1989 348 some pic of a car in need attention

Do you want $$$$ (shop) or hours (self)?

It's a big enough mess, that running rough, you'd want to check compression and a myriad of other things, possibly even dropping the engine out again and re-doing/rechecking work.

It's definitely been repainted, as the lowers are no longer black.

You say you were looking for a project...you found one. Personally, i like them like this. if you're getting it sub 30k, it might be a good buy, but you have to want THIS car.

sjd

 

What is it worth, we would need lots more detail. Paint condition, interior condition, pervious service history, mileage, tire dates, condition of bushes, condition of rear subframe, brake pads, brake discs, brake hoses, etc etc. Your get the idea.

Rough running might just be a $40 crank case sensor, might not be! You wont know until you start diagnosing it. (Re-pinning seems to be more a North American "thing"; but I might be wrong.)

How much work? How long is a piece of string. ​

What would need further investigation first is the numbers. Note that the pic you have above is NOT a VIN plate, its just a tyre pressure/size sticker. You buy these as repros, typically when doing a respray! You need to look at the shock tower, and if its been painted over it needs to be scrapped back, compare that to the steering wheel plaque, the plate that is riveted to the chassis member on the front pillar, visible when you open one of the doors and the registration documents. The original glass also has the last few digits of the number etched on them (at least mine does) Also look at previous service invoices, as some will record the car by the chassis number. All this will help pull the numbers together, but key is the shock tower, front door pillar and reg documents.

You sure you want a project Ferrari?

 

Resale Red?

 

I love seeing neglected significant cars fall into the hands of caring owners who will put in the effort required to bring them back to their former glory. So I'm almost always in favor of someone trying to save a car if they have the skills and kinda sorta know what they're getting themselves into. But....

What really worries me about this car is the giant question mark looming over the VIN. People do not obscure the stamped VIN for no reason. That is a huge red flag to me. Personally, even if I were willing to take on a project such as this (I've seen worse 348s become beautiful again) I'd be worried that the car's past might eventually catch up with it and I'd be out my investment *and* my time.

If you want to pursue this car I'd suggest searching the VIN that you do have to see what comes up. I believe there are even ways to run it through certain law enforcement databases. Unless you have some reason not to do so, I'd suggest posting it here as well to see if someone recognizes it. A few of us keep our own databases of known 348s. If you do post the VIN, also post the Assembly No (top of the left rear shock tower) because that can also be used to identify the car, as well as to confirm that the two numbers correlate in the build timeline. If the Assembly No. is missing, that would be yet another huge red flag for me.

I would not be surprised at all if the car was stolen at some point and the VIN plates were swapped from a wrecked car. Does the VIN sticker in the driver's door jamb match the build plate and the steering column plate? The sticker would be much more difficult to transplant than the build plate and it sounds like whoever messed around with this car's identity was not exactly a pro. If it and the Assembly No are both missing the conclusion is almost inevitable.

HTH. I swore I wasn't going to bother to write detailed responses to first time posters after all of the recent hit & run questions, but this is an intriguing situation. I hope you'll post the VIN and Assembly No., or at least PM them to me.

 

I don't know for sure about later '89 builds but I can say that the early cars did not have an assembly data plate on the left side shock tower. There is a build number stamped into the left tower though on the vertical area just behind the usual location of the assembly plate.

 

Is the chassis number not etched onto every piece of glass? It is on mine.

 

VINs are not private information. There would be no risk in posting it. But that's your call.
I would love to see the rear shock tower area where you're saying the VIN is ground off.

 

The silver sticker with tire pressure info looks original to me.

 

I believe that may have been a requirement in some countries, and was a popular anti-theft "strategy" during the 80s and early 90s.

The Saudi spec '88 Mondial Coupe I owned had the windows etched with the VIN.

BTW, what country are you in?

 

He’s not will to take the risk and fix it to sell for more, so why would you take the risk of over paying? Stick to your low offer, leave your number and I bet your phone will ring. If not, you’re out nothing. Lots of good cars out there.

The fact that it won’t start and runs rough compleatly negates the “recent belt service.” You need to pull the motor again imo...

 

Can anyone verify when the factory began using the stick on vin label that is shown above the tire sticker in the above picture. My car was built probably a couple of weeks before this car and I don't have that vin label and given the placement of the tire sticker on my car there would not have been room for it between the label and the black trim. Lots of little things unique especially to the early cars that is fun to know. It would be interesting to see the metal plate with the vin on the door post to see the build month on this car as well.

 

Joe, I do not believe that particular sticker to be original. The earliest car for which I have a pic of the rear of the driver's door jamb is 82618. It has the tire data sticker but nothing else. By 84547 the factory had begun adding the bar code style VIN stickers seen in later cars (I do not know the specific SN where the change was made; perhaps with the '90 model year?). As I'm sure you know, the factory bar code VIN stickers were placed lower, between the air intake and the door seam and were quite a bit larger than the one pictured here.

I agree that it would be great to have pics of the build plate, the area usually occupied by the chassis VIN, and the engine (to at least know if it's a 2.5 car as this SN would indicate, or if we could use it as evidence that this VIN doesn't belong to this car). But that's the OP's business and he doesn't seem too concerned. According to the Ferrari VIN decoder the check digit is incorrect in this VIN, so it would seem there are plenty of things to wonder about on this car.

BTW, if you're willing to share you car's info for my SN database please PM the interior color, mileage, VIN, motor number (don't guess there's an Assembly No visible, although it might be next to the Motor No in the warranty book), build date, and any other pertinent data. I'm trying to document as many of these cars as possible, including pics.

 

Mike, thanks for the quick reply. I was just looking at the '89 348 that sold this evening on BAT which is later than mine and it doesn't have that vin sticker either. I think there are a number of unusual items about the car in question so "buyer beware" applies. I will pull my books and get the info to you about my in the next few days. Take care. Joe

 

Thanks, Joe! I had today's BAT car in my database from a previous listing but I need to update with the new data & pics. It is the earliest chassis I have documented, so your car will take its place once it's entered. The earliest SN I have recorded is 79908, which was presumably a pre-production car or *very* early series production since there are 328s with higher VINs.

I love learning this kind of stuff about these cars since they're not very well documented at all. In fact, your earlier post was I knew of the build number being stamped near the rear VIN. Always learning...

 

When my wife and I visited the factory a few years back, we were taken through the archives warehouse. This building houses build files on every production and race car ever produced. You can try and apply through their clasique department for copies. Typically the Italian way it may take months for a response.

I was able to get actual copies of photos of my 400i, and my 308gtsi. These documents are in file boxes in numerical order, shelves and shelves row upon row. It was like the holy grail of Ferrari history. In the file for my 400i, there was a hand written card with notes of some history that had been reported to the factory over the years.

just sayin'

tr0768

 

UK. mine is a 91 UK 348.

 

My 1993 348TB has the same tire pressure info sticker. However, it does not have the narrow vin # sticker. Dealers will reprint vin stickers for customers. Ferrari of Houston reprinted a vin sticker for my 612 because it was bubbling off. Maybe a dealer reprinted a modern sticker for the car in question.

 

That is very cool. Is there any kind of service available to pay to get copies of those files for your car?

 

Wow that’s $27k US. Seems like a decent car for that.

 

Looks like you dodged a bullet there, despite the low price. Both buttresses need doing, some dodgy wiring going on around that door, and the carpet on the door car has gone a funny colour.

All things that can be sorted, but with the question marks over the VIN...best left to somebody else I would say.