FH: Thanks for pointing it out. Nice looking car. How are you liking your 330 GTC? Care to share your latest thoughts & impressions? I appreciate it. VV
I had the great good fortune to be the caretaker for this beautiful car for many years. Cost a lot, spent a lot, enjoyed immensely! With the exception of a couple of short term flippers, this car has had excellent, caring owners for its whole life, esp owner #3, who put it on track to todays magnificence. And don't bother lamenting the red repaint; it's Junior, and it's mouthwatering! Most recent owners have spared nothing to maintain it. Next caretaker should bite the bullet and get a Red Book, it's that good. btw: the 1967 cross-country picky the original owner is in the GTC Photos thread.....
I love my GTC, thanks. Unfortunately, it’s undergoing a full engine/transaxle rebuild. I discovered a lot of issues the more I drove the car. And the more we looked at things it became clear that she needed some major mechanical work. I made the decision to do the right thing and bring her back to where she was supposed to be all along. I am not going to go into detail about some of the surprising issues we discovered as the motor and transaxle were disassembled, and it doesn’t really matter at this point. At the end of what will be at least a 9-month process I will have a virtually new motor and transaxle. I have the chassis on my lift at home dealing with lots of other items, mostly minor, and also adding things like a correct cigarette lighter, a fuel release lever bezel, all new electric switches, new air ducting, new rubber moldings where needed, replacing leaking oil coolers, fixing undercarriage surface rust/corrosion, etc. Luckily the chassis is very solid and there’s nothing that can’t be taken care of with a wire brush, rust converter, and black paint/undercoating. I’m using the 330 GTC judging guide to make sure things are correct, although I will admit to not worrying too much about using the exactly correct air ducting material/size or the exactly correct hose clamps, etc. But at the end of it all, the car will be much closer to where it should be. And at some point there are some body paint issues to be dealt with, but I’ll save that for a later time. I’m looking forward to hopefully getting her back together in time for fall driving weather.
I wish you the best and thank you for posting, but i am in a bit of a shock as why you have to rebuild the engine and trans axle when the original listing mentioned both were done in 2018 if i am not mistaken. That plus all the other undercarriage details and the rust repair. GTCs are one of the best all around Ferraris made and deserve all the attention but you have invested a good amount of time and money and i was under the impression it would take just a little to bring it up to judging level. As you have mentioned yourself on the latest offering of another GTC and Marcel Massini always emphasizes, one must do their homework and check the condition and history of these cars. get a professional do a thorough inspection and PPI in every detail to know what you are getting. Personally i stay away from dealers who bought a car just a couple of months ago and try to flip it on BAT.
I wish I had followed my own advice regarding a detailed PPI. I didn’t, and such is life. Given all the presented refurbishment documentation one would have expected the drivetrain to be in excellent condition. In the documentation I received there was a “PPI” done by one of the shops who worked on the car saying it was in excellent condition. It was not. Thats why it is best to get a fully independent shop/person to inspect a car. But, again, much of what we found that was shocking was only found upon disassembly. A PPI would have found a few things, but not the extent of what we eventually found. As for the rust, it’s all simple surface rust/corrosion. The car is very, very solid. Typical stuff you find when you remove the entire drivetrain and exhaust system and can see into the nooks and crannies. Easy to take care of and nothing of any significance at all. No metal damage anywhere on the chassis. The car was refurbished, not restored, so there were things that weren’t touched at all in the 2016-2020 time frame. On one side, the heater ducting in the fender and wheel arch was literally disintegrating. It appeared to be the original coated paper ducting, so to say it needed replacement is an understatement. The immediate prior owner did not do as thorough a job on the refurbishment as I would have done. I spoke to one of the shops a couple of times to ask about certain things I found before we opened systems up and they noted they had suggested to the prior owner to address this or that and he declined. To each their own I guess. I would have done things differently. I have no idea why the prior owner didn’t bother to have certain issues addressed. Money? Time? Both? Who knows? Every car has a story and not every owner cares as much about the cars as others. I’m doing what I can to bring the car mechanically up to where it should be and addressing other minor stuff along the way. I want her to be in much better condition for the next caretaker, but that’s hopefully a long time from now as I have no desire to sell her….ever. She is in very good condition overall in terms of the chassis and interiors and once the drivetrain is back in, she will be in excellent overall condition. And I will keep her that way.
A real genuine classic v12 Ferrari and in great shape. Probably most serious bidders are waiting for the last few minutes to get in.
Most people, especially those without (extensive) experience, buying vintage (or any used) cars don’t often know there are or can be huge differences between rebuild and rebuild or full restoration and full restoration. While it isn’t a 330 GTC or even a Ferrari, I’m currently working on a 66 year old vintage car a client purchased sight unseen and without adequate PPI. One of the “selling points” had been that the engine had just been “fully rebuilt”, along with brakes, suspension, transmission, etc. All this was before I was asked/commissioned to have it brought to my shop and make sure it was mechanically all sorted before it gets shipped to its new home in Paris, France. Well, to make a long story short, the engine rebuild, which had been done and had zero hours/miles on it was a hack job if there’s ever been one and required a complete tear down, re-doing and replacing EVERYTHING. Automatic transmission had been externally, but rather superficially cleaned and spray can painted (with some crud and debris still on it) and not even it’s oil pan nor filter had been removed or cleaned. Brakes had received new (incorrect) shoes, but nothing else. Drive shaft was in the trunk (with old & worn out U-joints). None of the steering or suspension components had not been touched. Etc etc, etc… Oh, and the car is/was essentially one of those “barn/garage finds”, discovered/found by the seller sitting in some residential garage here in SoCal since 1964 (last time it was registered).
Ferrari Market Letter shows very little change over the last 3 years. All mid 500's. That was probably a fair price.
Regardless of price trends i think GTCs are one of the best cars to come out of the factory. They are beautiful classics and not many made . Theses days all the attention is on Dinos ( and don't get me wrong they are fantastic cars ) but the GTCs are on a class of their own.
https://www.classic.com/m/ferrari/330/gtc/ Prices are all over the map. What the prices don’t convey is the actual condition of the cars when sold or if it was a specialty one-off like the almost $1m 1966 Ferrari 330 GTC Speciale recently sold. I think the color choice on this particular car held it back as did the lack of detailed work receipts, etc. I wonder if any of the bidders actually had the car inspected or even looked at it in person? There have been a lot of 330 GTC’s on the market over the last year or so. People trying to cash out? IDK, but within the last couple of weeks there were six reported for sale at the same time via auctions or dealers and that doesn’t account for any private sales or the listings in the DuPont Registry, etc. I don’t understand why so many people worry about the mileage on these cars. My car reportedly has over 265,000 kilometers on her, and she is very, very solid with zero chassis issues. Of course, from 1972 onward she was a southern CA car and sat in a garage untouched for more than a decade, so that probably kept her nice and dry. I’d worry a lot more about a New England car or a Gulf Coast car. And a well sorted and well maintained drivetrain can go a long time between major service requirements. I hope this car finds a good home.
I often say the Dino is like the beautiful blond you want to date. But the 330 is the one you want to marry. Here is a pic of the garage in my former home. I dated the Dino for 5 years. Eighteen years later and my GTC is still with me. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Steve, we’d rather not hear about your sex life. Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app
