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FerrariChat.com » Technical Q&A Archives » Archive - May thru December 2001 » Mechanics and pre-purchase inspections « Previous Next »

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David Harris (Dakharris)
Posted on Tuesday, October 09, 2001 - 12:35 pm:   

The problems I ran into when I was looking for a mid-80's V8 were: 1. Owners and dealers are afraid of looky-loo's and don't want to spend time with you, let alone allow you to drive the car until you place a deposit. 2. Top mechanics and dealers have moved on. Although they won't turn you away, they really want to work on 355's and later. The only older cars they really appreciate are the more rare Boxers, 288 GTO's and F-40's, otherwise you go to the end of the service line and stay there. IMHO, you need to do your own maintenance and minor repairs or have a good friend who is a Ferrari mechanic if you want to own an older car.
Dave Wapinski (Davewapinski)
Posted on Tuesday, October 09, 2001 - 11:50 am:   

From reading the list whenever I could, it appears that having the receipts of service done does not guarantee that it was done or that it was done well.

Also there appears to be a wide variance in the quality of Ferrari Dealers.

In some cities, there may be only one Ferrari shop. Or the current owner knows all the Ferrari shops. So an independant mechanic who knows Ferrari's might be hard to find.

I have seen a wide varity in quality with European shops.

So it appears that one uses all the above if available plus things like carfax. However, it appears that one should also do ones own inspection (problems with the Toy Store in Fl. immediately come to mind).

How does one inspect a Ferrari? What does one look for?

One could jack it up and look to see if the odomotor connection is like everything else or if it is shiny where it was worked on recently. However, where is this connection?

One can drive it and look for leaks.

One could look at all the rubber one can find and see if it is brittle and hard.

Of course inspect all the paperwork and vertify everything that is possible.

What else should one look for?

I will be getting a 328GTS.
Is this a good car for one to do almost all the work themselves?

Will post this in both Technical and General.

Thanks,
Dave Wapinski

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