Autogespot - Ferrari 400

A very nice Dutch spot, taken on the 19th of May. And it's an Original Dutch delivered car as well. According to the road register it's from 22-1-1980. The last owner has it since 2006. The car is not listed in the Dutch Ferrari register: http://www.ferrari-register.nl/ferrari/home/stradali-nuovi/400/400i

Niki Lauda washing a Ferrari 365 GT4 2+2

This set of photo's was offered on the spring auction of Automobilia Ladenburg.

https://www.automobilia-ladenburg.de

No.: 5938 - NIKI LAUDA

mixed lot with 9 pieces, large-format original B/W photos, on it Niki Lauda e.g. at rear of a Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 racing version, Lauda washing a Ferrari 365 GT4 with the license number EE60519, in front of the villa of Enzo Ferrari, dated 1975, and Lauda with Regazzoni in the snow, and with his then partner, 1 photo sitting in his racing cars in the pit-lane, format c. 30.5 x 20 cm, all in good condition

Limit: 280,00 €

And it got sold for a whopping € 650,- (excl. fee).

As can be read in the description, the washing takes place in front of the Villa of Enzo Ferrari. I'm unsure if it's Enzo's 365 GT4 2+2. If so, I would expect the license plate starting with MO. According to Wikipedia EE are temporary plates:

These plates are used for vehicles temporarily circulating in Italy, but have to be exported, "EE" stands for "Escursionisti Esteri" (Foreign Hikers or temporary plates).

Update 13-5-2018: I received some additional information:

The 365 has Italian export plates and is the German model (orange/white front reflectors, Round chrome outside mirror and probably hexagonal wheel centres rather than spinners) so I assumed it was Laudas company car.

Update 22-5-2019: These photo's showed up on a Fchat thread:

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/niki-lauda-365.600714/#post-146620707

And you can read it did got a response from Mr. Massini:

Thank you for posting MY photos.
This was Niki's company car, the second of several he got.
S/N is 17517.
He is washing it in Fiorano, date is September 1973.
Thereafter he received a silvergrey Daytona, and following the 365 GT4 2+2 he got a 365 GT4 BB, red-black, which I then purchased in Austria November 1985.

Marcel Massini 

And the color codes were shared as well:

Argento 2.443.048 with Blu VM 3282.

Marcel Massini


Update 9-5-2020: Via FB these came to my attention and were posted on instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_83JeXl1j4

For Sale - Ferrari 400i : Totally pristine and original with only 16000 miles

Thought this was an interesting to share given it's state and low mileage. And the advert also mentioned the first owner:

"This incredible example is a 3 owner car with only 27500 kms on the clock which are confirmed by the dated service tickets in the service book.
According to the Warranty card this 400i was delivered new to Rudolf von Daniken,of Balsthal, Switzerland by Autodino AG of Zurich on 8th January 1982 where is remained until 1995 when it was sold to its new owner a collector in Brittnau where it remained for the next 19 years."

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/ferrari/400/totally-pristine-and-original-400i-with-only-16000-miles/8667498

And it's very likely it's this one:

http://erwin400.blogspot.nl/2014/08/auction-1982-ferrari-400i-automatic.html

If my memory serves me right,  including the premiums, it got sold around 50k Euro at the time. It was considered a high amount back then. I considered it a very good deal. Given the current offering it was certainly a good deal. A real collectors car. 

Just looked up the snapshot I took of the final auction price. And it was close to 42k Euro, without auction fee, so yes, nearly 50k Euro. 

Ferrari 400i Stommel / Con Moda - SOLD

This car was for sale in the Netherlands. I can't believe I didn't take a snapshot of it. I got triggered today by these uploads on Autogespot. Apparently it's sold already (after a very few months) and moved to Luxembourg.

It's the Stommel /Con-moda convertible which was visible on the Original brochure:

http://erwin400.blogspot.nl/2018/02/con-moda-ferrari-400i-open-air.html

The car was offered for sale at Marco Franssen in Spaubeek - www.franssen-autos.nl

https://franssen-sportscars.com/nl/product/ferrari-400i-cabriolet/

It was listed for € 74.900,-

VIN 40688

Engine playing up - Weber Carburettor tipo 38DC0E110

I still had this outstanding issue which I encountered last year when I took the car out for picking up a set of wheels. At that small trip the engine was playing up occassionly. I was unsure regarding the exact cause as it came out of the blue. Prior to this I had droven the car long distance across Europe and parked it afterwards in good condition. Except for the leakage as stated in this blog: http://erwin400.blogspot.nl/2018/01/gas-leak-repair.html

As yesterday I mounted the refurbished wheels and the weather was nice I had another occassion to make a little test trip. Clearly the leakage was fixed but the engine playing up was still there. It manifested mostly when driving above 100 km/h but sometimes also at slower speeds. Still the engine runs so nice and smooth. I suspected the carburettors potentially needs tweaking or got dirty somehow. So afterwards I parked the car in the garage and had another look under the bonnet. Visually all looked good. So I just checked the large wing screw on the carburettors. And one of them was very loose, so I tighten it up. And also firmly tighten the other ones. I could not bother to get the car out again. And since I was around today I had time to check. So I took it out for another test drive. And guess what? It's fixed! I guess it sucked extra air via this "leak" when speeding and as such the gas mixture is off-set.

So todays top tip for 400 carb owners. If your engine is stalling / holding up at higher speeds, check the wing screws on top of your Webers.

Refurbished wheels

Last year I bought a spare set of 400 wheels, as per blog:

http://erwin400.blogspot.nl/2017/11/ferrari-400-cromodora-wheels-rims-15-x.html

But I sold them. Which I shortly afterwards regretted though. Chances are slim I will come across a good set again. A few weeks ago I made a random check on an online auction website and by sheer luck a complete set of 5 was offered for a decent price. Needless to say I won the auction.

The wheels did require to be refurbished. So I looked up a specialist company who could take care of this job.

 And the set of Michelin XWX which I had already on stock.

The rimms got powdercoated and this is what they look like when finished

Turns out they were made in 1979, which is perfect as my car is build in 1979

And the air valve, stamped Michelin Italy 1446

To be complete I purchased a new set of hub caps:

On to the garage to get the new tyres mounted:

To get the tyres fitted a special air gun (bazooka) was required

And presto:

Balancing:

 And ready to be fitted

 Before

Michelin XWX vs Pirelli P4000

After

And another step closer to perfection ...

Magazine Forza : Ferrari 412 Road Test

A very nice article. Now available in the download folder.