If you could ask the previous owners of your car a question

What would they be? I.e.

Why was the interior door trim held in with chewing gum? etc etc

 

Why are the seats in my 1990 from a 1993+ and still beat to crap?

 

That old former f355 you owned, you know the the one, it had 2,000 miles on it, the one i was told never saw the rain while it lived in the UK. Did you really not do a track day and never rev the car above 6000RPM?
I ask this because I am sure I was told the front bumper never had a repaint in its 21 years, and I doubt very much that bit was true

 

Mario Andretti signed the owners manual case to my car. The story goes, the original owner was close friends with him and he let Mario drive the car to the airport. When they got there, he wrote a note and signed the book. I would love to get the full story. Just some cool knowledge to have with the car.

 

I've already asked the PO several questions. Very pleasant guy in the SF Bay area. Talked to him for over an hour on the phone shortly after I bought the car.

 

How did the snail marks get on the seats?

Farrah Fuacet owned my car

 

Did you use a hobby solder iron on the underneath side of the headers?

(Note: Fixed the car and enjoyed it for a while - sold it with full disclosure and receipts)

 

Lmao, snail track provenance

 

When you had a choice why did you buy a red Ferrari, so cliché.

 

The standard question would be "What the eff were you thinking of when you ..."

 

I can't think of anything I would ask

 

Is that because your car is perfect/100% documented or because you've been able to ask everything already or you're the original owner?

 

I'd like to ask a lot of questions, but mostly they wouldn't be answered by the previous owner but previous mechanics.

The laziness and corner cutting I have seen on supposed "work" that has been done on cars over the years including Ferraris is the reason I do my own work.

 

Having lunch with original owner's wife next week in Boston. Her husband is unfortunately deceased.

Also having lunch with the sales manager from back then and the dealer owner Roger Andrey of Gaston Andrey fame. They have some good stories to tell and some items to go with the car...

Robb

 

Got an e-mail from the original owner of my car who currently lives in Korea. Sent me a bunch of pictures and filled me in on some of the racing history of the car. Then a few weeks later I got a package from Korea with the original passes from Imola when the car was raced in the finals. Too cool.

 

I think I know where some of these comments are going and not to incite a flame war... While I know a PPI isn't the holy grail... did those of you with bad experiences with the PO have one done on your car?
I actually bought my car sight unseen. THAT being said... I did have a PPI done on the car and ended up having the former head of the Ferrari club in the area go out for me and taking what amounted to 60 plus pictures of all the various issues with the car. Most all were cosmetic and were disclosed and since sorted. I don't think I've found one thing on the car the PO didn't disclose. I even lucked out and found the AC Compressor just wasn't connected even though the PO told me I was going to have to replace it. Maybe I just got lucky with my PO.....

I do most of the work myself so I've been in/under/on top of my car. Are there things on it which I may shrug off but the next caregiver could care more about than me? perhaps. Do I notice all the little issues that the average person looking at the car won't notice? Absolutely. Will I disclose them to a potential buyer? Absolutely.

I'm sure there are some things the PO just didn't notice and/or care about on the car. We all have different levels of "perfection".. what's acceptable to someone else may drive you up the wall.

The only question I guess I would have for my PO is ... "were you crazy selling the car? regret it? wanna buy it back at a premium since she is truly fully sorted?"

 

Most of my questions for earlier owners would be centered around why they bought the car, why they sold the car, how they really drove the car, and some of the stories behind some of the repair/maintenance items detailed in the service records I have.

 

+1

Robb