In the same way people register Cobra replica's, for instance? On another note: What exactly is on sale regarding the car we're discussing: everything except the engine and tranny? A complete GTE with chassis number? Or has the car's identity also been 'removed'?
In most parts of the world a new car cannot be registered without catalytic converters, airbags, ABS, crash tests... etc. ad infinitum - so replicas must be built using an old identity where first registeration date determines which regulations must be obeyed. The auction photos clearly show both chassis stamping and tipo plate intact, so the identity has not been removed. Best wishes, Kare
Very simple to register the early 60's Ferrari in the US even California. No games. Nothing Illegal. Straight forward. The chassis bears the identity. No safety inspection required, no smog, and a VIN Verify of the car if it not already registered in CA.
Why do you say the new engines are rubbish? If they are I really couldn't see spending 160K for one verses what this guy did.
The anecdotal evidence is that the first re-production 250 motors were a disaster. One independent Ferrari restorer/mechanic in Europe reported seeing no less that three re-production motors w/ cracked blocks from the beginning of the production. I would imagine that SpA has that situation straightened out by now. The problem remains, however, the price point the Factory has set for the reproduction motors. 160k will pretty much buy ANY platinum 250GTE that exists whether purchased by the replica-maker or the rich guy who wants a back-up for his SWB that he tracks. Will the Factory recognize that the most logical source of 250 motors is the dwindling pool of GTE/PF coupes and that they are, in effect, encouraging the continued cannabilization of their own history? Probably not. Poor 3787 has become Exhibit A for proof that even exceptional GTEs are now little more than fancy shipping containers for the tipo 128 motor. Unless you have a conscience ... .
Well put....... I read YEARS ago they were CAD/CAMing repro blocks for Ferrari and others (Audi) improving on the original designs to overcome inherent design flaws... An Autoweek article on the Cottage Industries in the UK, IIRC....
This is so sad. I don't care how much money this person has, they are certainly lacking in class. George
I doubt that the engine will serve as the powerplant for an actively raced SWB: add to the initial outlay the cost of race-preparing it (and you'll have to, as the next guy did so as well and you want to win races) and you may still end up upside down on a new engine constructed to your spec.
I'm still trying to understand why one would do it to a car like that. IMO hunt out a 4001 motor hook it up to a gearbox and put it on webbers and get this car back on the road. Now there is an idea get a mate with a daytona motor to buy and put that in it,would it go or not?
Those are pretty big lumps of metal to be installed into the compact engine compartment of a 250. Way to go would be finding a 250 unit and gearbox to pry the matching number units loose for being reinstalled. Best wishes, Kare
One can only hope that it will be reunited somewhere down the road. What troubles me is the progression. Originally motors were taken from wrecks which were uneconomical to restore. Then they came from "less desirable" models. Now we're seeing 250 Cabs, a car no one would call undesirable, being butchered. What will fall next?
We are getting close to the cause of this current situation here. 1. First of all we have the replicas, but we have discussed them to death. 2. Now we have overly competitive historic race series stressing the second hand parts situation. Again in both situations we have rich NON-ENTHUSIASTS getting involved who are ruining it for the rest of us. A true enthusiast races their SWB for the fun of it and does not need a fleet of engines making 5hp more than they should. Who is at fault here?: The mainly europeans/english for their stupid historic cars should be properly raced attitude. This has to stop because as we all know full on racing only has one out come and that is the destruction of the cars we so love, and this does not mean the car that actually is racing but because of the need for parts the donors. Its time to wind it back and in doing so lots of non-enthusiasts will leave because they never really got it anyway and only doing it to win. I might even write a letter to an English classic car magazine ... and I blame them too for the over promotition of "destroying cars on the race track is awesome" attitude. Pete
Tom Shaughnessy has separated somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 cars from their drive trains and when I decried this particular situation, which Tom did not do, he gloated that the fellow who was responsible had the money and spent it as he liked. So I wondered if there was anything that Tom considered beyond the pale or does he feel it only comes down to money. He hasn't answered yet. It was a genuine question as some of the cars he has chopped up were in a very poor state...others perhaps not.
I didn't want to start a new thread for this but there's a 330 on Craigslist that suffered a similar fate, though it was clearly tired. http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/cto/1769846992.html Looks like there's a chassis under there but that's it.
There was a post in the Super Ferraris section claiming that an Enzo exists in China that has been "reverse-engineered" from scratch... Scary Found the post - http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=139590973&postcount=16