Video "Behind The Scenes" Tour of Maranello Parts U.K.

I watched that video this morning - It was very interesting, especially as I'm buying quite a few parts from Maranello Classic Parts at the moment (along with Superformance and Eurospares) to get my '89 328 GTS back on the road.

One thing I noted: Ratarossa gives the impression that they stock everything you might need for your classic Ferrari, but that's not the case. They do stock an impressive amount of parts, but not everything.

For example: Need a 328 rear view mirror? - No stock at Maranello Classic Parts (and @ £1933 + delivery if they did have them!) - Superformance show them as being in stock (for @ £1655 + delivery! ).

I was also wondering just how long the flat twelve 512 BB engine's might remain in stock, and how often the cranks will be rotated, to keep them freed up?

It was also funny when Ratarossa put the 348 folder back on the rack, slightly hanging out - I was just thinking to myself: "They won't be happy with that hanging out of the rack!", when one of the parts guys put it back properly

I have to say that being based in the UK, Ferrari owners are very well served by Maranello Classic Parts, Superformance and Eurospares - I've had excellent service from all three

 

I watched the video last night. Very impressive range of spares. I guess when they bought all the earlier model spares from Italy, they must of done some kind of deal with a Ferrari Spa so that they could continue and remanufacture parts as they exhausted stock, under license ?
Interesting to see the range and number or cars that Eurospares are breaking, some look excellent and without visible damage, yet not for sale as complete cars? I'm sure that Scott ( Ratarossa) could get a few of them back on the road. In particular a very nice 328GTS in blue, the car looks ace, with recorded flood damage! Surely that's got to be worth while getting back on the road?
Just fill it with rice and leave it for a few weeks indoors!

 

I think they had a deal prior to that. The company re-manufacturing was (is?) called Marpart. It's one of the things that is great about owning an older Ferrari. Even if parts are expensive at least you can get them. A friend of mine had a Maserati Bora in the 80s and that was a nightmare to get parts for; hydraulic light motors that leaked and were NLA, 'Pistons Complete' that took 4 months to come from Italy (payment in advance) and then arrived without rings ...

 

My father rebuilt a 1959 Maserati 3500GT from a basket case in the late 80's , he wrote to Maserati in Italy directly explaining that he was saving a rare and important car from certain death, requesting new crank shaft main bearings and valve shims, they replied with a letter from a director and the parts , free of charge!!!
Brilliant, wouldn't happen today ..... I've seen the car recently on a dealers site at £200,000, Dad paid two grand

 

How long was it under water?
How much water got inside the chassis tubes and then sat there, risking severe chassis corrosion to occur out of sight, later in the cars life?

Chances, because of the risk of serious chassis corrosion occurring in the future, making the car a possible death trap in an accident, the insurance company will have declared the car a category B (or CAT B) write-off. In the UK, CAT B means the car can only be used for spare parts, and can never be returned to the roads.

I seriously doubt that "filling it with rice" would save the chassis from any future internal corrosion issues.

In addition, Eurospares would not want any legal, liability issue to come their way, if someone did put the cars back on the road, and something tragic happened. It's far easier for them to simply scrap the cars off.

 

I wasn't serious about the rice.. I guess it depends on was it salt water or fresh water? They have drain holes at the tube ends, as does mine. The electrics would be the main issue over the mechanics. A full nut & bolt stripdown and restoration would return a very nice car, its all about cost I guess. A 246gts would soon get snapped up for rebuild , the prices of these pre 90,s cars are only going one way! Especially RHD cars now, here in the U.K. Lots of LHD 308/328's being shipped over from the states now to feed the demand.