so, no pictures?? rats! thanx anyhow for the generous offer. steve
Steve, Certainly. I've been the cause of great pain and suffering on the part of mankind for decades- but if there's one thing I can't abide, it's an I-talian car crying. Kidding aside, I'm happy to learn from my mistakes and Fchat is a great place to learn from the best. Dave
Dave, Mistakes? Mistakes? I haven't made any that I know of in the last 5 minutes. Probably because i was napping. steve
I apologize if this is a stupid question, but are you saying that you own the car in the original post? I've gotten a little confused, lol.
If that car (in the original post) is in fact, VIN #14047, it's sitting in my garage. Highly like it is, but no 100% proof. steve
That's #14047 being sold at BJ by the guy (Baltzer) in Atlanta, who had the car serviced in NC. Wisely bought by FJx with included Borranis (always my first choice). I bought the car in December of '12 from them. Here's are two, roughly equivalent, shots taken an hour ago. steve Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Its real.......The guy uses a $100,000 Persian rug as an oil catcher. hahaha. FWIW there are visually accurate replicas with wing mirrors, proper door latches and bodies that were taken off an original. But the vast majority scream fake.
I also noted, in the original photo, the dual side view mirrors...further evidence that it is car #14047. Proud of that Persian rug, but it is actually an Afgan piece, personally hand-knitted by Donald Rumsfeld, Saddam Hussein and Dick Cheney, circa 2006. steve ADD: OK, OK, it's a Home Depot rug, circa 1994, that has been pissed on by countless ungrateful cats. s
Yes and the first car and Steves have no reversing [ back up] lights which is quite unusual and extra prancing horse badge on the top of the boot [ trunk] lid so its Steves car.
There is at least one Ferrari coffee table book with pictures of this car, when still owned Mark Tippetts and still here in the UK. It then carried the registration number 2UAE. Mark Shannon
Grant, the rear springs rating difference between Berlinetta & Spyder may have something to do with it and perhaps your car, but I'm still quite convinced the more common "problem" with the stance on most 365 GTB/4s is the FRONT suspension ride height setting. I've personally collected data on this issue and believe the front springs being & having been underrated on these cars, even with new springs and possibly already when the cars were built new. Mind you that to relatively accurately measure ride height, both front & rear, up to 600+ lbs of additional weight (= 2 persons + full tank of fuel + luggage + tools) needs to be in the car, distributed between passenger compartment and trunk, during assessment (I use 60 & 90 lbs bags of "ready-mix"). Most Daytonas featuring OEM suspension I've seen and/or documented are off (too low), mainly in the front, even without aforementioned "fully loaded" weight. To compensate for this "problem", some cars appear to have been "converted" with more modern, adjustable coil-overs, but I've been developing a "cure" which allows the use of all OEM suspension components, including shock & springs, be they (latter) new or used, and so far have been successfully setting ride height correctly on couple of "test mule" cars with couple of more being in the process. Eventually, I might be able to offer this "cure" as a mail-order service, but still need few more in-house "operations" to establish accurate data perimeters. You might recall while back me asking any and all Daytona owners, mechanics or restorers to provide at least front ride height measurements of their cars, but none volunteered.
Timo this factory plexi 365 GTB/4 seems to show a fairly high and even stance. No headrests on the seats and probably practically no gas in the tank. It sits a bit higher than a 1971 build USA 365 GTB/4. It might be useful to describe the technique to get the correct measurement of ride height? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Instead of starting a new thread, is this a factory Spider or a cut top? Anyone familiar with this Daytona? VIN? I see the 4 switches and it got me thinking. It seems they are advertising it as a Spider. http://ddclassics.com/car-listing/ferrari-365-gts4-daytona-spyder-for-sale-lhd/
It's a Straman conversion. See here: http://ddclassics.com/car-listing/ferrari-365-gts4-daytona-spyder-for-sale-lhd/
Timo remind me of the reference points you want measured and I will check them on mine. As an aside John Barker the journalist who did the piece on mine for Enzo Magazine commented to me he was surprised how softly damped the Daytona was at the front. It’s not something I’ve really noticed but then he’s driven a lot more cars than I have and also was a development engineer at Jaguar for a while so is far more likely to notice this. Is that a general trait on a Daytonas or a quirk/ age/ wear point on mine.
Thank you, Matthew, for your willingness to assist with my research. I'll PM my direct contact info. Basically, here's the measurement points I collect for reference. Front: Image Unavailable, Please Login Rear: Image Unavailable, Please Login The car must be "fully loaded" with 2 (adult) passengers, full tank of fuel, spare tire and tool kit on board OR equal amount of weight per each aforementioned requirement, if missing. Each measurement must have accuracy within 1 millimeter. As for the damping softeness of your Daytona, it could be due to aging of all wear parts, including and perhaps more than anything, internally(?) leaking shocks, all which can make clearly noticeable difference between two examples, just like in any other car of same model. How many other Daytonas has this "journalist" driven or was he perhaps comparing yours to some other, perhaps even more modern cars, kind of like "apples & oranges" ? Having had opportunities to (test-) drive several examples, some with completely rebuilt and fully sorted suspension, others with less so and some even "before & after", including one with suspected 100K+ miles on same and completely worn-out, mostly OE suspension pieces and another one with completely "frozen" shocks. While Daytona arguably offers better handling and performance than all or most of it's contemporaries, comparing it to more modern cars seem to be a common "mistake"(?) many, including some journalists often make. I don't have extensive driving experience with modern "sport/performance" oriented cars, but they do seem offer much stiffer feel than the design and technology applied on cars 45-50 years ago.
