I little help requested with this 348TB

I am looking for a 348TB and this one on Ebay has caught my attention. There are some things about the car I am very unsure about and I would appreciate a little guidance. The TB's have been pretty rare as far as I can tell.

The fact that the car is a repaint bothers me and I do not know if all of the performance additions actually add any value to the car,

here is the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6212&item=2478972645&rd=1

Any suggestions or info welcome

 

Try and get in touch with Ron Profili and Dr. Steve Earle. If they are not affliciated with the seller, they might be able to remember the history...

 

beautiful car! With the exception of the tubi exhaust, I didn't see any performance upgrades. What are they? The carbon seats are nice too.
Be realistic, if you're trying to win the concourse, this isn't the car. If you're not, this car looks great! I wouldn't worry about a high quality repaint. The car looks great! I especially like the wheels.
J

 

I would stay farrrrrrrrr away from that car...

If you want to re-sell the car, good luck, because no one really wants a repaint; and most won't touch a car that was raced.

There are some really nice 348 tbs out there; you just need to find them. I've seen some wonderful cars advertised on the net--you just need to know where to look. Contact me if you need more help.

 

I'm not sure how to be delicate here, so I'll just say what I'm thinking:

HOGWASH!

I cannot understand why these cars are so babied and feared by their owners. Good grief, paint is paint. If the car is driven, it's going to eventually need fresh paint. If it's raced, you're more assured of an owner that loved the car and knew what the heck it needed/wanted mechanically.

Maybe I'm just a naive dope, but I bought my car with the "worst case scenario" of basically hauling it to a junkyard and getting $50 for the scrap metal ---- after many happy years of driving, driving, driving, tinkering, driving, etc. Obviously, the junkyard scenario isn't going to happen. So, anything above $50 is a good deal for me! If you can't afford to buy the car and essentially toss the purchase price into the toilet, get a Honda.

My car has been totally resprayed. I don't really car about its history or records -- because I know the previous owner tore the engine down and did everything RIGHT when it was put back together. It looks gorgeous. It drives like a raped ape. I'm not showing it at Pebble Beach or the Cavallino Classic. I'm driving it to Starbucks, putting the dog in the passenger seat, and ripping through some country roads trying to see if I can get the oil temp gauge to move into the "hot zone".

Confessions? Yes, I wash, wax, baby the car too. But I also drive the crap out of it, and recongize it's just a car.

-Daniel

 

I completely agree with JRR. It all depends on the PRICE.

Amazing how F-owners treat and baby their cars. I love buying from guys who just spent a bomb on the 30k service even at 10km. It's all mechanical guys, if it breaks or wear out you replace it, there's nothing mystical about it.

I swear some of these guys take their cars in for more checkups a year than they see their own doctors....hahaha

 

Have to say I agree with Daniel on that one. Most of the early Ferraris (the ones worth millions) have been repainted and that doesn't affect their value too much. What matters is surely that it's done right. A lot of recent Ferraris have also been at least partially repainted because they easily pick up stone chips and the like.

Personally I think that particular 348 TB looks pretty good in the pictures, but you'd want to have a good look at it close up, ideally with a friendly mechanic who knows what he's looking for. If you're happy with it, the price is right and it goes properly then go for it. If not walk away.

 

Oh yeah, regarding this 348, the ONLY TWO things you need to be concern about is the compression level of each cylinder and the sychros in the tranny, everything else is easily replaceable.

It doesn't matter if the car had one or ten owners, for a ten year old car certain things are bound to fail (clutch, brakes, air con system, alternator, starter) eventually, you just take it in stride.

 

Hello sduke,

The car looks nice in the pix and seems like it has an interesting history.
Why was it retired after 1 race, was it damaged or just not needed any more?
I would think there would be a lot of documentation on the car concerning the
repaint and changing it back to stock. See what docs. they have.

Chuck

 

Daniel

I appreciate your candor and I agree with a lot of what you say. The real problem I have with the repaint is that the car started out rossa. I have seen too many repaints where the color-change is just too obvious. I used to paint cars years ago and I know where to look for the tell tale signs. If you look at the photos on the Ebay ad, you can see overspray on the vin tags. This points to a less than stellar color-change. I would suspect that unless the car was totally stripped, there will be rossa paint behind the dash, trim panels, inside window frames and such as that. I intend on driving this car a ton. But I hope this isn't my last Ferrari. I would like to be able to trade up some day. I can foresee the repaint and history as being a negative when I want to sell or trade. Since this is my first I may be being too anal. But I really don't want to make a mistake.

The auction closes on Tuesday and I can't get to San Antonio to see the car in person before the auction closes. Since I refuse to buy a car without driving it, touching it, smelling it, etc., I am going to pass on this example.

That said, I have not given up finding a 348tb this summer. I shall soldier on.