Here's some of the latest pic's from Mike. The fist shows the new door frame's going on [ they are US spec. so much stronger] The second shows the workings of the old door with the wires and pulleys. The last shows the join are the rear of the car where the car was converted into a Spyder. Mike and i have decided to get the frame blasted, to remove any remaining rust from the chassis. I looked into acid dipping and you have to drill 1/2 inch hole every where to flush it out, also there there is a 4 month waiting time, and when i telephoned up for a price, it was around £1000 for striping and priming, but when they found out it was a classic Ferrari the price doubled. Grant Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Grant, Looks like it's coming along nicely, how are the mechanicals coming along or are you leaving those until later on?
Hi Matthew I spoke to Rob [Monza Motor Sports] who is doing the mech. work a few weeks ago and he is snowed under at the moment with work. He knows it all needs to be ready when Mike is ready so as not to slow the rebuild up and he say's it will be done. The amount of engine work has changed slightly as when i first talked to him the work on the car was not expected to be so in depth, so in keeping with Mikes work, Rob will be checking the engine out in more detail. I Hope your car is running OK and i must try to get to a FOC meet. The FOC did send me an e-mail a few weeks ago to ask if i could put my car on display for the Daytona 40th anniversary at this years Concours at Walton Hall Warwickshire, July 6th. So i had to decline as there are no wheels on my wagon at the moment! Grant
Hi Grant After a few mechanical issues this year the Daytona is running sweetly again. The exhausts have been replaced with stainless steel Quicksilvers. I know they're not original but they sound better than the Ansas on before (possibly because the Ansas were full of holes). Also had to have defective plug lead replaced and a "Crane" starter motor has been installed as it has always been a recalcigent starter. I'm missing the concours as well (sorry JT if your reading ) as I have too much to do next weekend because of family commitments. But somewhat more adventurously the Daytona is getting a good airing next week down the the Le Mans Classic. Matt
Matt, another good tip is to replace the thick power cable that runs from your battery to the starter motor. The copper breaks down with age and also corrodes inside the connectors at each end. Take the old lead to an auto electrician, most will make up a new lead with identical appearance, for little cost. Will guarantee reliable starting. Only problem is you'll be unlikely to be able to re-route the new lead through the aluminium clips that are riveted to the firewall. I wire-tied the new lead to the outside of the clips, until I had the engine out and was able to do it properly. Ian
Ian thanks for that. At the moment it's starting up much more easily than it probably has since it has been in my Dad's (and now my) custody, and that dates backto 1975! but I think the above might be job for the winter.
Grant, Great stuff. The extra door beam is indeed a USA DOT part. I finally have gutted my factory 1973 USA Daytona Spyder. Everything is out, even the wiring harness is out, spread all over the floor. Oh, I'll post pictures so all can see what chassis differences are between a factory Spyder and a Coupe. There are about 110 lbs of extra gussetting in the Spyders which is easy to see with everything apart. It's interesting to see how Ferrari did stuff. Like looking at the spot welds on the actually body. There are way more panels on the car that I thought. What I thought would be one piece is not at all. A couple of the funny things I found. One is the air duct hose between the body and inner fender well. As anyone that has tried figures out, Ferrari actually built the fender well and body around the air duct hose that they crushed to fit. It is not made to be replaced. If you want to, you have to cut open the metal (Spyders). Another is the heater box. I noticed one corner looks like it get damaged. Bill Rudd pointed out that was Ferraris custom fit job. If they didn't smash the corner of the heater box, it woudl have poked the body and dented it. I had to laugh. The old timers in Italy said the same thing. When you removed the Dinoplex Ignition Box and paint on the steel fenders (Spyder), you see where Ferrari took a ball peen hammer to the fender to get enough clearance so the AEC 103 A wouldn't hit the hood. Another Ferrari custom fit job. The whole car is like that. Steve
Steve I will look forward to the photos with great interest. Are you rebuilding the whole thing as well? Grant
More good news. I have been trying to find one of the owners of the car John Barder for about a year and was told he had moved to the usa and i had given up. Then i got a PM from Jonathan Tremlett who had read my thread, with a tip off that Mr. Barder may still be a FOC member who lives in Scotland for part of the year and also the US. I contacted the FOC and they confirmed they had a member of that name with a record that he had owned my car. They would not give out his address but said they would pass on a letter for me. So i wrote a letter on Monday and sent it to them, and as if by magic i got a phone call from Mr. Barder tonight [ 4 days later]. He has all the info on the conversion in 1985, and more, and is sending it to me in a "large" envelope!! I must thank Jonathan for all the info. he has provided on the previous owners of my car, and of course Ferrarichat.com, what an amazing source of information. Grant
I got all the info from Mr. Barder on Sat. It was fantastic, 20 pages of invoices and receipts including all the information on the conversion done by E.G., and also documentation that the previous owner had the engine rebuilt by Ferrari Maranello, in the UK, at 15,000 miles, and it was the same guy who had the car painted green, and the inside red all at the same time and then sold the car 300-400 miles later. Another interesting piece of info was a cutting from Motor Sport Magazine from Jan. 1989 in which the car was for sale for £330,000 [ $600,000 approx]. I tracked down the guy who was selling the car then, tried the usual things tel. number form the add., tel search, internet search for the company and the guy and then i e-mailed Mike has a great wealth of information tucked away in his head, who put me onto John Collins who i e-mailed and he replied with the number of the guy who owned the company selling the car "Michael Fisher LTD" and Mr. Fisher confirmed, who he was selling it on behalf of, and that he only had the car for a short time and it did not sell as the owner changed his mind. So a bit more of the jigsaw complete. luckily the car was so memorable. It must be my lucky week.
Wow Grant. Ive just come across this thread, and I cant believe I missed it all along! I hope to restore a Ferrari at some time in the future, probably a BB, so this is making interesting reading. Look forward to reading more!
I Went up to see Mike again today as i was passing, and here's the latest pic. The car has now been sand blasted and zinc primed and is now ready for the good bit to start [ Mike's words]. He really enjoys his work. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Great thread! 16611 is the 1060th Daytona built. Completed 7th May 1973. Original exterior color Celeste 106-A-16 with interior Nuvola 3015. Marcel Massini
Thanks for the kind comments guy's. Mike has been concentrating on the 250 and i though i would post up a few photos to show his expertise. They show the boot [ trunk] floor and all the box sections he has had to remake as there was hardly anything left because of rust. I love the way he go's to such detail as pressing the cigar shaped indentations into the new panels so they are exactly the same as the original. He hopes to get his work on the 250 finished soon and will then be able to concentrate on my car. [can't wait] Grant Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
This guy is so good at restoration/rebuilding he could put the roof back on the Daytona and make it beautiful again . Impressive work. Pete
Grant, Yes, I'm restoring the car. Everything is pulled, inlcuding wiring harness, brake lines, etc. Lots of interesting things to show. Starting with all the differences in the chassis between a real Spyder and Coupe, to seeing that the quarter panels are not quarter panels at all, to all the funny little modifcations Ferrari made to make things fit (with the hammer marks still visible), how the fender wells were built around the air duct hoses, etc., etc. I just need to find time to load them. Interestingly, there wasn't as much rust as I would have guessed. The doors have rust, but not terrible. Lots of surface rust of course. Oh, Ferrari clearly painted the top of the chassis before attaching everything and then painted the frame rails again. Which makes sense when you think about it. The undercoating overspray on the black engine compartment paint (what looks like sand in the paint) and the horrible application of seam sealer is clearly visible as well. Big decision is whether to restore it as lousy as Ferrari did it, or do it as Ferrari could have if they cared? The difference in the shape of the body between the right and left sides is almost criminal. I am going to fix that. I really thought the car may have been hit at one point, but it clearly wasn't after everything was taking apart and the paint stripped. It was just Ferrari's typical fit and finish. I'm thinking of painting it Rosso Bordeaux and using 3218 leather, but that's not firm yet. Steve
Ok It has been a bit slow as of late as Mike was finishing the 250 off, so here's a few intresting photos for you to ponder of the car. Mike will soon be starting on the body work. so more pic's to follow in the next few weeks. Grant Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Inspired (or shamed ) by Grant's efforts here, I've had the floor pulled out of my Autocraft-converted car (the first one they did, in 1978). Happily, no rust but the inner sill covering was the standard coupe 0.6mm sheet rather than the 1.5mm that it should be. We're installing a 2.5mm plate instead. Like Mike, the guy doing this work describes the A-post bracing done by AC as a "waste of time" and we need to take panels off to get this right - something I'll leave until I need to repaint the car. ps. My car had the "Ziebart" rust treatment process from new, it has no rust on the chassis anywhere. Either this is a great system or my car escaped the "Russian steel" syndrome! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Mine was Ziebarted (actually still has the sticker on the inside of the back window) as well and from my Dad's recollection accelarated the rusting process by trapping more water in the bodywork, so I expect yours is just lucky.
Great news Mike has started work on the car again and is now remanufacturing the sill's. I have attached the latest photo from Mike, and also, one of a car he sent me, from a previous restoration. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login