Not a great way to start, but started anyway...

Steve at Queen City gave me an estimate including a new grill, and fifteen hours to repair the lower valance. Sent of to the transport company, still waiting for a reply.
So I started tearing down the area around the battery to cut out the rust and make a new battery tray that will tie the remaining pieces together.

I'm trying to decide wether to put holes in the new tray (which I will lay over the existing) to make it look all Ferrari and racy, or leave it solid and provide more time before the next deal. Opinions? I'll post some paper mock-ups.

Gosh it's fun working on these cars. They are essentially the same construction as a well-done hot rod. Pop-rivets and bolts, little welds...we'll see if the honeymoon lasts.

Lessons learned after buying a car from Texas:

1.) They have some big d*mn bugs down there. Nothing I took out of my last project looked like the things I took out of that heater blower.
2.) Think about what a Texan might consider a "little oil leak".
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Well, I'm deep into happy ending territory. Steve and the team at Queen City Auto Rebuild in Redmond did a great job refurbishing the valence, significantly massaging the front fenders and installing the new grill. It looks great, if I say so myself. QC was really sympathetic to the realities of an older car and gave me great advice.

I turned over the whole nonsense of dealing with the carrier to Hagerty Insurance, who were great and covered the repair without hassle. DStacy's advice to get insurance before the car left his possession saved me a bunch of pain, and once again I thank him.

I ended up doing a lot of work on the area around the battery to repair and replace some structure that was damaged by what must have been a leaking battery. I've posted a photo of the work with the new metal in place and a top view of the finished product.

BTW, "hands-on" Ferrari owners should know about http://www.onlinemetals.com/ where you can buy small quantities of steel, etc. You can have it sent via UPS, etc. or pick it up in Ballard near Seattle. They may not have the "metric" dimensions you need, but they do have precise dimensions of the material on hand. I wrapped some of the existing structure with steel square tube and spot welded it in place. (It will be easy for a future repair to cut the spots and get back to orginal metal, at least for patterns.) No affiliation, just a happy customer.

I did read all the Optima posts, but I succumed to hope and time pressure and ordered one from Amazon. After laying on my back for three days fixing metal I didn't want another unsealed battery. Plus it's red.

My son and I drove her out to the Historics at Pacific Raceways two weekends ago, the first weekend after she came out of Queen City, and it was great. I have to tell you guys, after two months of repair and writing checks before I ever drove the car (at least more than limping her to the repair shop) I was beginning to waiver in my joy at Ferrari ownership. All doubts are gone, this is a really sweet car.

I fit in it (I'm 6'-3"), I can see out of it, it handles really well (although I'm excitied about tweaking the suspension a la Birdaman and others) and it sounds absolutely wonderful. I feel like I'm in the soundtrack to some movie, halfway between Le Mans and Two for the Road every time it hits 2000 rpm.

My son, the ower of the 1966 Mustang track car, even admits that "it really kinda just pulls over four grand, doesn't it?"

I met some great folks at Historics, and saw some really lovely cars. Here's to a great summer!
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It's quite a bit easier with the front valence removed. I understand from my limited experience that you simply hook the valence to something solid and then reverse the car. Just kidding.

But your right, it looks lie a nightmare trying to get at it from the access panel, and that's why I wanted to do as much as possible before Queen City buttoned it all back up.