360 Samcrac salvage 360 Modena Spider - Verde British Racing

I don’t know what it is or why but a lot of cars with legitimate light damage do end up at Copart, and often sell very reasonable. I just looked at a 2 year old Chrysler mini van that literally needed only a passenger fender a passenger headlight a grill and bumper cover. Now granted I didn’t see it on a lift but there appeared to be no frame damage. Ultimately I passed on it because it didn’t have the rear seat configuration my wife wanted. I’ll also grant you there is a huge difference between a Ferrari or any other exotic and a mini van. But I do see what I’d consider light damaged cars in salvage auctions and I have no idea why they weren’t fixed. Even Rob Feretti had a video about a lightly damaged 458 they had a Gotham Dream cars that was totaled.

I agree that Sam isn’t really what I’d call a mechanic, and it certainly appears he generally keeps most of the cars he works on. Would I personally buy and repair some of the cars he’s done, no. But it is kinda interesting to see what he gets and the condition it’s in. And how much of his content is staged is debatable.

I’ve bought a few salvage cars and fixed them for personal use simply because it made sense in my situation and because buying new just cost too much in deprishiation but sometimes makes sense. I’d never buy a salvage car to flip though and honestly for me personally it’s something to do other then sit infront of the tv or computer and I have a useable vehicle at the end of it. Heck the truck I’m sitting in right now having lunch and typing this is a truck that I repaired from salvage that needed a fender and grille. Saved a few thousand getting into it, had a project, and it’s given me over 100k miles of use. However my other truck was bought new and has only managed 35k miles in roughly the same amount of time.

But with an exotic car I just don’t see it making a lot of financial sense, for most people, and if I ever did it would solely be for a project car without a care of cost or time but I always talk myself out of it. But it is fun to watch someone else do it sometimes.

 

I couldn't agree with you more on the daily driver thing. Finding a decent car or truck you can fix yourself and use up is a great way to save money on your ride. Parts are usually plentiful and usually pretty cheap for the average cars and trucks--- and your time is free. So if it's a salvage title in that case, so what. You fix it. You use it. You sell it for what you can when you are done with it. And yes, in that case you can make out okay. But of course I highly doubt you would make money on the deal when it comes time to sell.

If you have the time and unlimited funds and you just want something to do; dive in. But I have serious doubts that is the case with most of these guys thinking they are getting into the Ferrrari, Corvette, Lambo, etc. game on the cheap. Let's be honest if you have unlimited funds you wouldn't be considering a salvage Ferrari (unless you are only setting it up for the track-- for fun). And I'd be willing to bet the value of the car IF you try to sell it as a salvage title exotic will never exceed what you have invested. There is not one car I have built for a customer in all my years that was worth what they had spent to make it what they envisioned. Not even close--- and these are cars with a documented title history and not a salvage car.

I have friends that own body shops that do insurance repair work. What happens more and more is the insurance company will settle with the owner at a price that makes sense to them rather than try and repair the vehicle. In Florida where I live, if the total cost to repair the vehicle exceeds 80% of the vehicles value at the time of the accident then they will automatically "total" the vehicle. I believe it is a law here. Can they be repaired? In some cases, yes. In some cases for a lot less than the estimate. But the liability to the insurance company when considering the electronics of a flood vehicle, or the issues of "come backs" for other accident related problems is just not worth it to them-- all of which is on the insurance company's tab for as long as the owner has the vehicle in his or her possession. This may explain why you see the vehicles you do that don't seem to have much damage to them and don't look all that bad.

But taking a chance on owning a salvage exotic that may have those niggling (read expensive) endless problems is just not worth the risk to me. And I highly doubt you will sell it for much after all the effort, aggravation, and costs.

 

There are a lot of hate for this guy in this thread. Not sure why.
Let's see... He loves Ferrari. He is a gear head. Maybe he's not really knowledgeable and will make a few mistakes along the way.
I say good for him for jumping in with both feet. He's not hurting anyone except maybe his own pocket book.
Live and let live.

 

What's funny to me is I stumbled onto this video today and watched it. Wasn't surprised he overfilled it, as that is how I got my car. (Previous owner had a sketchy mechanic). I just wish some of these guys would do more research before diving in, regardless of followers, etc. The lack of being thorough hurts them as well as the car in the long run. My shop does such a variety of work that a good portion of each job is research. I enjoy that part as much as the repairs themselves. I may have been lured in to watching, but as a mechanic I had to see.

 

Yes in the event of a flip your wasting time, and I agree that most of these cars are already so finicky a salvage car just seems to not be the way to go. And I know when I like most are looking at exotics for sale onine if it has a flagged rite I move on. But it still scratches at the back of your mind from time to time.

 

I bet it’s the allure of getting that deal of a lifetime via copart........ automobile wildcatting.

A bit like gambling.


It makes for good entertainment.

It also debunks ‘some’ age old myths that only certified mechanics can rebuild any car.


If you are resourceful and do your homework you can ‘wrench every day’ as one vlogger Tavarish puts it.

These guys are capitalizing on the auto repair practices of charging book hours per each repair job at 120-150/hr.... and recouping this high margin from their own sweat. And they film it and show regular jo smos—. ‘Perhaps’ they too can do it!

 

But can they? is the million dollar question (or the multi thousand dollar question). Do they have the diagnostic equipment? Do they have paint and refinishing skills that will reach the high bar set for a Ferrari repair job? Book hours are based on overhead as well as the costs of the professionals they have on staff to repair the cars. I get that. But with that said they are professionals. Trained in the skills to repair these cars correctly. Repairing a 15 to 20 year old exotic is not the same as repairing a 10 year old Toyota DD.

It's a pipe dream that most times quickly turns into a nightmare. And again, you will not recoup your investment. Even with your own "sweat". It's a salvage vehicle.

I just would like to see less of the silly notions put forth by guys like this and more straight talk about the facts of repairing such cars. U-tube videos like this encourage a belief in results that don't exist.

 

Kc- I agree in general. But unfortunately there are so many poser mechanic shops that charge the pro premium and do worse work than a diy u toob hack. I would say it is these weak shops and the car mech reputation that opens this up.


I’ve paid too dollar w some high end euro builders in Houston for slow bollucks work.

In those instances I’m better of attempting many things my self. And knowing when to tap out and call a pro is key!!!

 

Jeff: Due diligence and vetting of any shop that touches your car is a must. If they haven't been in business for at least 10 years, I'd rather they "learn" on someone else's car.

I've been around a while and I do a lot of my own work too. Smart to admit, as I have as well, when it's time to "tap out".

 

Fair play to the guy - taking on a project like this to resurrect a lovely spec 360 knowing it will cost him more in the long run than if he had bought a good one. If he makes some money from ads on YouTube- that’s cool by me. I feel like he will keep going until he gets it right (even if he does make mistakes). At the end of the day more beautiful 360’s on the road to ogle over...and such a lovely colour. If you don’t like it or don’t agree, you could always choose not to watch the videos. In the UK there is a Verde Zeltweg coupe with matching green carpets that’s quite well known - love the greens on Ferrari’s. Get the paint swirl free and it looks like liquid.. I think the Verde British is solid and Zeltweg is metallic? I think Jay Kay from Jamiroquai had a Zeltweg F355 for a while..


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Um, if you think the likes of Ferrari and especially Lamborghini set a high bar for finishing and paint skills you might want to think again.

 

Yeah I watch some of these guys and I think damn... I’ve been doing stuff like this for a couple decades. If I just recorded it and talked to the camera I guess I could have been rich. I’ve been thinking about doing it on a ground up restoration of a muscle car or something but I’d probably be too technical and informative to be entertaining and never get the views.

 

97–. I’ve tried and I’m clearly not good on camera—- Tried to do a commercial— it was soo bad. )). Suspect you need that it factor. Guess I’ll stick to engineering.

 

Probably a higher bar than a guy in his garage with a home depot spray gun. Or at least higher than a guy looking to put paint over a repair to a salvage car he's building on the cheap.
Please, let's stop kidding ourselves about this kind of stuff.

 

I say go for it!

If you are knowledgeable (and can keep the technobabble to an understandable level), offer unique insight (tips and tricks from experience that can save time or money), have a good personality (enthusiastic and not a damn robot, humorous without being offensive), then the rest is in the power of editing.

You would be surprised.

You don't need to have the world initially follow you but just enough of a following can flourish into something big and it probably wouldn't take that long at all. Every car guy/gal loves a good car story and storyteller (eg. Samcrac and he is no mechanic or technician and he seems to be doing OK).

 

In reviewing my owner's manual on body repair, Ferrari states that techniques used for steel body repair can not be used on aluminum. Specifically, using a hammer to reshape aluminum. The manual states that aluminum is brittle compared to steel and that heat reshaping is the only approved method.

From my own experience, I found that I could break a piece of aluminum by repeated back and forth bending, whereas with steel not all.

I am not persuaded by those who are complimentary of the purchaser's intent to bring this vehicle back to life using improper and unsafe repair techniques.

 

Working with aluminum definitely takes a bit more skill and practice but isn’t that complicated just don’t work it to fatigue. It also helps to use pointers given by the manufacturers. That why I use stuff like the pictures.

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It is true that aluminum is quite different then steel and there are different methods for repairing the 2 . I’d agree that it’s likely to end badly if he try’s to hit that floor with a hammer like its steel but I’ve seen aluminum body shops use hammers and dollies on aluminum albeit light hammering with small hammers.

Likely Sam doesn’t know this so I’m interested to see what he does as far as the floorboard damage. But if it were me I’d try to figure out the electrical issue first. Reguardless I’m going to keep watching, like I said this could be used as a primer of what not to do, and an adventure I’m happy I’m not taking yet entertained someone else is sharing it.

 

The other issue is that he is working on a Spider. I haven't checked but I seem to remember that replacing the windshield in a 360 requires special attention owed to the fact that it is part of the structural integrity of the the car (both the Modena and the Spider).

Despite the fact that the car doesn't appear as if he needs to replace the windshield, the flex in Spiders (usually all marques) is significant under spirited driving. In accident situations most insurance companies know that the damage to a Spider is usually a lot more significant than that which can be visually observed. My old Porsche 911 Targa was not available for the optional sport shocks/struts. Porsche said this was due to the flex of the car and they wished to discourage balls to the wall driving in one. Cars without a roof are very flex-y and twisty. Even my '58 Cadillac Convertible has a 1/2" thick by 1.5" wide steel bar stock reinforcement to the bottom of the "X" frame that the coupes and sedans didn't.

 

There is going to be plenty of adversity in rebuilding this car, but the same can be said about any work on any car. There is always risk. The risks I took buying such a neglected car and getting it back on the road was as much of a rush as driving it. It's his time, his money, and his reputation on the line. I don't see the need for all of the negativity.

 

I have no idea who this "Samcrac" guy is (I'm getting old) but I do remember seeing a green metal flake Modena at Ferrari of San Francisco around the time I was looking for one. The color was absolutely stunning!! Tan interior as well. I would have purchased it in a heart beat but, alas, it was an F1. They had a 6-speed in resale Red so I bought that one.

 

Yes, he in fact does have to replace the windshield. It appears the struts for the front trunk we removed and someone threw it up damaging the hood at each corner and where it came in contact with the wiper arms as well as cracked the windshield.

Where the floor is pushed up and the cracked “frame” looks more like a support for the battery box/floor. Doesn’t look thick enough to be structural at least for an aluminum car but I’m no engineer. It is however in a really inconvenient place for repairs but I’m sure it can be done, how easy that may or may not be is the question

 

KC360 FL Don’t put your post inside the quotes when you quote someone else’s post. Write your addition below the quote. I see so many people do this and it just becomes a garbled mess. No one can quote and respond to what you said because your words are inside the other persons quote and looks like they said it making anything you said unquotable.

 

There’s no way that damage happened from someone “throwing the hood up with their hands” you would have to rip both struts apart to hit the windshield or bend the hood. That had to fly open when the car was in motion, it would take an insane amount of force.