THE BOOK : Ferrari V12 2+2

Due to the last blogpost with the article about the Ferrari Pinin I made a new attempt to look up any contact detail regarding the designer Diego Ottina. So on the first search hit I ended up on this Linkedin post by Pininfarina, whereby he is mentioned.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/the-entire-pininfarina-company-shares-in-ugcPost-7450517084339568641--T-c/

And surprisingly below that post the following remarkable post (3 months old) was placed in my timeline regarding a book about Ferrari V12 2+2 :

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7485768975906197506/

So I was immediately triggered. I also recognized the name of the author; Natan Tazelaar. I had been in contact with him some years ago. In fact I just looked up the email correspondence and it was December 2021. And yes, he was doing research already back then for the write up of this book. It only shows how much time and effort he must have been doing in researching all the material. The last correspondence I had with him was about mid 2023. 

Remarkably back then about the same timeframe in 2021 I was also approached by another Dutch author who was about to write a book on the Ferrari 400 series. I sold him one of my books which I had spare (Ferrari 412 by Automobilia). I never heard from him since nor have I seen anything published. Bummer I can not find any email reference about this. 

In any case, when I spotted the Linkedin post by Natan I also hit his follow button. As such I got notified the next day (!!!) the book in question is ready to be pre-ordered:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7520429018106544128/

In total only 749 books will be produced as per Enzo's adagium "always sell one car less than the market demands". 

You can pre-order here: https://uitgeverijkomma.nl/en/shop/ferrari-v12-22/

And now the wait begins ...

Magazine US Cavallino 2026 - Ferrari Pinin

A great edition of the Cavallino Magazine. For the Ferrari Pinin I make an exception on this blog as it's based on a Ferrari 400 and I like the design very much. This edition has 3 articles about this car. One is with the design lead Sig. Fioravanti. Next is about the car and the current owner. And lastly another designer who was involved with this car; Diego Ottina. All 3 articles are now combined in one pdf and in my archive. Such great articles and with stunning photographs. Wow!

The story of the current owner is a nice and entertaining read. It was mentioned he had owned several 400i's. The owner does not keep this car private in his own collection and has demonstrated it on various occassions. Potentially it might be on display at Villa d'Este next year. If so, I definately want to make an attempt to visit this concours. As the name of the owner is mentioned in the article I searched around a little and learned he has his own car museum. You can find more detail here, Nobles Family Automobile Museum:

flickr.com/photos/68999653@N07/albums/72177720303452101/with/52436780213

A very nice collection indeed and of course it does contain more photo's of the Pinin. Sadly I did not spot a 400 in his current collection.

I found the article about Diego interesting as well. The designers from that era were always in the background. This is an aspect that's highlighted in the article as well. Although not mentioned in this article, Diego apparently had design involvement regarding the Fiat 130 Shooting brake, the Maremma. Another special car of my liking. But I will not dwell to much on this. 

Now available in the download folder:

And of course I was digging around a bit more. And via via via I ended up on the Ferrari Instagram page. Believe it or not, I was not following them (but now I finally do). In particular I hit this post, which is about the Purosangue and it's relation to the Pinin:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DOgSf0dCOlE/ 

And the last photo in that post is the following:

Yes, that's Enzo sitting in the Pinin. This specific photo was unknown to me, however I managed to find this hi-res full photo of it. Difficult to see but there are indeed 4 man sitting in this car. Click to enlarge:

Magazine DE Motor Klassik 2026 - Ferrari 400 GT Manual

Another article that I got ahold off. It's a German magazine article and now added in the archive.
A very nice roadtrip article with great photo's. 

Magazine : UK CAR January 1980 - Ferrari 400i Automatic - Twelve singing a new song by Steve Cropley

Yes, another magazine article added to the archive. A very nice time period article from the early eighties. Now available in the download folder.

Magazine : NL Octane - Ferrari 400 Automatic by Ton Roks

Sorry, this one is mostly in Dutch. The car in this magazine article was however on BAT a few years ago, see this blog:

https://erwin400.blogspot.com/2020/05/bat-ferrari-400-carburettor-automatic.html

But it remains still in Dutch hands. The owner did happen to show up in this Youtube video, a small reportage was made on a cars and coffee meeting by Octane a few weeks ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMvz5jFLG5s 

At 3:56 in this Youtube video the current owner of this 400 is being interviewed about the car.

 At 6:00 in the same video a Fiat Mutliple is being discussed and a few seconds later you will see the car driving by. And I recognized that person as he happens to own a Ferrari 400 Automatic as well, how's that :-) 

In any case, it's another very nice example and very well maintained in a superior color.

The Magazine article is now available in the download folder:

Ferrari 400 power window switch compatibility

What better to post the next day after posting about parts for sale. A new compatibility part item that was brought to my attention. A few weeks ago I had a very nice and interesting meet up with a few folks. One guy mentioned he recognized the window switch used in my 400. He instantly recognized it and said it belonged to a Mercedes W108, W109, W111, W114 and W115 series from the seventies.

I had this checked and in fact it's the button used to control the sunroof with part nr 15073100
Apparently it's also used as a sunroof switch in a Porsche 911/9212 but that one does not have a chrome bezel (it's black). 

This also explains the typical pictogram used on this switch. The Ferrari part nr is 257-80-860-00

it's only used in the 400 and 400i phase 1. 

Ferrari 400i parts for sale - Redbay Cars Belgium

At first they made an attempt to restore this car. In fact quite a lot of work was already done but in the end it was decided to sell the car in parts. If you're looking for some hard to find parts you can look it up if it's available in their online webshop:

https://redbaycars.com/webshop/ws-/ferrari-400i/sort/created-desc