430 Is this an OEM shifter plate?

Another good picture for reference: https://www.baroli-automobilia.com/product/ferrari-360-430-f430-gear-selector-gate-manual-gearbox-shift-gate-179844/

 

Your shifter plate is genuine John.

Note Ferrari tweaked the detailing of the cavallino. It is now slightly more defined on the newer batch of gates, whereas the older/original gates have a thicker horse.

I know this because I ordered one directly from the factory shelf last year, which arrived brand new, in untouched Ferrari packaging and it looked just like yours.

 

interesting. I wonder if the change took place for service parts or if it was a late model change.

 

Here is mine. I got this before people were starting to make them so I'm almost certain it's oem
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where did you buy it from? It almost looks as if it’s cnc milled compared to some of the other ones that seem flat within the cavalino. I wonder if Ferrari changed the manufacturing process.

 

I would assume you are correct, that machine from 1999 that they used to use needed to be retired.

 

For reference, here's a pic of my used OEM shifter plate that came from a 360

 

Can u please take a close up pic of the horse like I did in my second pic Thanks

 

I agree with the above. My guess is Ferrari changed supplier or the milling machine when producing these newer batch of gates. What we can confirm is that the older/original horses are much fatter or less defined than the newer production runs. I think of the original as the Mk.1 gate and the re-runs as Mk.2 and beyond. The vertical brushing is the same, as is the weight of the thing!

 

Here’s my new gate out of its packaging from Maranello:
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Close up:
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And for reference, here’s a mate’s genuine F430 gate. This is 100% a genuine item, as the whole gated assembly was removed from a salvage car:
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And here’s my new gate placed next to it:
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You can see the older mk.1 gate has a fatter horse, and the newer mk.2 gate has a slimmer horse. Notice the mouth, hooves and legs on the older gate are not as well defined as the newer mk.2 variant also.

Small details but interesting none the less. I was offered a straight swap with the older one, but chose to stick with the newer version after those details were pointed out to me.

Hope this helps.

 

Better to have closer pics of the horse needed for better comparison. I know for certain the history on this one for 3 maybe 4 years because i sold a complete kit a few years ago and the buyer never installed it. So then bought it back to convert my car so that was before aftermarkets were being made
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It looks to me like the newer ones are cut with a laser and the older ones are conventionally milled.

 

The question still remains though, was the manufacturing process changed during regular production or afterwards for service items?

Does anybody with a factory gated car have the new style and how many people have one that looks machined versus stamped/molded?

Do you think Ferrari changed the process to distinguish conversions?

Does the fatter horse go slower than the skinny horse?

so many questions.

 

The horse on my gate looks smooth, however upon a much closer inspection I was surprised to see the lines from the manufacturing process. Here's the close up pic taken just now:

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Then yours is just like mine

 

My '06 factory manual had the smooth type (no machining marks).

 

Pic of mine. There are machining marks

 

I notice you have non-OEM screws holding in your gate. I was thinking of changing mine out to a security Torx to help foil an easy theft. It wouldn't take three minutes to steal one of the most valuable components on the car, and they take the shift knob just for kicks.

 

Honestly, I really just hated the phillips countersunk machine screws. It took a while to find the right size TORX countersunk machine screws. Didn't really think about someone trying to steal the gate. I've left the top down on a bunch of car shows.

 

I have an early original factory one from my factory gated car, and a brand new purchased in original packaging from authorized Ferrari parts supplier, plus I have studied many others to decide on the gate design to be used in my gated conversion kits.

Based on that I can say that Ferrari has changed multiple aspects of the design over the years. None of the gates appeared to have the Cavallino stamped/molded, all horses have been machined (or maybe laser cut in newer ones?), albeit with different machining marks left and different shapes of the horse, as @leichtbau also pointed out. Personally I like the older horses more, they have a head/mouth like a horse. Some of the last horses appeared to me to have bird beaks instead of mouths , indicating most likely different suppliers. Which is a common practice for Ferrari, once they run out of the original parts made when the cars were new, the original suppliers may even no longer be in business, so they turn to alternatives.

All Ferrari gates have been made from mild, rusting carbon steel. So you can see them rust in older cars on the bottom side and around the mounting bolts if the bolts scratched the surface.So checking for steel type (carbon versus stainless) can also help to distinguish the original and some (at least mine reproductions. Of course some people engrave horses on reproduction gates, so you can't really tell by just looking into horse's mouth so to speak.

Some of them had surface heavily brushed, others polished with almost no brushing seen, with various sharper or more rounded cuts, all had top surface chromed. So unless you strip the chrome and re-chrome, the original gates can not be refinished once scratched or damaged. That's the reason I've decided to go with stainless, brushed surface, which can be refinished if scratched or if the owner would like to have them more polished or more brushed. No horse obviously as it would violate copyright laws.