#40065 - How sweet it is.

There have been several past forum postings about the missing #40065. Much to my surprise, when I purchased the car and started visiting Ferrarichat, I saw a form post asking who owned this chassis number in order to reunite the owner with the warranty book, manual, and other materials. My initial thoughts were - "Wow I'm sure an owner would be pleased to see this post", then I realized that it was my own car. Special thanks to 'bjwhite' for reuniting my Italian princess with its companion materials.

#40065 was regularly serviced at Continental Ferrari from 1982 to 1988. The previous owner purchased the car in 1988 at 33k miles and proceeded to put 4500 miles on it. He was quite handy, using a combination of his substantial skills and Continental Ferrari to maintain it from 1988 to 2015. He purchased the car as an investment, driving the car on special occasions, hoping that the car would increase in value. At one point the car peaked to a value of around $100k, but he held onto it, giving it regular TLC, thinking that the price would go even higher. Moral of the story. Live your life and enjoy what you have. Drive it until (figuratively) the wheels fall off. If it goes up, that's great, but a more entry level Ferrari like this should exist for your own personal enjoyment, not anyone else's, and not your prospective buyer.

Here are some photos of it before brand new Michelin TRX tires and wheel caps were installed, but after it went through a full tune-up and extensive inspection at Continental. I have a vacation home in Chicago, and my original idea was to have it be my vacation car for my vacation home. But the allure of driving it around during Monterey Car Week was too much to bear. So the car is currently in enclose transit en route to my home in San Francisco.
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I hope to learn much from you guys!

I have a few questions for the community.

1. Everything's sorted except for the following:

- Seatbelts aren't working as well as they could. Naturally, they are 30+ years old.
- Air blows but isn't cold, seems like a commodity recharge would do the trick.

I'm not handy. Would these items be considered commodity work, and I could farm it out of a non-Ferrari specialist? What would be the most cost effective way to get these items addressed, outside of doing it myself? I've looked through past forum issues and don't see much about air conditioning or seat belt replacement/repair.

2. I know one of the things to consider for the longer term is exhaust upgrade/repair/maintenance. Some people want a really impressive growl, while I don't feel the need to make my presence known across a whole city block. I've also read recently about the "au de Ferrari" smell, and being new to Ferrari, I'm wondering if/when too much "au de Ferrari" smell is indicative of a problem. Mine seems healthy now. I've read about this extensively in the forums, but could you explain to me my possible exhaust options from least intrusive/expensive to elite level?

 

That's a good observation. The bumper does look a bit wider than other models. Sorry Otto, I don't know! The mystery lives on with this car.

 

Wow, I learn something new about the 365/400/412 line quite often! Mystery solved. I didn't know I had a special bumper until now.

 

I think we all have a list of things we'd like to have done. I've read in past articles that it's hard to know when to stop. I'll add this to my list.