I was guessing the ebay reserve to be around $60-$65K. This is one of those "could have and should have" moments. In late '07, shopping for a 308 and comparing models, I read that the early fibreglass-bodied ones were the most collectable, and had the $ to buy one, but chose a steel-bodied U.S. model for insurability and safety reasons.
Here too. To the rest of the thread, I wont bid on it again, this is now heading into the twilight zone.
When my #20405 was NEW, it sat beside a 'glass car in the dealership showroom....it was chosen for the same reasons!!!! While the 'glass cars will always have a 'rarity surcharge", if you are going to drive the car instead of gaze at it, real world concerns come into play. I have been t-boned from the LH side in a wet grass parking lot by a Chevy Surburban going 30 MPH. My left hip and elbow were thankful for the DOT mandated crash beams, I took the door off tossed it in the trash, and was no worse for the wear and tear. Insurance carriers routinely throw in the towel on a damaged steel 308GTB, a 'glass one would be like dropping your childhood Christmas ornament on a tile floor.....
A dealership recently advised me to sell my three steel 1976 -77s, and buy one 'glass car, due to future values. That "made sense" but would get messy, when my three children read my Will.....
I called Forza this morning to find out what's up. This car is being sold for a customer, so perhaps that person is watching this thread. Forza is investigating the serial number. I didn't ask to check the frame stamp or engine tag, but I believe they have seen this site and know what they need to do. I didn't get the impression Forza were aware of any of this until after the issue was raised here. Respectfully, I don't think it's fair to speculate game playing. This is the way to do an ebay auction, IMHO. Starting the car high and putting a "buy it now" price on it is more like a classified ad than an auction. 2 days in, 21 bids and a $52,655 high with 6 days to go speaks volumes for the traditional auction approach. Go look at Mr. Steel Pants, also on ebay, with his '77 B model with 63,000 miles on the odo and a starting and buy it now price at $39,500. That car would be up to $25-30K by now with a lot of interest if he had started it low around $10K. That auction is such a snoozer we're not even talking about it!
A car to drive is what I wanted, also to be able to insure it for daily use through a regular carrier and not pay an upcharge for fibreglass...I've had two Vettes. No regrets, just a laugh at myself for missing another opp at the big bucks
Yes, but when I was searching a few years ago, blue was the color I wanted. However, I have no regrets as the more I drive this thing the more I love it. Peter Sweeney has sold many 308's, he knows what to look for and where.
still, strangely enough, no reply from Susser. There are several Carpenter-modified 308s in my db. I assume that we do not want to start wild guesses about the currently offered Susser car's S/N, so just for fun and information purposes 0001, 0002 and 0003 - the three Huffaker IMSA GTUs with non Factory S/Ns 20669 - with GTO-style panels, car is Rosso Corsa/Red cloth Kevlar OMP Ferrari Challenge seats and has a NASCAR style roll cage 21175 - Red/Black & Red inserts GTO conversion, car has a 328 GTS engine that is modified to 288 spec with Twin Turbo 22957 - Rosso Corsa/Nero Daytona seats Rosso seat centres with Nero Daytona inserts, 288 GTO-body conversion with Twin Turbo Conversion by Norwood, was previously on TX-plates T36 BBR ZFFAA02A9A0034237 - Red/Black GTO-conversion with 550 Rims ZFFAA01A8B0034555 - Nero/Rosso cloth F40 style carbon fiber Racing seats, 328 Twin Turbo modified engine ZFFLA13B000049211 - Rosso Corsa/Nero Dayton seats, Twin Turbos on 308 eng.
Weren't the Rossa/Nero Daytona style seats orignally offered through Koenig? It seems the only place I have ever seen them was in their conversions and parts catalogs.
Would be interesting if NNO and Marcel Mancini had any info as they are active members on here with extensive knowledge and history. NNO has every single vin , has he even seen this post ? Just a thought.
I've seen the blue '20005' up close, and can vouch that it does have that plate. Confused me because I have a copy of the Matthias book and it didn't match what was in there, then I googled the S/N and came up with the black car. I know the owner (a local collector) and he told me that as far as he knew, it had not been restored. I will say, it appears pristine and not messed with at all...far more gorgeous in person than photos. Anyways, here is a crappy photo through the windshield I took months ago...disregard the reflections ;-) Cheers! Image Unavailable, Please Login
I wish that photo cleared things up. While looking through the photos from the Forza website, it looks as if someone ran their hand over the numbers on the passenger side of the engine bay, removing the dust to get a better look at the engine bay number. I think we need at least good photos of the steering column number and the engine bay number, right? I'm a newbie at 308 number verification.
Nathan, Would it be possible to also have the Assembly Number, then the identity of the car could emerge with more certitude. At the risk of stating the obvious, should you already know, the Assembly Numbers are a continuous line of numbers attributed to each different model of the same car by type and markets. This is different from the chassis number, which at the time were only odd numbers, and mixed all models of Ferraris produced (ie, a 365BB follows a 308, which follows another type, etc) The assembly numbers are continuous from 1 to the last car produced for a specific market; for the "Vetroresinas", there are probably one range of assembly numbers for the euro cars, another one for the Right-Hand drive cars, and a last one for the US cars (?). This is a number painted on the metal frame on the driver's side of the engine compartment, under a small flap. There has been a thread about it in the past. Best
It's definitely 20005, 100% positive. I got a good look at it up close and noted it before I took the pic. Especially since 70005 corresponds to a '87 412 ...although who knows with Ferrari S/N's!
70005 is definitely a manual 412 87 Black/Black LHD Manual EU, far from the last 308, much more far from a 77 MY car. 1977 production ends somewhere around # 23300 and before someone will guess it might be 23005, it's not, that is a 512 BB 77 White Black Boxer Trim/Black LHD EU. Any more data about the Forza car would help: ass #, eng. # or the Serial Number stamping in the engine bay... I still be convinced that the Book and F-Register.com do have the correct record on 20005, except 20005 being produced twice, what obviously did not happen too often
/\. Hopefully that PM will give us more insight? I plan on calling Forza again on Monday to get some pics of the number plates/stamps. This information, in my mind, is critical to the sale of this particular car. At least $40,000 difference critical......
I'm in contact with the owner, pretty much trying to get the same info. Between the two of us, maybe we can get this figured out!
...1 day 11 hours 27 bids $54,300.00. Can Jordan108 solve the serial number mystery in enough time to hit reserve or better? Or will this all be resolved after the auction? Either way, I hope we get to know the final price on this unique car!