Some notes from my trip, comments on a few people involved, and some overall impressions. Bought my 1980 400i from Peter Sweeney at Forza in CT early in February. Good guy to deal with, I'd have no problems in giving him the "thumbs up" to anyone looking for a car. (We had a problem with the radio after the car had been paid in full, Peter stepped right up and offered to buy another radio even though the deal was done) I'm betting that the sleek black beauty that now calls my shop home won't be the last car Peter sells me. I hired Bill Pollard from SportAuto to do the PPI. I can't say enough good things about this guy. He nit picked the car, took his time, and gave me a good list of pro's and con's. Once the deal was struck I had Bill perform the service work on the car. Bill has a way of making you feel like you are the only customer he has and the total success of his business depends on you being happy. The car was running fine but we noticed that the spark box was incorrect for the car. Bill called and was really upset that he missed it on the PPI. He was bothered enough that he offered to sell me a new one at cost, rebuild my distributor at no charge, and perform a couple of other small items for free. There aren't many people any more that take so much pride in thier work that if they make a mistake they go overboard to try to make it right. I was so impressed with Bill that I'll probably ship my car to him when it needs major service. I left Houston last Friday morning. The forcast high was 78 degrees. After a 3 1/2 hour plane trip, 3 different trains, and a short cab ride I arrived in Gaylordsville, CT where it was a balmy 7 degrees! I thought I'd die at any minute. The side streets still had some snow and ice on them. All I can think is I must be totally off my rocker to even think about buying a quarter of a century old Italian V-12 automoblie that was never imported into the US. The fact that I was planning on driving it 1,800 miles home in this weather confirmed that I surely have a one way ticket to the funny farm waiting for me. This isn't my first toy, but it happens every time; that feeling in the pit of your stomach the first time you climb behind the wheel and hit the starter. WOO HOO! Left the snow behind in the first 3 hours of driving time. The rest of the trip was fun, beautiful, and an experience every car nut should have at least once. Not a short hop, but a cross country run. Trust me, your butt will get sore but not as sore as your cheeks from your ear to ear **** eating grin. I'm lucky, I don't need another bright red rocket, another ragtop, or another testosterone level raising car. I wanted a cruiser. I got more than I bargined for. Impressions of the 400i: Nothing about these cars is wild, boastful, or flashy. This car doesnt scream anything; it whispers. The prancing horse on the rear is small. The Ferrari letters on the trunk lid are positioned in a way that most other drivers can't see them. This car has the confidence in itself that it doesn't need to yell what it is. You know and it knows, who cares who else knows. The V-12 isn't loud. At 70mph you can hear it yet still carry on a conversation without raising your voice. Yet you can't help but notice that the wail from the headers is there. Cruising at 70 you don't really need to press the gas pedal, you just slightly think it down and the car jumps to 130 mph. I was quite impressed by the feeling of complete control I experienced at speeds in excess of 120. Make no mistake, this car is HEAVY (over 4,000 lbs). At highway speeds it is a dream to drive. Comfortable, secure feeling, effortless. Think of these cars as women. These aren't mini-skirt clad party girls; these are professional women in evening gowns. In Detroit iron terms; it isn't a corvette, a 400i is a Caddy CTS. No big trouble on the trip. One of the cooling fans started to scream (bearings?) so I shut it down and kept going. It was cool enough that I didn't have a problem. Pulled into Houston Sunday night, has a sore butt, but I was happy. Screwed up a bit today so I'll tell on myself. I took the cooling fan out, taped off the connections, and replaced the fuse. Little did I know that the fuse wasn't making contact so the other fan wasn't working. Car got a bit hot, not critical but close. The trans started to slip pretty bad. Does anyone know if this is likely due to the increased temps? It didn't slip all the way home, but it wasn't hot then either. Some photos.... Dave '80 400i #31243 Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Great writeup and pics! It looks very elegant in black and cleaned up nicely. I talked with Bill Pollard last year - there was a 308 I was considering at Forza - and I was really impressed as well. Congrats. Hope you get the fan issues resolved before Texas summer...
Nice car, it looks good in black. Yes excess heat will definitily cause an auto to slip. It may be a good idea to now change the trans fluid aswell.
Nice looking car. Seems like it would be good on long road trips. Hope you enjoy the ownership experience. BT
Great write-up. Those cars are built for road trips. Don't sweat the tranny. Flush the old tranny fluid and install some new Red Line ATF. And if the tranny does go bad on you anyway, it's just a Detroit automatic(Chevelle??) that's not expensive to replace.
Have to reiterate the Thumbs UP to Peter Sweeney (seller) and Bill Pollard (mechanic). Have known each of them for over ten years - both top notch. Put almost 10k miles on my 400i 8 months thanks to Bill - and he is currently rebuilding my Boxer motor as well. Great trip Dave!!!!!!!!! Thanks for the write up, Alex
Hey, Dave! Car looks awesome! Your impressions are right on with the ability to cruise effortlessly at whatever speed you like in a very understated way. What better way to get to know your new car than with an 1,800 mile roadtrip! I hope you have many happy miles with her! John 1983 400i 5 speed, silver/black s/n 46153 P.S. I've looked and don't have any more information about the ad that your car appeared in from 1998 other than a Manhattan phone number. I'll e-mail that to you separately. If you are a FML subscriber, e-mail Gerald Roush and he will send you the ad copy for every ad that your car has been in. JJA
Thanks for sharing. I've always had a soft spot for this style of car, and it doesn't get discussed enough here The tranny is essentially a GM TH400, any shop should be able to work in it. As mentioned earlier, just flush the fluid and maybe change the filter and you'll be good. I don't know if these came with transmission coolers or not, but if not you can probably get one added easily to help deal with summer and sustained high speeds.
Hot Damn man, great pictures and a great trip. I've wondered who to use in that neck of the woods for PPI and what not. Funny thing though, I've got a couple of dozen buddies from down Houston way and they don't wear boots that look like those in the sunset picture. Hmmm you goin incognito? <VBG> Just kidding, great car!
There are a couple of Ferraris that pictures don't do justice too.... a 400 is one of them... nice car! My only contribution is that if the 400 series had the rear wheel about 4"-6" further back (equal too or behind the roof pillar) it would be "incredible"! Can anybody photoshop that???
Ahhh yes, the joys of owning European toys. When we did the PPI the trans fluid was nice and clean. There was a newer gasket in the trans pan. Now I know why. I took it by the shop that works on my everyday cars this morning. They were kind enought to let me drop the transmission pan. UH OH!!! Dark fluid and metal shavings everywhere. Fine metal covering the filter big time. "Hey, guess what? I'm getting a re-built transmission." Looks like the previous owner knew about the tranny. My guess he changed the filter and fluid so it would shift a little better and dumped it before it blew. There just isn't any way to catch this on a PPI unless you start taking transmissions apart. By the time I get done it'll be $1,500 or so. But the good news is parts are in stock everywhere (GM TH400 trans) and it shouldn't take longer than a week. The pisser is I don't get to play with it for a week or so. Sucks huh? Dave 1980 400i s/n 31243
A new Ferrari tranny for $1,500...in a V-12! That wouldn't cover putting on the gloves to work on a 360's tranny. The kicker is that some guy thinks that he's ripping *you* off by selling a 400i with a bad tranny...not knowing that he left thousands on the table in value that he could have had in driving pleasure had he simply fixed his own tranny and kept his car. I keep saying over and over; it's the knowledge, not the money, that makes the Ferrari experience. You knew that a common GM TH400 tranny was all that was required...the previous owner clearly didn't. Knowledge. Now you get a 400i with a fresh tranny; the previous owner didn't. Difference in driving experience: ENORMOUS.
EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I'm going to try to pretend that I can write $1,500 checks all day long like some of the guys on here. But let's be honest; this is a toy. My suburban EATS tranny's at around the same dollars for a rebuild. So $1.5k for a major repair on a Ferrari, while expensive to a working guy like me, isn't half bad. I'm not unhappy with my car at all. It looks like a million bucks (see the pictures), runs out like a dream, and now will have a great drivetrain. WOO HOO sounds like it'll be time for another road trip. Dave '80 400i s/n 31243
It was also fitted on the Rolls Royce Silver Shadow. Ferrari did not invest into an automatic gearbox. Mine is new too. The dstacy description sounds well, it's exactly how I see this car. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Dave Congrats. The car looks mint. Good to hear you decided to drive it home rather than have it trailored, as its meant to be. I picked up my first car in France and drive it overnight back to England. Its the only way to do it!
Welcome to FChat! Maybe in a separate thread you can introduce yourself and tell us about your 400i, where you got it, how long you've had it, you know, all those interesting tidbits that hardcore V12/400i nuts love to hear! John 1983 400i 5 speed, silver/black s/n 46153
Great write up. When I was shopping for my car, I found that Bill Pollard had once worked on it. I cold called him and he spent a half hour on the phone with me going over his notes. Just as a favor for a stranger. That's the kind of guy he is.
What a beautiful example! And a great writeup! Sorry about the trans, but now you can have the great piece of mind that comes with knowing the job was well done and you should have no more problems in that area for years.
She's a pretty nice car. I need to do a bit of work on the interior, clean the leather, headliner, etc. I'll get some pictures of the underside once they get the tranny out. With a new tranny it'll be even more reliable and time for another road trip Dave '80 400i s/n 31243
Very nice looking car. If after driving 1,800 miles all you have is a $1,500 repair bill, your are doing well. With those kind of miles in a short time, if there were other issues, they would have surfaced. I think the 400 -412 cars look a lot better in person than in pictures. Saw 2 last week. A 400i and a 412, both at Tim Stanfords in Ft. Lauderdale. I was there to picking up my 328 after it's 30K service. Had to spend 20 minutes just looking at those 2 cars. They realy look great up close. Kind of reminds me of the 365 GTC/4's with their smooth uncluttered sides, and trunk lines. Also one of those Ferrari's that look better in a color other than red. Enjoy the ride.
Quote: Originally Posted by laperriere It was also fitted on the Rolls Royce Silver Shadow. Ferrari did not invest into an automatic gearbox. Mine is new too. The dstacy description sounds well, it's exactly how I see this car. Welcome to FChat! Maybe in a separate thread you can introduce yourself and tell us about your 400i, where you got it, how long you've had it, you know, all those interesting tidbits that hardcore V12/400i nuts love to hear! John 1983 400i 5 speed, silver/black s/n 46153 Thanks for your welcome message. I'll share some information about my '79 gray 400iA in a separate thread. Olivier
