93/94 456GT Question

So I have the 456 bug. I have never driven one, or have ever seen one live. I first noticed these on BaT in December and ever since have been obsessed. I bid to $83K on an auction last week a 97GT in Le Mans Blue and dropped as the price seemed a little high. I want a GT, preferably in Canna, or one of the darker blues. There are so little GTs available in the US so I turned to the European classifieds and have found quite a few available. I am really focused on a GT in Canna. According to F Register it is a 93 (though the seller calls it a 94), Ferrari registered the warranty card in 9/94 and was one of the first 125 on the F register list. I found this website and paid $28US to access based on comments on this site. Thanks!

My question is, apart from the usual concerns with the 456, of which I have read a ton, and the fact I would buy and import this car without ever seeing it in the flesh, are there any special issue to be addressed with a Euro GT than one made for the US market? This particular car has it's maintenance stamped as recently as January and had new distribution performed (Euro for belts I guess!).

I have never imported a car before either, so any advice on this is appreciated as well.

Thanks!

Everett

 

Everett,
You are where I was about a year ago.. I wanted a 456GT, and really wanted a Euro spec (mostly because I wanted the sublime non-airbag steering wheel). I searched for information on importing and from what I learned it is a challenging endeavor, and I ended up finding a sweet Azzuro Monaco with Blue interior 1995. It has the airbag steering wheel but I am really enjoying it...and someday I will find a used non-Airbag steering wheel and install it! Good luck with your search, definitely share more about your "chase"!

 

She is over 25 years old so you just need to pay shipping, insurance, and duty. The early Euro GTs had Motronic 2.7, no airbag, and no OBDII connector, which did not come until Motronic 5.2 in 1996.

 

IMO, the 456 gt is one of the best vintage car buys available right now, at almost any price! Only 83 are in the USA, and they are a great solid car with timeless elegance and a muscular stance that you can’t even see in a picture.

 

There are only 83 in the US? That seems low. No one wonder I can't find one!

 

Are we sure about the # of 456 GT in U.S.? I thought the 456 GT was a higher number...recognizing that the 456M GT was very low import numbers into U.S.

On the importation, I found challenges in being able to get a proper Pre Purchase Inspection and finding the right Import Agent.

My ultimate plan was to go to Europe and go see some of the available, pick it, buy it and take it to a port city for loading.... but that plan is not realistic... find the import agent that can manage both sides of the Atlantic.

 

That number seemed low to me as well. That is the scary part, buying one of these cars without a proper PPI and then having to get it from there to the US. That was the nature of my question, are there any special concerns for a Euro GT to address, apart from the usual 456 concerns?

 

There were 70 US 456 GTs and GTAs from 1997, but I do not have good numbers for 1995. There were no 1996s in the US.

 

I counted 138 US 95 GTs from F Register. The number could be higher as he does not list the country on every number. So at least 138 and probably more from 1995.

 

The risk of buying a car you can't see! I've been pressing the French dealer on sending a pic of the paint code sticker. It is not there! Would that imply the obvious, that the trunk lid was replaced? The paint color on the car matches the factory color.

 

Do you have 456 GT owners manual 792/93 or 817/93? These show the paint sticker in front of the engine on the port side.

 

My quoted number of 83 was for manual only, 456gt in total from 95 to whenever the M came out. Sorry for confusion, and it’s possible it’s incorrect, and obviously there are going to be some imported now that they are old enough, and some crashed, but yeah, I think it’s safe to say there’s less than 100 manual gt cars here. And I got mine! Haha!

 

From what I gather, there were about 3000 made in total, covering all years, all transmissions, and gt, gta, and gtm configurations. I didn’t take note of the numbers imported to USA, other than the early GT in manual, as that’s really the only one I was interested in, however singe the 95 was not offered in auto, they are all manual. Then 96 had zero cars, and 97 had mostly auto, and few manual, so shooting from the hip I’d say that the distribution was somewhat close to 50/50 between auto and manual that were imported here, of the earlier gt body. Anyway the 83 number of manuals seemed thoughtfully procured, wherever it was that I saw it.

 

Nothing wrong with a Euro model. The passenger airbag on USA models is a complete hack, so not having that is a big plus. Here's the bigger issue with buying sight unseen, there are a ton of potential issues with a 456 that may or may not be visible remotely. So, the only way I would do sight unseen is if I'm planning on fixing a lot of things, and the price reflects it. There are others who have covered them, but almost all 456's will have the following issues sometime in their lives:
-radiator leak
-heater core leak
-seat back release cable
-seat potentiometers
-engine valves
-cat thermocouple computers
-leather pulling off of doors, dash, ceiling, rear deck
-radio
-hvac
-ABS computer faults
-full pump seal leaks

Some people pay top dollar and still have all these issues! All of these issues are fixable. Some quite cheaply if you do the work yourself.

 

All MY 95 456s were GTs, as stated above, actually all 2.7 456s were GTs. The GTAs came in 1996 when 5.2 was introduced and the GTs were also updated with 5.2. Out of 1936 total 456s, only 402 were GTAs, all US version GTAs were 1997 models. The January 1, 1996 US requirement for OBDII forced Ferrari to update to Motronic 5.2 and they did the GTA at the same time.

 

I do not have the owner's manual. I quick google search said on the trunk lid. This dealer does seem to know this model and thus would know where to look for it. The fact it is missing concerns me. Thanks!

 

Thank you! I am prepared to spend some mechanical bucks on any car I get. What scares me most are the things would destroy the value of the car, like a bent or cracked frame, a repaint, coil overs and elimination of the damping shocks, etc. I had a PPI done on a California car I was interested in and it turns out it was totally repainted and the shocks were replaced with coil overs so the damping system was disconnected. The hunt continues! I am obsessed!

 

Pretty sure the paint codes are supposed to be under the hood right in front on the radiator shroud

 

https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/ctd/d/mcchord-afb-lot-ferrari-456-gt-lucky/7310088141.html

 

I would also look for corrosion in the door skins.... the bulk of body is aluminum and composite (hood) but the doors are steel and can have some corrosion. I would also look for

Other key items.

• dents in the rocker panels from improper "lifting" of the vehicle
  
• rear shock leaking
• rear suspension accumulator failure resulting in "very stiff ride"
• speed sensor (in transaxle and very close to exhaust leading to potentially heat related failure)
• Driver and Passenger Door Window misalignment (some can be adjusted, but typically requires repairs to door mechanism)
• Checking under passenger footwell and under hood and trunk for "hacking" of electrical system