Ferrari 400 i spotted in Ljubljana!

Ferrari 400 i spotted in Ljubljana! http://t.co/KLcd0DRc57 pic.twitter.com/ij8tnn77a7
— TheSupercarHunt (@TheSupercarHunt) 28 september 2014

Spa Francorchamps - Spa Italia 2014 - Ferrari 400

Last weekend I had a nice trip with the 400 and partner in crime Jos to Spa Francorchamps. Reason being was the Italia event organized by www.spaitalia.be

A nice occassion to take the 400 out and have a good time. Jos was so kind to arrange the local hotel and I arranged the entry tickets. It had been weeks ago since I had driven the 400 so I was really looking forward to it. Although we didn't plan anything else in particular it turned out Jos had to visit two Fiat Dino Coupe's beforehand. Since this was almost en route it fitted nicely. Besides I have a huge interest in these as well. When we arrived at the shop it was closed. Apparently Jos didn't had this checked. Oh well. At least we now could have a little break at the local petrol station to fill up the car, have a coffee and sandwich - as we left early in the morning. Since there was a car wash as well we could do a quick cleaning of the car.

So on to Spa. Overthere it wasn't exactly crowded - I guess because it was Saturday. The weather was absolutely great. We got directed to the Ferrari parking place. We were the only 400 on both days.

 

After a round of walking we had to go back to the car as we were going to drive along with the parade on the circuit. We decided Jos would do the parade today and I would drive tomorrow.

Lining up

 

Eau Rouge

 

Cruising mode

 

Eau Rouge again

One of the very few classic Ferrari's

 

Having a good time. We were kindly greeted by him, true gentleman.

 

When back on the paddock again we had another walk around and decided we had seen it. As we still had plenty of time left we made a call to the shop and visited the Dino's for an inspection. For those curious people outhere: http://www.lm-classiccars.be/en

After a thorough check the potential buyer was informed about the details and we went back to Spa to check in and take a little break. A very decent and nice hotel
(http://www.hotel-de-la-source.com/en/hotel/presentation) and our room had a view on the entry lane of the circuit.

 

 

Instead of having diner at the hotel I made the suggestion to visit a nice little city nearby. For those curious people, the city is called Durbuy (http://www.durbuy.be/). When I checked it was about a hour drive. But we were not in a hurry and it would be a nice drive around in the Ardennes. On our way we passed via Spa centre which was really crowded. Judging on the cars parked outside a lot of Italia visitors. When arrived in Durbuy we could park centrally as someone just left and we could use his spot.

 

 

 

After a stroll around we ended up in this restaurant:

http://www.sanglier-des-ardennes.be/nl/restaurants/brasserie-fred/ As the weather was very good for the time of the year we had our superb dinner outside. You can't beat Belgium cuisine. On our way back we had almost a deere collision. Luckily it jumped back into the woods. It was a full grown male with a huge antler. Never seen that before.

 

The next morning we got a wake up call from some car enthusiasts

 

 

As it became crowded it was time to get the car out and pack up.

 

 

Since we were staying so close to the entry we easily could beat the queue

 

 

 

 

When driving to the Ferrari paddock we bumped into this wicked car. It was part of the Bertone exhibition

 

 

When parked we made another walk around. And today it was quite busy.

 

 

We went to Eau Rouge to see if our friend was still parked overthere. And it was. Today also

the owner was around. It was an eldery man dressed up in racing gear. I suspect he must have

been a local racing hero at the time. The car itself is sprayed in Marrone. Apparently only 10

has been delivered in this color. It's a stunning beauty:

 

 

 

I won't bother you would my parade drive, it was very crowded on the track and very boring. So what other beauties did I spot that day. How about this Aureliaaaaaah

 

 

 

Or what about this Mexicoooooh

 

 

 

Or the Montreal

 

 

Enough about that. As we had seen the whole lot we decided to leave and visit the Abbey in Stavelot. I was hinted by someone the abbey had a racing museum in the basement. But before doing so we had to have a nice Belgium dish: Frites!

 

 

Then we drove straight into the Abbey. Not sure if this was suppose a free parking place but nothing was parked on the inner square - I suspect this particular entrance is normally blocked. At least it was free and we could park in the shadow.

 

 

The Abbey did have multiple musea, in case you are interested: http://www.abbayedestavelot.be/en

With one entrance ticket you can visit the whole lot. I couldn't be bothered and only visited the Spa-Francorshamps racetrack museum. To see a glimpse just visit the website as I didn''t make any pictures.

 

Afterwards we decided it was time to go home. We drove back via the old circuit route - very cool.

 

Well, what can I say, a very enjoyable weekend with great weather, great food, great cars and lots of driving in the 400. Splendid!

 



Snapshot 2013: Daft Punk and a good reason to brake

More Daftpunk, just for the records:

http://www.classicdriver.com/en/article/classic-life/snapshot-2013-daft-punk-and-good-reason-brake

 

 

Ferrari 412 Kuala Lumpur

Ferrari 412 #classiccarsmalaysia #carsinmalaysia #classiccars #kualalumpur #malaysia #classic #vintagecar #onlyi... pic.twitter.com/4bD7qNssOZ
— Vale Esparza (@ValeEspr) 27 september 2014

Coppola Oldtimer Ferrari Parts

I just added this company to the parts section: http://www.coppolaoldtimer.com/
The website is not available yet, so hereby their contact details (English speaking):

CONTATTI /CONTACTS :

UFFICIO/OFFICE : +39 (0)81 7732846

CELLULARE/MOBILE : +39 3478543877

MAIL : info@coppolaoldtimer.com

 

 

Vanish? Vanish!

This blog update is about my obtained pouch as per previous blog:

http://erwin400.blogspot.nl/2014/09/ferrari-400-pouch.html

First of all, I noticed the buyer of the other pouch has received it. Apparently it was not for his own car as it's now put up for sale on Ebay:

I can't believe the ridiculous prices for these items. Meanwhile I asked the missus if my pouch could be cleaned somehow. The pouch looks worn on the picture but actually it's only dirty. It's really in good shape. As such she made a little soap bath using Vanish. She tried it out on a little piece, the right hand corner in this case:

As that worked out well the rest was done too. Look at that:

 

Needless to say I'm extremely pleased with the results. Some more supporting pictures of before and after:

 

 

So time to look up the documentation that needs to go in the pouch. And yes, I have got all the genuine items belonging to the car:

- Owners manual book
- Warranty card and owner's service book
- Sales and service agents booklet
- Automatic instruction book
- Fluids leaflets
- Radio manual

 

And now all nicely stored in the pouch:

 

 

Exotics on road

Spot your own car. This website does contain quite a few nice spots of the 365/400/412
Happy viewing: http://www.exoticsonroad.com

Le Catalog : Ferrari 400, La Berline façon Ferrari

I just added this article to the online section:

http://lecatalog.com/ferrari-400-la-berline-facon-ferrari.html

Brochure Ferrari 1983 La produzione

I just added this brochure to the download folder. It contains the Ferrari models in 1983

Ferrari 412 posters

On FB someone posted two nice pictures of the Original Ferrari 412 posters. I had not become across these before. So I asked him if he could forward the Original scans. They have now been included in the picture gallery. I had a quick check online and saw they can be ordered via this webshop:

http://www.hortonsbooks.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=7162

When I searched a bit further I found this picture. With a Dino Engine in front of it! If you know of a good Fiat Dino 2400 without engine (and transmission) please let me know!