RESTORATION OF A FERRARI 246 GTS DINO PART 2 (MAY 2012) Well, its now May and I have spent the last three weeks sorting out crates of spares. I have noted that there are a few vital parts that are missing, and there are many parts that will need replacing. However, the good news is that there are many new parts and restored parts that are ready for assembly. Wheels have been refurbished, all suspension parts have been stripped and powder coated, with new seals etc and the bumpers have been re chromed. At least the engine and gearbox is complete, although I have decided to strip and rebuild both, as the car has done 64,000 miles. I would like to get engine builder, Terry Hoyle to do the engine rebuild, as quite honestly, I think he is the right man for that job. Regarding the body work, there are new panels (sills etc) that were specially made for this car, and with the paperwork there is a bill for £4000 for the panels . ouch!. Oh, I have not seen or heard much from my two friends that hopefully were going to get excited about my project I wonder why? I have decided that I will put in a minimum of four hours a day work to hopefully keep the project on track to complete within a year, but to be honest, I think this project will take closer to two years to complete. I am waiting on a few quotes for the body work to come in and I will then make a decision as to who will get the job. The time scale for the body work and paint ranges from two to six months. One guy can only start the body work in September 2013! Some guys are talking about spending in excess of 500 hours to prepare the body! Once again, I sense the budget is about to go out the window! Wow, and I havent even started yet. I am already starting to think of colours. The original colour was Rosso Chiaro, but Im thinking blue or maybe dark silver? This is a UK spec car, originally ordered in Rosso Chiaro 20-R-190 with black interior, by H R Owen from Maranello Concessionaires on the 3 November 1972. It was delivered to Maranello (UK), from the Ferrari factory (Modena) on the 30 January 1973 at a cost of 4,646,000 lire. I am now the sixth registered owner. By the time you have read this I should be getting ready to go to Italy to purchase parts, seeing the Mille Miglia, visiting the Ferrari factory and the new museum. I have just ordered an original new rear window with chrome beading. Two ¼ vent windows and frames, new steering wheel and new badges. This month, I will definitely have to hide my visa statement from my loving wife. Hopefully the next time I put pen to paper, the chassis and body will be in some workshop awaiting metal work and paint. Attached photos are of my first job, overhauling the gear linkage mechanism. Anthony Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Anthony, There you go.....longer and dearer, that's a Dino for you! Let me know when you are back from your trip and i would like to pop down and see the shell beforn it goes off. Regards, Graham.
Well, we are now into the second week of June and not much has happened lately. I have been away for four fantastic days in Italy chasing the Millie Miglia and ten days enjoying the Spanish sunshine. I have now narrowed my choice of restorers down to two to do the body work. Next I will have final meetings with both to discuss finer details, contracts etc, then I will make my decision and have the car shipped to the one that I decide to go with. I am also meeting with Terry Hoyle to finalise the rebuild of the engine ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, That should be exciting! I have now purchased and collected most of the parts that were missing. I am quite surprised that everything seems to be available, but VERY expensive. Thanks to James at Eurospares and Brandoli in Italy. Between these two you can get almost any original part manufactured to order or from ex stock. There are also many replica parts available, but to be honest, they are just not right and sometimes seem to be nearly as expensive as the original parts. I have decided to have the whole car is to be re trimmed and seats, dash etc are going off to Luppi in Italy. They did all Enzos trim work in the 50s and 60s. Looking for book, jack tools etc is going to be a nightmare. About two years ago I sold an original Dino jack on e-bay for a couple of hundred pounds. At the time I thought that was the best financial deal that I have ever done ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, If only I knew! I have decided to keep it to the original colour Rosso Chiaro with black vinyl interior. Not my first choice of colour combination for a Dino, buy some thing tells me that I should keep it as original as possible. When I purchased the car, part of the deal was that the registration plate on the car belongs to the owner and when (one day) the car gets a MoT, the plate will be transferred from me to his Dino. He has now offered the plate to me and is asking a small fortune for it!! This is giving me sleepless nights as it is a plate that would really suit the Dino. It is DNO 246L I wonder how my wife, Pat is going to react to this one? Oh and my two mates that were going to help me? Yes they have come to the party and offered to get involved. I think the bribe of BBQs (South African style) and beers might have had something to do with their decision to help! Hopefully we should have some interesting photos to accompany next months report. Mow back to the internet to research Dinos. Till next time. Anthony
I am coming to the end of the restoration process on my second 246GT and have a third one that we will start sometime in August/September so have first hand experience of the fun/frustration that you are embarking upon. I've sourced parts from all over the world and that has been an enjoyable "treasure hunt". Matthias' wonderful book has also provided a great reference point for some of the details of original finishes etc. It is a great feeling to breathe new life into these wonderful cars and ensure that they will be around for many years to come. I've also used Luppi to retrim my seats and door cards and hope to have these back in the next week or two. They are also making new vinyl seat covers and door cards for my first Dino and their quality of workmanship is excellent. Good luck with your project and I look forward to reading your updates.
RESTORATION OF A FERRARI 246 GTS DINO PART 4 (JULY 2012) We are now into the middle of a very wet (and cold) July and we have just returned from a visit to a few automotive museums in Germany and France. Two that stand out are the Porsche and Mercedes Benz museums. I strongly suggest that if you are a petrol head these two are a must! You will definitely enjoy the experience. And the best news is that the entrance fee to each museum is only 8 euros! (its about time I got a good deal for something!) Anyway, Im not here to promote museums, so back to the Dino project . Not much has happened lately, except two major decisions and been made. After talking to numerous body shop guys I had narrowed my searched down to two. After numerous discussions, I can now report that I have decided to give the body and chassis restoration work to Ian Barkaway. (www.barkaways.com) I have had several meeting with them and decided to entrust them with the work. Unfortunately they are extremely busy and will only take the shell in October, to start the major work in February 2013. In the contract it states that the car will be returned to me by the end of June 2013. I will then get back a painted, body/chassis and fitted fibreglass panels, all prepared to concourse standard. This gives me nearly one year to get every nut, bolt and component renewed or refurbished, ready for assembly. The next decision that I have made is that I am going to have my good friend and Ferrari expert, Terry Hoyle do his magic on rebuilding the engine and gearbox. Not only has the financial budget changed three times in three months, but not the time scale has also moved forward. Originally I said that the whole project would take one year to complete, therefore completion in April 2013. Now Im saying hopefully it will be on the road for a European tour that Pat and I plan to do in the summer of 2014! Luckily Dino prices have seemed to be rising steadily over the last few months. Only last week a silver GTS was sold in the UK for £195000. For me this is very encouraging. It makes life that little bit easier when I have to justify to my wife Pat, that spending vast sums of money on a restoration project might actually make sense in the long run. Im not sure if she is convinced, but I like to believe that it will all work out fine in the end. The attached photos show some of the components that are finished and ready for assembly. They will now get labelled, wrapped and stored for the assembly process in 12 months time. Till next month . Anthony Smith Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Mark, I am still trying to put a deal together with the owner. I'm sure I will win in the end. Unfortunately he knows I want that number
I would do but the interior is away being re connollised at the moment, will put some up when i get it sorted.
If this includes full rocker panel and backing structure replacement, standard rust areas, chassis under-metal perfection (jacking dents), chin/rear valence repair/replace, and removing all lead then I would say you need to double that number. Don't ask me how I know. Hopefully yours does not and those transport pics are lovely, respect for the journey you're on. When people can't believe current Dino prices, they tend to forget the restoration costs...
Yes, I purchased a new one from James at Euro Spares. I think he has three in stock (original Ferrari part number) I also got the rear glass from him. Regards, Anthony
Good day, are you being affected by the Olympics at all? I see that you live in England. I am trying to find the current owner of a '74 246 GTS "Chairs & Flares". Last time I saw it, it was the original " Cordova Ruso " beautiful metallic red. Bone interior.I believe this car # 05530, may reside in the UK, from reliable sources.My father owned this car in the late seventies/ early eighties, in California. You may have seen my post. I have the original owners manual / chassis service manual abstract, for that car. I'd like to make them available to that owner, if possible. I also have the " Ferrari" emblem that goes on the rear of the car. I read your post of buying your dino, was it in april?, and that it set you back a few bucks.I know that they are through the roof.My dad paid 26k, and sold for 32k. Of course everything changed when Enzo passed away. I hope that your project is coming along well. And bless your wife. That can make all the difference in the world when you have that support. Cheers, Dana Here is a picture of the car, taken in the early eighties. I do have the books for sale on ebay currently. Ciao Image Unavailable, Please Login
According to Denny Schues Dino Register you are spot on........Last known whereabouts was Cannes though!
RESTORATION OF A FERRARI 246 GTS DINO PART 7 (JANUARY 2013) I trust that you all have a good Christmas and may I wish all of you a Happy New Year! A lot has happened since I last put pen to paper. Barkaway Ferrari have spent the last three months on the chassis and body and the car is almost ready for paint. During November Steve (Barkaways) started on the metalwork. Our first point of reference was to ensure the chassis and main structure of the chassis tube was correctly aligned. Reference measuring points were marked and numerous dimensions taken and we are happy that the chassis main points and suspension pick up points are correct. They have cut out, refabricated and rewelded most of the inner boot framework and various pieces within the front area. Both doors have been overhauled and poorly fitted door skins removed. Steve has cut out and fabricated new door frame bottoms and ground out corrosion from behind the door skin area. The next challenge for them, was to fit the rear body whilst optimising an acceptable roof gap. This turned out to be less troublesome than expected and the Targa roof, rear body, boot and engine cover fitment all came together well. The rear body has now been welded back onto the chassis. December saw then finish the welding and alignment of the front section and the start of fitting all the fibreglass panels. The missing ¼ vent window had been manufactured in Italy and is now ready for collection, as with the new interior and dash board. It is proving to be quite a mission to arrange for both suppliers to take to each other to conciliated shipping back to the UK. I guess this is a good enough reason for me to plan an eminent trip to Modena. At home we have completed the rebuild of the suspension. All wishbones etc have been power coated black and new original Ferrari bushes have been fitted. Wheels have been refurbished and new wheel bolts supplied. I will be taking the lot to Barkaways within the next few days for them to get the car to a rolling chassis stage, almost ready for paint. The engine and gearbox are undergoing a complete rebuild and will be ready towards the end of January and the car should be painted and delivered to me (hopefully) by the middle of February . I have still not decided what colour to paint it .. Rosso (original colour) or maybe Met Blu ???? Oh, and for Christmas I got Pat pair of slippers, and for myself I managed to get a complete set of ORIGINAL hand books and wallet for a 1973 Dino 246 GTS all the way from Australia. WOW postage is expensive for the postage alone I could have purchased Pat 10 pairs of slippers! Till next time . Anthony Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Anthony Glad to see an update finally, and I hadnt noticed before the mention of a South African style BBQ - am I to assume you are from SA? If so, were you a member of SEFAC when you were here? Good luck with the rest of the project. Dave
