My Story - 46567

Brian, I do have a sense of humor and I think that in the 150 posts on this thread and the over 12K views since it being first created, you sir, are the first to breach the subject of fun and ridicule on this car. I do not want it to become a habit, as thus far each and every forum member has been incredibly mindful and respectful of my wishes on the very first page of this thread, BUT it had to happen sooner or later...

So, in as much as the stickers would beget a certain authenticity as to the power plant in this Ferrari, I honestly believe that I will simply follow my policy of not having any decals of any sort in any of my cars ever, including this one (and especially a bow tie anywhere)!!!

 

Haha, come on. Just having some fun. In fact, I think the stickers would be sort of fun...at least to show up at a car show or something with them on like that.

Sort of a thumb to nose sort of thing.

 

All good in the 'hood!

 

Dear Otto...thanks for the time and effort you've invested in sharing all the details of your project. I thoroughly admire the ability of Michel to combine lateral thinking and incredible fabrication and mechanical skills, plus the use of hardware sourced from salvage yards. There are many lessons to be learned from your threat to keep any cool old car working in optimal condition. Very cool car, which will also be fully functional, combining beauty and utility. John in CT.

 

Earlier in this thread, I had shown how badly warped the plastic surround for the glove box latch had become. After a trip to the ever so bountiful local junkyard, Michel came back with a latch off a Land Rover Discovery to serve a new purpose on 46567... The pictures below demonstrate how he was able to retain the original lock barrel from the OEM mechanism, and install it within the replacement latch while fabricating a new surround out of aluminum. The finished product was then installed in the glove box and wrapped in vinyl. Suffice it to say that I am very satisfied with the results.
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Prior to putting some of the finishing touches on the interior, Michel discovered that the driver's side window on the door would go up or down. Whereas at first realizing the complexity of the system devised by the factory, coupled with the length of the wire(s) which are in play in order to make the windows work, Michel thought the design could be improved, even he too realized it would be better off simply re-doing everything on that door. He did so and of course, it works as good as new now but no pictures were taken during that exercise.

However, the driver's side door also had a couple of broken pieces off the locking mechanism, a design so brittle from Maranello that I am certain that its not if, but when most other owners will experience some kind of setback. The pictures below show that, rather than purchase another set of plastic replacement pieces that will eventually break with enough use down the road, Michel acquired a special tool to create the reverse grooves upon which would be used to make the new piece completely out of aluminum. He also created secondary piece also out of aluminum to hold the gearing... While he was at it, given that the door card on the passenger side had not yet been installed, he replaced that one as well in an abundance of caution. At last, the door panels could be installed too!
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Wow, you're really going at this piece by piece…looks great

 

So,

The stainless steel window moldings had seen their fair share of years of abuse... That was resolved by simply polishing them (carefully) and avoiding any scratching and/or making 'new' grooves. In my opinion, they came out perfect - not looking too brand new, but also far better than how they were when Michel had started...

On a small side note, I purchased new door handle seals and Erwin's amazing website, Ferrari 400, had guided me to get them on the lower price range by obtaining them from an Alfa supplier, as these are the same ones used in the Spider for many years! While visiting that same supplier, I bought replacement Pininfarina badges/seals/emblems for a very reasonable amount.

Also while I am at it, I relied on Erwin's website again to purchase a 'new' replacement rearview mirror off eBay from a Volvo P1800, which I think was like $30.00 shipped. Its in perfect condition after we cleaned and painted it - fits like a glove!

For any that are not familiar with Erwin's website/blog, its highly addictive and so informative - kudos to him for the magnificent job he's done in for our cars!
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I really lucked out that the seller of 46567 had a brand new set of OEM replacement Carello (?) front turn signals stashed in the trunk of the car when I purchased the vehicle. The original ones had long lost their shine and coloring, so that inevitably with the new wheels, paint, badges, etc., I would have succumbed to purchasing a set of new ones which since have become prohibitively expensive...

Michel cleaned out the signal housings, restoring them to "as-new" condition, and then meticulously sanded the new lenses just enough to make them fit into the housings better than new. I am incredibly pleased with the results!
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Here are a couple of more pics showing the new lenses in their splendid glory, and also showing Michel's craftsmanship in having aligned the headlight buckets rather well...

The cloisonne/front Ferrari badge was sourced from eBay and I kept the original one, which has a permanent place in my desk decor since it looks really cool all worn out, but I didn't think it went with the rest of the new everythingness in the car.
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Otto, are the handles shown in your pics the new ones? Samsaprunoff's thread a few months ago is why I ask - I'm facing the rechrome/replace dilemma right now, too.
Those in your pic look to be correct, lacking the protruding lock of those in Sam's warning.
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/365-gt4-2-2-400-412/487081-aware-new-365gt4-2-2-400-series-door-handles-being-sold.html
If your new ones are correct, could you pm me the supplier and part numbers?

btw - Nice find in that blogsite. Might keep me too busy reading it.

 

Kurt - I only bought the seals, not the door handles, as they were fine but 30 year old rubber anything is no bueno!

 

Thanks - That hunt continues.....

 

When Michel disassembled 46567's front quarter bumpers, we realized that although on the outside, they looked reasonably good, on the inside, we could feel that the metal mounting brackets had rusted away. I became very concerned about his assurances... "... Otto, I can fix it no problem - don't worry..." because its the front of the car, one of the most visible areas of any vehicle and having a bumper that is either a different texture, color, or not aligned properly reflects poorly on the maintenance kept by the owner on that car.

In this thread here: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/365-gt4-2-2-400-412/482838-front-quarter-bumpers-1974-a.html an individual was looking to replace his, upon which I then showed how Michel went ahead and made perfect looking/weighing/feeling alternatives from scratch out of heavy fiberglass.

The lower metal trim was polished, the side marker lights were cleaned as well, both reinstalled into the quarter bumpers, then they went into the car and I think they look fantastic and virtually indistinguishable from new OEM ones!
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Next up, was the front bumpers; however, I was not pleased with the gap between it and the quarter bumpers... Michel went back to the drawing board to use some ingenuity in ensuring that the new finish on the OEM front bumper was not compromised while trying to give the bumper a better curvature. Despite these efforts, I was not going to be satisfied until the gap was reduced some more.
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Incredible work on those bumpers. Michel could easily sell a few sets!

 

Any chance?

 

If we all clubbed together and all put in a chunk of money maybe we could get Michel cloned.

I'd get two, one as a backup for when the the first one broke down. Then I'd get the backup Michel to fix the first one because the guy's a f*****g genius and appears to be able to fix just about anything !!

 

The bumpers are a hefty slab of cromo steel. They must take a whole lot of pressure to bend. I'll take a set of 1/4 bumpers!

 

I have Michel's permission to post his email, for those of you interested in contacting him. It is: [email protected].

If any of you want to order 1/4 bumpers or (?), this will be the best way to reach him.

Thanks!

OttoB

 

Otto. Giving out this secret contact is a big leap of trust

 

His wife has befallen with a very big illness. Michel has a day job and does this in his spare time, but he needs all the income that he can get - please don't mention this to him if you email him.

 

I went ahead and ordered a new set of rear speaker grills from Michel for another car of mine, to which he can color match to anyone's liking. There are several pictures in this thread outlining the process he undertakes in creating these speaker grills which are essentially a direct replacement for the factory ones, both for the doors as well as for the rear deck (same size) - and the return air vent also! They are definitely conversation pieces and again, contact Michel if you are thinking about updating/replacing your old ones - they are reasonably priced!

 

In another thread some time back, I posed the question as to whether Series II 400's came with a cavallino in the front grill as a factory option. This is the actual thread:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/365-gt4-2-2-400-412/480597-grill-mounted-cavallino.html

Within same, I posted pics of all series cars with sporting one on the front grill. Additional research led me to realize that Ferrari has done this to many cars since the 1950's and through today's models... Therefore, I pulled the trigger and decided to adorn the front end of 46567 as an added touch I thought would be nice, given that it was really up to the owner's taste. However, I also went shopping for a rear cavallino around the same time and, as already alluded to in another separate post, I ended up getting one measuring 4.5 inches long - same exact size as the one that is meant for a front mounted grill - versus the correct size for the rear which ought to measure only 3 inches.

So, among the many times I perused through eBay for unusual or cool 400 "stuff", I discovered a 400 badge that eliminated the 'automatic' from underneath it. In other words, it simply read 400. I thought it was nicer than my old, pitted one and already knowing what lies ahead in eventually explaining to people what kind of Ferrari it is (and that its an automatic!), I went ahead and bought. These pics show both cavallino's, the rear new set of tail lights installed, the new 400 rear badge, as well as the refinished rear bumpers fitted with decent looking, second-hand rear fog lamps that I sourced on the cheap off eBay from a seller in Florida (I wonder whose 400 it came off, but you can see how good they look)!

Based on my personal inspection of the car at this junction, I decided to purchase the appropriately sized rear cavallino - and again, eBay came to the rescue after checking with this forum as to sizing - and I bought a second-hand, almost new one for $30.00!
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Yeah the 400i badge without "automatic" came on the 5-speed cars....