308GTB 1977 VIN 22795

Hi from Western Australian,

I’m not very well so I bought my wife this for her 50th Birthday Present… a year ago today. It came from Gullwing Motors in NY with no history, manuals, no bad pictures- nothing. I see from the Texas CoT that the previous owner was Daniels Ronn Lee Bellarie TX. Does anyone know him or could put me in touch? Anyone know any history of this car?

It arrived in WA at Easter and been in the mechanical workshop until last week. My wife took me for a spin and it sounds great. It’s now in memory lane about to be sanded back to metal and re-sprayed. I was wondering if she was all red when new or came with black grills?

Thanks [emoji120]

Nick
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Just call Mr Daniels in TX/USA on: 713 666-5660.

Marcel Massini

 

Car was red with beige when offered for sale in San Antonio, Texas in April 1989. By which point the car had covered 21,000 miles.
No mention of 'Boxer' trim.

 

Was it sold in Houston back in 2003, if so I know this car.

 

Welcome Nick.

I am in Houston, close to Bellaire, it's a bedroom community , originally "edge of town" but now totally consumed....you will find that Internet tracking of the 5 digit VINs is "not easy"...looks like Marcel Massini has chimed in ..

To answer your question, no, the black grills are NOT correct for a 1977.
They were body colored to match.

Black ones came in 1980 - 81 along with the front hood grill.
So someone has "tarted it up" to look younger in age.

Common in women, common in 308s.

I've had:
20405
22127
22641

So i know my details.

I'm glad you are enjoying the car. Drive it, maintain it, and maybe avoid the temptation to tear it to bits, in search of perfection.
They were nice, when new, but FAR from perfect.

As to the original color, that will surface from the sanding, or pull floor carpets and look for overspray, or, the insides of the doors of course were not sprayed in a color change. The old "go to" spot would be to scratch the black paint surrounding the fuel filler neck. Whatever surfaces there is Factory color.

 

Red/tan was far less popular in 1977, than later, after Magnum PI was aired...after that red/tan became a very popular spec.

But your tan interior looks very nice, probably refreshed at some point, and the red carpets are boffo!
Maybe Marcel has the original colors in his extensive files...

In any event follow my suggestions, or just let the sanding of the body reveal all of it's secrets!

 

Yes - that was the last sale date.


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You've lost your original wiper blade holders...
In 1977 they were an open wire style, and the intent was to refill the blades only.

f course modern times use the "throw away" supports and they are changed with the blades.

No one will know, except you and me and maybe a savvy Judge at concours,
i can post a picture of the oriiginals...

 

Ha....in that case I recognize it too!

Will worked at Pinnacle Motorsports, where my car was serviced as well.

it's a small world.

Post a picture of the rear exhaust, if you don't mind then I will tell a story..
What was that doctor's name, Will?

After Pinnacle folded (if this is the car) it went to be trapped (alongside mine) over at Vintage Motorcars on Kempwood. Are there any service records at all....Vintage folded too amid swirling chaos including a totalled out 1992 F40.

 

Thanks very much Big Tex,

I did read somewhere that some of the old ones were sprayed black to look more modern… I’m going to spray it all red and enjoy it! It’s my last car project, the first one also came from Texas! 1962 Austin Healey BJ7 owned by the president of the Texas Healey Club. It was my Dad’s 70th birthday present. He passed away so leaving it to my 12 yo daughter. My 14 yo boy is getting my mid-life crisis - V12 DB9 volante and Mum gets her Ferrari.. all good and thanks for your help.
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Nick




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An odd construction detail on this car ( I zoomed in to look) and also my #20405 (a 1976 production date) is the way the triangle door window was built.

Lacking the one piece triangular rubber seal, they simply wedged the glass in, with the same "window wipe" cloth fuzzy that lines the main window.
They hid the short cut by caulking the upright mullion with the same black mastic that should be present at the rear quarter panel/roof junction.

Both those details are usually lost in refurbishment,
A Body Shop will try to blend and seam the rear quarter, when it fact it needs to flex, for the vibration.

The triangle window gasket also becomes common, as my #22127 has one, yet your car on the line (before or after, as sometimes the VINs passed each other!) matches the approach used on #20405

 

Good garage mates!

My only caution is not to chase "perfection" too closely, as an original paint job from Ferrari when new would have almost that many "trouble spots" as those tae marks indicate.

To quote the Owner of Pinnacle though, now long deceased: "it did run properly, when it left Maranello", then he would go to work removing bodged repairs...

Nice beach break!
I would wager there's Great Whites out there ????
"Surfers, the other white meat"

 

Recall the first Oil Crises hit the US in the late 70s and a car that made "14 miles on the highway, less, in town" was a hard sell...

My 22641 was sitting at Ron Tonkin THREE years, and finally sold, with the newer blcak fender grill as well as the rear roof spoiler.
Both were removed in a recent renovation....

It was a ploy to make it look like an '81.

 

WA has such a big beautiful coast with lots of whales, great whites and tiger sharks. Growing up here you surf and windsurf just like growing up in North America/Canada and skiing… It’s also great for cruising in a nice car if you can make it down under sometime[emoji106]


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Yep, same MSD ignition system, I remember it at Pinnacle Motorsports. Fun driver also, I wanted to buy it also.

 

@BigTex Exhaust picture is out, we want the story now

 

Well, this car had a mishap, and it was in the shop for a long time.... "Doctor Anthony"., it came to me, Will ...that's correct isn't it?
No idea if that was his name I can assume so??

I borrowed the "rather rare North American muffler screen only used in 1977 and not on the fiberglass '76s" to go have one patterned and fabricated for my car because it was missing.

Well , the Fab Shop I entrusted this task to, instead of ordering a sheet of the "staggered slot oval perf metal that only comes in a honking 4' x 8 ' sheet".....well, they tossed it out in the trash..........:/


So, this was a metal vendor I had spent HUGE money with in my company, so I was pretty pissed that happened, but it was in the crusher by then.....
So, at considerable expense (and actually under threat of bodily harm if I did not find one, as the car was near completion) I bought new one from FerrariUK Classic parts and off to Houston TX it came......around $500 USD at the time. At least THIS time my then gf's Fab Shop made a pattern of it I I eventually found the stagger slot material as the 308GT4 uses it too, although in a totally different part!

So "all well that ends well"...no one came to break my legs, and then JRV was dead.....:/
The End, but not really!!

You see, the actual REASON this part is missing, is that the VERY popular Sport ANSA four tip exhaust (Hey!!! like the one fitted to the car, now) is actually about ONE inch wider in the center to center dimension of the tips against the heavy OEM Thermomuffler that pre saged catalytic convertors.. 1977 are NON CAT.
Praise the good Lord...Amen!!

So after all my efforts, this car now sports the great ANSA system, and someone threw my $500USD part into the trash (unless it came loose with your car)..


BUT, not to worry, I lost that girl, although she still patterns parts for the car, made me some speaker plates the other day.
AND out in Tombal, up on the shelf of a Hot Rod Fabricator, lies the pattern that cost me OH so much, as well as the flat stack of the slotted material.

He says he would be glad to make one that DOES fit my muffler, custom, and ironically, twenty years later, it's $500USD.
So I need one, you need one, I tld him I could sell three or four most likely, but ALL of the alternate brands, Mille Miglia, Tubi, to my knowledge, noe of them gets the tip spacing "right" against Ferrari's original (and terrible, now rightfully discarded) unit.

I would almost have them make the ENTIRE assembly but leave the two oval trim pieces wired loose to the screen, for final fitting and placement. If the tips were hung too low, it would also hamper the reassembly.

 

Saying "F&^%&^%*&^% it", and painting the muffler black is a good solution.

Early 'glass cars either had the single tip exhaust that had a half oval cut in the rear valence, or an ANSA with no screen at all.

But for one brief shining moment, the North American 1977s had this part.
Then the Catalyst Exhaust changed it al to the later style "Hamster Balls" design..another thing all together!!

Now, tuck in and get some rest, and tomorrow I will tell about the night the 25th Anniversary Penthouse Pet of the Year had two flat tires, and came to visit our shop.
She saw a White Countach, and all her clothes fell off.
Pictures to prove it...

 

Imagine my chagrin to buy #22641, where they had hack sawed the whole rear valence OFF to put a nice muffler from Sears under there!

So I started the whole tedious process over again, to put that right.
I'm an expert on 308GTB ass ends....

The Penthouse Pet wasn't bad, but very high mileage..

 

Picture reminds me I need a new Intake Bellows.....

 

Hi Marcel, I haven’t been able to contact Mr Daniels on this number… Do you have anything else I could try? [emoji120]


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Hi Big Tex, can you please post the original wiper blade holders - these ones don’t work very well!

Also just confirming the rear grills over engine weren’t black but red (or original colour).

The front indicator lights on ours were originally small round ones?

And your story about the white bikini girl…

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Got one triangle window out that was glued in… one more to go without breaking it…

Found cable ties, glue, sickaflex… RE-fibreglass front cone or replace it? Looking for a Euro front bumper we can use in Australia..

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