In Time For Christmas .. 78668 now in TX

Well today was a memorable day.

I bought this nero/crema 88.5 328GTS for my birthday back in early Dec, after a PPI by Ferrari San Francisco ... since then it has been in the capable hands of yelcab (San Carlos CA) who went through the car top to bottom and did a full major including replacement of all critical fuel and water lines and resolution of some mysterious electrical problems. Clayton Maas of Maas Tranport (Austin TX) picked her up in CA and delivered her here in central TX last night, under a beautiful starry black sky.

I would like to thank yelcab for his superb service and communication throughout the process. He picked the car up on my behalf and drove it to his shop, gave me a very thorough report of his findings (some of which the PPI missed), did the major and did some other preventative work while he was in there, and found the source of the electrical gremlins (a 21 pin connector that was unplugged). He even gave me a written summary of the valve clearances after he replaced some of the shims. (The compression numbers are all around 195 as documented by FSF.) Yelcab's bill was very reasonable, even in comparison to the local "independent" shop that others here extol. And he was the epitome of a nice guy throughout. Thank you yelcab.

Clayton is a one man hauling operation, specializing in collector cars and motorbikes. He took excellent care of the car and his communication was also excellent. His quote was half what a comparable transporter quoted. He is looking for a back haul from Reno to TX in early January. Anyone looking to move a vehicle out of TX or back to TX should give Clayton a chance.

And now the car: this car belonged to AJS328 and is well documented by him on this forum. Gus bought the car in FL from Drew, owned the car for a few years and then sold it to a dealer in FL (Motorcar Gallery, Ed Waterman) who repainted the car in original Nero and packed it off to Mecum where it sold for around $80K to a dealer in CA. I bought it from that dealer, still on Gus' NJ title. It had a documented major in PA in 2012 (was able to get the paperwork) but the remaining service records were lost somewhere between AJS328 and Mecum. Of course I have the documentation from the PPI as well as the 2016 major.

I have owned a red 308 GT4 (sold to GT4guy also here in TX), a midnight blue 308 GTSi (lost track of it, sold it to a guy in OR), and a black Mondial 8 (also sold in OR now disappeared). I thought I might get a 348 and nearly bought a Speciale but never found the right deal and was a bit leery of the poor resale and known problems of that model. So I changed gears as it were, looking for a 328 for the gated shifter, ease of maintenance, and classic styling; I wanted a black 328 as the spoiler and targa top look more "integrated" against the black paint, and the car is less brash in this color. I prefer the GTS to the GTB and I did not want ABS which can be a nightmare. 78668 fit the bill perfectly.

Pics show loading at yelcab's place in CA and unloading here in TX. Bought it for my birthday but it arrived for Christmas! It's a beautiful car, I had forgotten how low and sleek these cars are.
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Nice to meet you Tim, I believe Brian Crall has one as well, he speaks highly of the model .. and yes I will try to make it down to civilization once in a while for events and maintenance with Brian. In the meanwhile I will remove the targa top and use it for hog hunting here on the ranch