It is a very interesting model. Considering they were all grey market in the US I'm betting there are very few examples left in the states. So I'm on a mission to find out just how many there really are. I'll email you the spreadsheet if you'll allow me to add your car to it. My car is on it along with 21 others that I've found so far. (got yours also Alex) Drop me an email to daveATcirclesvineyards.com (replace AT with @) I'll need VIN, exterior & interior color, miles, state, & year. I'll email you the updated sheet every month or 2. If you go by the law of averages I'm guessing we'll end up with 30 or 40 cars on the list. Figure that we only find 25% of the US cars, I think it'll be pretty safe to say that there are only 120 to 160 400's in the US. I'm not trying to scam any info from anybody, I'm just a car nut and apparently have too much time on my hands. By the way, I have a couple of photos of 400's being built at the factory in Italy. If you want a digital copy let me know in your email and I'll send them to you. Dave '80 400i #31243
Dave: Can I safely assume, since you own a 400i, that you are covering the injected models as well (and maybe even the 365 GT4 2+2 and 412)? BTW, I have been tracking mainly 400i versions more or less regularly since I was looking for mine in 1998. I've got more than 220 lines of data on the 400i models although the actual number of cars is fewer since several cars have been up for sale multiple times in the past 8 years. Your 400i, for example, was listed for sale in the Ferrari Market Letter in early 1998, showing 64,000 miles, black exterior, black interior and most interesting, a sunroof. I don't have any listings for your car after that date, but that is possibly because the car hasn't been on the market often and I haven't been checking religiously all of the time. What can you tell us about yours? When did you buy it, what sort of shape is it in, any other interesting tidbits? John 1983 400i 5 speed, silver/black s/n 46153
WOW! Info on my car? Obviously I'd be very grateful if you'd email whatever info you have. If you include your address I'll send you a bottle or 2 as a thank you. (Check out my website, you'll understand) I'll send you my spreadsheet & the photos if you want. daveATcirclesvineyards.com My car, well let's see.... I just bought it from Peter Sweeney at Forza. Good guy, I'd have no trouble giving him a thumbs up. It is still in the Northeast, I'll pick it up early in March. I'm thinking about driving it back. How is that for crazy? It is a "crossover" car between the carb & injected models. It has injection, yet has the early style rear shocks, not load-levelers. Early fuse box, not the dreaded circuit boards. Cable controls for hood, etc, not the electric switches. 15" wheels with XWX's insteadof the TRX's on the '81 and up models. Black on black, a nice combo if I do say so myself. It really does have a factory sunroof. It hasn't been converted to a MPH speedo, still reads in KPH It is still in pretty nice shape. I'm having some front end work done to it now. Ball joints, tie rods, etc. Along with a bunch of misc. stuff. I bought it because I have a few rag tops already and have always wanted a big touring cruiser. I've seen a lot of talk about these cars and think a lot of people don't understand what they were designed for. They aren't, to put it in terms of American cars, corvettes and weren't supposed to be. They are Cadillac STS's. You take your shiny bright red rocket out on Saturday afternoon and have a blast. On Saturday night when you wife is dressed to the nines and ready for dinner out, you take your 400i. Dave
Dave, my attempt to e-mail you this info was kicked back, so here you go... 1978 400a serial#22659 - 98,000km originally marrone/tan-not 100% sure currently black/tan w/black inserts - see my profile for an exterior shot no expense spared resto in '91 but just a good driver now the 400 was not my first Ferrari and it won't be my last ( i'm very close to pulling the trigger on a nice blk/tan Mondial cab) but i really love this car. if it was a 5 speed with a nice pop out sunroof panel it would be perfect. i'd like to talk more with other 400 owners ( John i recognize you from a couple of sites ) and learn more about these cars...for example "cross-over rear suspension" and "factory sunroofs". brett
Here is a small picture of the moonroof in my 400i. Installed at the factory. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Dave: I don't have much more information about your ad, although the seller listed a New York City phone number and the asking price in January 1998 was $21K. Interestingly enough, it was still for sale in April of that year but the price had been raised to $23K! I'm up in VT this weekend but I'll check in the attic when I get home and see if I can give you the wording of the entire ad. A question: Are you sure that your car doesn't have the self-leveling rear suspension? I had thought that all of them back to the 365GT4 2+2 had a self leveling rear suspension, even though there were some changes in the design throughout the years. Mine, for instance, has the self levelers with 2 Koni shocks and 2 Koni levelers that are actuated off of the accumulator that senses the weight. Another: You said yours has a moonroof. Does that mean that it has a tinted glass roof or is it metal? BTW, nice website! I had no idea that anyone in Texas produced wines! Which wines do you use the Texas grapes for and which do you use the Tuscan grapes? John
John, thanks for the reply. Interesting tactic; if it doesn't sell then raise the price. If you find the ad I'd sure appreciate the phone number listed in it. I'm trying to build a history on my car with owners names, interesting stories, etc. Bill Pollard, from Sportauto, is doing some work on the car. I hired him to do the PPI. He "nit picked" it like crazy and did a nice job. He told me that the early 400's up to the mid 1980 model year did NOT have the load leveler shock system on them. Mine runs standard konis in the rear. The moonroof, sunroof, whatever, in my car is a steel panel, motorized. See the picture above your last post. Thanks for the kind words on the website. Merlot, Sangiovese, Montepulciano, and Corvina amarone are made with grapes from the Italian vineyard. Email me your address and I'll send you a bottle or 2. Picking the 400i up in just under 3 weeks. I'm looking forward to seeing it. Dave
Here are the figures I have for 400s that are or have been in the US. I don't know how many still are in the US (or still on the road) and I don't have figures for the pre-fuel injection cars. 400i Auto = 178 400i Manual = 62 412 Auto = 64 412 Manual = 34 Jonathan
Jonathan, Thats pretty close to what I predicted. Mind if I ask where you got those numbers from? Dave
Just finished reading "crappy cars" a book by the Top Gear journalist. I am still laughing it is great fun reading...I think the Puegot 504 should have been on the list instead of the 400 and I know there is a group trying to pump up pricing the 400 as the newly undiscovered "cheap" ferrari so I personally like all ferraris and I think the 400 has its issues but certainly does not belong on the list..I guess the author was itching to get any ferrari on the list and scapegoated the 400.
My understanding was that the 400/412s, and the 365GTC/4 (which the 400 was based on), and the 365 GT 2+2, all had the load levelling system. I'm sure there were minor changes as time went by, but I understood they all had it. Perhaps your car had the load-levelling system removed and some sort of conventional system installed? Quite a few people have done this due to the difficulty of getting replacement parts for the load-levelling system.
Hey- I have a 1982 400i automatic, brown with ivory interior. s/n 41805 with about 65,000 miles on it. Last owner bought it in Phoenix- but that is all the info I have on it. Kim
Any interest in the first car in the series? Erik 365 GT4 2+2 18759 red sir ivor/tan Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Don, Take a look at the application list from a Koni catalog: http://www.koni-na.com/pdfcatalogs/2005applguide.pdf Pretty interesting huh? I have no way of knowing how many, but it looks like a few '79 - '82 cars came without the system. Apparently mine was one of them. The list of repair & maint. items we came up with is almost complete. I'm picking her up next Saturday. I'm actually thinking of driving it back home. A 2,000 mile ride in a front engine V-12 Ferrari ought to be a riot. Just for fun, here are a few pictures of 400's at the factory in the early 80's Dave Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Sure you can. I'm not sure how to find your email addy in these posts. I know I can send you an email through your F-chat profile but it won't let me add an attachment. So drop me a note to daveATcirclesvineyards.com and I'll email all I have back to you. ( replace "AT" with "@" ) Dave Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I saw a red/tan 400GT Convertible today at FoSV - pretty nice! Can't imagine trying to get one of those past CA Smog, though... Yikes.
Dave - are you by chance the 400i owner who's car I have seen at the Wells Fargo on 1960 near Champion's Village? If not...that makes two in Houston at least. It has been some time since I have seen it...I do not even remember the color.
Nope not mine. Mine is still in the Northeast, it'll be a Houston resident late next week. I'd sure like to know who owns the one you saw. I've talked to the Houston chapter of the Ferrari Club and they don't know of any 400's in the greater Houston area. I was told there is supposed to be one in the Dallas area. Dave '80 400i #31243
There was a 365 GT4 2+2 in the Dallas area for a while, owner couldn't sell it locally in the low 20s and it went to Florida There's a 400GT being restored in this area too. I've also seen a 400 cut convertible being worked on locally, I think it was based in Texas
I did look at that, interesting. I don't think any of them *came* without the self levelling rear, I think some people converted them to non-self levelling and Koni is providing a spec for that shock. Notice that they do not provide a part number for the 400 *with* self levelling rear. For whatever reason, they seem to want to distance themselves from that system.
Koni no longer makes the self leveling shock that is why it isn't listed. They stopped making them in the late '90's. The 400 uses a unique Koni # for the self leveling system and it doesn't fit, or crossover to, another make of car. Not enough applications = not enough sales = drop it from the line. "...distance themselves..." Uh, yep, let's be honest; everyone wants to distance themselves from that system. When they work, they are great. When it doesn't work, it isn't a simple repair. My lincoln town car had a system kind of like the 400...not exact, but close. Guess what, it failed on me. $1,000 to repair. There is a guy out there who rebuilds the Koni shocks from the SL system. Not sure where I found him. Dave
I just want to double check something..... When we're talking about the self leveling system in the rear of a 400, we're talking about this picture....right? Image Unavailable, Please Login
That's the system in my '84 400iA. I've seen folks mention replacing the rear shocks with current technology but I've yet to see anyone explain what to do with the cam driven hydraulic pump if the Koni's are replaced with something else. Mine is currently riding like a '50 Chevy pickup and I'd like to do something about it. New tech springs and shocks sound interesting. I've seen info on replacing the earlier self levelers (365 GTC/4) which apparently were self contained without an external pump.
