| Author |
Message |
david handa (Davehanda)
| | Posted on Thursday, November 29, 2001 - 11:38 am: | |
I think a thorough prepurchase inspection should cover the bases. I bought a low mileage (15k)very original 78 308 GTS, that had two previous owners and little service history. The reason was that other than the first service coupon (1.5K)it had nothing but fluid changes (can you say garage queen!) I bought it (from a close friend with many other cars in his collection) and immediately had the carbs rebuilt, major service and Crane ignition installed. Been driving like crazy for two years having the time of my life! Just had another service done in August of this year and now have 32k miles. So 17k in two years. I say buy it and drive it! |
Neville Pugh (Nev_Pugh)
| | Posted on Thursday, November 29, 2001 - 2:42 am: | |
TomD,
Well you're right .... I can't (couldn't). I flushed the cooling system after I found it was full of cak (and fixed the leak while I was at it), then I checked as much as I could visually. New filter, fresh oil and new belts are all easy to spot visually, so I knew he'd done those. I took a flier on him having replaced the brake fluid (Im replacing all of that in the next couple of weeks anyway).
I suppose I could just give him the benefit of doubt and say that he made a mistake and "forgot" to do that one item (maybe he was working on two 308's at the time and got confused, or something). Either way, I think I'll be doing all the servicing myself in future .... then I KNOW it's been done, and done right (albeit slowly) :-)
Oh, Anthony, one other thought .... a minor disadvantage to carb 308's is their not-very-good cold starting. If I run mine every day, she'll start on the button like a good girl. If I leave her a couple of weeks or more, then she's a right b*tch to start. Apparently this is common on the carb cars .... |
'75 308 GT4 (Peter)
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2001 - 6:45 pm: | |
The leaky head gasket can be easily repaired if its the rear bank. No need to lift the motor out and a light "clean-up" shave of the head surface (0.002 to 0.005") should cure any leakage problems. If its the front bank, well.... that's a big engine-out job. Find out which head it is.
I love the carbs because of the sound and its ease of maintenance, once they're set, they last. |
Anthony Acunzo (Yank05)
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2001 - 3:55 pm: | |
Thanks for the input so far, everyone......
Anthony |
BretM (Bretm)
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2001 - 11:25 am: | |
Neville that's an excellent point about driving position, even on my QV when I sit in the passengers seat (I let my dad drive occasionally) I hear so much more induction, exhaust, everything back there. It's amazing the difference there is being on that side. |
TomD (Tifosi)
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2001 - 6:56 am: | |
Nev
Not to get off the subject but how can you be confident the guy did the other work if he failed to do the easiest and cheapest thing - flush the coolant. How discouraging! |
Neville Pugh (Nev_Pugh)
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2001 - 6:30 am: | |
I also agree with Magoo, but would add the following :
1) I've owned a 1980 308 carb for a year now, and increased the mileage from 27k to 30k. Apart from one small coolant leak (I'll come to that in a minute) she's been completely reliable and honest, debunking to some extent the "low miles = trouble" myth.
2) I bought the car from a ferrari specialist in Matlock, UK with some 27+ years dealing in f-cars and a reasonably good word of mouth reputation. I had him perform a full, cambelt service before picking up the car. One of the items listed as being done was a flush / replace of the cooling system liquid. When she sprang a leak (about 3 weeks after buying the car) the coolant that covered my garage floor was old, and definately past it's best i.e. it had definately not been replaced at the service, despite what it said on the invoice. (the rest of that story is a long one, for another day)
What I'm probably trying to say is that, just because a car has a load of paperwork saying that it's been serviced well and regularly, it doesn't mean that this is the case. So use other means of determining if the car is a good one, like it's CURRENT condition and an engineers report.
Oh yeah, and carbs ARE the best .... even better when you drive a RHD car, and the carb intakes are just to the right of the drivers ear ! :-) |
Peter Boray (Gts308qv)
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2001 - 5:34 am: | |
Sounds like the right car to me, as long as you take magoo's advice and have it properly checked out. Service records are nice but do not make or break the inherent value of a good car. I spent 9 months looking for an unmolested original 308 GTB/S carb model in top condition. Could not find one ! I ended up with a near concours QV model with approx 20K on it . I am not complaining, but like Magoo, I do like the sound of carbs and the easier fault diagnosis and repair. By the sound of the car you have found, it seems to be a winner. |
magoo (Magoo)
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2001 - 10:41 pm: | |
Anthony, There are no guarantees on when a used car, or any car for that matter, may have mechanical problems. I would have a professional Ferrari Mechanic do a thorough check out of the car and offer accordingly. Just because it had a leaking head gasket doesn't mean the car was abused, it could happen to the best. I added the carbed Ferrari to my collection because it is the last of a dying breed. I like the sucking sound and a car you can repair like yesteryear. It sounds like the car should be ok but have it checked out first. |
Anthony Acunzo (Yank05)
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2001 - 9:04 pm: | |
Hi. I would like your opinions on a carb. 308 I am interested in.
I know it is very important to know a car's service history (and I also want one that has been driven), and because I am very selective, I have stuck by this rule while searching for one. Now, a "gray" area has come up. A particular 308 I am interested in has 33K miles. The current owner purchased this car from the original owner (with 30K miles) about two years ago. Just after the purchase, the current owner had a considerable amount of work done to the car such as new ignition, most gaskets were replaced, fuel lines, carbs rebuilt, new clutch, new exhaust (all documented). All work was done by a very reputable shop in my area. I spoke with the mechanic who performed this work on the car and his thoughts were that the original owner took pretty good care of the vehicle (although it did have a leaky head gasket!?). The car has the original paint (was a CA car) and original interior - both of which are excellent. The car's orginal owner(who is a collector) provided all the receipts he supposedly had to the current owner, which is not much - a 15K service receipt, some smog certificates, original bill of sale.
1. Should I automatically rule this car out due to it's lack of a full past service history?
2. The fact that the orginal owner had a collection of vehicles (therefore, not driving them as regularly as he should, therefore the leaky head gasket?) could mean this car could have possibly been neglected. If the car was not neglected, it would not have needed all this work, right?
3. Let's say another Ferrari mechanic performs a through pre-purchase inspection of the vehicle with good results. Does the lack of service history still overide these results - i.e., the car may check out okay now, but may need bugs worked out due to lack of use or only having 3K since all the new work was done?
Sorry for the length guys, but I would love to hear what you think.....
Thank You,
Anthony |
|