1982 Ferrari 512BBi Chassis 39527

Sold for 201K.

 

Hello Everyone,

I’m the new owner of 39527. She’s beautiful in person and appears VERY original. As you all know, that has its pluses and minuses. Presently, it appears she needs a new distributor cap and rotor with some fuse box cleanup (shout out to Birdman for supplying one of his custom boxes). I have a few issues that I will refrain from discussing at present until I see how the dealer that listed the car responds. To the dealer’s credit, MANY hours were spent detailing her before the sale. That is very apparent in the comparison of her present state with the pictures above.

I am eager to get her fully dialed in and on the road routinely. I have a set of Group4’s 17’s that I’ve just powder coated in a vintage gold, and I’m looking forward to mounting them up with some modern lower profile tires.

My big question is whether the Pioneer tape deck is still working or not. I even found my old 80’s mix tapes. Who knew they would come in handy?

To answer the unspoken question I’m sure everyone wondered: “yes”, I did bring a trailer

Cheers,

Josh

 

Was Driver Source the seller? I had seen this car about 2-3 months ago at their place. They have a good reputation here in Houston. I'll be curious to know the outcome.

 

Congratulation with the beautiful car. Looking forward to follow your new adventure.

Best regards Peter

 

DS was the seller. They have been very nice and responsive so far. I’ll update you once I get everything resolved!

 

Wow, well bought. Looks to be in very nice condition! Congratulations on the purchase.

 

i inspected this car at DS for a friend. i told him to buy it, but he was too slow.
his loss is your gain!
congrats !

 

I just thought I'd update everyone on the purchase. I'm now 5 weeks out on the pickup, and I have yet to actually drive it in town! The short version of the tragic comedy is that the car was NOT ready to go nor in the shape I had anticipated (considering the documentation on a full engine out service in the past couple of years).

The day after the pickup in Houston, I could not get her off my trailer b/c she would not start (This despite installing a brand new battery the preceding night when it wouldn't start; I admittedly had just stalled the heavy, new-to-me, clutch) . I simply left her on the trailer to haul to my reliable mechanic in town to diagnose. He found a list of issues including: high impedances at the fuse block in glove box, a distributor cap and rotor in need of replacing, and the real culprit for failing to start…old, varnished fuel in tank with degraded fuel lines which blocked one of the fuel pumps .

I checked in with DriverSource at the beginning of this ordeal for their thoughts. To their credit, they were displeased that it wasn’t running and wanted to do the work (I had already purchased the parts). They picked it up 3 weeks ago and will be returning it to me tomorrow in much better shape.

I’ve spent several thousands on parts and labor so far (Welcome to Ferrari ownership!), but the upside is that I’m much more confident about the condition of the vehicle once it arrives tomorrow. There’s a much funnier longer version of this story if there’s ever a Boxer get together.

 

there is a saying here in germany: if you like to buy an older ferrari you just may marry your mechanic
sure, this is more jokefull, but you may need a good and reliable mechanic to have fun with the car. and if once all would be done you have fun then and the car needs then only a 1 year inspection.

what you understand under : the last years? those could be 1 or 2 years, but also 10 or 15 years - it is all the last years. so better to ask what year it was.

but if those "beginning problems" would be solved I´m sure you will enjoy the car very much, even with the "heavy" clutch ( you never have driven an old truck? )
hopefully you will not give up and sell the car again before all is done because you have to much trouble and problems with the car

 

I haven’t given up at all! It appears the car just wasn’t optimized.

It is in my possession now, and it is behaving MUCH better. It appears that the clutch wasn’t so much the problem before as much as the touchy engine due to the lack of tune.

Looking forward to putting on the 17” wheels and tires this week with pictures to follow.
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Glad to hear DS stepped up. As far as maintenance costs go on a Boxer, a wise expert here advised me to have a blank check ready if I wanted to chase a certain lower priced car currently advertised.....my bank declined to give me one of those.

Enjoy it in good health....

 

Its the approach you need to take when you buy a boxer thats priced too good to be true. Any other way means a corner has been cut.

 

Great point.....but as a prospective buyer new to the Boxer world, it's hard to know what the value should be. In your mind, how would you value the following BBis in today's market:

#1 - museum quality
#2 - driver grade
#3 - has needs that can be taken care of $10k a year while the car is still driveable
#4 - needs immediate help, $50k or more to make a #2 car out of it

 

Museum quality wouldn't mean its a good car, its a static display.
A driver is what you want. One thats enjoyed and has current records. I don't care when the first oil change was in the 70's or 80's. Pay someone to inspect a car of interest once its checked the required boxes and make a decision based on the ground work you've done combined with a thorough inspection.
A car needing $10K doesn't really fit any situation Ive seen. Its not like there are a number of $10K jobs to do. Paint is more, interior is more, engine or box is more. I think suspension and brakes is about all that fits that budget - maybe.
You want to avoid the $50K immediate hit cars because chances are that car isn't priced $50K below any other boxer on the market that doesn't need $50k put into it. There's no easy straight forward answer for your questions.

If you want a boxer decide which model and narrow it down to one you'll pull the trigger on if it passes an inspection. If it checks all the boxes but it hasn't had exhaust valves replaced bear that in mind knowing it'll have to be dealt with either by you in one of two possible scenarios or you'll be asked about it when you go to sell the car.

You have to accept the fact there's a certain level of risk in owning one of these cars and you can have an unpleasant surprise of an unknown dollar amount at any time. This can happen with a 550, a 360, 308, a countach or a LeCar, the list goes on.

 

527 is now doing REALLY well! She’s gorgeous after a full emblems/lights off polish and detail. The new 17’s courtesy of Group4 Wheels came out really nicely. Windows are very smooth and quick after pulling the door panels and lubricating all the pulleys and installing R.Dickman’s accelerators. Original exhaust was replaced with a stainless Mille Miglia system with a HUGE improvement in exhaust note!

And yes, the tape deck does work (even the auto reverse)!

Thanks to everyone for the great forum and encouragement. Cheers!
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Image Unavailable, Please Login So, let's see the lump.

Start driving it and you won't want to stop. Great usable power these cars have and at 4k rpm they really are like jets on take off; smooth hard continuous acceleration.

The new wheels with excellent tires are a vast inprovement. Enjoy!

 

Sooo, I met an older Italian today with flamboyant tastes...

How amazing is it to have these two together?!?
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Sadly, it’s time I let #39527 find a new home. I have put extensive effort into helping her run and look her best while keeping all her original parts either on the car or gently stored (wheels, mats, and old exhaust). She had a full engine out service (12/20) with exhaustive work done while engine was out including new motor mounts, thermostat, hoses, clamps, ceramic coating of headers with fresh wrap, and more. There are over $80k in receipts for the last 5 years with extensive documentation from past 10 years.

She truly runs as well as she could with no leaks or issues. She’s presently listed on eBay with more extensive information if anyone has interest in an amazing Boxer.

 

I just went looking for your car. As I was looking in the market last year (kind of), I was on eBay a couple of times a week. I would always use Ferrari 512 as a search term.

Unfortunately, your car is listed as 1982 Ferrari Other, so I don’t think you will get the maximum exposure. Gullwing has a black car listed as 1980 Ferrari 512BB at near the same price and for a hot minute thought it was yours.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I didn’t see a 512 category, somehow, so she got stuck in the “other” category. I revised it to have better tags, so maybe it will be an easier search.

 

pls clean and nourish the leather. might cost you some time and effort, but well worth it in the result - they needed it when i saw this car 2 years ago at DS, and they need it even more now.

did you keep the original wheels? do they come with the sale?
what are the new gold ones? what tires do you have on there?