One for the brave - barn find 1978 400 auto on Ebay uk

Hope someone saves this one, but it will be an ambitious project.
1978 400A, 44,000 miles, stored since 1988.
Bidding already up to £3,300, with 4 days and 4 hours to go.
Was first registered 22 Feb 1978.

Ferrari 400 GT V12 "BARN FIND" stored since 1988, good project, low reserve | eBay

 

£5k now.

 

Well that's the reserve met.

 

He mentions GTO replicas in the ad, isn't that usually on GTE chassis?

 

I think he refers to the engine, which used to be the thing they wanted from the 400.

The 400 is basically a Daytona in sheep's clothing.LOL

 

Sadly, this car is too far gone for the bravest of the brave.There's a lot of missing bits that you can see in the pics, not counting what you'll find is missing when you get it home! Unless you have access to a fully equipped shop and a lot of time on your hands... In a barn in the UK the humidity will have got into everything mechanical.At 5k there might be some good bits, but I suspect whoever's bidding will be looking at parting it out. Sad to see, but until prices rise cars like these will not be worth saving.
At the moment, a 400 is 3/4 of a Daytona for around 1/10th of the price!

 

Agree it doesn't make much sense when that level of work is required when you can have something usable for around £20k
Classic Cars Sales From Oldtimer Manchester

 

Bidding back down to £3550, someone has chickened out. Probably wise!

 

Maybe someone's been reading this thread.
I've seen that happen before, sometimes a tactic to see what the reserve is- put a bid of 20k in and see what it jumps up to then withdraw the bid.

 

what a terrible, terrible shame...it's inconceivable to me because I've never stopped loving my 400a after 14 years and 85 000km's...
and owning everything from a '68 365 GT to '80 BB512 to a '95 456 GT since I bought the 400a has done nothing to change that one bit...not one bit.
what a terrible shame.

 

Not exactly. It's an automatic. Don't recall Ferrari ever building an automatic Daytona ;-) This entire series from the 365 through the 412 - of which have a pristine example - are splendid cars; except IMHO the automatics, of which I had a 400i. And sold within a few months. They're not fun to drive as sports and GT cars are meant to be driven. wonderful highway/autostrada cruisers but very frustrating on two-lane mountain roads.

 

This will be a donor for sure, parts or re-body. Lots of expensive glass broken/missing, $$ turn lights missing. All that for an autobox car?
"It would be a shame to chop this up", phony sentiment. It will never be restored, seller knows it and encourages it's cannibalization.
A wiser seller would offer the engine separately as it's value exceeds the whole.
Another one down.

 

Cheaper here.
Ferrari 400i by Pininfarina For Sale (1984) on Car And Classic UK [C12618]

 

I would not bet on that. The car is virtually complete, if you also read the text. This can be restored and quite nicely at that.
My bet is the car will sell at north of 8000 Pounds, but we will see.

And I guess the car will be rescued.

And, what is wrong with an autobox, it is up to the person that drives it. I prefer automatic cars today. They are a breeze to drive, and this autobox is about the best you can get, in many ways. Old fashioned, thirsty but tough as old nails!

 

Price the glass and front lights and see if you don't agree.
I have no trouble with an auto trans other than this engine needs more than three gears. I own one, I know.
8000 UK pounds is better than $13k USD, ain't happening here, ever. If this heap sells for that over there mine goes into a container shortly thereafter.

 

We've had them all in here and I'd rather have a proper (re:carbed) 400 automatic than a 412 any day.

The problem isn't the tranny in your car, it's the injection on the motor.You're missing the best sound the automotive world has to offer.

 

That could be another fantastic starting point what a story to restore it.

A 400 is not 3/4 of a Daytona it is another car! both great.

 

Yikes! I was looking at the interior picture in this ad and did a double take. Who would redesign the interior like that? Then I looked at the picture above and realized it was an error with the wrong pictures being posted to the 400 ad.

 

I noticed that too, it's an Aston martin lagonda. That's a really nice 400 for under 20k, though it's been for sale for a long time so maybe not quite so nice in the metal?

 

I totally agree that the 400 is a great car on its own merit. This is why I own two of them: My original Auto and now Phil's 5-speed.
My point about the Daytona was to emphasize how fickle the market is.
They are very different animals but they do share an awful lot of DNA. Yet one is adored and the other is the butt of jokes on Top Gear...
I bought my first one because I fell in love with the engine, and my second one because I couldn't resist it. The only sad thing is that Phil wasn't around to sell it to me...
Alastair, good luck on your sale, there's still time to change your mind!

 

The trans is ill suited for the engine, especially when saddled with a 4400# car. It's fine once up to speed and in it's power band but is challenged in town situations. I don't think many would argue with this. The TH400 was the finest and strongest autobox available at the time the car was built so as good a choice as could be made but still a compromise.

 

I'll take that bet. The 727 Chrysler Torque-flite transmission was and is the best mechanically shift selected automatic in use world wide. I routinely serviced a 54000# Dodge D700 that had the 727 with a compounder behind it and in the 450,000 miles this truck ran, before the cab got so rusty it had to be removed from service, the trans had one overhaul and no failures. It has been made into a Clutch-flite which deleted the torque converter and run in circle track cars and at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. It is durable and flexible. On the drag strip many 4-spd guys have been caught sleeping by TF equipped cars.
As to the suitability of automatics for 4400# cars, you will never be stranded by a burnt clutch. The heavier the car the more problematic the clutch. Granted you can't get much engine braking because of the torque converter but stuck in traffic on the 405 on Friday afternoon or returning to LA from Vegas on a Sunday, I wouldn't want the pleasure of slipping the clutch for hours.
If you intend to try doubling the speed limit on Mulholland Drive, the 400 isn't the ideal chassis for the job anyway and will be more than a handful even with a clutch and 5 spd.
For my driving needs, pleasure not speed, I enjoyed the drive of a 400A much more than the 330GT I previously owned. It definitely has the style and flair of Ferrari, but with the automatic, is more of a Bentley at heart. I, for one, enjoy the combination.

 

I knew the 727 would come up when I made that statement. I will agree it is a hearty unit. It is a derivative of the two speed powerflite of the fifties so older(and heavier)technology. The TH has 3 support bearings vs. two in the TF. The TF's mechanical kick down can roast itself in short order when not adjusted properly.
The TH400 will handle more torque.
Clutch-flites are just old drag technology used before torque converters could be relied on to transmit heavy loads without exploding. The same idea was also applied to 400s, "clutch-turbo" they were called then. Both broke a lot and neither were transmissions in stock configuration so any comparison between them is a wasted exercise.
Your point about a clutch in traffic is quite valid. Accelerating a heavy car from a stop over and over again is tough on any transmission, fluid driven or not. One is a bunch easier on the left leg though.

The automatics in question here, more specifically their gear ratios, are well suited to large displacement V-8s in heavy cars, not so much the power band of a Ferrari in same.

 

The THM400 was a lot of things the A727 was not. It was physically larger. It was heavier. It had more moving parts which generate more parasitic losses. It still had cast iron components, a throw back to the old Hydramatics of the 50's. The new in 1962 A727 was all aluminum, and was used in everything from heavy duty, taxi service, 6 cyl models to 440 cu.in. wedge V8s plus the 426 Hemi. And in all of these applications Chrysler did what GM had already proven they couldn't afford to do, the warrantied the entire drive train for 5 years or 50,000 miles. In 1962 that was huge.
While the THM400 doesn't have issues when used behind the Ferrari's V-12, it still has all of those things the A727 didn't. Too big, too heavy, too complex, and no guarantee.

 

£5300 with 3 hours to go.