Any Brothers In Houston Area?...

Damn! Can you post some pictures of that?! Sounds awesome!

 

Hey Scott, it's on Craigslist Houston, should be able to search and find it there.
I'll post the link here, but I'm about to subscribe and post an ad at FerrariAds here...

It's a sweet car, I'm really torn about selling it... I just don't drive it enough...

Greg

 

Just saw the car on Craigslist. SWEET! Someone's going to get a little jewel

 

Any link to this? I couldn't find it by searching ...

This car is back up on eBay again. The dealer's dropped the price a bit since two months ago. It was posted almost two weeks ago--it failed to sell and was again reposted within the last day or so. They're definitely having trouble trying to sell it.

Something about the looks of it really resonated with me, though. I agree that it definitely looks repainted and the interior has been redone. The overall combo really suits my tastes, though.

However, I'm very interested in finding out more from anyone who has actually looked at this one in person.

BTW, I've never owned a Ferrari, but have been looking for my first for many months (long-time lurker, first-time poster ;-)). I've learned a lot from this site and all the info and experiences provided here. So this is just one more investigation on the long path to finding the right match.

 

The car is still overpriced. It has no records thus mileage cannot be verified and it will need a major service; we are therefore looking at a car in an "off color" with no records and that will need a 4-5K service right off the bat, not counting "incidentals". This is why, outside of what else you have outlined, that they are having trouble selling the car. If the car passes a PPI, then it is is, in this economy, a 25-27K car tops.

 

IMO, the carbed cars with catalytic exhaust are the most dangerous.....an electrical malfunction can load the cat up pretty fast, then you have troubles....

But if anyone wants to drop in, I'll help you get it checked out...

 

Thanks for the info ... I was also convinced it was overpriced, but was trying to figure out by how much. Based on the little info here, I was guessing it probably needs $5-7K of work, so it is good to know my ballpark hunch may not be too far off (but who knows what else a PPI might reveal). Also, the dealer clearly wants more than $25K for it--their reserve is set higher than that, and it has gotten $25K bids the last two times it was posted but the dealer didn't work out a purchase with the high bidder either time (their description suggests they are open to such options).

I e-mailed the salesman with a series of questions, including what the reserve price is. I may have to call him. It looks like they are pretty close to Ferrari of Houston ... would Ferrari of Houston do a PPI?

 

no.......I'd imagine Vintage Motorcars on Kempwood might.....

I guess I need to go look at this car, it's out past FoH, in Sugarland...

 

If you're willing, that would be tremendous. Their web site (http://texasdirectauto.com/) lists the address as:

Texas Direct Auto
12053 SW Freeway (Highway 59)
Stafford Texas 77477

They provide this map link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=12053+sw+freeway+stafford+tx&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=42.495706,63.544922&ie=UTF8&ll=29.646503,-95.57274&spn=0.011432,0.015514&z=16

I didn't reach the salesman by phone today and they are now closed for the evening, but I'll post any info I find out from him here.

 

OK, it took a few days to make contact with the salesman, who was out for the past couple of days. That explains the no e-mail and no call-backs. He did call me on the phone this afternoon, however. He does have some maintenance records on the car (shown in the eBay pics, and he read them to me over the phone, including dates and mileage), including the last major service in 2006 and a couple of service bills in 2007 including one that sounded like an annual service. He didn't present this as the complete maintenance history--just the service bills he happened to have. Nothing more recent, but that is roughly consistent with an owner who sold it in 2008 or so, I guess. Overall, everything he said is consistent with a car that has been reasonably maintained (or *might* have been), but has been sitting for a couple of years and is due for another major.

Also, they're happy to allow for a PPI. I called Vintage Motorcars Restoration, who will do it, and the price sounded right. Unfortunately, the manager was out, so I'll have to call in the morning to schedule it. Also, Vintage Motorcars won't arrange the transport, so I'll have to do that myself. Any suggestions for a careful towing service in that area? The guy at Vintage recommended Overland, but I haven't found their number yet.

The salesman did tell me the reserve price, which is definitely too high if this vehicle needs a major service. On the other hand, he was perfectly willing to discuss what they could do price-wise depending on the results of the PPI (and pending the sales manager's approval). Although he admitted not knowing much about Ferraris, he was actually very forthright in discussing the car with me, planning for an inspection, etc.

So it really all comes down to the PPI (thanks to *everyone* for all the good advice about PPIs I've read in these forums!). I can imagine it going either way.

Unfortunately, I've got other travel plans going on and can't fly out to Houston right now myself (or I'd be out there this weekend!). So, BigTex, if you're willing to take a look, I'd be deeply in your debt. I'd hate to make a decision on this car without laying eyes on it myself (and driving it), but depending on the PPI and what price they are willing to go for, I may have to. Then again, given their reserve price, I'm pretty sure they aren't going to sell it on eBay this time around, either, so it'll probably still be there in a couple of weeks when I can finally get to Houston myself.

Oh, and if things happen to work out, those pedals are the first thing to go! (maybe a nice aluminum heel-toe set from Hill Engineering?)

 

good luck to you.

i would not pay more than $28k for it with the work it needs so far.

hopefully the PPI will be clean .

 

My firm uses FES Towing for transport of equipment, I call them and they treat it nicely....Landoll Rollbacks....Haven't needed them since I sunk in Valeria's lawn...

I was out of town last weekend..maybe this Saturday??

Ferda at Vintage is 7:00AM 'till 3:30PM....less, if he's feeling ill.....quit distracting him, he's hanging my ANSA!! LOL!

 

If the dealer and PPI location aren't too far apart can't the dealer drive it over? Tell them if you don't buy it you'll let them keep the PPI... It's often a several hundred dollar value.

Wished I'd have known the address earlier, I stayed in a hotel in that area in the past.

 

That's a good idea. I'll ask them. According to google, its 17.4 miles.

 

That would be ideal if you can manage it. The car will still be at Texas Direct, which is open 9-6 on Saturdays. I'm going to try to schedule the PPI for Monday or Tuesday, if Vintage Motorcars can actually do it then.

 

Stopped at dealer today. Car was not available for viewing due to repairs being performed, however I snuck in back and got a peek. I'll give details this evening.

 

Thanks for saving me the trip!!!

Are you in town tomorrow night?

Surfer's Stomp at Last Concert Cafe early at 6PM, and Jesse Dayton plays at 10:30 at Hotel Sorella!

 

Alan, have plans for dinner tomorrow night but I have your number if I get done with that at a reasonable time. Thanks for the info, sounds good.

OK, my visit to Texas Direct Auto. It is quite a place. I was blown away by the cars, and how many of them. The highlights, a newer Porsche gt3, Vette ZR1, 512TR. Any high end model you'd want just about, and the other half of the hundreds of vehicles was SUVs.
I showed up and out of courtesy asked for Michael Phan the person who posted the most recent ebay ad. He only meets with people by appt and wouldn't come "downstairs" to talk to me. So I found a guy, Eric Rosenman to talk to. It is a bit of a high pressure place. He wanted me to look at the car and give you the ok to put a deposit down, hold on there big fella. Turns out the car was unavailable to view. Salesman looked in the system and said they are doing something with coolant and it's on a lift, I'd have to come back in a week, but to call, I could drive it, etc. I said I'd be gone. That was that. So I walked around their lot and decided to cross the big red bars and walk over to their service area. I got down there and a guy stopped me. I explained I was just coming back to get a glimpse. He took me over to the car and said they are currently waiting on window regulators, the car is on a parts hold. I wasn't able to open it up but......

 

The car was being stored outside in their service area, it was dusty but the paint looked very nice, better than I expected, a bit of patina, it isn't a fresh respray, but certainly some work has been done. I was looking for bad stuff, not good so this is what I noticed.
Rust bubbles in both doors at lower edges
Gasket for top is probably original, looks like it's in rough shape.
Top looks like it's been painted shiny for resale, don't know how long that will look good.
Passenger door doesn't close fully. Looks adjustable and it didn't sag, just didn't latch tight.
The body section that is below the door, but where it's at the rear wheel was cracked up a bit, I don't know if it was some prior bondo that was cracked or just regular filler down in that area from factory. This would be from bottoming out.
Bottom of engine is oily front to back, a drip hanging off drain plug.
On the upsides, it looks good for a 31 year old car. The bottom of the nose looks fine, however the car does have at least some normal bottoming issues along bottom of car, hard to get a good look without a lift, one area on bottom looked like it may have been a bit reworked into place.
The seats had plastic on them, the tech said the owners of the lot had the seats recovered and require the plastic to stay on the seats.

There are variables, and if the rust doesn't scare you off (door bubbles) it might be worth a PPI, I didn't find any gross ugliness. It is an old car. Althought if you aren't stuck on the color a fellow here in the 308 section just put up a thread about a car that he is thinking of selling for 23.5K. I'd call him asap and chat with him. Doesn't mean the bottom of his car isn't more beat up, just a better price and an owner to talk to.

This shop doesn't fully rehab the cars. I noticed the 512TR had spots of touch up paint and the front lip was actually cracked in two as it was sitting in the lobby, maybe they were hoping people wouldn't notice. Also saw the Porsche GT3 was missing a tiny filler piece in the front trimwork.

Caveat. I'm not any sort of specialist, I have an 87 Mondial so I don't know the 308's too well. I was just trying to look at it as a used car the might have potential issues. Sorry no pictures as I was just trying to sneak a peek, and only spent about 15 minutes on it. Again, if you want more looked at I'll probably be back here in a couple weeks.

Dirk

 

Wow, Dirk, thanks for all the info! And the realistic assessment (even just 15 minutes is vastly better than nothing). That is very helpful.

I just spoke to Michael on the phone before lunch, and it is strange that he didn't mention anything about it being serviced today ;-). I wonder if, given that I'd discussed the PPI with them yesterday, they want to make sure its fixed up as well as it can be before it goes to an independent shop. It sure sounds like that. Michael did say that anything revealed by the PPI that they could fix in house, they would.

Well, the door bubbles are certainly discouraging, but that does seem to be fairly common on the older 308's, including the ones I've looked at in person here on the east coast. I wouldn't consider them a deal breaker (although I'd be interested in hearing the opinions of others). If the oil turns out to be from a dried/cracked seal, that would be more troubling ... but would that actually be par for the course for a car that is due for a major service *and* has been mostly sitting for a long period without regular driving? My limited knowledge makes me think that is plausible (and that a PPI would certainly indicate what was necessary to fix such a visible problem), but I have way less experience with these things than most of the people on this forum!

Thanks for the tip--I hadn't read that one today. I checked it out. I'm definitely much more partial to the color scheme on this blue one, but I won't rule out the other one yet. It sounds like it is priced well. I did drive one 308 with a red interior (admittedly worn), however, and I wasn't too keen on it (just personal preference ... but I'd still prefer a red interior to black on black). I did see John@MAcarbon's black on black 308 posted in the ads section earlier this week. He's clear about what it has and what it needs.

Anyway, you've given me a lot to think about. Thanks again for taking the time to visit the car!

 

This is just my two cents on service that is likely needed related to the oily bottom of the car. There are many areas the oil can come from and a PPI should give some indication of where the leaks are. The one that seems like trouble is the dip stick tube. It is likely leaking at the cam seals. If it is like my 3.2 the cams need to come out as there is an o ring that has to be changed to properly seal everything. There are also the oil cooler lines, valve cover gaskets, seals at the other end of the cams, and on and on. It is difficult, but not impossible to get right. I have 500 miles on my service with no leaking oil and I've never been a full proper mechanic. If they are going to fix leaks for you I'd want to know they were fixed properly with new seals/O rings, gaskets and not a bit more silicone (which does occur quite often). Also, this won't be possible from where you live but I'd want a 30 day warranty against the leaks they fixed.
Now all that said, they do have what appears to be a nice shop and they do work on a lot of high end stuff.
As a side note, the receptionist sent a message to Michael that I was there to look at it for someone he was talking to. He said he wasn't talking to anyone about that car. If I had cared I'd have felt a bit brushed off by him.

And on the red interior of the other 308, I forget that does tend to drive the price down a bit. I forget because I like red interiors for childhood reasons.

 

This Michael fellow sounds like a d*ck; I wouldn't do business with a place that "can't be bothered" to discuss a car THEY are selling. Grief, what an ass-clown.

 

Well, just as I'm getting ready for this upcoming trip, my better half threw a monkey wrench (or, perhaps some "sanity", take your pick) into the mix. I'm actually going to be on the road for the next two weeks, and she pointed out this means I won't be able to walk into the bank and get a cashier's check to close any car deal anyway. Michael scrambled on the phone trying to get me to put down a deposit before the PPI to hold the car ... but of course they'll only hold it for 7 days. They've been trying to sell this car for at least 2.5 months or more, so I don't expect it is going anywhere while I'm gone. So I decided to postpone the PPI until after my trip. I'm hoping to talk with Gary (drghamm) about his recently-posted 308 by then as well. We'll see what happens.

 

They are high pressure there, I'd bet that deposit is non refundable. The car isn't going anywhere. The door handles are not installed awaiting the new window regulators. The sales guy I talked to, his name above said to call him Monday to see if the car was back together. Otherwise I think you're correct to hold off. Put it to fate. And don't forget, these are old cars first, Ferraris second. Old cars are a PITA, but lots of fun. Also, there are really a lot of them out there for sale, and more come on the market every month.

 

Well you *sniff sniff* obviously DON'T understand the rarified air that IS the sophisticated Exotic Car Marketplace here in Houston, Texas *sniff, sniff*

We only sell these (upside down, underwater, used and abused and rusting) FANTASTIC machines to those that are WILLING to go thru the hoops required, to actually OWN them, as opposed to the tire kicking wanna bes, that bother me daily, and make me late for the spa....

Now you know....