New Paint vs. Original

Assuming a car has been repainted professionally and has no overspray, bondo, fish eyes, etc, does it detract from the value?

Also, what if there are records from the current owner (7 years) but none from the prior owner (s)? A Ferrari dealer inspected the car with favorable results (they were going to buy the car and sell it for $6-7k more plus service costs); but it might take a lot of digging to find the original records.

Current owner has seven other collectibles, including a Countach, so I think he's credible. Of course, a PPI and leak down will be done prior to closing.

Red/tan, '88 with 34k miles, major service at 25k including belts. Probably needs belts now. Low $40ks

Thanks

 

Pretty sure this has been covered on this forum before. But, a respray shouldn't hurt the value at all. The only time I can think it might have some bearing is in concours judging. It's been mentioned that the paint on these cars was not the best even when new. While it would be better to have a complete service history, as long as what you do have is detailed and is relevent to what the car needs to be maintained you should be good to go.

 

From a concours perspective a great repaint wont hurt at all.

Regarding the records, seven years worth should cover anything that might have been neglected prior to 7 years ago, so any records older than that are probably of historic interest only. BUT how complete has the maintanance been in the last 7 years? I would think having records from a recent major service back to the prior major , ie about 5 years is all you really need.

Dan

 

A proper repaint can actually help. It will never hurt and as far as concours judging, I would be willing to bet they would never know - IF you didn't tell them. Besides, so what? Show me a concours vintage winner that hasn't been repainted. Sure they are out there but very very few. As long as it looks nice...

A month or two ago there was a thread here that asked the same question about paint. My advice was to look at it like this: If you are selling a car and it NEEDS repainting, imagine how much that will affect the resale value. No one is going to throw more money at you for your 81 308 because it's the original paint, they're going to talk you down on the price because it needs a new one. Believe me.

 

I would want to know why an 88 with 34K has had a repaint, apparently some time ago at that. I'm suspicious. Low 40's sounds high if it is due for a major in any event.

Dave

 

That would bother me too. The only repaint I'd expect would be the usual nose/front bumper job because of the usual stone chips. Most Ferrari's are garaged when not driven, so an '88 wouldn't be likely to have deteriorated that much.

 

I would give it a good once-over with a magnet.

 

Speaking only for the situation here in New England... rock chips and sand blasting can happen EASILY and, in fact, during an FCA street drive event the 308 here got BLASTED by the car in front of my during spirited driving. While i really don't mind as the car here driven A LOT, some folks may be more 'retentive' about the perfect appearance of their car. In 5k miles i accumulate rock chips/etc like you would not believe. it is the roads here and debris. Now if this was Florida matters would be MUCH different of course.

 

At the end of the day, paint is only there to keep the metal from rusting. It is a "wear" item.

 

Part of this is due to a typical Ferrari owner's obsessiveness. Like mine. I have a 348 with just over 40K on the clock. It had some chips on the bonnet that absolutely drove me bonkers because I want the car 100% perfect. So when winter came, it went to the body shop. Same is true for my drivers door. Some very slight paint imperfections from the factory that no one could ever notice but me, and I had those fixed, too.

BTW, my car never leaves the body shop until it is absolutely, 100 percent PERFECT. They dread seeing me drive up.

 

Apparently, the guy's friend/neighbor is a professional car painter, so he had him paint it for him. That simple.

 

Most Ferraris get some form of a paint job annually (if they're used) - all part of the cost of ownership. A dealer once showed me a newish 360 with a crap paint job. 'Yep, we'll need to give that one a blow over'.

I was at a local specialist recently who showed me a gleaming 348. 'It was time for another paint job'.

On 348's, a paint job might be required because the rear butresses have been repaired and its best to do the whole car at the same time. Just learn to live with it.

 

My Experience:

- Paint, if done well, does not affect the value of the car in any way. This is provided that the car was not crashed.

- 7 years of ownership receipts is plenty. Full service records sounds better at a concours but makes no difference to the ability to determine the car's condition.