612 on ebay VIN:ZFFAA54A160147648

I was at Westlake Ferrari today and the dealer is having an C&C event this Sunday 7 am - 11am (?) at the Lakes (rear parking lot) in Thousand Oaks next to the Civic Arts Center/City Hall. I have been to a couple of their events and seem to have a pretty good turnout of Fcars. Pretty low key event compared to Super Car Sunday which is a bit more to my liking. Actually more than were at the Super Car Sunday event when Ferrari was the mark recently. There are a couple of other 612 owners who occasionally come to their events.

Also some of the folks from the service center show up at the event. Bill Rhode, service manager from Van Nuys, actually reattached the rear view mirror of a 458 for a guy who had it fall off the day before. The Westlake dealer never seems to have any 612s and all cars are on consignment at the dealership. The Beverly Hills store has an occasional 612 but at the full retail price it seemed to me.

 

TrojanFan, I know you have lots of experience with F cars. But remember it is not all about price. Anytime I have bought the "cheapest", I have regretted it. Ask my X wife!

 

Key replacement is probably going to be over $1,000. My local Ferrari dealer took almost a month to get it programmed correctly.

 

Most likely prior owner kept it as a memento

 

Yep I used to do that on my former early 911s but they were just regular keys so no big deal. But on the programable keys I have always given them up.

 

Sounds like a paint meter is a must on that car (only referring to the comments about "paint issues").

 

Trojan Fan, congratulations on the purchase. You certainly got an incredible price. It also sounds like there's not that much that you will need to do to it.

With respect to Ferrari of Fort Lauderdale, my car spent its entire life there before I purchased it. It was originally ordered through them by a well-known local collector and was an OTO. They would only give me the service records of the owner I was buying it from and not the prior owner, even with blanking out names to protect the innocent. So if you make any headway in getting the records let me know, I would love to get the prior records for my car as well. If it took throwing a little cash at them I would be in for that with you as well. Maybe a package deal.

Ron

 

If you need any of the Square nuts that the missing thumb screws in the engine compartment attach to I have several if you need 1 or 2.

 

Trojan Fan, a few additional thoughts for you.

I had a similar issue with my mirror/headlight switch when I bought my car. In my case I didn’t initially recognize that Ferrari parts are not the best made parts in the world. So I was twisting the mirror switch like I do on my other non Ferrari cars and within 24 hours of taking delivery I had the knob come off in my hands (it had a plastic shaft that deteriorates). So I then had the privilege of finding out that what would be a $5 part at Schuck’s was in fact a $1800 part if it was a Ferrari part. It was my little welcome to the Ferrari club and I quickly learned a life lesson and I treat all of the little knobs and switches with a lot more respect.

Anyways, the mirror/headlight switch is a single assembly and you cannot buy them separately. They are Ferrari part number 191969. You can buy them as an original new factory part but, as I said, they are about $1800. I hunted around at wreckers and I actually found the part at Scuderia Car Parts in the UK. They are very reliable and they shipped it to me for about $700 all in. Still a lot for a broken plastic shaft on the knob, but hey it’s a Ferrari!

Be careful with Florida cars. Mine came with P-Zero tires and they had a lot of tread but a serious case of dry rot. I replaced them with Michelin Pilot Super Sports and they are awesome. However, according to TAZ, the Michelin Pilot 4 S are even better. I will have to wait to find out about that.

Also TAZ gave me a heads up about the exhaust. I set it up so the exhaust bypass valves are open all the time. It sounds MUCH better. It just involves removing and capping the hoses that go to the pneumatic valves on the tailpipes. It is really easy.

You mentioned your dash and your rear headliner. My car had a similar problem (I think it is common with Florida cars because of the heat/humidity). I was going to live with it but I decided that I wanted to change the look of the dash so I sent it to Randy at RMT. He gave me an awesome price to replace the dash, fix the headliner, etc. Far better than I have heard quoted on this forum. Incidentally, I also did a ceramic window tint on the windshield. It was too late to stop the prior heat effect on the leather but it cut the heat transmission by about 90% so it will definitely stop future dash shrinkage. I also had Randy send out my ECUs for tuning. Makes a difference.

On the dead battery, that was an issue for me too. I replaced it but I found I still have to plug it in to the trickle charger if I am going to leave it for more than 4 or 5 days. The computer keeps running when the car is off and eats the battery.

Also, if you want to send me your e mail address, I can send you a PDF of my 2007 owner’s manual. It is pretty much the same as the 2006 other than the radio.

Hope all this helps.

 

I explored the Maserati one as a solution but decided not to. The burled knob on the Ferrari is different than the Maserati. It is connected by a plastic rod that is one piece. So you can't replace the knob and make it match.

If you're find shop manuals let me know. I've explored that for a couple of years and I've had no luck. I would love to have one.