1982 Ferrari 400GTi Chassis 42185

Ok now that is utterly fantastic. Wow. Gorgeous. (Although I am biased as mine is grigio with the same black/red interior, although mine is a series II.)

 

Love it. Sounds amazing.


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The original livery was less vivid see one of the last pic of the listing :
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Not perfectly original, but that's a gorgeous colour combo indeed. Also it's nice to have a "good" period correct Sony radio. Just wondering what Windows switch these are? Could be a proper alternative to the flimsy original ones.

 

And it's at $60,000 already. Covid Schmovid!

 

In reading the comments on BaT I see that the tone has changed since the first 400 to appear there. No more "ugliest" or "slowest" or any of that crap. Now it is beautiful Ferrari with a proper V12, etc.
Nice.

 

But its still very slow. I know I constantly find myself leaning forward in my car in an attempt to make it go faster.

 

Is yours a manual?

 

+1 Newman, is yours an auto? I don’t find that my 412 5 speed manual is slow at all... well, perhaps when compared to a 488, it is. But the power seems plenty, especially the torque and, of course, the V12 soundtrack.

Ruben

 

I suppose it isn't the fastest Ferrari, but it is plenty fast for me and the other members of our Ferrari club are amazed at how I can keep up with their much newer cars on our drives. I've owned some hyper fast cars but find that the sounds, smell, torque, and hand-built quality of the 400i to be worth far more than speed. To each his own I guess.

 

Mine's an auto and yes a manual will make a big difference but the laws of physics still apply. Mine is a 310 "Ferrari" HP 4 seater box on wheels meaning its not really 310HP by anyone else's standards and that's before it had 77,000kms on it and a timing chain that's a foot longer than it was when it was new. That coupled with Im guessing a 4000lb car? As for keeping up with newer ferrari's Ill take that with a grain of salt unless a 328 is the newer ferrari we're talking about. It wont keep up with my older boxer which wont keep up with a 360. Don't get me wrong, I love my car but Im also being a realist. Even a non-turbo honda civic would school me in a race of any kind.

 

My Brother (400 manual carb) and cousin (412 manual) both felt really embarrassed when climbing a road in the Alps: they could not sustain the pace of a guy with a plain diesel Renault Clio. Truth is any modern mid-range diesel powered modern car is faster than our cars (not even talking about high end German sedan). So yes, by nowadays standard these cars are "slow".

When compared to other cars of that era, that's another story: most of the cars were either sluggish, scary, or both. On most vintage cars at 180kmh, when I am not scared, the lady is... The Ferrari is one of the few vintage car you can drive at high speed and still have a relaxed discussion with your passenger.

Not so sure about the 365: this one is a bot of an animal!

 

Agreed the 400 is a heavy car but from my old point of view (if all goes well I will be turning 70 at the raspberries in less than 3 months time) it is a rather nice car for balance between sensation and comfortable driving. As time goes, my 512 BBi sits longer in the garage than my 400's.

 

I use my 400i weekly as much as 4 times a week and my BB sits. Im 50 so its not a matter of not being able to bend down and crawl into the car its just that the 400i is a great car. It could use a 550 engine and a modern auto box like something from a BMW or mercedes rather than a safarivan transmission. I drove it today, thought about the transmission and I would never convert it to manual, it would kill resale. A different auto trans thats a bolt in swap may happen.

 

I just manually drop the auto box down to second from third and go back and forth all the time. Blip the throttle when dropping it so it is smooth. Makes all the difference in the world. Also start it in second from lights, wind it out, then manually bump it up to third.

 

I have a manual 412 and have extensively driven a friends auto 412. I discovered the auto is great for city stop-start driving and "real world" use and was surprised how responsive the 412 / TH400 combo is. On open roads or semi twisty roads I do prefer the manual, but neither would be a good choice for climbing a road in the Alps....

 

You put that in there for me to bite...eh! .

 

Hopefully I've managed to find a few friends that do think these are a good choice in the Alps

(Mont-Blanc just in the background, this road is actually on the Mont-Blanc World Rallye track)​

A 400i in good working order does perform indeed very nice. I had the opportunity to drive a well sorted out white (with black stipes!) 400i (Swiss owner not in this forum). This car was night and day compared to my worn-out transmission. If one does not like the way the transmission operates, no need to mess with the governor, as chances are that the friction bands are shot. just my 2 cents.

A transmission specialists will overhaul your tranny back to factory spec for more or less $1000. Once this is sorted out you can try a better convertor (i.e like the one from the 412, but not the huge original one that could be found in light trucks as @Newman pointed out), then play with the modulator to suit your driving style. That's the best no-nonsense performance upgrade one should consider on a >50.000km 400i.

If you want to go wild, I would suggest the next upgrades in the following order : high stall converter (mid-range price is fine but avoid entry level), heavy duty seals (no more Teflon), rollerized axles, 4L80 parts, custom valve body, switch pitch, ultralite drums. Tested all these except the ultra-lite drums (removing 30lb of rotating masses ought to be a good idea). Upgrades to avoid : close ratio gears, trans-brake (what a silly way to destroy the rear axle), reverse valve-body (what's the point), small diameter converters (thought it could be a killer setup, but resulted in too much slippage at high speed). In other words you can use a drag race transmission as long as you remove the usual drag race gimmicks.

If you are insane, you could try to shoe-horn a 4L80, but you have to be brave enough to cut the frame cross-member next to the gearbox tail , move the passenger seat a few cm away from the centre console, fabricate a wider console and hide the gearbox protrusion with custom carpets. Add to this a new rear axle (from a 400 manual), plus a custom torque tube. Not for the faint of heart.

 

Easier to trade it in on a 456

 

Love the 456, excellent engine, and the original design (with air ducts on the fender) was one of my favourite. But: cockpit is really tight (more like a 911), tiny trunk, and the car is much more frightening than the 400.

Back then my father fully destroyed his 456 under really puzzling circumstances: a guy did not see him on the highway slightly touched his left fender at 50kmh, the fiberglass (kevlar?) body wrapped around the wheel, car made a complete spin. As said car fully destroyed and the airbags were not even triggered (which is the scary part). I know manufacturers cannot test all possible failures, but I don't like the idea to drive a modern car that gives you a false sense of confidence (Airbags, ABS, etc) but ends up just as dangerous as my 40 years old rig. I know that's not the sort of issue that will deter a BB owner...

Maybe the later models were better, but they do not look as good.

 

Last bu not least, the 456 interior will never look as nice as 42185 red interior! The racing flags on the console are a nice touch, but the plastic bits can hardly compare against the wooden console of the 400i !

 

Sold for $77,500! It really is a gorgeous color combo, but of course I am biased as it's close to my car's color combo.

For reference, this same car was for sale in August of 2014 at a $32k asking price. Although the interior has had a lot of nice refreshing done since then. Pic of the interior back then...

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That is a really strong result for an online auction sale. I think these cars are worth $100k+ given the rarity, design, and build quality, but so many are poorly presented online and/or have no ownership/service history that the overall perception is that these cars should always be cheap.
This car had three owners all of whom participated in the comments which helped, and a lot of service records purportedly since new.
I'm really glad for the seller and the buyer as it appears to be a nice a car. Let's hope this is the new normal for this model when presented appropriately.

 

Does anyone know what/how he was able to revive the leather in this car? Mine is all original with no tears or anything like that, but it sure could use a refresh to smooth out the color/finish.