Another book added to my archive. It looks like it's missing the paper cover though. This book provides a pretty good summary about the cars produced by Ferrari up to 1993. And of course it does have a small section about the 400. It's Chapter sixteen: 2+2 redefined. Unfortunately the standard press pictures have been used but I found the supporting text quite good. It did reveal at least about the automatic gearbox that was pioneered by the work of Dick Fritz at Chinetti Motors. He succesfully applied it on the 365GT 2+2 (queen mary), a total of six were delivered. See also my blogs:
Despite the automatic gearbox would have had it's largest potential market in the US it was not officially imported in the USA. So devasting was the cost of meeting all the US requirements, including crashing two cars, that is was not economically feasbile. the price of the car would have been to high. Note this same story applies to the BB365/512.
It also highlights the fact regarding the Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection that seemed to encourage the rumour that the new car would be imported into the USA. It did make the car at least easier to legalise and more found their way to the USA via the grey market, despite the fact that the makers warranty was inoperative and parts were not stocked.
The most interesting part is the following; About 1982, Ferrari North America, who had replaced Chinetti-Garthwaite Imports and Modern Classic Motors as the sole US importer in 1980, made the decission to allow US Ferrari dealers to take orders for the European specification 400i for delivery at the factory in Maranello. This was partly as the result of pressure brought by the dealers who wanted to be able to compete with the grey market on Ferrari models not officially imported. As Ferrari North America is a direct branch of the factory, it became easier to steer the factory in the direction of marketing decsissions that would benefit the North American Market.
This was something I was unaware of and likely explains why quite a few 400i's made its way to the USA (especially compared with the 365GT4 2+2 and 400 carb). It clears up my remark I made in the following blog:
Another blog which is a good example in line with the above is the following which highlights this particular 412 had been ordered new from the factory:
Despite the 400i got further uplifted and became the 412 it still was unable to meet all of the US legal requirements. Perhaps that explains why only a very few 412 went to the USA even though it could be ordered new from the Factory. You still had to spend more money to make it US road legal. And potentially by 1986 onwards it was then considered to be an outdated model as well. The BB had been replaced by the Testarossa already in 1984, while the 2+2 buyers had to wait till 1992 when the new replacement became available; the 456.
Update 1-8-2017: I was provided a little more information on the above. It appears that around 17% of the total 412 production went to the US - so the US was actually quite a big marktet. The reason for not even higher sales was that in 1987 Ferrari North America pulled out of that sales programme for the US dealers - so they no longer could take new customer orders. Indeed, if you look at the series 2 400i - produced from late 1982 untill early 1985 - some ca 45% (!!) of the LHD production found their way to the US.
This makes it all clear for me now. I Always found it remarkable how many US 400i are/were offered for sale in Europe. Many were imported back again due to the low appreciation for this model (thus low prices) in combination with a cheap dollar - making it an attractive opportunity for European traders/buyers.
So it is indeed a myth that Ferrari was not influenced by the US market when it comes to the 400/412.
As you might have noticed it was quiet lately but I'm now back from holiday leave. And of course I had to catch up a little. I started up the daily routine and one car attracted my interest. It's surprising to see how many 400s are currently for sale. Although difficult to tell from an advert most of them look to be in good condition. They are well priced too (in Europe) but still I consider them fairly affordable compared with other Ferrari's (if they can be compared at all) or with other 2+2s by other brands, ie Lamborghini Espada and Maserati Indy. In any case, this advert mentioned it was originally delivered in the Netherlands by Kroymans and having a single owner. Capturing the Dutch advert text for the records:
Ferrari 412i Single Owner Since New Origineel Nederlands geleverd, eerste eigenaar Aantal deuren: 2 Transmissie: 3 versnellingen, Automaat Bouwjaar: apr 1988 Modelreeks: jan 1986 - dec 1989 Aantal cilinders: 12 Motorinhoud: 4.942 cc Ledig gewicht: 1.920 kg Laadvermogen: 380 kg GVW: 2.300 kg Wielbasis: 270 cm Slechts 1 eigenaar Origineel Nederlands geleverd Gedistingeerde kleurcombinatie Perfecte originele staat Brooks Classics presenteert met trots deze Ferrari 412i, uitgevoerd in bijzonder smaakvol Blu Chiaro Metallizzato in combinatie met Crema leder en donkerblauw tapijt. Op 22 april 1988 was het feest bij Ferrari importeur Kroymans in Hilverum. De Ferrari 412i, destijds het absolute topmodel van Ferrari, een auto voor de happy few, werd afgeleverd aan de eerste eigenaar, een bekende verzamelaar van sportieve en klassieke auto's. De 412 bleek een schot in de roos. Zelfs toen meneer op een leeftijd kwam waarop veel mensen gaan zoeken naar een kleine, praktische auto met hoge instap, bleef de Ferrari de favoriet. Kalfslederen handschoenen aan, pochet in het colbert en gasgeven zoals een gentleman betaamd, dát was het credo! Toen de eerste eigenaar overleed ging werd de gekoesterde Ferrari bijgezet in de collectie van zijn zoon, en zeer spaarzaam gebruikt. Onlangs kwam dan toch het moment dat de auto ter koop wordt aangeboden om een nieuwe liefhebbende eigenaar te vinden. De auto wordt aangeboden in de originele staat, compleet met de GAIK platen uit 1988, de onderhoudsboeken en overige documentatie. Gelieve vooraf een afspraak te maken met Geert-Jan Tax, via gjtax@broekhuis.nl of 030-8507500. *Brooks Classics is een aan de Broekhuis Groep gelieerde onderneming, gespecialiseerd in de kleinschalige handel in Britse en Italiaanse auto's van hoge kwaliteit. Kijk op www.broekhuis.nl voor meer informatie of neem contact op via 030-8507500 / utrecht@broekhuis.nl* I noticed the car was offered for sale in Houten, which I live next to. At first I didn't recognize this company (Brooks Classics) but it appeared it belonged to Broekhuis cars - which is a known large car dealer over here. I mostly know them for Volvo and Ford but they also are representative's for Jaguar and Landrover and some other brands. I wondered how this car ended up there.
The supporting pictures in the advert showed they were taken at a fruit farm (apples). In fact, since the car was offered in Houten I thought I even recognized that location:
This might sound strange, but I do happen to drive by that location once a week. Besides that, next to the "barn" a villa is build which is often having new car exotics parked for their entrance.
As I was still off that day I had some spare time and just drove to the car dealer to learn more about the car. On the way I passed the barn and the villa, see here the supporting pictures to confirm it (click to enlarge - at the villa you can spot two white sports cars, I think one of them is a Ferrari 458 Italia):
I'm not sure if there is any connection with the owner of that villa. When I arrived at the car dealer the 412 was not available in the showroom. Bummer. The guy behind the reception said it was only available on appointment as mentioned in the advert. He got me in contact with the sales manager and we had a nice chat in his office. Turns out he knew the car quite well as previously he had worked for Kroymans. That was the reason they bought it. The first owner, Mr Bogaers Senior, passed away and it moved to the collection of his son. Bogaers Junior, formerly owned the Jaguar dealership in Breda. In any case, the 412 had to move out of the collection. Out of curiosity I just quickly checked the sales manager on Google and it confirms he previously worked at Kroymans for 10 years and moved to Broekman last year. Apparently to the same article his father was in the past the CEO of Jaguar Netherlands. So clearly they must have been well connected and thus explains nicely how he got ahold of this 412.
The sales guy told me they are currently in the process of launching a new garage/showroom nearby Vleuten (close to Louwman) to sell classic cars under the name Brooks Classics. Currently they have a lot on stock, including the 412, which are stored seperately until the new location is ready. It appeared the 412 is stored in Schalkwijk, this is a small village next to Houten. It happens to be the village where I was born and raised (how's that). He arranged for me the car to be picked up the same day so I could check it out in the afternoon. Very nice - a true sales manager. He additionally told me a little more about the owner and how fond he was about the car. As mentioned in the advert, the owner drove it with gloves. The car had also some of the Original music cassette tapes with it.
So later that day I did visit the car and it was a very nice and Original specimen indeed. Although it did had some very small spots and some scratches but nothing worrisome. Some areas had been resprayed to cover some previous "parking scratches" but as far as I could see not due to severe damage or such. The car had not been driven for a while so it definately requires a complete technical check up.
Today I did some further checking and noticed the car was previously for sale at Munsterhuis, see the supporting pictures on the Dutch Ferrari register:
Clearly I now recall this as well as at the time I was intending to visit it, for the same reason why I did visited it yesterday, but back then I could not find the time to do so.
The Original link is unfortunately no longer working and nothing in Google cache could be found either:
And nothing could be revealed via webarchive.org either. The only line I could obtain is:
We are selling this very nice and good 412 Automatic for our customer.The car is family heritage, and therefor first ownership.
So I suspect it was for sale in consignation at Munsterhuis.
I now checked the Dutch road register as well and from this it's clear it's without MOT/APK since 1999:
So it's true it has not been driven actively since.
As for the first owner I managed to find this picture at some online archive (https://stadsarchief.breda.nl)/
It's a portrait of Jaguar dealer Gies Bogaers (the son of the 1st owner) in his new showroom in Breda with a picture from 1961 together with his father in a Daimler SP 250
And now I'm jumping back to the music cassette tapes. Yes, there was one left in the radio! If you know me a little you might know this is something I particularly like, read this blog:
I was quite curious to learn what kind of music this owner would have been listning while driving. For sure he was an eldery man, I suspect he must be in his late sixties when he purchased this car. The cassette is from 1983 and as you can read it's music by "Ad vanderhood's kwartet"
I don't recognize this name and it sounds very Dutch. So I looked it up on YouTube first. Turns out it's a Clarinet musican and playing jazzy music. Fantastic, I love it. In fact it sounds close to Fausto Papetti (if you have reading the blog I provided above you know what I'm talking about).
Picture yourself driving a 412 while playing this:
It reminded me also about this great spot, see blog:
I had to look up a little more background regarding this musican. His Dutch name is Ad van den Hoed. There is no Wikipedia about him but I found this Dutch link though:
And for the wider audience a small English translation:
Mr. Ad van den Hoed, also named Advanderhood. They use to call him "The Dutch Benny Goodman" or "Mr. Clarinet", the master on clarinet, known from many radioshows in the fifties, sixties, seventies and lots of LP-records with his mates Rinus van Galen-piano, Henk v.d. Molen-bass and Ferdi Posthuma-de Boer-drums or Dick Schallies-piano, Frank Noya-bass and Peter Ypma-drums or Dick Scallies-piano, Koos Serierse-bass and Evert Overweg-guitar: his Ad Vanderhood Quartet. Even now, in 2010, Ad (born 1925) is still active on his clarinet.
Sorry, I got carried away in a nostalgic wave. For the records another picture of this beauty and it's VIN.
Another scan I obtained, unfortunately a very poor scan without front cover. Till now this is only the 2nd Italian magazine article. For now I'm unable to identify which edtion it has been. It's now available in the download folder.
Again, I would appreciate any further contribution from my readers to obtain the missing magazine articles. If possible provide high quality scans. See this blog for all relevant articles:
Update 30-7-2017: Well, quicker then anticipated I got informed about the correct edition. It's Autocapital 1989 No 4 April. The index is updated already and the PDF will be upgraded shortly as well.
As a bonus I was informed the 365GT4 2+2 is apparently the following:
Remarkably this is a RHD example. The supporting advert mentions the following:
Our car was delivered new to Crepaldi, the Ferrari agent in Milan, in July 1975 who sold it to a wealthy Italian family living in Monaco: the owner having a preference for right-hand drive cars (the family also owned a right-hand drive Ferrari 412). In preparing the car for sale we’ve carried out a though inspection and given the car a full service. We’ve replaced the Koni shock absorbers, overhauled the brakes, replaced the fuel lines and fitted a new battery.
Perhaps it belonged to this Italian family who has this particular RHD 412:
A lonely Ferrari 400 in Bahrain 😢
.
فيراري ٤٠٠ وحيدة في البحرين!
.
Submitted by @faizshawqi #saudiretrocars #retro #vintage #classic #ferrari #ferrari400 #400i #italia #pininfarina #saudi #riyadh #jeddah #khobar #dammam #uae #abudhabi #dubai #sharjah #kuwait #bahrain #qatar #manamah #oman #
فيراري #كلاسيك #البحرين #السعودية #قديم
On further investigation some additional pictures were found and the conclusion is that it's a different car, mostly based on the bumper skirtst which are black and potential a different mirror:
This advert came to my attention. Reason for mentioning here is because I'm interested in the outcome. Prices for the 400 in the UK are still fairly low compared with Europe Mainland. I like the color setting as well. And also the first owner is mentioned; Mr Page. I don't think it's Jimmy Page as he had a 1978 400 Automatic. By now I received some additional input about the owner, to be more precise, it's: "L Page”, Rothley, Leicestershire. He had also owned 24885 from new (now in the
Netherlands), presumably swapping it for 32017. Originally light blue – as you can see here:
This UK right-hand drive Ferrari 400i was supplied new through Coopers of Leicester to a Mr Page on 20th August 1980. Finished in Grey Metallic with a blue leather interior, the car is an automatic, making it one of only 152 UK-supplied cars in this configuration. Over the years and up to 62,876 miles the car has been maintained by Coopers, Graypaul, Modena, and Maranello Concessionaires.
The paintwork is in good condition for a car of this age, and the body shows no signs of rust. The interior is much the same, with the leather seats remaining rip-free and the headlining presenting well. The wood on the centre console looks sharp and the original Philips 'Turnolock' radio is still present. The Bosch K-Jetronic injection has been refurbished by a Bosch specialist and at the same time service items completed. To enhance the engine appearance, the cam covers were removed and repainted.
Supplied with UK V5c, its original bookpack containing the handbook and the original service book, this 400i is now showing 75,300 miles on the odometer and presents a good opportunity to purchase a fairly rare home-market Ferrari at a realistic guide price.
Update 31-7-2017: I was just informed it was sold for only 22.500 GBP, what a bargain!
This one came to my attention just now. Only in America ... According to the comments on BAT it has been sold for the reserve price (unknown to me). As Always, enjoy the BAT comments.
Yesterday's comment on the other 400 from the Stainz museum resulted in the following update. Quite interesting and with a single owner. I now wonder who this person was and how much mileage the car has.
This example is a one owner car and is presented today in very original condition throughout even retaining its original Silver paint and original black leather interior.
Estimate: No Reserve
Registration Number: Austrian Registered
Chassis Number: F101 CL21701
