Hi! My name is Esben, a Danish automotive engineer currently living in Germany. I don't own a Ferrari 365/400/412 yet, but I hope to sometime in the future. As you may have gathered from my forum handle, I own a 1971 Corvette, but also Bentley Turbo R and 3 more or less vintage Italian bikes. I do practically all of the mechanical work on all of the cars and bikes myself, so I'm not averse to “difficult” vehicles. I’ve always liked the “400-Series”, not just because of the elegance, but also because they’ve been sort of attainable for non-millionaires. Mind you, if money was no object, I’d drive a Daytona. I’d want to keep the Corvette as my “Redneck-Daytona” but would want to sell the Bentley in order to help finance a 400-Series. As for the 400-Series, I prefer the looks of the 365 and like the technical aspect of the carburetted models, but those aren’t a must-have. I would only want a manual car though! Looking at the prices, I’ve now more or less settled for searching for a 400i manual, hopefully reasonably priced! All the best Esben
Esben I owned a 400i Auto for 16 years and maintained it myself after some years racing and maintaining simpler road cars. It sounds like you can handle a reasonably maintained car either FI or carbs. Most issues you will have will be electrical. Be sure to inspect the use / relay panel before buying a car. Look for "improvised" wiring and burned contacts on wire connectors. Good luck. When I sold my Ferrari, I bought a C7 (2014) Vette and love it. Ken
Thanks guys! @Ken: Electrical problems are always fun to solve, so I'll definately inspect the fusebox etc. Bey Bentley's fusebox is divided into 2 areas, one for Bosch and one for Lucas... I wonder why ;-) @Simon: Carbs do rule, but I can live with a squirty-system as long as the car has 3 pedals and a gearstick ;-) Question: how can I find out if a car has had the uprated vacuum pump fitted? Cheers Esben P.S. and some pictures of the current fleet - we all love pictures!
The main places for parts (other than Ferrari themselves) are Eurospares and Superformance. Both are in the U.K., but that doesn’t matter as there’s a Free Trade Agreement between the U.K. and the EU (as you probably know), so delivery to Germany, Denmark, etc is easy. (Indeed, at my own company, we deal with clients in the EU everyday and ship goods out with DHL everyday.)
Hi Ewan, I've found those dealers, and they really do seem to have everything! My experience with ordering from the UK after Brexit hasn't been very good - there is always tax and handling fees to be paid, and all in all more hassle than when ordering from the States! Esben
There’s no tax on goods moving between the U.K. and EU, as long as the goods originate from those territories. (Well, other than the usual VAT/IVA you would pay on any internal sale anyway.) Some couriers do charge a modest handling fee though.
Aah,well not quite. They LIST a lot of stuff but /sometimes/mostly don't have it in stock. My original ratio diff CW&P issue early this year is a prime example. It was GTO that was able to get one made .
They are all great fun! Best performing is probably the 400carb 5 speed, scariest is the 365, 400i gen 2 auto (short rear axle ratio) is nicely balanced, 400i gen1 has the "classical" upholstery with proper electric ancillaries, 412 has the best air-conditioning, etc...
