| Author |
Message |
Herbert Edward Gault (Irfgt)
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 18, 2001 - 4:33 pm: | |
By it's design the removeable top adds little if any chassis strength. |
Neville Pugh (Nev_Pugh)
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 18, 2001 - 9:54 am: | |
Does leaving the hard top on when jacking up a GTS make any difference, or is the hard top just not strong enough to make any difference ? |
Jeff K (Jbk)
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 11, 2001 - 6:20 pm: | |
I've got a 77 GTB and the roof structure must add significant bracing. When mine is up on the jackstands there seems to be no sagging. The doors work fine and there is no movement I can see in any of the seams. (I guess that makes up a little for not having the "topless" fun). |
richard fuisz (Rcf)
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 11, 2001 - 8:16 am: | |
This is a bit of an apple orange discussion. No car/frame design can handle t-bones very well. There simply cannot be similar protection here re a front/rear crush zone system. Crush zones require space--space not available in the side plane. |
Warren E. Smith (Magoo)
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2001 - 10:04 pm: | |
Charles this is what I noticed also. However I'm sure it doesn't offer the stability of the GTB with a full roof. |
charles claussen (Atlantaman)
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2001 - 9:50 pm: | |
the frame on most 308's is quite strong, but speaking as an engineer, there is little 3-dimensional support to keep the chasis from flexing in the middle. Recently I had my car (gts) up in the air with jack stands at the far corners and noticed that when I opened the doors the windshield would drop about 1/4" and when I shut the doors there was contact with the windshield pillar. I would immagine that the GTB are much stronger though. |
BretM (Bretm)
| | Posted on Monday, June 11, 2001 - 9:19 pm: | |
I think the frame is excellent in my Ferrari. It is amazingly well designed when I look at it. It never flexes at all to be noticeable when I jack it up (my doors open, everything is fine). They have to have great frames, it's just a little important when it comes to a performance car. I have faith in my Ferrari. |
Warren E. Smith (Magoo)
| | Posted on Saturday, June 09, 2001 - 4:07 pm: | |
Hey Guys, I don't mean to put the car down, but these things that you guys are bringing out about the frame construction and your comments confirm my thinking when I observe the under side of one of these cars. This is not say that this will stop any of us from driving our cars or falling out of love with the Ferrari. Just food for thought. MAGOO |
stu cordova (Balataboy)
| | Posted on Saturday, June 09, 2001 - 2:52 pm: | |
This is a little "gossipy", but I recently picked up my car from the body shop, where I was having some minor repairs done, and the owner of the shop invited me to see a car out back that had just been towed in. It was a '99 456 M GT belonging to Mark McLemore - a player for the Seattle Mariners. He had apparently met a guard rail going, shall we say, a bit too fast! At the time I was being shown the car the body shop was up to $100K in damages. Air bags deployed, engine smashed in, wheels crumpled, all windows broken, entire drives side smashed - it was a mess and was eventually totaled. You would have thought someone was either killed or seriously injured! There was never any mention of the accident in the sports sections of the local papers, as McLemore walked away clean and actually played within the next day or so! A real testament to the safety and strength of the car! |
William H (Countachxx)
| | Posted on Saturday, June 09, 2001 - 2:08 pm: | |
There was a Testarossa down in miami that ate a phone pole at high speed, killed a pro football player/owner & the passenger, Heard that Ferrari quickly bought the car from the insurance Co & got it away before the Press vultures got a chance to see it. Thing looked like a giant banana |
'75 308 GT4 (Peter)
| | Posted on Saturday, June 09, 2001 - 1:18 pm: | |
Magoo, you're right. I saw once when I visited Michael Sheehan years ago at European Auto Sales/Restoration a Mondial that slid into a telephone pole....The driver's seat was now in the passenger's seat...
End-to-end very strong, side-to-side say a prayer. |
Warren E. Smith (Magoo)
| | Posted on Saturday, June 09, 2001 - 12:44 pm: | |
You know Peter, The egg theory would be true in vertical flexing but how about egg theory side to side, doesn't take much to crush it. Could be the same theory is applied to the side impact of the crash I mentioned. MAGOO |
Warren E. Smith (Magoo)
| | Posted on Saturday, June 09, 2001 - 12:35 pm: | |
Steve, You got me there, I guess you are referring to the door impact bars. But the basic superstructure should be the same. MAGOO |
Steve Magnusson (91tr)
| | Posted on Saturday, June 09, 2001 - 12:04 pm: | |
Magoo -- perhaps an (unmodified) euro GTS? |
Warren E. Smith (Magoo)
| | Posted on Saturday, June 09, 2001 - 11:59 am: | |
It does sound impressive,however every accident depends on many things. We had a case here in florida a 328 turned side ways on a wet road, curve, slid into a Mercedes coming the other way. Mercedes hit the Ferrari broadside on the drivers side,killed the driver of the Ferrari and folded the Ferrari. Thirty five mph speed limit,but who knows how fast either car was going. I also recognize that hitting broad side on the drivers side the odds of survival are not good. But to fold the car? |
William H (Countachxx)
| | Posted on Saturday, June 09, 2001 - 11:34 am: | |
Heres a story my mechanic told me about a 308 in a Really Bad accident. Sucker rolled end over end 7 times!!!!! Seems they were attempting to avoid a van with an unconscious driver coming right for them & they went over a cliff!!!!
He said he didnt recognize the car when he saw it. The rear bumper was straight up in the air, 90 degrees N of the cockpit & the nose was crunched back to the cockpit but the cockpit survived & so did both passengers, The drivers feet were pinned when the front tire smashed in but otherwise they were ok. That sounds pretty strong to me although I'll be adding a mini cage around the footwell of my 512TR racer. |
Warren E. Smith (Magoo)
| | Posted on Saturday, June 09, 2001 - 10:12 am: | |
Jeff, I'm sure its not the same car, I think that there are points of pressure in certain areas such as you had a crack in the windshield also at the same place of the other 78 GTS. Every car that has a frame, has a certain amount of frame flexing it just seemed to me it was more than I would think for this size car and as Peter mentioned the design of the frame. Just throwing this out for conversation. How many others have cracks in the windshield at the lower windshield pillars? MAGOO |
'75 308 GT4 (Peter)
| | Posted on Saturday, June 09, 2001 - 3:32 am: | |
Magoo, when I place my car on four jack stands at the proper places, I can't open the doors. Weird, 'cause the car feels tight as a drum when pressed hard on the road. Those main tubes are oval shape, if you remember back to your science class, that is an incredibly strong shape (press an egg end-to-end). The welding is a little sloppy looking.
I don't have any cracked windshield, but EVERY GT4 has small cracks at the tops of the rear buttresses (near the rear window), every one that I've seen whether prestine or rough drivers. |
Jeff Fiedler (Muck)
| | Posted on Saturday, June 09, 2001 - 12:35 am: | |
Magoo- I own a 78 GTS with a crack in the lower corner of the pass side windshield, is this a coincidence, or maybe the same car? |
Warren E. Smith (Magoo)
| | Posted on Friday, June 08, 2001 - 10:56 pm: | |
CORRECTION 78 GTS. |
Warren E. Smith (Magoo)
| | Posted on Friday, June 08, 2001 - 10:53 pm: | |
This was a 77 308 GTS. I would think the GTB would offer more strength. Would I be correct in that assumption? MAGOO |
Warren E. Smith (Magoo)
| | Posted on Friday, June 08, 2001 - 10:50 pm: | |
I've noticed that they tend to flex somewhat when jacked up on one end or even jacked up at the designated jack tubes under the rocker panels. The door alignment of course is one thing and a friend of mine ended up with a cracked windshield in the lower corner of the pass. side. Magoo |
William H (Countachxx)
| | Posted on Friday, June 08, 2001 - 10:42 pm: | |
My mechanic says the old style steel tube used from 1947 till the 328 is Extremely strong cus its all steel tube. Not sure what the 348 & 355 r, maybe unibody. I think the 360 has a sort of aluminum monocoque which is very light but if u have to crash I think u r better off in a tube frame car |
Warren E. Smith (Magoo)
| | Posted on Friday, June 08, 2001 - 9:50 pm: | |
Some of you Ferrari veterans, What do you think of the Ferrari frame constructions and their strength? MAGOO |