will do, i need to call Walter back again and see why i still have no pics. i hate having to chase folks around for this stuff. you would think a ferrari seller would be more organized! a QV GTB is a super cool ride, that and the 328 GTB's.
got pic s of the car, its an obvious repaint, though it looks ok for my " driver " purposes. the low miles and rumors of engine problems scare the hell out of me, they dont seem to have any books, tools or records. i sent out 2 Pm' to those that offered to look at the car, i may persue this as long as it can be PPI'd by a shop that has not worked on it. a compression test should end most worries, though i will have to do a major belt service and valve adjust ASAP. thoughts??? am i nuts?
Please post the pics...people on here may pick something out you may have missed. There are some serious stitch Nazis on here.
LSU308, I was at Vintage motorcars about a month ago and Ferda was working on a red 308GTB. I think he has had the car for about 3 months. Maybe Ferda is the one working on the car for Mr. Walter.
Danny and Ferda said they did not know of the car or Walter. unless it was Walters mechanic " Johnny" that took the car there and back. i spoke with Ferda yesterday and Danny is off until monday. Walter is going to Europe so i must make a decsion with or without PPI on monday. if Ferda did the work on the car i will speak with him and see what his opinion is on the little GTB. otherwise i am done with this car. they have no books , tools or service records to show traceability to prove the low miles are original,. the car has been painted and the seats redone, yet the pedals , carpet and steering wheel show lots of wear. even in the low 20's ( which its not) , i am uneasy about the car. i just cant take off from work right now to fly out as we have both hangars full of aircraft and we are very busy.
The red GTB Ferda is working on is mine. He has the car since Feb, and has done a complete engine rebuild (down to the piston rings, valve guides, gaskets, bearings...), finished to plug the emission system (which was half done before), carbs rebuild (from the ground up), new suspensions (new shocks, all new bushings + other parts), new steering rack, new A/C (new compressor, new sensor...), new water pump (328 bearings), distributors, radiator flushed, and all the rest... What started as a tuning, turned into a restoration, and it should be completed soon. Hopefully I am in town to take it for a spin. The car should then be flawless... Loved every moment of the restoration, and can't wait to see it completed!
are you the guy who may be relocating back Down Under? Danny told me there was a GTB he and Ferda were working on and that the owner may be moving back overseas due to work obligations. from what i heard the car is coming along nicely. Danny mentioned that Ferda sees one thing wrong , and its "UH OH, OIL LEAK, MOTOR COME OUT". Danny was really helpful, i only spoke to Ferda for a minute of so on friday. as far as Walter's GTB goes, no compression check, no sale. i am not buying the car without getting it looked at!!! best of luck to you on your GTB. michael
And it is looking oooooh so good. The suspension is to die for, the engine looks new. Man...you are going to have a $45k 308 100 point car when he is done. If I get this contract I am working towards I am having a similar job done if Ferda can squeeze me in (this will be in months, not weeks if it happens). I can absorb a big cost hit on my car and still recoup the cost of a job like Ferda does.
Thanks LSU308! Can't wait to come back to Houston... Michael, Unfortunatly, (or fortunatly depending on how you see the F-car in the picture), no Down Under, but Oklahoma for few months. Far less exotic! Then it is another non-vacationing country in Asia, for a year... We will see where the GTB fits in the picture... Ferda is very detail oriented and patient with the client. He is a great guy, and whatever he tells you about a car, listen to him. He knows his stuff (at least more than I do)...
That was me, and the car will not hold compression when I called about it in the spring of 2003. The owner did not tell me this. The warehouse where the car resides has a mech. or two that takes care of this collection and he gave me the name of the shop that had recently worked on it. I'm sorry, I do not have the name any more of that shop. I talked with the shop (maybe it was Vintage - I don't know) and they told me they had done the belts (only) b/c the seals leaked so bad they refused to work on it b/c they were afraid the old belts would break while they tried to tune it (the seals still leak b/c they did not replace them - previous owner choice). The shop was trying to tune it for the previous owner (not the collector) but they could not get it to tune at all. A compression check revealed that one bank would not hold compression. I believe it was sold to the collector (Walter?) in this condition and he may or may not be aware of it. Other than that the rest of the car looks good from what I could tell. I'll see if I can come up with the name of the shop. They mostly did mercs and porsche's. Hell, if you're interested I can go look at it. The shop is right down the street from my house.
hey Sean, thank you so much for sharing this, i was ready to go and buy this car! Walter told me friday on the phone that he had never heard of Vintage nor did he know who Danny and Ferda were, and i mentioned them by name. he made it clear that he did not want the car to leave the property, not even by tow truck at my expense. i told him no inspection and compression test, no sale. this is the same thing that happened with the car in Littleton Colorado, vin *22855* ( 77gtb) . i have cash in hand but the owner refused to let a dealer see the car. then he claimed the car is sold to someone else, which is fine , but its still advertised. i have bought many MANY cars ( muscle cars) over the net, and this is getting to be the worth experience i have had. i may just wait and get one from a known member like i did with Mike P's car, or go to a reputable dealer / broker. this sucks.
In fairness to Walter, I tried to have an inspection done too. Although I never talked to Walter, I did talk to his "mechanic" (the guy who takes care of the cars). He told me that they had someone screw them on an old Vette that the guy wanted inspected. The guy took it to a shop and the shop appearently screwed it up somehow. The guy brought it back, parked it out front, dropped of the keys and left saying he would be in touch. Well, the car sat there for the duration of the day and when the mech. went to move it inside it was running rough/screwed up. I don't remember exactly what happened, but it cost them some money to get it fixed and they had no recourse with the "buyer" b/c it was basically their word against his (it sat all day so it made it kinda tough for them to do anything - they didn't "catch him in the act" so to speak). So you can see they may be a little gun shy to let any of his cars go anywhere. You can do a compression check at there place and even a leak down if they have an air compressor they'd let you use. Let me do some asking. My neighbor may have a guage and I could check the compression for you maybe later this week. At least I could go see it and see how it drives/runs. Make sure the windows work, etc (hey, I can fix the AC if that doesn't work!!!). Don't call Walter just yet. I'll let you know if I can get it done, then you can give me his name/number and I'll set something up. Or, you could call Vintage and see what they'd want to do an on site inspection for you (again, all you need is the guage to do a compression check and some air and a guage for a leak down, some wrenches, volt/ohm meter, etc - tools that can easily be transported). It may cost you an extra couple hundred. Call Vintage and see what they say. Let me look at it first and I can tell you if it's even worth your time/money to inspect it further. Sean
thank you for your generous offer, Danny said he would rather not go there and do any inspection, he would like it at his shop, on the lift to do it properly. Walter and Johnny told me about the Vette that was stolen and recovered , and the older Vette that had the spark plugs left loose and the carb screwed up. i totally understand his wanting to be cautious with a Ferrari, since they can be so finicky. if you want to persue this, feel free to Pm me, but i am looking at other cars also, and i dont want you to inconvenience yourself on my account. thanks, Michael M. edit : recap on what i know about the car. 1) no books , tools or service records to show service history and prove milage is correct. 2) recent repaint with overspray, i will say it does look nice in the pictures. 3)seats have been recovered but carpet shows some wear as do pedals, makes me question the 31k miles on it. 4) front marker light(s) broken and covered with amber covered tape , instead on bieng replaced. this to me is a bad indication of how the car has been treated. 5) engine compartment VERY dirty, plug wires, carbs et al look rather old, but they are supposedly new/ replaced. 6) i dont mind a beater ferrari, i have proven that already. but i am not paying more for one in this condition than i sold my last one for. 7) thanks to all here for all the help and info on the phone, by Pm and here in this thread.
the car that is the topic of this thread is for sale on EBAY RIGHT NOW! *22989* http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2494042720&indexURL=0&photoDisplayType=2#ebayphotohosting
Did you give up on it, Reaper???? Are you talking to a guy in Colorado????? On VIN #21XXX? Do you think three is too many? I kinda want a color for every day of the week!!!!! If it's Monday, I'll use the yellow one.....and so on.
