Modify It...?

I'm not against it (unless you rice/bling it out entirely, then you should get shot). I mean look at cars like the CS, they look perfect straight out of the factory. No need to touch anything.
Engine mods however, well, when i see them it turns me away. The car loses that delicate perfectionism that it had after being rolled out of the factory. It becomes something mainstream, its just not that special anymore. I know it sounds absurd but maybe some of you know what I mean.

 

Why hold the factory tuning as perfect? They have to make compromises, and you might see such a decision differently than the factory.

 

Engine swaps on classic Ferraris. Body mods on classics? Sure. I'm not opposed to modifying Ferraris. It's been done since the marque began producing cars.

 

I'm all for modifying/customizing your Ferrari as long as it is not a vintage or modern, but rare car. If you have a vintage or rare (e.g. 288 GTO) Ferrari, I think you have a moral obligation to keep it as stock as possible.

 

Modify away. You are creating value for the cars that remain stock.

Erich

 

Carbon, I feel the same as you. I like to see people modify their Ferraris, but I don't always like the modification that I see.
I love the MM Enzo, but not the McEnzo.

 

Isn't that obvious? I mean if you have a Picasso on your walls you don't go there and add a moustache to the face.

Vintage Ferraris IMHO are no longer means of transportation, but are relicts from a time passed, pieces of art, jewels. They need to be preserved for posterity (not because of financial values btw). Which doesn't mean you can't drive them, in fact you should. But keep them stock please.

A modern Ferrari is a means of transportation. A very elegant and fast at that, but something replacable. And something that exists in huge numbers to begin with. It will take decades before a 360 becomes a collectible and even by then there are still far more left and around as there were ever made of 166MM and 250 GTOs.

Modern, but rare Ferraris fall into the same group as vintage cars. So a 288GTO shouldn't be converted into a spider just to see how cool that would be (it would be cool as we have seen from Bert, but that's another story since he didn't use a real GTO). The trickier question with the modern cars is more where you set the line for "rare". IMHO an Enzo is not that rare, but something in me would stop me from tinkering with it even if I had one. Mythos however is clearly rare and ought not to be altered at all.

 

I am for modification if it impoves the performance or sound of the car. The boy kits and wheels mods are often too subjective.

 

I installed a porta potty where the passenger seat was,
as I kept scaring the **** out of people.
It's covered in matching leather, and auto flushes at redline.

 

1. You don't customize art. That is simply wrong. If you need a moustache, you ask the artist to do that for you. In Picasso's case, that might be a bit difficult.

2. True they all become vintage at some point. But as I said, there are so many of the modern cars around that there is no shortage for posterity. Besides the fatalist in me tells me not to worry about the fate of a 360 in 40 years. There won't probably be any fuel left to drive them anyway. If I even live that long.
I did think about the 550 Barchetta actually and that (like the Enzo) falls into the not so clear group because they didn't make that many of it. Personally I'd still tinker with a Barchetta.

 

That does sound strange to me. I love my 328, but it is woefully underpowered. If it had an extra 1-200 HP, wouldn't it still be pretty much the same car, just faster?

Was the 308gtsi perfection from the factory? If so, why did the factory change the motor just two years later?

 

Excellent point. You can use that argument through the entire 308/328 series. Or through the TR to 512M series. Which is exactly why I don't see anything wrong with e.g. a TR owner putting on 512M style tires on his car. You are merely replicating an improvement the factory figured out at a later point in time.

 

I think a lot of this comes down to who "owns" the car, you or the next owner.

If you are modifying it for your own enjoyment, screw what the other guy thinks.
If you are preserving your 1,000 mile museum piece, keep it stock.

 

Frankly, if someone sold you a car it is yours to do as you so plase... including destroying it. My PERSONAL feelings are that the rare vintage models may be best left as stock, but virtually all models after 1970 can be modded as one so chooses. 3x8/348/F40/etc models are prime examples of a car that SCREAMS to be modded.

 

Hack it up--Cut it up--Add what you what --It's your car!!!!!!

 

There should be one factory original of each model in a museum somewhere. All the rest should be modified as needed to make them safer or easier to live with.

Ken

 

Back when I started migrating from motorcycles to used sports cars, I had a mentor (tip of the hat to Lee) who stressed to me the importance of buying original cars. As a poor boy, it is critical that any expensive toy hold its value. You see, SWMBO gits a tad miffed when I lose money on a toy, i.e., you can forget about getting lucky tonight, tomorrow night, the night after that...

The premise being that any mods where probably done by Shadetree Joe whose favorite saying is (after laying down the 20 pound sledge hammer), "s-s-s-hhh-i-i-i-i-t-t-t -- dat good enuf fer govmint work."

Yes, you have to pay a premium for an original used sports car. However, you will realize a significant payback when it comes time to sell, and for most of us, there is always a time to sell.

Now, for trust funders like Carbonio (about whom there are rumors about a night in Maranello many years ago), such issues are moot. Love em and leave em is his favorite expression.

Dale

 

Never, never modify the air in the tires. That should be original factory air. Anything else ruins the value of the car.

Anyway, who do you think you are? The owner??

 

Exactly. That's where the Picasso analogy falls flat.. there's usually only one piece of art made, but many copies of the same Ferrari.

I think the question is whether or not the modification is done tastefully and with respect to the specific marque. 22" spinners and a Louis Vuitton paintjob don't really have anything to do with Ferrari, but the chopped top of the Slutmobile looks pretty damn good IMHO. With the new interior and some new wheels, I don't think any of us would be ashamed to have it in our garage.

C.

 

These are cars not ART drive them enjoy them slight modification Tubi/Cats Steering wheel are fine you can always go back. I got out of the Vette hobby after many years of being a slave to the originality god and getting so scared to drive my 67 in case I spoiled the original look that I did not drive it again they are beautiful cars drive them.

Martin

 

I do not own a Ferrari, so take my comments in context.

To the greatest extent possible, I would keep my Ferrari the way the factory intended. I wouldn't view myself as the owner, more like the temporary custodian. If it was good enough for Sig. Enzo, it is good enough for me.

I would have no objection to, for example, changing the colour of the car (if it needed repainting), but only to another Ferrari colour that was available at the time of manufacture.

Some models, like the 348 & Mondial, came with wheels that didn't look particularly right, so it would be appropriate to change those to other official units.

Since I'm 6'4", I might also be inclined to lower the seat height a bit if needed.

No chopped tops or other body mods, no disco paint jobs, no dubfos, and no moustaches.

Cheers,

Neil

 

On the big spectrum between bone stock originality at one end and 22" spinners rims at the other, for pre-Fiat Ferraris, I fall pretty close to the originality end.

But even at that end, there are still distinctions to be made. Because my 1968 365GT2+2 is not a garage queen, I have made a few modifications for driveability; a modern aftermarket fan is attached to the radiator - it is more efficient and draws a hellof a lot less current than the 2 giant original fan motors that came w/ the car; I have a modern, single wire alternator w/ internal voltage regulator; and next time the points need to be replaced, I may very well go MSD. But these are pretty subtle, completely non-aesthetic changes.

Solidly at the end of the spectrum is the 1955 500 Mondial, S.II. One of about 8 or 9 made and arguably having the most notable competition record of those cars - raced once by Castellotti. I can only think of one modification we are making to that car and that is sneaking a fuel cell into the original, leaky metal gas tank.

I agree in spirit w/ the "moral obligation" for the old cars - especially the competition cars - they are the ones that made the legend whose spell we've fallen under.