308 GT4 10312

I picked up the car in Canada yesterday and brought it home finishing the trip in lousy weather.

It is a very original somewhat tired Series 1 that is very original. It has been repainted and looks ok but there are a number of nicks in the paint. There is the usual rust on the bottom of one door panel and the left rear valence has a rust through behind the wheel. The interior is tired but serviceable for now. Glass and chrome are great. Glovebox needs a recover.

If you saw the original for sale ad then you know the big item is the bent valve on #8. It's almost 40 years old so a complete tear down is forthcoming. Time to replace all the seals etc.
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Congratulations! It looks good in the pic. I love the color.

 

Congratulations and welcome to the GT4 club! That car has the rear luggage shelf!

 

great color....Congrats

 

I think our definitions vary.

Congrats on the purchase. It is going to a lot of work up front but that work makes the drive all the sweeter. The GT4 is a great car.

 

Like that a lot.

 

Congrats on getting the GT4. I bought one recently with a broken valve on no. 8 cylinder! Unfortunately it also holed a piston. I have stripped and rebuilt it in 10 days with new valves all round one second hand piston and seals all round. Refitting tomorrow and hope to run it up on Wednesday. Best of luck with yours I hope it all goes well.

 

I just wanted to say congrats as well. Very straight-looking car and I love the color!
You know, when my GT4's engine let go, it was the #8 exhaust valve for me as well. Is that by chance a trend on these engines?
I wish you the best of luck in your new car! They are great-driving and very solid cars and I think a car with the factory rear shelf is a real find.
Ed

 

Yeah. I'm glad someone bought it. Very cool GT4 with the back shelf too. This will be a great car when it's back up and running again. I have been bringing a 75 GT4 stored for the last 25 years back to life over the last 6 months. One thing keeps leading to another that needs to be rebuilt or replaced but that's part of the fun. I'm happy to say it's back up and running excellent now.

You will lots of great help here.

 

Sweet looking car. I love that it still has the original Astro III mirror, and especially the rear shelf. If you have time, be sure to post some good shots of it; info on the shelf option is hard to find (I have read that it was less than 10%).

 

Glad to see this car going to a good home. Seemed worth saving.


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Congratz! Two cars ahead of mine too - #10314

 

Another one saved.
Thanks and congrats.

 

Congrats.. Happy motoring I have 09406 love the early cars...

 

Thanks guys. I'll work on it over the winter. Right now it's 5 deg and not too conducive to hearing the garage....

Brian, I agree it's not original. I said very original as the only change was paint color. Everything else is stock including the tool kit.

I am not going to restore the car to factory new. I like Blu Scuro too much. The thermoreactor has to go and it will get new Pistons cams and pulleys. The rest stays as is.

 

Doc,

Congratulations !

From what I recall 10312 went to Canada from it's original home in the USA.

Did you need to pay any duty or tariff to re-import it back to the USA?

 

Blu scuro is the best color for a GT4 IMO. Can't wait to see it take shape.

 

Of course! I had to pay duty tax on it. Small price to pay. I came through the border at about 17:00 and it was already dark. The supervisor on duty was not all that happy about its they don't see many cars outside of business hours. The car is EPA exempt but they started to give me hard time about needing to see the EPA stickers or have a letter from Ferrari. It went fine though. I was out of their hair in about half an hour. The border was quiet. I only saw one other car go through at that time.

 

"We're from the government; we're here to help you. Not."

 

All started when I decided, after a long time, that it was time to have again a sport car.
But a special one.
I wanted a classic car, not a new one.
I wanted to smell heritage in it, legend, culture, history, challenge, and to have that special feeling of “forever” lasting.
It had to be a Ferrari.
But a special one.
First, it had to bear the signature on the project of enzo, the drake.
Then, it had to be a sort of “child not fully understood” by the market, nearly mistreated and now reconsidered; meaning enzo was right, the market not.
The 348 TS seemed to have all of it: fantastic when launched, perhaps still the highest sales until now, with the car owning you and not vice versa: the message was clear “I have the power that you cannot handle, so use only what you can”.
Then Montezemolo came: he lost at a traffic lighter against a golf and enzo was gone two years earlier; probably no one told him that the first gear was down and not up. He killed the car. He launched the 355. 1st son of another father, although with many hereditary genies.
I identified a 348ts from a single owner in Beirut.
The yo-yo started: “yes I sale, no I don’t; yes but not now; wait I will; no I changed my mind”.
Thus the inexplicable happened: a friend introduces a red Porsche 911 (964) WTL (turbo look) 1992 cabriolet with original optional whale tale. Decision was taken to take it: only 750 units made, good investment.
This angela merkel in red was typically german: you asked a speed of 120 km/h, she gave it; 180, she gave it; 220, she gave it. She could have continued until 255/260, but what for? No sentiments or feelings, just obedience. Cool all the time on the road. Only on the mountain, on turns, she alarmed you: the weight was all on her tale and on one side; she asked for your understanding…..and to release the accelerator. The 308 gt4, central engine, will by far be more stable.
In parallel the quest for a Ferrari continued and many were seen: all came from accidents. No way. Not at least to the structure.
Two years for nothing.
And no feeling with 355: too electronic already; a pilot must know how to make himself the proper curves and turns, not the electronic stabilizer. Tazio Nuvolari did not have any electronics, but he invented the best way to enter and exit the curve, until today. …the only time enzo got scared.
I was submerged by F360s with no trace of the drake: not feasible.
The 911 964 wtl continued to be a reliable worker, monotony also at high speed. It was never love. Just respect and appreciation. But no heart. Some quick straight mussels with a flat 6, 3.6 liters air cooled (oil actually) and 310 hp brought up from the standard 255.
The horse on the symbol of Porsche was black and peculiar of Stuttgart. Still no match to the praising black horse of Enzo Ferrari, tail up in the wind, received from the family logo of the hero war air pilot Francesco Baracca, gone at war victim of his own legend, and for this still living in the legend with enzo. I am a private pilot of aircraft. And I loved aerobatics.
So, the right time came, Porsche or not Porsche. I went on internet. I needed to import a Ferrari from Italy; but current rules obliged me to go for one car that had stopped production at least 30 years ago.
She was there, no alternative: Ferrari Dino 308 gt4.
First Ferrari 8 cylinders produced for the road (still the base of today’s engines)
Carburetors: sound of another era.
First and only Bertone/Gardini coachwork: apparently refused for the L amborghini Urraco, sold to and accepted by enzo.
Two legends present: enzo and dino.
1974 until ’76, was not named Ferrari but only dino: a father’s hope of a son to die too soon, not by accident –like jill villneuve, the son wished to have- but by sickness.
Middle engine.
4 seaters.
2875 unit produced by hands in Maranello, not at the Fiat mirafiori like the 246.
Mix of aluminum and still.
The hunt started on internet first.
It covered Rome area, Bologna, Modena Maranello, Florence, Cesena.
Most of them were red, not original. Ferrari did not produce so many in red: it was not the proper color for that model. I did not want a red one, and it had to be its original color.
And I did not want the 208 gt4: son of a lesser god.
I flew to Italy after arranging several meetings.
I saw many, but time was running out; I had two days left before to return to Beirut.
At the same time I received 2 emails from 2 classic car garages in Modena and Bologna that I contacted earlier, informing that something was happening on the market for this car: just few months earlier no one wanted it, now there was a huge demand and to find one in good conditions was very difficult. In the USA, in 2 different auctions, the price paid was over USD 100,000!
The classic cars garages dropped the search and gave up.

The only one I did not see was that one in Rome: the white one, too expensive because it was the very first series 1974, although the Bianco Polo Park was nice on this Ferrari: distinct elegance, personality and….only when it was passed, you would have realized that you just saw a Ferrari; too late.
Anyway, what did I have to lose? I called.
A nice lady answered. Her father was the second owner for the last 26 years; the first owner had it for 14 years.
The father, now around 70 years of age, could not drive anymore due to an ictus in his brain and the car, always in the garage, was a sleeping sad beauty.
We arranged to see her the next day: me and the father only. Completely covered and protected in the garage she was still shining.
But could not talk: the battery was out of life. Never mind, we attached the cables with another car.
The beautiful 8 cylinders did not answer. Tried and tried again (the owner) but the sleeping beauty refused to wake up. I was disoriented, but I smiled: I remembered when I was young, so long ago, when I met that lovely girl that pretended not to notice me, and instead she did indeed.
We went to his nearby shop where he runs a business of men cloths, especially shirts, high end, very elegant. Sign of an epopee went some time ago, amongst the last retreating shadows for the appearing first lights of a morning new era. I was very upset that in spite of my recommendations, the car was not up and ready for running. I did not accept the excuses that the previous week she was ok: I was there now, not earlier, and she could not run. And I was not living around the corner. I did not care that in one week a German and a Japanese guy were coming to see her.
Anyway, the next day I was leaving. I was going to come back in one month, I said. If it was still available I still needed to try it. Regarding the price, it was too high: I would not pay what he asked. His answer was terribly good: “I do not want to start the up and down game. You know how much I asked; if you are serious, let me know your offer, we will find an agreement”. And he passed a message: “I prefer the car to stay in the hands of an Italian that can love it as I did. I paid the car in 1988 Lit. 100,000,000 (converted in euro 50,000 at those time: you could by an apartment). I was not reach but I wanted a Ferrari. I had to have it. And I did it. That was all the money I had. And that was what had to be spent for”.
Next day I left for Beirut, with a bunch of pictures taken from any corner.
Once in Beirut, I sent an email to the nice lady and daughter, complaining that, against the agreement, I could not try the car because she was not ready. Many apologies followed with the assurance that when I was back in one month she would have been in perfect order with a new battery (so, go to hell the German and the Jap!).
In 4/5 days internet dealing, we agreed on the price if the road trial would have been positive: my offer was exactly the same that her father refused earlier on; I added Euro 1,000 to get it and the car was mine. There was no enthusiasm, but only the sentiment of satisfaction that what had to be done was done: like the old man that sold her to me, the tradition continued.
When I went back, the old beauty was magnificent, awake and ready to go: brilliant on the road, magnificent on the handling, superb in the running.
A friend of Classic Car Company organized the shipment while the nice lady and his father all the papers.
Instead of 2 weeks, the shipment took one month.
As enzo said once: the pleasure of owning a Ferrari starts from the moment you order one and you wait to receive it; it is now history that a young English rich man belonging to an important English family who at 35 years of age was already at the helm of a big industrial group, specialized in the production of long playings and cassets, had ordered earlier a 275 gtb, went directly to take possession of the car. The secretary of enzo entered his office and told him that Gary Pearce arrived and asked that enzo directly would give the keys to him. Enzo answered that there was a problem: the car was not yet ready and to let him wait in the waiting room (he had followed the young man from the beginning from his office without being seen and enzo did not like his attitude); small room, poorly decorated, enzo considered it like a purgatory where he who wanted to drive a Ferrari and did not deserve it, had to discount his sins. After that the rich man was waiting for a long time outside enzo office, he opened the door saying “sorry…”. Enzo did not let him finish the sentence, took the phone calmly to let the young man feel even more the gravity of his invasion and told his garage manager in the local dialect “Mr. Pearce does not want the 275 anymore, bring the car back to the garage”. Enzo than very slowly told the young man “Mr. Pearce, waiting for the pleasure is itself a pleasure. If you are not able to appreciate this rare moment of joy it means that you would not appreciate even the quality of one of my car. To drive a Ferrari you must be patient. You must know how to wait. And quicker you go, more you have to put aside the rush. The extremes touch themselves, but it’s clear that you are not ready to ride a fast car. A real car. Don’t be upset, but the GT that you booked is not for sale anymore. If you want a Ferrari, you have to order another one. After, we shall see.”
The young man could not go back to England empty handed. He went to Lamborghini and bought a Miura. What a pity for him. The 275 GTB was really beautiful. Probably he was not a true pilot, like enzo said, but he had real taste: very light blue metallic, seats in blue night. He ordered also lateral air intake in chrome, copying those of the 500 superfast. Really beautiful.
I registered the Ferrari Dino 308 gt4 on the name of my wife: thus I will never own one, but finally I possess one.
Like our children, we do not own them; we are facilitators to lead them to fully express themselves.
My Ferrari is now at one of the best coachwork garage of the country: the painting, most original even after 40 years, was good but not as good as it should be for such an elegant mature woman.
I will not live forever, but completely restored this Ferrari will survive me and will be passed on to my 2 daughters. And I will have all of them for the eternity in my heart.
Today, around 2 weeks before my Ferrari Dino 308 gt4 1st series 1974 will complete a full restoration; the Porsche exited my life and entered one of the top showroom in the country. Without feelings, as when it appeared, she executed with fidelity the last duty assigned. Angela Merkel docet.
I prefer just to wait and enjoy its pleasure.

 

"As enzo said once: the pleasure of owning a Ferrari starts from the moment you order one and you wait to receive it"

Well said! Your car is beautiful!

 

Just re-read the thread... If I understand correctly, doc's car rolled off the line directly in front of yours. The Dino production cars only used even numbers, so there would be no #10313.

 

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