458 458 spider complete rebuild. From tragedy to triumph

First a bit of backstory. I haven’t been on the forum for quite a while now and it’s because unfortunately I was involved in a single car accident before the Covid lockdown. We were in the 458 on a road that has been paved The night prior, unbeknownst to us, and it had just showered lightly before we were on it, so the moisture mixed with oil seepage from the tarmac and caused us to snap oversteer momentarily on a slight curve. The road only had two lanes and we were near the median which had a curb, and was planted with a row of palm trees. because of the close proximity, the left side of the car hit the curb immediately, and then came down on top of it, while the row of palm trees basically combed the left side of the car until we stopped by the front left corner hitting one of the trees.

As is the nature in these vehicles, from the inside we didn’t think we were going particularly quick, and didn’t really feel much of anything inside the cabin. The airbags did go off, but we didn’t have a hair out of place. After a few seconds to gather ourselves and make sure we were perfectly OK, assistance arrived and we were shocked to see the look on their faces. It seemed as if they were surprised to see we were not only alive, but without a scratch. The exterior of the car, however, wasn’t in the same condition. As we know, the cars are designed to break apart intentionally to defuse energy and protect the cabin. I guess that’s what makes these accidents perhaps look worse than they actually were.

In any case, we had the car taken to a friend’s restoration and repair workshop to assess the damage. Initially, they said they thought the car was beyond repair. First, they would need to get it on a lift and strip away the damage to see if the frame had suffered. After about a week, I got the phone call saying that they think the car was repairable, and that the frame looked straight. They would have to get it up on a frame machine, in order to verify with measurements but at least there was now hope. If this was any other 458, it would’ve been totaled for sure. However, this car is my baby. I have been a lifelong Ferrari lover and Tifosi. once in position to actually buy a Ferrari, there were years of research, searching for the perfect car, and near misses. Initially I was in the market for an F430 but after that failed to materialize and time went on, I decided the 458 was the perfect car. I loved the aesthetics, it has more than enough speed for me, and I think it has just enough technology to not feel old for quite a while. And of course, I don’t think I ever want anything other than a naturally aspirated engine placed in the mid rear that sings like these do. My thinking was that I wanted to buy a car that I would never want to sell. There may be “better“, newer Ferraris down the line and I might even purchase some of those but I wanted my first one to be one that I would never get tired of driving. And after acquiring it, I knew I had made the right choice. I found one that had the important options that I wanted and I would purchase and install any missing ones as if I had ordered the car new from the dealership myself. So this is what I did and I documented it here previously showing every OEM accessory I was able to get for the car. I was fanatical about every little detail down to the key rings. the ultimate point is that I have a genuine emotional connection to this specific car. After the accident, I decided that since the car had taken such good care of us during the collision, I was going to treat it the same. I just couldn’t picture letting it get towed away to be dismantled and sold for parts. (Although I appreciate the sacrifices of others whose parts made our restoration possible). this was before the incredible spike in values of cars during Covid. I had purchased the car at a good price but I knew based on the estimates I put together that this was not a money making proposition but it didn’t matter because it was a passion project and ultimately I wasn’t planning on selling the car afterwards anyways. And worst case scenario, if I did have to sell it, it would always retain some value, even if only for parts.

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So, a little while later, word came back that the measurements from the frame machine were perfect. It was now just a matter of taking a parts inventory, ordering them, and redoing the front subframe and entire left side of the car. I purchased a red three ring binder, download iand printed out every parts sheet from the web, created and printed a spreadsheet with every part number, description, quantity, price, etc. And drafted up and printed a restoration checklist.

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Mechanical and bodywork would be handled by my friend’s workshop. They specialize in vintage restoration as well as modern exotics collisions. Don’t be fooled by the casual dress code of the technicians, these guys know these cars inside and out and work on them on a daily basis. I would be assisting with the logistics of obtaining the parts. We spent the next days with the car on a lift doing the full teardown and itemizing everything that needed to be ordered. After that, I got in touch with Russ from Ferrparts. I have to say, he was incredible. He fell in love with the project, treated me great every step of the way, and was constantly asking for progress photos and info. Happy to say he became a friend somewhere along the way. nothing but good things to say about Ferrparts at any stage. They quoted incredibly fair pricing on both used and brand new parts, arranged very reasonable shipping in a timely manner, and the customer service went above and beyond in the rare instances that there were any issues with some of the parts that arrived. they were quickly replaced with no questions asked. The main body panel that needed replacing was the left rear quarter panel which extends all the way underneath and back up the front of the door. Fortunately a dealer in the UK happened to have one brand new one finished in primer crated and ready to go. The car had already been dismantled by the time that part arrived so work began immediately on repairing the left side. Short time later, the crates from California arrived with the bulk of the other parts ordered. Next step was tackling the front subframe. I can’t say enough about the quality of the craftsmanship that these guys were putting into the car. So much so that at one point I noticed the welds they were putting into the frame were way too nice. Perfect dimes. I told them to please look at the factory welds and replicate those. They are not meant to be pretty. Just functional. So they redid the perfect ones with “Italian“ ones and then threw a whole bunch of seam sealer on top just like we saw the factory do on the right side.

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At one point early in the project, Covid lockdown happened and everything had to stop. Our government was one of the earliest to shut everything down. But the response went well and we were able to selectively open up certain businesses Again not too long after. One of those included auto repair centers on a limited scale. Fortunately, being friends with the owner, I was able to go every day and continue the project. It sort of turned into the perfect forced vacation as our businesses were closed so I couldn’t work and had the free time to work on the car at the shop every day for months. (Of course, I understand Covid was not a picnic for most people, specially those who had loved ones seriously affected.)

After the framework, we started preparing the car for paint. They were meticulous enough to replicate everything the factory did in terms of primers, materials, overspray, etc. we sourced the same rivets and bought the specialized rivet gun necessary for them. The guiding principle was always that the car will continue to be serviced at the dealership and that their technicians should be hard-pressed to find any traces of the accident.

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After paintwork, the car came back into one of the bays where it would remain for final reassembly. Every once in a while we would notice something we missed in terms of a small damaged part that needed to be ordered so those were quickly sourced and replaced.

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Regarding my previous obsession with options and carbon fiber which was documented when I was retrofitting all of the options or accessories after purchasing the car, I took some time to research if we could step it up a notch. One of the few things that always bugged me a bit was that I had wanted a yellow tachometer as my car came with a red one but the only way to change it was to replace the entire gauge cluster so I never did it. The other one was that the car never came with a back up camera and, at least in the spider, that is pretty much a must have as visibility when parking is next to nothing. Since I was going to have to buy a new rear bumper anyways, I figured now is the time to do those upgrades. Ferrparts was able to accommodate a cluster swap with mine which was great and they made sure to test the new one so that it was compatible with the OEM back up camera. I also managed to source probably the last remaining NOS OEM carbon fiber hood which I learned that Ferrari sold as a dealer accessory for a ridiculous amount of money Which is why they only made a few and sold even less. My understanding is that these are like unobtanium. A dealer in Germany had one for about a third of the original price he was looking to move. I quickly snatched it up. I also ordered the OEM carbon fiber doorhandles and gas cap which I originally had not put on the car for aesthetic reasons but now that the hood was going on I figured I might as well go the whole 9 yards. I also managed to source genuine OEM carbon fiber manifold Plenums from a 458 challenge car which fit perfectly.

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So bit by bit the car was completely put back together. Hearing the engine fire up for the first time again was incredible. Slowly testing the electronics, headlights, tail lights, etc. and watching everything come back to life was nerve-racking but amazing as well. Of course, there were a million lights on the dash which would need to be verified. But at least the car was up and running.
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At this time, I took a suggestion from Russ at Ferrparts to have the car sent to his neighbor Sergi. Sergi owns vision exotics. This guy knows Ferraris and specifically 458s inside and out better than any certified technician I’ve ever met. You might have seen him on his YouTube channel. His shop is spotless. He is maniacal about detail which is exactly how I am. To the point that he would verify if any part had been worked on by the angle of the screws. I gave him carte blanche That in addition to ironing out the electronics, anything he saw anywhere on the car that was not factory correct, he was to make so. And he did just that. I have nothing but positive things to say about Sergi as well. He would constantly keep me updated with photos, FaceTime chats, videos, etc. He had the car for a while because electrical gremlins are just a matter of trial and error to get worked out but Bit by bit he got there. And I could hardly believe it when I got the call that he had finally solved the very last issue and that the car was ready to go. I told him to please drive it around for a couple of days just to make sure nothing popped up. He did and the car was solid. Oh, one bonus to having the car with Sergi what is that while he was working on it, he got a wrecked 458 speciale aperta into his shop that would now be a parts car. I was able to buy the carbon fiber under tray from that one to replace the plastic one on my car and also the black Alcântara interior matched my car perfectly. My car had the black Alcântara seat inserts and arm pads on the door but this way I was able to make the rest of the lower cabin, carpets, back panel, roof liner and a pillars much nicer than just the black leather trim. And for a fraction of what it would have cost to option it from factory.
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All that was left now was to have the car shipped home. I had my friend shop owner handle all these arrangements and several weeks later, she was back And better than ever. Before the accident, I already thought that I knew the car pretty well but having now essentially dismantled the car and rebuilt it entirely, I feel like I have taken my knowledge to a whole Other level.
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Now, this long winded story is an incredibly abbreviated version. So much time has passed since the project started and some of that time was unfortunately wasted on people who weren’t as great to work with as the ones I have mentioned here but I don’t want to waste more time on that. I will only focus on the positive aspects of the journey. And now I can finally enjoy my dream car again. Oh, and one good stroke of luck was How the values have been creeping up in the time since the project began. But again, that’s just nice thoughts for the imaginary bank account in the sky.

Hope you guys enjoyed the story and glad to be back lurking on Ferrari chat.

 

Thanks. FYI, the wheels on the car are the OEM optional OZ wheels that hardly anybody got due to the crazy pricing. Fortunately I was able to get new old stock ones for less than half the original price