My Ferrari now, after 9 years.

One more Ferrari restored. This was the most difficult restoration I have done. Why, because I did not go to a quality restorer in the first place.
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Good guess Ardy

When I first saw it in a show room in Egham, London, I thought it was the most beautiful Ferrari I had seen. What ever the dealer was asking for the car was going to be more than I could pay. As it turned out we came to a mutually acceptable price. It was mine and I drove it around the UK, trouble free, for the next few years
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Thats the beginning
I t was always in my mind to restore the car. In 1999 I sent it to a restorer. The decision to take some paint off, and see what type of restoration we would do was made. As the area of paint removed grew larger, it was decided to remove all the paint.
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Yes you could say that.
You could see that some previous work had been done. Some areas of rust needed repairing, Paneling had not been re-welded correctly, some rust here and there, the floor pan needed replacing, etc, etc, etc.
Then lets take the engine apart while it is out of the car. Get the carbs refurbished. And, might as well do the diff and gear box also, since we are doing everything else. Replace all rubber components from the tires through to fuel hoses, window rubbers, and anything else made of rubber. All the instruments could be taken apart and refurbished at this stage also.
Then things like the chassis could be dipped and coated, to protect from future rust. Three times it worked out as.
S**t !!! what the hell have I got myself into.

 

Color at this stage was not even thought of.
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The red paint there is only rust proofing.
And so the restoration began. A major problem was that I lived overseas, working in Asia and could only get back to see the progress or lack of, once every 4 to 6 months. Finally this came to a head after approx 5 years. The guy had decided he could not do any more work on the car. Progress had been minimal. The car had been converted from a drivable unit to a few LARGE pieces. Thankfully the engine, diff and gearbox had been farmed out and some progress made.

 

I found another restoration expert who assured me he could do the job, as he had completed other projects of exotic cars. I saw some Maserati’s he had done and they did look presentable. After 9 months the guy told me the job is beyond his expertise (to his credit) and best I look for someone who is more familiar with Ferrari's. The LARGE parts that made up the car in the beginning had been further reduced in size now with very little progress overall.

 

The car was starting to look like a jigsaw puzzle.

 

I really feel sorry for you, genuinely.

 

The next restorer I took the car too, was extremely good with body rebuilding. He had done some Ferrari’s of note in the past and now was working independently, and able to devote his full time attention to my project.
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Yes Christian, they all have something different to offer. You don't need to go flat out to enjoy yourself a I am sure you know.