1983 400i Chassis ? on CL

I just went to look at this car. I just got home and sat down and logged on, and here's your thread. Here's what I saw.

I wasn't hip enough to get the chassis or vin numbers, but I can tell you the interior is tan with a brown dash. The carpets I would call oatmeal, but they also have a variegated look with medium brown and dark brown loops here and there. I assume this is standard and that the Tifosi will know what I'm talking about. According to the seller the body color is called Bordeaux. It was a dark red, but not a maroon or burgundy.

The body is great, albeit with a lot of surface scratching. No rust bubbles. I applied a magnet to the spots where I would expect to find rust and all check good, except for some apparent Bondo between the right front wheel opening and the passenger door.

Interior: leather and carpets in good shape but dirty. Some electrical systems -- fuel filler door, trunk release -- don't work. One console switch is missing, with the connector hanging out the hole. Seller says he's replaced the fuse circuit board, which I understand is a plus. He says the harness connectors at the board are good.

Under the car, the floor pan is clean and rust free. The self-leveling rear shocks are still there. All rubber bushings are dry rotted. This explains a ride that was very loose and vague feeling. Not a lot more confidence-inspiring than my Mom's '70 Olds 88 that I drove a couple times back in the day.

The engine pulled hard to 6000, but at a steady cruise the engine hunts or surges, if you will. Nothing drastic, just a feeling of some misfires going on. The seller produced a Smog Check that he had had performed today. It shows moderately excessive emissions in all categories: HC, CO, and NOx. In other words: fail. Catalytic converters are present. Maybe some tuning will improve engine performance. It is to be hoped. Seller says the car has passed Smog Check before.

The tranny shifts smoothly but firmly; no slippage. Probably many good miles left in this unit.

The owner produced a nearly $8,000 invoice from iirc The Sports Car Shop in Monterey, CA, dated December 2011, primarily for work on the fuel injection and a rebuilt starter install. It's worrisome that specific attention was given to the fuel injection and the car still has the hunting and the Smog Check fail.

16" wheel rims are present, which makes it easy to replace tires. Tires on the car are new, but they're some off brand I'd never heard of before. Probably the house brand of some chain store like Big O or Les Schwab.

The seller says he bought the car in June 2007, from an owner who had stored it for many years. The odometer shows about 50,000 kilometers. He says he had it at a Ferrari shop for three years, during which it got very little attention. He then took it to the Monterey shop -- The Sports Car Shop? -- who got it running at the level of performance that it has today.

There is probably some give in the $25k asking price, but the man says he's got $30K in it and he can get $15K to $17K from an auction any day. I didn't make an offer. Just not the car for me. My garage already has a broken '65 Mustang in it, and it's a one-car garage.

On the way home I also stopped in on eMotors in Livermore to check out another '83 400i: http://www.emotorsfirst.com/newandusedcars/2659/519129/7aca2c9a-07bd-47fa-83f9-70f88ee4ba06/none/1983-Ferrari-400ia-Livermore-CA-94550.aspx . The guy apparently in charge says he sold it to a buyer in Texas for $23,000.

 

...of you to post this report.

thanks.

 

Thanks for the write-up!

Looks like a good car for someone who has some time and talent - I like the color.

 

And thus you have the story of far too many 400s...

A recent receipt for $8,000 and the car has many needs.

Although if you could purchase this at a bit under $20k this seems like a heck of a good candidate.

 

$2001 price drop in the first week. Sounds like a motivated seller. I promise I was very polite and encouraging when I visited this car last Saturday, telling the seller that there was someone out there willing to take on this project.

In related news, I went back to my SF Bay Area Craigslist just now and searched "Ferrari," and here is my results page: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/cta?query=ferrari&srchType=T&minAsk=&maxAsk=

Now I ask you, what's wrong with this picture (all of these are cars listed on the linked page):

1967 Ferrari 330 gtc - $345000 (4.5 year restoration)
1969 Ferrari 365 GT 2+2 - $169900
1972 Ferrari 365 GTC/4 - $129000
1983 Ferrari 400i - $22999
1999 Ferrari 456M Coupe - $59900
2001 Ferrari 456M - $65000

Isn't this strange, the dip in the market for 12 cyl 2+2's, all from the same carmaker?

 

Strange? No. It's not old enough to be vintage, and it's not new enough to appeal to the "gotta have the badge" crowd. It's also the least curvy car of the bunch.

I really like the 400, but there's legitimate reasons that they are inexpensive to buy.

 

Update...CL ad now says 19995...hmmmm