a placeholder on the Paddock. I did go with my other love so the 400 stayed at home. I was glad to see someone else took the effort to bring his 400i to the paddock. It was the only one and a very nice specimen. I liked the matching blue piping on the seats.

 

For those curious about my other love. I tend to keep this blog dedicated to the 400, this to keep it focussed without much other interference. But for today I make an exception and only will include this picture. If you recognize it and you do have ANY information you would like to share, just drop me a line

Ferrari 365GT4 2+2 & Ferrari 400 GT Automatic Press Release documents UK Motorfair

A week ago or so these 365GT4 2+2 and the 400 Automatic press releases were offered on Ebay.
Both are very simple typewriter pamflets with the known details. The 400 document consisted of 2 papers and an official photo. The 400 pamflet makes a nice statement about the automatic vs manual performance. Unfortunately it's not date stamped but I suspect it's from 1976. In any case, I thought these were worthwhile to have in my archive. Click on the picture to enlarge them.

 

Teamspeed: Friday Ferrari Look back, The 1976 Ferrari 400

I just added this to the online article section:

http://teamspeed.com/forums/modern-day-classics-ferrari-general-news/65482-friday-ferrari-look-back-1976-ferrari-400-a.html

Auction: Ferrari 365GT4 2+2 (1975) from Coys, in SURREY, United Kingdom

Looks like an interesting one to me:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/ferrari/365/ferrari-365gt4-2-2/2446897

I just checked the previous last auction results at Coys via http://www.coys.co.uk/past-auctions.php?auctionID=45

And noticed the following price tag: 177 1975 Ferrari 365 GT4 2+2 €85,000

1979 Ferrari 400 Chevy powered

According to the advert it's Chevy powered. Up for grabs for only US 15.000,-

http://daytona.craigslist.org/cto/4538273496.html

Chevy powered, just like the 412 which got converted to a pickup truck:
http://erwin400.blogspot.nl/2014/03/a-ferrari-412-with-v8-chevy-engine.html

But I have seen also this 412 with a V8 camaro engine:

http://erwin400.blogspot.nl/2014/03/a-ferrari-412-with-camaro-ss-engine.html

Winston Goodfellow: Back in the Day: Ferrari 1981

A very nice discovery (and the rest of the blog as well):

http://winstongoodfellow.com/blog/back-in-the-day-ferrari-1981/

A good read with some nice old factory photos with the 400 on it:

1976 Ferrari 400 Review : Prancing horse or lame nags? Motor Enthusiast 1976

I just added this article to the online section. Perhaps a nice read after my week's driving experience.
Brace yourself.

From Motor Enthusiast, October 1976 :

http://driventowrite.com/2013/11/02/1979-ferrari-400-review/

IHWC 2014 trip - the aftermath - fuel and oil consumption ferrari 400

Judging on the questions and remarks I got in advance, during and afterwards this might be the most interesting part for the majority of the people. Honestly, I got a bit tired about the many questions regarding it's fuel consumption. Even the incrowd petrolheads were curious to know these numbers. Untill now I never have measured it, just fill it up, drive it and enjoy it.

Snapshot at the start of the trip:

Snapshot at the finish of the trip:

 

From this I learned we have been driving 3217 km in 6 days time. And a very pleasant drive I must say. The car behaved and handled above my expectations. I think we have been driving in all kind of conditions; heavy rain, hot and cold wheather, severe traffic jams, high altitudes, city and village driving, high speeding, circuit driving, thousands of curves, highways, mountain and country roads. In all circumstances I enjoyed the very smooth automatic gearbox. Perhaps only on the highway and some other small road sections a manual gearbox would have been nice. At all times the oil pressure had been around 5 bar. The water temperature remained mostly below 90C The oil temperature hardly raised above 60C. Only at the top of the Stelvio it was close to 100C. And when driving at high velocity it could go up to 90C. So all very healthy. Actually, the trip went flawless and with great ease. The oil consumption was reasonable in my opinion given the circumstances. On the first day we roughly had done 1000 km with high speeding, which required 1 liter of oil fill up. The next day we climbed the Stelvio and drove to Bologna. Another 1 liter oil was required. On the other days nothing was needed - despite we even had done lots of mountain driving and climbing. On the return we drove back another 1000 km at very high speeds for lengthy periods. This required another 2,5 liter oil fill up. So I conclude that under normal driving conditions the oil usage is at acceptable levels considering it's age and mileage. In fact I now just looked it up in the manual. And from this I learned the usage should be around 1,5 liter oil per 1000 km. Knowing this I'm even more pleased with it's results. For the records, I'm using AGIP 10W60.

When doing alowed speeding on the Autobahn we measured about a 8-10% aberration compared to the GPS. Meaning, when driving about 240 km/h it meant about driving a true 220 km/h. Around that velocity it runs about 6000 RPM. It still had a little room left, so I figure the car was able to do a real 230 km/h at least.

And now, the moment you all have been waiting for; the gas usage. As I have the manual next to me I looked up a bit more detail about the gas tank and it's details. According to this it does have a storage of 118 liter. That's another thing, some folks do think you have to fill up frequently, wich simply is not true as you will have about the same actieradius. It only means it takes a little longer before you are filled up. The reserve does contain 15 liters. The manual shows an interesting figure for the usage, they calculated it uses 1 liter per 4,16 km (24 liter per 100 km) when averaging a speed of 180 km/h. That's a very interesting averaging speed. Even on the Autobahn this is almost impossbile to achieve.  Still I think it's a funny average speed to mention in your manual - clearly it must have been written with in mind the purpose of this car (or a little to much Grappa).

According to the receipts we have used up 680 liters of petrol. As we haven't used up the last tank completely I reckon 650 liters in total. As such we have been driving 1 liter per 5 km on average.

Note, at the first part when we left back home we drove together (normal speed) to the next tank stop in Germany. At that point one of the cars was already almost emptied out since our last joined tankstop together. The 400 was still half full (!). I filled it up and to my surprise we had driven 1:8. With an automatic and carburettor fed V12 engine. On my return someone else approached me as well (and surprise), he made an enquiry regarding the gas usage. He did happen to had a 400 automatic carbs in the past, so he confirmed he managed to drive 1:8 as well. Of course this goes only for driving at continued and constant speed on the highway.

COMPARATIVO 10 - OPEL BITTER SC (1979) / FERRARI 412 (1986)

A nice scale model comparisson. I will add this one to the online section.

http://clasicosenescala.blogspot.nl/2014/06/comparativo-10-opel-bitter-sc-1979.html

Interesting to see the CD and Ghibli comparisson as well

IHWC 2014 Italy Here We Come - Day 6 report

Over and out. Today is the return to Holland. We left early in the morning and played some easy listning music on the radio

 

On the Autobahn we catched up and drove high velocity back home

 

 

And on the last German tank stop we took the opportunity to wash of a bit of dirt so we could enter Holland clean:

 

 

What a trip. When will the next one be?

IHWC 2014 Italy Here We Come - Day 5 report

As Holland won the football match against Spain we had put the orange mirror covers on it to celebrate this:

For today an entire day was booked for driving nice mountain routes with lots of curves and many many hairpins. We started off at lake garda which was not crowded with tourists (yet):

I just looked up the route and if I'm not mistaken we took the exit Gargnano via the SP9 to the SP113. In Persone we had small brake. (http://www.anticaosteriapace.it/)

And from there we followed the SP58 to lake Idro.

A very nice route. Find hereby a small video snapshot somewhere on the SP58

 

From the Idro lake we have been driving some more very nice routes via the 237 to the SS669 (monno) and via Passo della Foppa we drove back to the Stelvio. On Google maps you can have a nice view and idea about the routes we have been riding:

https://www.google.nl/maps/@46.246034,10.296294,3a,75y,19.82h,70.78t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s-9Iq3_WfniSKqMmNy2AXhQ!2e0

 

 

 

 

And back via the Stelvio - this time from the south side back to the Hotel were we stayed the first day

 

 

Cohort Sighting: Ferrari 400 GT – A Pininfarina Classic, Built For 18 Years

I just have added this article to the online section: http://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cohort-sighting-ferrari-400-gt-a-pininfarina-classic-built-for-18-years/

Youtube - UK Ferrari 400i barn find running and driving

A fresh YouTube catch. Curios to know where this will end:

IHWC 2014 Itally Here We Come - Day 4 report

For today a visit was planned to the Museo Tazio Nuvolari in Mantova. But it appeared to be closed during the weekdays.

From the outside it was hardly visible the building was used as a museum, nor did it had any particular signs.

 

 

A slight bummer. So we have to suffice with a website visit, which reveals on the inside it's very well taken care off: http://www.tazionuvolari.it/en/

                                                   So after a lunch meal we went back to the car

 

 

The route went via the country side

 

Towards Caprino Veronese nearby the Garda lake. Overhere we went to a local winehouse for a guided tour and doing nosing & tasting. And of course buying some nice bottles in their shop:

 

In the evening we stayed over in Verona and had diner at the Arena square and enjoyed watching the Dutch Football team playing against Spain

 

What a goal by van Persie! Persieing :