Portland / Vancouver tech?

Sad to hear, I had a 1977 308GTB for 10 years, did a fuel pump myself and added electronic ignition with a friend helping me. They are pretty easy to work on.

 

Sorry to hear about your experience there. They used to be quite good on older cars, because they had to maintain the family's collection. I'm not sure who does that now.

Their master tech, Terry, retired about a year ago, and he was a fantastic guy.

I'm guessing the person behind the counter was not the service manager (I think they have pictures on their website?) but rather one of the service writers. I typically deal with Cheyenne, who has been there for probably 10 years and is quite knowledgeable and friendly.

You do have to give them credit for being honest. There isn't much in common between the 308 and a modern Ferrari, and it requires a very different set of skills. Terry probably was the one who did the work on the 246.

EDIT: They do have pictures.

https://portland.ferraridealers.com/en-US/our-team

 

I deal with various shops for various cars, and these days none of them are cheap-- at least none of the good ones.

 

Appreciate the sentiment Don, thanks, but there's absolutely no reason for you to apologize. To be honest, I wasn't that surprised by the reception I received...for a number of reasons. Besides, the sole purpose of my visit was to arrive at one of two conclusions:

1. Decide to have the 308 serviced there.
2. Decide to not have the 308 serviced there.

So from that standpoint, it was a successful encounter....for me anyway, not RTGT.
And while I do appreciate their honesty, that aspect of the encounter was completely lost in the total lack of customer service skills.
Your post did give me an idea though: I used to deal with members of the Tonkin family before they sold most of the remaining automotive group to the Gee organization. I might try reaching-out to see who - if someone other than Matt (who Shaun said is now RTGT's "vintage guy") - is currently maintaining the collection.

No, it was Shaun....<shrug>
- Dave

 

Agreed Andrew. I was a 30+ year owner of X1/9's and Scorpions - performing most of the maintenance work myself - before buying my first 308. But that was when I had a 40-hour work week and a 2 1/2 car garage with workbench. Now I have a 60-hour work week and a parking space in a Downtown Condo.
I still do what I can - I recently replaced the air pump and some of the weatherstripping on the 308...and I'm currently rebuilding the air compressor for the horns and troubleshooting some other electrical issues - but it's tough with limited space and lack of electricity. Even the simplest maintenance tasks - like fluid changes - are now extremely challenging.
- Dave

 

The skills to work on something like a 308 are becoming harder and harder to find, and the people with those skills are in demand. I have an excellent guy for that era of car, but he spends most of his time on multimillion dollar cars, and I'm sort of grandfathered in to his client base. I don't think he wants to hear from anyone he's not already working for.

I do have an excellent Mercedes guy, who is just a good, solid mechanic. He has the heads off my 928 motor right now. I thought about trying to find a "928 specialist" but I concluded from talking to a few people that nobody, in Portland at least, is regularly going into 928 motors, and my Mercedes guy is as good as anyone else. Probably not quite as efficient as someone who has done it before, but again, there isn't anyone who has done it, recently at least.

Once nice thing about my Mercedes guy is that he has several young guys working for him, who are learning about cars of this era.

 

No, I'm very familiar with the ordeal....I have a couple of vintage track cars and I'm in the same boat with them: I lost my fabricator/race prep guy and it's tough to find the next generation of techs that not only have the skills - but the desire - to work on nearly 60 year-old cars.
- Dave

 

Thinking about RTGT, it's funny-- I've been a service customer there for over 30 years, bought both new and used Ferraris from them, and I don't think I've ever had an interaction with Shaun. I've seen him, and he might have grunted at me once or twice, but that's it.

 

F Car Specialities in Washougal, WA handles my 360 and R8. Owner is a good guy and a real enthusiast. He’s a small shop by mechanic count but if you have a few weeks/this isn’t your primary car he is no-nonsense, detail oriented and a real car guy.

 

Thanks for the tip. Do you happen to know if he works on 308-era cars?
- Dave

 

RTGT dodged a bullet

 

Funny enough, I was at RTGT today and there was a 308GTS up on one of the lifts. A cut Daytona (maybe real? Not sure) also waiting for service.

Cheyenne told me they could do basic vintage service, but wanted to be careful about taking on anything too complex.

 

Thanks Don, appreciate the follow-up.
- Dave

 

'Vintage' cars are almost entirely mechanical, so does that mean too complex? Really no different than any dealership. If you took a car with a carburetor problem to the local (Ford/Chevy/Dodge) dealer the tech would spend an hr looking for the ODBII port

 

It's not quite that simple. Figuring out how to do whatever needs to be done is one thing, but sourcing parts and simply knowing the best way to do things is something else entirely.

I was talking with the service advisor at a shop who does a lot of vintage Porsche work-- they just finished my 911S and are working on my 930 now-- and I asked them about vintage Ferrari stuff. Now, keep in mind that outside his door there was a Countach that is in the middle of an engine out service, so obviously they CAN do it... but he said they would prefer not to unless it is a car they are selling, because, again, parts issues and the amount of time it takes them to get anything done, all while the car is taking up a bay.

My brother has been taking his 90s Alfas and Fiats to my vintage Mercedes guy, because he is such a solid mechanic and willing to figure things out. He also has my 928 apart because, again, who else is there?

 

Sir, are you always the most polite human in the room? Hahahahahaha
It's interesting...I've owned European cars exclusively - along with vintage race cars - for more than 40 years, many of them a lot more rare than my 308. But in the last five years of Ferrari ownership, I've run into more "$900 Oil Change Shops" than in the previous 40 years combined.
There are techs and shop owners on here - not referring to anyone currently on this thread - that will defend those $900 oil changes to their dying day (see interesting thread here: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/labor-rates.696680/ ) and I actually appreciate that because it lets me know who to avoid.
My problem is that I happened to luck into a great shop the first time my 308 needed service (The Jag Shop) and haven't been able to find a comparable tech/shop since Craig closed his doors.
- Dave

 

Anyone have any recommendations for a paint job in Portland / Vancouver?

 

My '83 308GTS has been there waiting parts and for service since November and they have been working on it recently so the 308 there may have been mine (in for a cylinder(s) getting washed out). The turnaround has not been quick, but they have been honest about the root cause of issues and have been fair dealing with parts prices considering the age of the car and parts access, in my opinion.

 

No one, when dealing with vintage cars, is quick these days. Some are quicker than others, and in my experience RTGT is much quicker than most. There is a lot of love above for Craig at the Jag Shop, and he was pretty good, but talk about slow!

 

Admittedly, you have a lot more experience with Ferrari shops in Portland than I do Don, but I've used three now and Craig and crew were by far the speediest....hahahahahaha
- Dave

 

Well, either that isn't saying much or he got faster as time went on. Or both. There isn't much any of them can do about parts.