USA FERRARI F40

Thanks so much for sharing these Jas! Your car looks awesome as always and this thread is becoming a diary of owners' adventures with their cars...

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

Somebody was obviously following me around at Monterey/Pebble Beach, not that I mind....LOL.

Joe
www.joesackey.com
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

From those of us who couldnt attend, thank you for posting.

One last one from Monterey/Pebble Beach - its hard to keep the Sackey kids out of our cars...

Joe
www.joesackey.com
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

A 355 is an awesome Ferrari. Yes our children dont know how lucky they are - yet. My teenage son starts driving next year and i must say he knows as much about Ferraris as I do...

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

Dave, I will send it to you with pleasure. My most prized car is my 1971 Homologation Prototype Miura SV fully restored to Pebble Beach standards, and my kids can sit in it anytime they like. Mind you, they have been "trained" to be careful around cars, and their reward is to share them as family should. Why else do I have them?

BTW, I am going to be calling again to pick your brains for some pearls of your not inconsiderable F40 wisdom. And its good to see you on here Dave...

Meanwhile 2 more images Albert Fattal wishes to share of the car weekend...

Joe
www.joesackey.com
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Thanks for the encouragement but I had not meant to be quite that ambitious! LOL. Unless you will help me with a publication
Perhaps just some shared notes on what is happening to the cars as they are now 15-17 years old and aging, received from the most experienced F40 techs in the country (there are 2 or 3 who stand out), posted here for all owners to utilize as they wish. Just trying to provide useful & meaningful information that actually helps owners.

BTW, the focus on the USA cars has been a natural because thats what most here have their hands on thats all. Yet still I think Ive learned a lot on this thread about the Euro cars too.

It looks like the USA cars were manufactured very randomly along the general F40 production run and not in batches. I have now finished checking the list with Massini and the very first production USA F40 is confirmed as "84729". It turns out that the standard car production is actually 211 with the last 2 cars becoming LMs (another story for another place).

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

Dave,

Clearly, you are not only knowlegable about F40s, but you are also a real gentleman. Thank you for your sentiments, and I happen to agree that Im a lucky man: something my wife often reminds me of.
It is my hope that you will help us F40 owners keep these wonderful machines running as they should. BTW, can you elaborate just a little on the benefits of the Hyperflow cats units upon the F40? if I recall you were instrumental in the development work...

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

Great thoughts Vasco. Im on it and Bob Houghton in England would indeed be the man...

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

In answer to the queries: The last standard production F40 is chassis number "93627".

My notes show this car as being auctioned off by Christies at their Pebble Beach sale in 2004 with 7,037 miles on the clock at that time.

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

Graham,

Good to have you back.

Yes my remarks pertained to the USA F40 and I should have clarified that... but being on this thread perhaps I can be forgiven for thinking that was obvious.

Your car is an example of Ferrrari SpA's random production of the F40 as it relates to assembly numbers, and I can see from the list that a progression in chassis numbers does not mean the same order was followed with assembly numbers. Additionally assembly of F40s was not done in batches as one might expect, but the cars were randomly built as orders were substantiated. In fact the factory could hardly keep up with F40 production in 1991 and 1992 and additional assembly-line workforce was recruited from local polytechnic institutions to help meet production (this from my Ferrari insider who laughs about it today).

At any rate, FYI your car is a very late F40, in fact just 17 cars from the end of worldwide production. Its assembly number is noted on my registry as 11311 (please confirm this to me - you know where to look). Therefore "94085" is amongst that group of cars that were made after the defined production of USA cars had stopped.

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

An awesome image from an F40 & F50 collection.

Joe
www.joesackey.com
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

The man who was responsible for a large portion of the Develpment and Homologation of the USA F40 is still employed by Ferrari as a senior technician so at this point has almost 20 years experience with the cars. An argument could be made for the case that he is perhaps the most experienced F40 tech on USA soil, and at the very least one of the most knowlegable.

In talking to him one thing emerges clearly: the worst performing most unreliable cars are those that are not driven to any distance with any degree of regularity. That he says is the F40's problem number one as he has experienced it since the cars were built. Because of the car's configuration, this relatively complicated sports car needs all systems to be run to optimum conditions on a regular basis and he is adamant that the cars that run the best to peak performance are those that are driven the most regularly. Electrical gremlins, wastegate issues and all the normal F40 maladies as we have come to know them are more prevalent in the low-milegae trailer queens that sit he says.

Therefore his prescribed form of free maintenance is to actually get the car out of the garage, fill it with fresh gas, and take a trip. Youll find it will let you down less often. Oh, and dont change below 5,000

Regularly driven cars often need no more than routine dealer maintenance. Yuri Spiro who purchased his F40 new and has driven it consistently since 1991 (14,800 miles now) attests that his F40 has been one of the most reliable cars he has ever owned...

Joe
www.joesackey.com
Image Unavailable, Please Login