My POSITIVE experience with Bob Norwood

Exactly. His car, his money, hist time. I think it's cool to do these projects but that's because I like to build stuff.

 

It's fun to work on cars obviously, but I just don't get the time and money when people rebody something like this. If its bc you want a 288 GTO and can't afford it, thats fine I guess. The mercedes/bmw ones I'll never get the purpose of rebadging them. I park next to a fake M4 at my condo and it makes no sense to me why this human being wasted a couple hundred bucks buying M4 badges for his vehicle, anyone who knows cars knows its fake, I suppose in the off chance he runs into BMW M4 groupies and some random chick sleeps with him bc he owns one its worth it, but otherwise to anyone else who knows you look silly. I dont know Im a tad bitter on the matter bc my SL55 I had a while back had its badges stolen TWICE. I know they were stolen to be used on another car, just ridiculous.

 

No, no he doesn't.

I can't do anything about how Rob posts here, we all know how that works already. But, I can most certainly ask the rest of the guys not to jump on the, "You're an idiot" bandwagon.

I didn't ban the guy, I asked him to dial it back. this ain't P&R.

I don't happen to agree with what Rob posted, and I'm not in the OP's back pocket either, but level playing field is important.

D

 

What you did was cleverly phrase your version of, "You're an idiot."

Just because you worded it more eloquently, the meaning was the same.

D

 

But, here ya go.

Since Rob opened the door, I'll leave it to him to either leave it open, or close it.

I'm not going to moderate any other negative remarks about the project within this thread, I will moderate direct insults from anyone other than the owner guy.

D

 

I hope the OP will consider starting another thread about the project and it's progress. This one's probably too far gone.

 

This one should probably be closed. But that's up to the OP.

 

I agree.
I don’t get the hostility toward this guy. Isn’t a 288 a stretched, albiet suped-up, rebodied 308? Aside from the trans, it sounds like this guy is trying to put as much Ferrari back in it.
I hope the OP stays on this website and starts another thread of just the build. I enjoy these just as much as I enjoy Bradan documenting a complete restoration.

 

Seems to me replicating an iconic car as close to oem as possible is much less ego stroking than owning a car simply to meet girls. I wonder if Ferrari, when making the 288 prototype, took a perfectly good 308 off the production line and 'ruined' it.

 

There's lots of replicas out there, there's also lots of fake purses, do you buy those for your wife? Believe me I wish my wife got a fake Birkin instead of the one she bought, no purse should ever cost that much. You could get a replica of anything and say you're replicating "iconic" purses,watches, whatever you want. It's still a replica at the end of the day. In most cases though you don't ruin a real patek phillipe while converting it into a replica. A Ferrari 308 is an amazing car, its iconic in its own right, people are allowed to do whatever they want with their possessions, nobody is saying otherwise. I was simply replying to Rob's comments and I side with him that this car is ruining an amazing car.

 

Its your car man, you're entitled to do whatever you want with it. If your happy with it thats all that matters, personally a 308 is an awesome car and iconic in its own right, Magnum PI drove one and its the quintessential mid engine Ferrari. Certain ones can fetch $200k. They're amazing cars thats all, I get this one was damaged, but restoring it to the 308 it originally was is noble as well, but if you love the 288 body then by all means, its your car and your money.

 

Listen OP comments are totally immaterial until the car is finished and all bills are paid. At that point I will give credibility to OP comments. I have had cars restored, I have been involved in many, many construction projects so I have the first hand experience to know when a job is completed to the mutual satisfaction of both parties. Trust me until an entirely completed project it is all just talk.

I certainly hope OP has a good experience with his project but until completed I he has no idea how it will turn out. IMO, I could be wrong but I doubt it.

 

I imagine you don't like this either ?

 

I don't agree that he's charging by the minute like that for a labor-oriented job. He needs to charge by the job requested and eat whatever wasted efforts he spends rather than endlessly bill the customer. There is zero incentive for them to move quickly when charging by the minute...things will just drag out slowly as long as the money is flowing.

So if he messes up cutting something and has to re-weld, they charge extra for that since it took more time? Because he has trial and error learning with this project? Seems like his problem and not yours to pay for. If you both agreed $2,500 for that particular task, it should stay that way regardless how long it takes him or how much wasting material it takes. Otherwise don't agree to do it for that price. An entire project I can understand not knowing the exact amount, but each small task should along the way.

 

There are many examples of very valuable award-winning cars and airplanes that have been 'restored' from little more than a data plate. Often times parts have to be made from scratch (by the restorer, not the OEM) because finding originals is impossible. Despite that the vehicles are gushed over, given awards, and declared to be fully restored examples. While this project may not fall into that category, it most definitely is not going to have Pontiac parts or running gear. In other words it is not a kit car IMO.

To the OP, good luck and keep us posted on your progress. Probably a good idea to create a new thread with a large banner headline stating "My 288 kit car project". That may reduce, but not eliminate, some of the bashing.

 

It’s cool but how much is it like $500-700k? I recently saw a 250 gto replica on eBay asking something in that range. Cool car for sure but hard pass from me, plenty of real cool $500-700k original cars out there for me to drool over

This was the one I was talking about.... $675k for a replica is a bit steep to me, but if thats the going rate then congrats to the builder.

https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/ferrari/250gto/2097628.html

 

Very true but you must establish trust with the supplier - no different than an attorney. I'd venture to guys their is not a shop on the planet that would take on a project like this for a fixed price - if they did, the number would likely be very high

 

The OP's car was never ever going to be a 308 again, so instead it is allowing him to recreate something that would otherwise be unobtainable to him, who cares what someone in a ,mall carpark you don't even know thinks about your car. Its not simply a Fiero either with a sort of look alike kit on it, its all either mainly Ferrari or Ferrari based so he is trying to get it as close as practical to the original 288 and sharing that here with other people who also own or like Ferrari's.

Whether he gets it to where he wants it to be via Norwood will unfold over time.

Luckily he is also in another place where this kind of work is understood and accepted.

Good to see the post is being moderated as best it can be given the restrictive abilities imposed on said mod.

 

Except the knockoff birkin isn't made from a real one, right? And I'd love to know which Patek you can cut up and turn into a more interesting or valuable one. Those aren't really valid comparisons.

I'd call this a bitsa car, as it starts with bitsa 308 and goes from there. It's a tribute car, sure, but the underpinnings are the same as what Ferrari used to prototype the car.

And in this instance, the OP didn't START with a 308 and cut it up, he's finishing someone else's project. Lots of finishing, but finishing none the less. He's probably saving this from the recycling pile. I don't like the guys who take a relatively rare car and cut it up to make a replica much either, but in this instance why not finish it? It's not worth the trouble to try and turn it back into a 308. Cheaper just to buy a nice example if that's what you want.

I wouldn't undertake this project. I don't want a replica 288 GTO, but the OP does, and the parts he's using were not gonna end up back as a 308 anyway.

D

 

With regarding charging out time, regardless of the business it needs to recover all its genuine costs over a 12 months and hopefully make a profit on top otherwise it will soon no longer exist. This can be done by a wide variety of ways.

If Norwood is charging $85 dollars an hour and the alternatives/competitors all inclusive going rate is typically say $150 then clearly there is no coverage for any of the non "spanner in hand" time in the Norwood charge so it has to also be billed extra at an hourly rate. It has yet to be established what is the typical all encompassing rate for such services in his location.

Maybe he is being too open about actual detailed work, if it was charged out at a higher rate but less hours and less detail would the customer baulk at the same bottom line figure is the key question. Could anyone out there do the same job cheaper/better?

 

Love your attitude and your outlook, 4G6308! The car looks fantastic and it's giving new life to a car which would likely have been parted out otherwise. Done correctly, it will rightly be called a tribute car. I'm looking forward to seeing it when it's done.

Question: what gearbox is that?

 

^^^Exactly. Any other competent shop would charge good bit more than $85 per hour. All that matters in the end is whether or not the OP got his money's worth, and it certainly sounds as though he thinks he did.

4G6308, am I reading correctly that Bob Norwood's work is completed (at least for now) and that you've picked up the car?