430 Is this an OEM shifter plate?

Currently listed on eBay, this reproduction gate has an obvious aftermarket looking horse (maybe part bird beak/part horse mouth). Starting price is cheap, but you get what you pay for I guess.
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It does not show up in my eBay but an aftermarket one shows on US eBay under part number 179844 for $1,799 no horse.
Anyway, at least the good thing is that people have many gate choices now

 

I’ve seen that one before. Crazy what some people think things are worth. Also, the one pictured above with the carved out horse was once listed on here as a factory part for a good bit of money. Not sure if it was the same seller though as it could have just been one of his customers.

There was one I noticed on a factory gated car that had polished portions inside the walls of the gate, but the rest was brushed. Looked really fancy…

 

The one pictured above is being sold on ebay by myself. I have always sold these under the premise that they are reproduction and not OEM.

As it happens I have an OEM one right now as well and, to my eyes at least, my reproductions look nicer.

 

Vintage 1999. Never noticed the lines before. I'll be darned.

However it's interesting to see that the middle of the horse is smoother than the one @LorenzoR posted. These minute differences are another thing that makes these cars so special I guess. Maybe @imahorse can shed some light on this since he's a machinist.

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As mentioned, it certainly could have been someone that bought one off you trying to flip it for a quick buck. Either way, I agree that your version looks really nice. The lines are super crisp.

 

Well, got my OEM plate in from Eurospares. First thing I noticed is that someone opened this before and re-wrapped it with paper towels. Nothing was damaged, but it clearly wasn’t what someone was looking for. However, on closer inspection, I did see residual sanding marks from the finishing and there was still compound from polishing still in the horse. Not quite what I’d expect for Ferrari quality.

After seeing it though, I feel like I do prefer the older style of the horse. Not sure if I should try to trade out this new one for someone’s older one or just ditch the OEM idea and go with one of the “tribute” parts that are stainless.

Thoughts?


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Someone has polished that. Normally they are a brushed finish.

 

I don't know. I think id be contacting eurospares. For what you paid for that, there should not be any a spec of compound and not one sand mark. I question that if its oem

 

I bet someone scratched their shift plate then tried to polishing it. They then bought one from Eurospares and swapped it out then returned it. The person who took the return didn’t know exactly what the part looked like but it matched the part description so they accepted the return. Pretty unscrupulous.

When brushed metal gets scratched it can be fixed where you cannot tell but it is not something a novice can do well. When I scratched the brushed metal on one of my watches they were able to refinish it to look brand new. This is what the person should have done.


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I contacted Eurospares to see what they say. Debating now if I should just wait for an older style to come available.

So, we’ve seen original 360 owners post what their cavalino looked like and we’ve seen what those of us that have purchased OEM spares look like. Has anybody with an original gated F430 posted?

 

I think I have one of each ...the milled one I bought used and the smoother one I bought from Eurospares over a year ago.
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Yep, the milled one is just Like mine and I believe these are oem

 

I have an OEM gate for sale in the classifieds right now. For what it’s worth I can provide the photos of the crashed 360 it was taken from.

Ferrari 360/ 430 OEM Genuine Gear Gate
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/index.php?threads/Ferrari-360--430-OEM-Genuine-Gear-Gate.680536/


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message sent.

 

Quick update.

The plate was finally received and reviewed by Ferrari. They sent pictures of another one they had in stock (attached) but it too looked highly polished. No word on why/when the style had changed on the horse or the finish. I couldn't tell what the horse shape was like from the angle of the picture but I rejected the proposed replacement due to the polishing and Eurospares issued me a refund. So, the next person to order will likely get either the scuffed looking one I received or the next highly polished one. I ended up buy an older one that has the correct brushed finished and the fatter, less bird-like horse
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@GogglesPisano I've had a similar experience with the gate, including paper towel wrapping for the brand new ones (except that I have kept the Birdhorse one as a reference in my factory animal gates collection).

It is fully understandable, except perhaps for the paper towels. As Ferrari has run out of the original parts and the original manufacturers which made the parts for Ferrari are no longer in business, the parts are made by other subcontractors. They may still qualify for the Classiche program (not that it matters much for the 360/F430 owners currently) but they are different than first produced.

Another example is the gated manual reverse switch. As Ferrari has run out of the originals made by Sipea (and Sipea is no longer in business) Ferrari parts distributors started selling similar looking switches, but with differences like 3D printed rubber covers, or black instead of green wire covers etc. Nothing wrong with 3D printing in general, but those 3D prints were hard and did not feel like rubber.

So I've decided to manufacture our own reverse switches, using proper steel forms for injecting melted real rubber for switch covers, green connecting wire covers etc . Plus thanks to using the latest manufacturing techniques the rubber finish quality is much better than the originals which are quite uneven.

Joe, btw, the reverse switch I've sent you in the kit was the original Ferrari new old stock Sipea (now unobtainium) but with aftermarket connecting wires.

 

Brogenville had one for sale mentioned above.

I feel like we’ve past the point of getting original looking ones even from Ferrari. It will be interesting to see what the market does for these going forward. It’s already crazy expensive for a small piece of metal.

 

Or maybe we (including myself) are just too picky and focus on details not noticeable by 99.99% of the people looking at a car

 

Probably why I have four sets of tail lights

 

At Joe's suggestion here is a link to my original design, never installed OEM shift gate. Thanks.
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/gated-shift-pattern-360-430-oem.687340/#post-149501130