Does anyone recognise this 308 GT4?

Hello all,

This is my first post here, regarding my first Ferrari.

The pictures below show a 1975 308GT4 that I have purchased from Beverly Hills Car Club in LA, and am currently getting shipped to me in Queensland, Australia.

Buying from Beverly Hills Car Club was an uncomfortable experience, including the fact that they wouldn't tell me a single word about this car and how they came to have it in their stock. It's an unfinished project, non-running. There are a lot of parts still bolted to the car, and a lot left off. No extra parts come with the car, it’s just as it sits.

I was interested in the car as I love a project, and I could see that the motor is fresh. I hired an LA based Ferrari mechanic to go inspect the car. They got it up on the hoist, I have a few hundred pictures, and have had a few discussions with the mechanic about his findings. I formed a pretty good picture of what was there, and what was missing, and as it was priced accordingly, I was happy to buy it, and I am extremely excited to have it here and start working on it. I want to drive this thing, a lot.

So, does anyone here recognise this car? Does anyone know anything about it?

On a side note, are there any tricks to getting the front valve cover off while the engine is in the car?

Thank you,
Stew.

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Remove the engine cover completely, don't just open it.

Then remove the airbox (and cover the open carb mouths).

You can now reach the front valve cover from each side, or you could sit on the engine crosslegged and reach forward.

If you post the VIN, folk here might be able to point you at info on the car.

 

I should add -

The VIN is 09920, and from a VIN lookup site I found it looks like it was originally red. The title was North Carolina.

 

Thankyou.

 

Beverly Hills Car Club is a bit of an odd place. I had some bad experiences with them online, but I actually went their in person and it's fairly amazing. The sheer amount of cars they have is mind blowing. But, they aren't real forthcoming with information. It's really a situation where you have to know what you're looking for and the car you're looking at, because they generally don't know anything about the car. When they get a car in, about the only thing they do is clean it and put a price on it. Buying sight-unseen from them was rather brave! But at least you had a Ferrari mechanic look at it first, that was smart.

To help in your quest of knowing more about your car, there's a thread here you might want to check out: AVORIO SAFARI 308GT4 LIST

09920 is mentioned in the first comment of the thread, the person who mentioned it is a previous owner. Don't be afraid to reach out and see what they can tell you about your car. I've actually found the original owner of my car (10388). If you search for your chassis number here, you'll find another mention as well.

Half the fun of owning these cars is doing all the research and discovering their past. I have a very, very complete picture of mine from the day it left the factory until it ended up with me. Fun stuff. Keep us posted!!

 

Thank you so much.

 

Never dealt with them personally, they do have a great write up on GT4’s so they seem quite fond of them. They usually have 1or 2 for sale.


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Suspension looks fresh , new parts .The pans dry .The rear chassis frame oil free .Engine mounts I can see clean .Carbs clean free from gunk .Valve covers clean and just see fresh ish gasket at the top .Correct plug leads and the headers seem fresh .
Exhaust box seems near its end if life , but no biggie plenty of SSteel after markets about .

From this = well maintained, or not neglected.

 

Amazing, I check that place nearly everyday for a GT4 project. I’m not sure how I missed this one. They are a shady bunch for the most part and their cars are usually the roughest out there, but the price points are also fairly low. From what can be seen of the engine and suspension it looks to be not too bad. I hope that the body is solid for you. That’s what always scares me on these cars.

 

9920 was owned at one time by Wade (308nut) in New Orleans, Louisiana, he is quite active on this forum.

 

Yes, thank you.
I found some posts of his about the resto of this car, which was fantastic. Just waiting to hear back from him with hopefully some more details, especially about the motor rebuild. In one post he states it was a customers car. I believe I know who the customer was, but am waiting to hear back from them as well.

 

was original Giallo Dino 20-Y-348, first owner: Denton Leasing

 

Caveat emptor.

 

I’ll make a quick comment just because I have bought a car from them and didn’t find them shady at all. First, it’s a used car, drive it(if possible), have it inspected and make an offer. If your not happy walk away. They typically get cars that range from a basket of parts to collectible. As a car fan it is a great place to visit, I spent a couple of hours there the day I went to drive my car.

 

Wades car is Avorio Safari. 20-Y-546 Louisiana I believe

 

Hey Matthias, thanks for that. Where did you find that info?

 

Wasn't about the car Kevin. I was happy to purchase and feel I know what I was purchasing. The staff did not make it enjoyable.

 

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Wow. That's amazing, thank you.

 

The car is avorio as is mine. But yours looks whiter in the pics

 

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Yeah yours is beautiful. I like the solid avorio as well as the boxer.
On some pictures mine looks more creamy

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we have the same paint code. It never would of happened for me if it wasnt for Wade. I painted the car Argento in 2001 when I bought it. Now I repainted it again. full bare metal and all metal work done.

 

Sounds like you had a different experience than me. I only dealt with one salesman and he was very pleasant. Hope your project turns out great.

 

BH Car Club is a unique place. Not forthcoming sounds about right. They bought my 308 when I sold it years ago. I was VERY specific in telling them it had over 100k miles on it, it turned while I owned it. They listed it as "shows 6k miles". Shady practice at best, borderline fraudulent at worst.

Definitely a buyer be very aware place.