Recently I came across this picture, which is more or less identical but shows more detail
on the background:
I wonder where it's coming from. I suspect it's published in the following book. Perhaps another item that I need to purchase.
Monday, 31 August 2015
Salon de Paris - Ferrari 365GT4 2+2
This picture was published in a particular old French magazine:
Recently I came across this picture, which is more or less identical but shows more detail
on the background:
I wonder where it's coming from. I suspect it's published in the following book. Perhaps another item that I need to purchase.
Recently I came across this picture, which is more or less identical but shows more detail
on the background:
I wonder where it's coming from. I suspect it's published in the following book. Perhaps another item that I need to purchase.
Friday, 28 August 2015
Enzo Ferrari driving a Ferrari 365GT4 2+2
This picture is a known one. I'm still curious to know where it's originating from:
When browsing around I stumbled upon the same picture but in a slighter larger and complete format:
When browsing around I stumbled upon the same picture but in a slighter larger and complete format:
Thursday, 27 August 2015
Ferrari 400i phase 2 brochure
This one was missing in my collection. Not only the prices of the cars goes up, also the 400 memorabilia goes up. It's now added to the download folder in the brochure section. Very nice brochure with very nice sceneries.
Wednesday, 26 August 2015
Design Story Part II : Pininfarina - Paolo Martin - Rolls Royce Camargue - Fiat 130 - Ferrari 400 - Leonardo Fioravanti
Early January this year the Dutch magazine "Autovisie" released a new edition. It had a very good article about the Fiat 130 and the Rolls Royce Camargue. Additionally the article continued with another article about the designer; Paolo Martin. Of course I purchased the magazine and scanned the article. I thought to share one of the pictures with the RR Camargue Facebook group as I expected it would be appreciated. One of the persons responded on it and asked if he could obtain the magazine somehow since he was not living in the Netherlands. I reached out to him via a PM on FB and asked for his address. I provided him a free copy which was much appreciated. I had some further chat with the requestor and it appeared he was a huge fan of this design and owned a Fiat 130 and the RR Camargue. When I brought up the 400 he mentioned he also owned a 412. How cool is that!? Where do you find these people?
To my surprise he also had the private email address of Paolo Martin which he shared with me. Let's call it Karma. So I used that opportunity to reach out to Paolo and simply asked more detail about the design and the relation between the 130 and the 400. At the time he was working for Pininfarina just as Leonardo Fioravanti. As such my guess was there might have been some kind of cooperation between the two of them. Or perhaps Leonardo was influenced by the 130 design or potential reusing sketches. If you take a look at the first sketches of the Fiat 130 Coupe you might understand my point of view. I almost would consider it some kind of 400 prototype. I realize that should read the 365GT4 2+2 but I rather call it the 400.
To my great surprise I got a response from him the next day. Unfortunately I don't master the Italian language so I wrote him using Google translator which, as you might know, does not translate that well and makes a mess of the sentences. Vice versa he responded back to me in English using Google translator as well. If I understood the response correctly there were indeed many details taken from the Fiat 130 Coupe and the RR Camargue which were drawn by him in 1969. He states that the 400 was not very well appreciated by the market and had a few transformations during the years. This was apparently done with help from Aldo Brovarone (Lancia Gamma Coupe) but in his opinion with little succes. Since he left Pininfarina at 1972 he obviously did not know exactly the evolutionary process and with whom this was realized. In any case he considered the front of the 400 ugly.
As such I made an attempt to also reach out to Mr. Fioravanti to get his side of the story. I simply contacted him using the provided email address on his company website. I wrote up an email with only an enquiry to provide any detail on the design and it's originating. The email was written in both English and Italian to ensure it would be read. A few weeks went by and by the time I gave up hope on a response I received a reply. A very brief response from him with apologies for the delay since he was very busy lately. He clearly states that the Ferrari 365GT4 2+2 (400/412) is his personal design as per others 10 Ferrari designs. He's referring that all of his designs during his professional career are now written up in a book and published, Italian-English, in May. The title of this book is "il Cavallino nel cuore" by Publisher Giorgio Nada Editor. Obviously I'm very curious regarding this book. According to the Publisher it does contain material that has not been released before.
Although Mr. Fioravanti might have been reusing details of the Fiat 130 Coupe, in essence Paolo had been doing the same. I'm specifically pointing towards the C-pillar towards the tail in combination with the sharp crease below. This typical styling was already used on the Lancia Flaminia Coupe, which was a Pininfarina creation as well. It's origin however started on the Lancia Florida. See and read about this per other blog I have written:
http://erwin400.blogspot.nl/2014/12/ferrari-400-design-pininfarina-leonardo.html
So far so good. Meanwhile on the Facebook group 365/400/412(https://www.facebook.com/groups/8727831092/) I posted a picture of a 400 that I found on Pinterest. It did had a Belgium license plate and as such I thought it could be a known one.
One person recognized it and mentioned it was published in a particular French car magazine. I was informed it was a collectible magazine (no longer exists) and not easy to obtain. Luck was on my side, I found one instantly on Ebay but as always it did not came cheap. Luckily the French seller was able to communicate in English, it turned out this particular magazine was located on a different storage location so I was kindly informed to have a little more patience before it could be shipped. Of course not a problem. He also mentioned that recently he obtained a new reprint of the entire publications of this magazine. But I had no interest in that. The magazine I eventually received was not a reprint but an original edition:
To my great surprise it did contain not only the expected picture, it had also had a nice article about the 400. In fact it were two articles and including very interesting and unique factory pictures. I simply couldn't believe it. How can this not be revealed before or available on the internet. It was even more stunning to see that Leonardo Fioravanti provided coop for this article. Which can be considered more or less quite rare as there are very few publications known about him or with his involvement. One problem though, it's written in French and I don't master that language. So I had to find someone who could translate it for me. I will spare you the details but it got translated for me against a small fee.
As the article also mentioned the photographer's name I made a simple query on Google. It turned out he's a known photographer with his own website: http://www.bernardasset.com/
And even better, with a huge online database. I made a simple query on Ferrari 400 and presto a few more pictures showed up. Wow. Unfortunately these are small watermarked pictures. In order to access the database one can subscribe to it and place orders, this seems to be limited for professionals or companies only. I was lucky to know someone who had a joined interest in this matter as such he reached out to him but without joy, sigh!
Whilst this is work in progress I started to dig further. I don't recall what triggered me or how I came across it but I suspect I must have been searching more specific into Pininfarina. As such I find out that they also had published yearbooks. Further research showed there was a yearbook for 1972/73. It was no 12. Unfortunately on their own website you can not find anything about it. At first I tried all the automobilia address's listed on my blog. And yes, I found it on Gilena.it (a personal favorite). However the next day they replied it was not on stock and I was added on their search list, as soon as they would find a copy I would get one. Bummer. It was not available on Amazon.com or Ebay either, but eventually I found it on Abebooks.com. Mind you, this is quite labour intensive work with only using the search word 'pininfarina' this to ensure I would encounter it. In return I often get to see other nice finds of my interest. As said, I found one, a bit pricy, but I ordered it.
(see blog update http://erwin400.blogspot.nl/2015/04/pininfarina-yearbook-1972-no-12-ferrari.html
- as you can see it was not a particular interesting article).
Whilst I'm now awaiting for the magazine translation and the yearbook delivery I think I will write up another email to Mr. Fioravanti since I got ahold of these unique 400 sketches published in the French magazine. I wonder if these will be published in his new book as well. In any case I will include it in my email to provoke him.
Furthermore I need to get access to the online photo database I mentioned earlier. So more work to do. I decided to write the French photographer first, both in French and English. This did the trick, I got a French response and got informed he does not know me and that he only works with professionals from the known magazines. Aha. I wrote him back and told him my intentions. Unfortunately no response back since. Right!
Meanwhile I also wrote Mr Fioravanti and included these sketch drawings from the French magazine:
As you can see they are totally different then Paolo Martin sketch drawings. I got a reply back from him personally the next day. In fact I received two emails. And one email written up in both Italian and English. He was very eager to know where I had found these pictures. And there was still a little time left to include them in his new book as it was not printed yet. So if I please could tell him my source and if I could give him a call urgently. Right! Clearly my provocation helped and apparently they were not in his possesion (surprisingly) nor included in his book.
I was in doubt about the best approach and decided simply to inform him about the French photographer and his online database - which only revealed a few photo's. If he would be succesfull in obtaining an account or the photo's directly I potentially could get them via him. I also further settled an interview with him to promote his book but also to have an unqiue opportunity to meet up with him and get to know more detail about the 400. In fact this was more or less agreed by him per other email conversation. Unfortunately I did not get a follow up email from him yet. But perhaps I'm to impatience and I will get to hear from him tomorrow. If not I will give him a call and hope he speaks English.
We are now 2 weeks further and today it seems like all is coming together at once. First of all I finalized a small package deal on 400 memorabilia (3 items). I received a German magazine with a very good article about the 400. As a matter of fact I also received seperate the Pininfarina yearbook 1972/73 edition no 12. And tonight I will receive the translated article from the French Magazine.
And if this wasn't enough I received an email from the book Publisher. Good news, I will get a signed copy by Leonardo Fioravanti. And strangely later that evening the following picture was posted on a FB group:
Via : https://www.facebook.com/Soupapes/posts/298880420235737
And yes, it's from the mentioned French magazine. How on earth can this all happen in one day. And the next day these pictures got posted on a different FB group:
Via: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=834849956589221&id=377233752350846
As I knew from Mr. Fioravanti, he meanwhile successfully obtained the pictures from the French photographer. Therefore I reached out to the photographer again. This time around he was more responsive and cooperative. I made a financial deal to buy the published magazine pictures from him and with the rights to use them for internet usage. So there you go, another transaction made.
We are now very close, less then a week, to visit Mr Fioravanti for the interview. Meanwhile I have understood the book has been published. So I reached out to him and asked if he could bring a copy with him so that it could be used for promotional purposes as well.
For the interview arrangements has been made with Cinecars (www.cinecars.nl). A small bunch of people with great car passion. The good thing is, the cameraman Mirco, does happen to be Italian. Meanwhile Johan from Cinecars got me in contact with a true designer; Niels van Roij (http://www.nielsvanroij.nl/). Together we compiled a list of questions for the interview. Everything was worked out for the weekend. It was going to be a very interesting weekend and a lot was going to happen as at first we were going to make a video report in Swiss on Friday and Saturday. And Sunday was reserved for the interview with Mr Fioravanti in Turin. So a lot of international driving and filming was going to take place.
To be continued!
To my surprise he also had the private email address of Paolo Martin which he shared with me. Let's call it Karma. So I used that opportunity to reach out to Paolo and simply asked more detail about the design and the relation between the 130 and the 400. At the time he was working for Pininfarina just as Leonardo Fioravanti. As such my guess was there might have been some kind of cooperation between the two of them. Or perhaps Leonardo was influenced by the 130 design or potential reusing sketches. If you take a look at the first sketches of the Fiat 130 Coupe you might understand my point of view. I almost would consider it some kind of 400 prototype. I realize that should read the 365GT4 2+2 but I rather call it the 400.
To my great surprise I got a response from him the next day. Unfortunately I don't master the Italian language so I wrote him using Google translator which, as you might know, does not translate that well and makes a mess of the sentences. Vice versa he responded back to me in English using Google translator as well. If I understood the response correctly there were indeed many details taken from the Fiat 130 Coupe and the RR Camargue which were drawn by him in 1969. He states that the 400 was not very well appreciated by the market and had a few transformations during the years. This was apparently done with help from Aldo Brovarone (Lancia Gamma Coupe) but in his opinion with little succes. Since he left Pininfarina at 1972 he obviously did not know exactly the evolutionary process and with whom this was realized. In any case he considered the front of the 400 ugly.
As such I made an attempt to also reach out to Mr. Fioravanti to get his side of the story. I simply contacted him using the provided email address on his company website. I wrote up an email with only an enquiry to provide any detail on the design and it's originating. The email was written in both English and Italian to ensure it would be read. A few weeks went by and by the time I gave up hope on a response I received a reply. A very brief response from him with apologies for the delay since he was very busy lately. He clearly states that the Ferrari 365GT4 2+2 (400/412) is his personal design as per others 10 Ferrari designs. He's referring that all of his designs during his professional career are now written up in a book and published, Italian-English, in May. The title of this book is "il Cavallino nel cuore" by Publisher Giorgio Nada Editor. Obviously I'm very curious regarding this book. According to the Publisher it does contain material that has not been released before.
Although Mr. Fioravanti might have been reusing details of the Fiat 130 Coupe, in essence Paolo had been doing the same. I'm specifically pointing towards the C-pillar towards the tail in combination with the sharp crease below. This typical styling was already used on the Lancia Flaminia Coupe, which was a Pininfarina creation as well. It's origin however started on the Lancia Florida. See and read about this per other blog I have written:
http://erwin400.blogspot.nl/2014/12/ferrari-400-design-pininfarina-leonardo.html
So far so good. Meanwhile on the Facebook group 365/400/412(https://www.facebook.com/groups/8727831092/) I posted a picture of a 400 that I found on Pinterest. It did had a Belgium license plate and as such I thought it could be a known one.
One person recognized it and mentioned it was published in a particular French car magazine. I was informed it was a collectible magazine (no longer exists) and not easy to obtain. Luck was on my side, I found one instantly on Ebay but as always it did not came cheap. Luckily the French seller was able to communicate in English, it turned out this particular magazine was located on a different storage location so I was kindly informed to have a little more patience before it could be shipped. Of course not a problem. He also mentioned that recently he obtained a new reprint of the entire publications of this magazine. But I had no interest in that. The magazine I eventually received was not a reprint but an original edition:
(available in the download folder)
To my great surprise it did contain not only the expected picture, it had also had a nice article about the 400. In fact it were two articles and including very interesting and unique factory pictures. I simply couldn't believe it. How can this not be revealed before or available on the internet. It was even more stunning to see that Leonardo Fioravanti provided coop for this article. Which can be considered more or less quite rare as there are very few publications known about him or with his involvement. One problem though, it's written in French and I don't master that language. So I had to find someone who could translate it for me. I will spare you the details but it got translated for me against a small fee.
As the article also mentioned the photographer's name I made a simple query on Google. It turned out he's a known photographer with his own website: http://www.bernardasset.com/
And even better, with a huge online database. I made a simple query on Ferrari 400 and presto a few more pictures showed up. Wow. Unfortunately these are small watermarked pictures. In order to access the database one can subscribe to it and place orders, this seems to be limited for professionals or companies only. I was lucky to know someone who had a joined interest in this matter as such he reached out to him but without joy, sigh!
Whilst this is work in progress I started to dig further. I don't recall what triggered me or how I came across it but I suspect I must have been searching more specific into Pininfarina. As such I find out that they also had published yearbooks. Further research showed there was a yearbook for 1972/73. It was no 12. Unfortunately on their own website you can not find anything about it. At first I tried all the automobilia address's listed on my blog. And yes, I found it on Gilena.it (a personal favorite). However the next day they replied it was not on stock and I was added on their search list, as soon as they would find a copy I would get one. Bummer. It was not available on Amazon.com or Ebay either, but eventually I found it on Abebooks.com. Mind you, this is quite labour intensive work with only using the search word 'pininfarina' this to ensure I would encounter it. In return I often get to see other nice finds of my interest. As said, I found one, a bit pricy, but I ordered it.
(see blog update http://erwin400.blogspot.nl/2015/04/pininfarina-yearbook-1972-no-12-ferrari.html
- as you can see it was not a particular interesting article).
Whilst I'm now awaiting for the magazine translation and the yearbook delivery I think I will write up another email to Mr. Fioravanti since I got ahold of these unique 400 sketches published in the French magazine. I wonder if these will be published in his new book as well. In any case I will include it in my email to provoke him.
Furthermore I need to get access to the online photo database I mentioned earlier. So more work to do. I decided to write the French photographer first, both in French and English. This did the trick, I got a French response and got informed he does not know me and that he only works with professionals from the known magazines. Aha. I wrote him back and told him my intentions. Unfortunately no response back since. Right!
Meanwhile I also wrote Mr Fioravanti and included these sketch drawings from the French magazine:
I was in doubt about the best approach and decided simply to inform him about the French photographer and his online database - which only revealed a few photo's. If he would be succesfull in obtaining an account or the photo's directly I potentially could get them via him. I also further settled an interview with him to promote his book but also to have an unqiue opportunity to meet up with him and get to know more detail about the 400. In fact this was more or less agreed by him per other email conversation. Unfortunately I did not get a follow up email from him yet. But perhaps I'm to impatience and I will get to hear from him tomorrow. If not I will give him a call and hope he speaks English.
We are now 2 weeks further and today it seems like all is coming together at once. First of all I finalized a small package deal on 400 memorabilia (3 items). I received a German magazine with a very good article about the 400. As a matter of fact I also received seperate the Pininfarina yearbook 1972/73 edition no 12. And tonight I will receive the translated article from the French Magazine.
And if this wasn't enough I received an email from the book Publisher. Good news, I will get a signed copy by Leonardo Fioravanti. And strangely later that evening the following picture was posted on a FB group:
Via : https://www.facebook.com/Soupapes/posts/298880420235737
And yes, it's from the mentioned French magazine. How on earth can this all happen in one day. And the next day these pictures got posted on a different FB group:
Via: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=834849956589221&id=377233752350846
As I knew from Mr. Fioravanti, he meanwhile successfully obtained the pictures from the French photographer. Therefore I reached out to the photographer again. This time around he was more responsive and cooperative. I made a financial deal to buy the published magazine pictures from him and with the rights to use them for internet usage. So there you go, another transaction made.
We are now very close, less then a week, to visit Mr Fioravanti for the interview. Meanwhile I have understood the book has been published. So I reached out to him and asked if he could bring a copy with him so that it could be used for promotional purposes as well.
For the interview arrangements has been made with Cinecars (www.cinecars.nl). A small bunch of people with great car passion. The good thing is, the cameraman Mirco, does happen to be Italian. Meanwhile Johan from Cinecars got me in contact with a true designer; Niels van Roij (http://www.nielsvanroij.nl/). Together we compiled a list of questions for the interview. Everything was worked out for the weekend. It was going to be a very interesting weekend and a lot was going to happen as at first we were going to make a video report in Swiss on Friday and Saturday. And Sunday was reserved for the interview with Mr Fioravanti in Turin. So a lot of international driving and filming was going to take place.
To be continued!
Friday, 21 August 2015
Sbarro Memory - Ferrari 400i
On FB I came across this car which is based on F400i. Of course it was already listed on the F400 club website but somehow I must have overlooked that as it's the first time I saw it:
http://www.f400club.com/17103-27873-une-365-gt4-22-et-une-400-automatic-devenues-sbarro-mille-miglia/
http://sbarro.perso.neuf.fr/voitures/Memory/memorygb.html
#36639, 400iA, Sbarro Memory black/black. Featured Geneva Salon, 2012 and 3 Mar 2015
Interested in other kitcars based on a 400?
Check out the blog label index on the right side.
http://www.f400club.com/17103-27873-une-365-gt4-22-et-une-400-automatic-devenues-sbarro-mille-miglia/
http://sbarro.perso.neuf.fr/voitures/Memory/memorygb.html
#36639, 400iA, Sbarro Memory black/black. Featured Geneva Salon, 2012 and 3 Mar 2015
Interested in other kitcars based on a 400?
Check out the blog label index on the right side.
Thursday, 20 August 2015
Ferrari 400 - Brake Caliper - Compatibility
A very useful post on FChat regarding the brake calipers used:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/365-gt4-2-2-400-412/497159-rear-brake-calipers-400i-1982-a.html
As per maintenance blog these are indeed ATE brakes and apparently also used on the mentioned
BMW 1802 / 2002 and BMW 633 CSI (1978).
http://www.ate.de/www/download/ate_de_de/themen/ate_c3_classic_katalog_uv.pdf
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/365-gt4-2-2-400-412/497159-rear-brake-calipers-400i-1982-a.html
As per maintenance blog these are indeed ATE brakes and apparently also used on the mentioned
BMW 1802 / 2002 and BMW 633 CSI (1978).
http://www.ate.de/www/download/ate_de_de/themen/ate_c3_classic_katalog_uv.pdf
Tuesday, 18 August 2015
Ouch - Ferrari 400i & Ferrari 412 demolishing - Japan
This Japanese company http://www.suzuki-shokai.com/ has a large and interesting graveyard
Check out the Ferrari section:
Update 17-10-2015: someone posted on FB these additional pictures
Check out the Ferrari section:
Thanks for sharing David!
Update 17-10-2015: someone posted on FB these additional pictures
Monday, 17 August 2015
Ferrari 400 Pop-up light : glass lenses brand : Carello / Hella / Cibie
At my 400 appraisal it was remarked that two different brands were used for the glass lenses in the pop-up lights. The high beam lense was by Carello and the low beam was by Hella.
I would expect that both should be by Carello. However I seriously doubted if they had been damaged in the past and replaced by a different ones. In fact these lights are hardly used.
In order to find out I posted a request on FChat so others could check this as well. The first response is by a 400i owner from 1982. He has a Carello for the high beam and Cibie for low beam. This make sense to me (since also the fog-lights for the 400i are provided by Cibie). It's at least interesting to see they seem to make use of different brand lenses. Let's await a few more responses.
I would expect that both should be by Carello. However I seriously doubted if they had been damaged in the past and replaced by a different ones. In fact these lights are hardly used.
In order to find out I posted a request on FChat so others could check this as well. The first response is by a 400i owner from 1982. He has a Carello for the high beam and Cibie for low beam. This make sense to me (since also the fog-lights for the 400i are provided by Cibie). It's at least interesting to see they seem to make use of different brand lenses. Let's await a few more responses.
Update 24-8-2015: Today I received the following update from a 400 1977 owner, he has two Hella's fitted:
Update 25-8-2015: Today via Fchat a 400 1977 owner submitted the following update. This one has also a Carello & Hella setup:
Low beam is Hella 14466 R7
High beam is Carello 03 245 700 
Update 26-8-2015: More interesting updates via Fchat:
1980 400i has 4 x Carello
1980 400i has 2 x Carello & 2 x Hella
1982 400i has a real mix of Carello, Wagner & Koito.
1980 400i has 2 x Carello & 2 x Hella
1982 400i has a real mix of Carello, Wagner & Koito.
1985 400i has 4 Hellas
Sunday, 16 August 2015
Ferrari 400 appraising - Rietveld taxaties
About 2 weeks ago or so I received a letter from my insureance company. It was time for a renewal of the appraisal report. Apparently they need a new one every 2 years - thought it was valid for 3 years. But it doesn't matter, especially since the prices are climbing rapidly it would have make sense to get this done soon rather then later. The previous time it did happen to be the first time I had a car appraised and I simply had it done by the company which was suggested by the insureance company. I thought it would not make much difference and the asking price for such appraisal report was much in line with other companies. How wrong I was. The guy who showed up didn't seem that much interested in the car and was just following his check list. At that time I didn't knew it's more or less a visual inspection, meaning no in-depth quality or technical inspection was done. Which was a surprise to me. I even had to ask the guy if he wanted to hear the engine run. I offered him coffee to get inside so I could show him papers, history and maintenance done on the car. But he was not interested. I found it a strange experience. Not much later I received the appraisal report, which admittely was a good report. But the valued price was below of what I expected (especially after all the maintenance done). Not that I'm interested in getting the highest possible value but I certainly expected a price which allowed me to buy a car back in similar (technical) condition. So I asked how he came up with that value. He mentioned he compared it with another 400 offered for sale in NL. When I asked which one he mentioned the company. Interestingly I did had that car inspected during my hunt. It was a car which I left after 1 minute of visual inspection, it was in a poor state; roof ceiling hanging loose, door rubbers damaged and hanging loose and other bits and pieces. I didnt even bother to make pictures and write up a small report about this visit. So I asked if he had seen the car in question, which he did not. I found that even more stunning, how can you make a good judgement or comparisson on a car you even have not seen or checked. After a little debate he revisited the valued price which I deemed more appropiate.
So this time around I was going to pick a different company. Due to my recent Cinecars involvement I recalled "Rietveld Taxaties". He often writes up supporting text on cars which were in the spotlight. And of course I had come across the name before (positively) on car fora. So I figured to check his website. And luck was on my site, he did happen to have special appraisal days for an attractive price. Due to the attractive price and the Climbing car values I also figured it would make sense to get my 8.32 appraised as well for the first time. So an appointment was made for both of them on the same day. I was looking forward to it as it meant I could drive them both again, Always nice.
So yesterday I went to him and apparently he knew my 400. Which is not a complete surprise due to his and my Cinecars involvement. In fact I learned a little more what was happening behind the scenes.
In any case, he turned out to be very knowledgeable on (Italian) cars and knew quite a bit of history on the 400 and even had a 365 appraised recently (it was the one which was the first car I visited on my hunt). There was in fact much more talk about 400's but I won't mention that here. The car inspection was more thorough and he was keen in seeing the original booklets, service and maintenance records for starters. The paint was measured and the body checked for damage, etc. Advise was given and an first value indication was given but he wanted to check more and read my blog. Clearly I felt more relieved with this inspection as he obviously had more insight and experience in these type of cars.
Of course the 8.32 followed next and afterwards I went to my mechanic to have some part exchange done. I mentioned the appraisal and where it was done. Turned out he had his Fulvia and Dino appraised previous month at this very same person. It's a small world.
Curious to receive the reports and know the final valuation.
So this time around I was going to pick a different company. Due to my recent Cinecars involvement I recalled "Rietveld Taxaties". He often writes up supporting text on cars which were in the spotlight. And of course I had come across the name before (positively) on car fora. So I figured to check his website. And luck was on my site, he did happen to have special appraisal days for an attractive price. Due to the attractive price and the Climbing car values I also figured it would make sense to get my 8.32 appraised as well for the first time. So an appointment was made for both of them on the same day. I was looking forward to it as it meant I could drive them both again, Always nice.
So yesterday I went to him and apparently he knew my 400. Which is not a complete surprise due to his and my Cinecars involvement. In fact I learned a little more what was happening behind the scenes.
In any case, he turned out to be very knowledgeable on (Italian) cars and knew quite a bit of history on the 400 and even had a 365 appraised recently (it was the one which was the first car I visited on my hunt). There was in fact much more talk about 400's but I won't mention that here. The car inspection was more thorough and he was keen in seeing the original booklets, service and maintenance records for starters. The paint was measured and the body checked for damage, etc. Advise was given and an first value indication was given but he wanted to check more and read my blog. Clearly I felt more relieved with this inspection as he obviously had more insight and experience in these type of cars.
Of course the 8.32 followed next and afterwards I went to my mechanic to have some part exchange done. I mentioned the appraisal and where it was done. Turned out he had his Fulvia and Dino appraised previous month at this very same person. It's a small world.
Curious to receive the reports and know the final valuation.
Friday, 14 August 2015
Edward Legge: Affordable Ferraris – do they exist?
Not a superb article so just for the records:
https://grrc.goodwood.com/road/news/edward-legge-affordable-ferraris-do-they-exist#zbmZQqjigFRruuZc.97
Monday, 10 August 2015
Saturday, 8 August 2015
Close to perfection - bootlid bumper stops
A little while ago I got in contact with someone who purchased a 400 for a car project and was only in need of the engine. As such I reached out to him to obtain a few parts which I considered nice to have on my personal stock, just in case.
Not much later I recalled my rubber bump stoppers for the boot lid were damaged/broken/cutoff. In order to make clear on what I was after I simply thought to include a photo. As my car is parked on a different location I just had to search something online and figured the parts manual would be a good source to check. As such I went to Eurospares to look it up. Unfortunately the picture is not entirely clear:
But it did include the part number: 806-34-084-00
So I thought to do a quick check on Ebay with this number. To my surprise a pair was offered for sale in the US. For 10 US dollars, a bit pricy for a silly rubber. But at least it's a genuine Original new part. So I ordered it immediately. Clearly I was very happy with it. These are the small things you don't think are easily available. Now, when writing up this piece and looking it up again on Eurospares I noticed they have it on stock and sell it for a whopping 25 pence each. DOH!
And here it is when I received the item, nicely packed in Pininfarina plastic.
Here you can see the problem clearly. Potentially the hinches might have cut or broken the rubber stops. At first I thought they were cut off by the previous owner so the bootlid opens up higher. By now, as I have replaced them, I think they were simply worn out and broken off (they had become hard and were no longer soft). The problem of this missing rubber is quit annyoing, I was surprised how often I have used the trunk on my trips. And everytime opening up the trunk had to be done carefull, often with a quick reflex and stop the bootlid by hand.
And the broken parts:
And here fitted with the new rubber stop:
And here the side view with opened boot lid, before and after:
These little fixes are very rewarding work. I'm really pleased with this improvement. Another step closer to perfection.
Another small discovery I made is that the RHD fuse box cover is missing the inside sticker with the explanation on the fuses. Atthached the LHD fuse box cover for clarity. Anyone out there who can make me happy with this sticker?
Not much later I recalled my rubber bump stoppers for the boot lid were damaged/broken/cutoff. In order to make clear on what I was after I simply thought to include a photo. As my car is parked on a different location I just had to search something online and figured the parts manual would be a good source to check. As such I went to Eurospares to look it up. Unfortunately the picture is not entirely clear:
So I thought to do a quick check on Ebay with this number. To my surprise a pair was offered for sale in the US. For 10 US dollars, a bit pricy for a silly rubber. But at least it's a genuine Original new part. So I ordered it immediately. Clearly I was very happy with it. These are the small things you don't think are easily available. Now, when writing up this piece and looking it up again on Eurospares I noticed they have it on stock and sell it for a whopping 25 pence each. DOH!
And here it is when I received the item, nicely packed in Pininfarina plastic.
Here you can see the problem clearly. Potentially the hinches might have cut or broken the rubber stops. At first I thought they were cut off by the previous owner so the bootlid opens up higher. By now, as I have replaced them, I think they were simply worn out and broken off (they had become hard and were no longer soft). The problem of this missing rubber is quit annyoing, I was surprised how often I have used the trunk on my trips. And everytime opening up the trunk had to be done carefull, often with a quick reflex and stop the bootlid by hand.
And the broken parts:
And here fitted with the new rubber stop:
These little fixes are very rewarding work. I'm really pleased with this improvement. Another step closer to perfection.
Another small discovery I made is that the RHD fuse box cover is missing the inside sticker with the explanation on the fuses. Atthached the LHD fuse box cover for clarity. Anyone out there who can make me happy with this sticker?
Thursday, 6 August 2015
The lyrical bit! 365 GT4 2+2 - the prancing horse #48 - Ferrari 400 automatic
Recently I purchased the magazine "the prancing horse" edition 48 (1976) as I saw in some index it has an article about the 400 Automatic. It turned out it was a dissapointing one-page with standard stats about the car. Luckily the readers submission had a very nice letter about the Ferrari 365 GT4 2+2. Click the picture to enlarge or go to the download folder
Wednesday, 5 August 2015
Original Ferrari V12 1965 - 1973 - the restorer's guide - 365 GT4 2+2
I just added the chapter about the 365 GT4 2+2 to the download folder. This book is a must have.
Tuesday, 4 August 2015
Ferrari 412 Prince Bernhard spotted
Today the following picture was posted on http://www.autogespot.nl/
Since this car isn't qualified as a sports car it has been removed. Luckily
I could obtain this picture still via Google.
I'm unsure where exactly it was spotted. So adding it now just for the records.
Since this car isn't qualified as a sports car it has been removed. Luckily
I could obtain this picture still via Google.
I'm unsure where exactly it was spotted. So adding it now just for the records.
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