Ferrari Support in the UK

I'd suspect you will know a lot more about the originality of your car Francis. Where Classiche really falls down is that unlike Porsche, who actively support their old models through their Classic operation which has parts remade to original spec's, Ferrari do not pro-actively supply parts for their back catalogue. Were it not for enterprising owners and some great independent specialists, many items required to restore cars back to factory spec to go through Classiche simply would not exist.

 

At the silverstone race they were pushing the “MyFerrari” app and saying how Ferrari want to support their older cars etc etc.

I wait to be convinced as I’m after some parts for my humble 348 which Ferrari no longer make/supply!

as to the classiche, personally I’ll improve the quality of parts where I can, and generally for a fraction of the price of what Ferrari charge, rubber clad p pipe clips being my latest peeve, as I replace them for s/s for a tenth of the price!

 

Yes Iain. Totally agree. In my case I bought my car to drive it which I am sure is what Enzo Ferrari intended. I have accordingly driven it 20K miles in the 5 1/2 years of my ownership which I consider should be recognised as just reasonable. The fact that that represents 26% of its total lifetime mileage in just 14% of its life doesn't reflect well on previous owners, though that is not unique.
But the car is now 41 years old, and is not a museum piece. To expect it to be as it was when it left the factory, and still to be enjoyed as a piece of really fun to drive , is to my mind completely missing the point of owning it. If cars are bought as investments I can see why Classiche can have some purpose. But that is not why I bought mine.

 

I'm 15 years into Ferrari ownership and in the early days I used main dealers and discovered that every single service turned into a high dollar event for very little work completed. I just was dumbfounded that it would work out that way on a nearly new current model Ferrari with very few miles. Within a year I discovered the specialist network and never looked back.

These days I would whole heartedly recommend independent specialists such as AV Engineering (in Kent) if your in the south of the UK. They've got Ferrari factory trained engineers and all of the specialist service tools like SD3s, erc. I've never heard a bad word about anything they've done.

 

Yep, another vote for AV here, I actually take my car the 3hrs + from Wiltshire to Aldous and his team (a team that now includes Ed Blasi, formerly of Christian Lewis)

 

I had my 308 engine rebuilt last year by Braunton engineering in Braunton Devon. Mainly as they are recommended for their Porsche service and reasonably close to home. They have regular Ferrari customers I think but loads of Porsche experience. Chris and Ashley there really did an outstanding job and were and are, always available for a chat or post finish advice etc. No connection of course - just a happy customer.

Cheers

Mark