The quest...the buy...and the trip home

This has been in the works for a while. I hadn’t said anything in public, but some of you who have your ear to the ground figured it out. Thanks for not stealing my thunder.

I sold my ’80 400i automatic to a fellow Fchatter last year. I really liked it except for the sunroof that I used to bump my head on every time I drove it. It was even more of a special car considering it was a series 1. The cable controls, 15” wheels, and standard rear shocks were a real plus. I always liked the fact that somehow it passed the DOT/EPA inspections without having any US markers on it. The nice flowing lines of those rear quarter panels weren’t interrupted with the big rectangular markers most 400’s have.

The tall, good looking, blonde woman who runs my house really liked it. She’s not a fan of the hot, loud, and rough riding Dino. She and I couldn’t get the big GT beast and the wonderful sound of the V-12 out of our systems. So I found myself looking through the listings of 400i’s again.

Since I was just shopping and wasn’t going to buy anything (wife rolls her eyes at that statement) I made a list of criteria that any prospective car must meet:
5-speed, no sunroof or convertible, still in the original color, no black interior, with an exterior color in either of the blues, dark grey, black, or bronze. I really wanted another series 1 car but there were only 2 ever in the US that would meet my checklist so I included series 2 cars in my hunt as well.

Once I started checking the database I use to track every 365/400/400i/412 in the US by serial number I began to realize what a small pool of cars I had to draw from. Here is how it broke down:

There were a total of 273 400i’s brought to the US. (None of the carb’d cars met my criteria so I skipped them)
Subtract 205 automatics.
That leaves 68 5-speeds.
Subtract 6 cars that I know for sure have sunroofs, are right hand drive cars, or convertibles.
62 cars
Subtract 9 cars with black interiors.
53 cars
Subtract 13 cars with red, silver, white, or other exterior colors (can you believe there is a yellow one?).
40 cars
Subtract 31 cars that are not original color, wrecked or salvage title cars, and cars that have not been registered or titled in the past 10 years.
That left me with a total of 9 cars to choose from.

4 of the 9 have been up for sale during the past 9 months. I passed on one because I suspected it had a troubled maintenance history. I missed one; it sold before I could get on it. I called and PPI’d the other 2.

I had Tim Stanford do the PPI on a 1984 blue cera/crème car for sale at Motorcar Gallery. It’s another unusual car in that it doesn’t have US markers on it.
Tim did exactly what I asked him to do; pick the car apart to the point of being overly critical. This is the first time I’ve dealt with Tim and I can tell you he deserves the excellent reputation he has.
In the past 19 months this car had $13,430 worth of documented work done. The previous owner must have been a fanatic when it came to maintenance. To give you an idea how picky this guy was, in addition to a long list of standard items like suspension bushings, ball joints, rebuild the load leveler system, stainless exhaust, etc., he even had the ashtrays removed and restored.

As we suspected on a car with incredibly low mileage (since November of 2000 it has clocked a total of 2,983 miles) the PPI came back positive with only a few items needing attention. I still doubted the low mileage so I spent $15 with the Department of Motor Vehicles in the state of Florida and was able to verify all of the owners and the mileage history on the car. It has been a garage queen all of its life.
What I need with another Ferrari, I have no idea, but I bought it and had Tim fix the items from the PPI.

After doing the research and verifying the history I was very surprised that this car was on the market for any length of time at all. I thought for sure one of you guys would have snatched this one right away.

So this “mini novel” is accurate I need to make remarks about Ed at Motorcar. He represented the car fairly, was truthful, easy to deal with, admitted it when he was wrong; didn’t try to hide it, and seems like a decent guy.

I flew into Ft. Lauderdale on Friday to pick it up and drive it back. Yes, drive it. If you’ve never taken a cross country trip in an old European sports car you have to do it at least once in your life. It was my 3rd time and it is a great adventure. Although it is funny how your mind plays tricks on you when you’re in the middle of nowhere. The farther you are away from a major city the louder the strange noises are coming from the car. “uh oh, am I in trouble here?”

I was pleasantly surprised by the friendly phone call I received from the Florida FCA chapter. They invited me to join them at their event at Sebring Raceway Friday night and Saturday morning. I haven’t found my local FCA chapter to be very welcoming. These guys were great, know how to party, and went out of their way to make sure I didn’t feel like an outsider. I just can’t describe how nice, friendly, and welcoming these guys were.

I’d seen pictures but they didn’t do this car justice. I knew it hadn’t seen many road miles so I expected it to be pretty but I kept trying to convince myself that the car I was looking at was 23 years old.

I left Ft. Lauderdale on Friday, early in the afternoon, and drove up to Sebring. The car performed flawlessly. What I wasn’t prepared for was the difference between the auto and the 5-speed. They are 2 different cars, it isn’t even close. I can’t say that one is better because they can’t be compared. The 5-speed turns the 400i into a performance GT car. You’re in the power band all the time. It feels quicker, not really faster but quicker. If I had to sum it up the best way would be to say the 400i is the ultimate cruiser out on the highway, with the addition of the 5-speed it also has the performance around town of a VERY powerful sports car.
A note; the brake pedal has been moved to the right to make room for the clutch pedal. Driving with a pair of sneakers is pretty tough. You have to cock your foot to clear the brake pedal when hitting the gas. I bought another pair of Puma driving shoes at Sebring and it made all the difference.


I made 4 or 5 stops and each time I got back in and she fired right up. (This becomes important later.) I get to Sebring and am welcomed by all. I didn’t realize what a big event this was, there were Ferraris everywhere. You can see some of the pictures I took on this thread:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=136601565#post136601565

I had to move my car so I hit the key……NOTHING! Dash lights, plenty of battery, but turn the key on not even a click at the solenoid. Uh oh! So we check to obvious stuff, cables, connectors, etc. Push start it and it fires right up. Its late in the day and the party starts in an hour so we decide to run it to the hotel, which is on the racetrack grounds, and leave it until the morning. Tim Stanford and Bruce from Central Florida Ferrari pat me on the back and say, “Don’t worry, tomorrow we’ll get you going. It’s party time.” They’d graciously supply techs, pit row spaces, whatever I needed in the morning.

Many margarita’s later, I stress the word MANY, a bunch of us stumble outside the hotel because someone has the bright idea to christen my new car with tequila. I’m sure I was thinking quite clearly because it made perfect sense at the time, “That’s why she won’t start, she’s thirsty!” So we form a wobbly circle around her, raise our glasses in a toast, and someone says, “Try it now.” You know where this is going. Yep, she fired right up. We all went back inside for more margaritas to celebrate.

Saturday morning, again fires right up. We drive it around, shut it off a bunch of times and can’t get it to act up. Pretty tough to trace a problem when the problem isn’t there. It’ll push start so with careful planning I can drive it home. I’m sent off with a handful of cell phone numbers, warm wishes, and prayers. I just want to stress again how nice this FCA chapter is; great folks.
So I don’t drag this out, I stopped over 9 times on Saturday and didn’t have 1 single problem. Sunday I stopped 6 or 7 without trouble until I got to the rest stop at the Texas state line. Wouldn’t start. I get out to look around for some help and I notice something; a small red LED light (not on). I think this car has an alarm on it. Once I got it started I drove it 5 miles down the road, stopped for gas, and it fired right up. My conclusion to this whole situation is I believe when I trace it out I’m going to find that somehow the way I’m locking the car is setting the alarm and initiating the ignition cut-off. It has never not started when I’ve shut it off and not locked the doors.

Just a bit of romance here.
Sunday morning I hit the road early. I love driving a car just as the sun comes up. It had rained Saturday night so everything was green and the air was wonderfully cool and fresh. First thing in the morning it is so still and quiet. I rolled the windows down, enjoyed the beautiful sunrise in the rearview mirrors, and listened to the roar echoing off of the buildings. Nothing like the sound of a V-12 with stainless pipes. Glorious, just glorious.

Total mileage for the trip was just a little over 1,300.

Here is verification to the statement of needing to drive your cars. Remember how little use this car has had. In the first 300 miles I burned 3 quarts of oil. Normally that would have raised a bright red flag. Just like I suspected in the next 1,000 miles it didn’t burn a drop. If you don’t run them enough the rings will become unseated and up goes the oil consumption.

This is a series 2 car. I sure miss the beautiful burl wood center console on my old 400i. It looked very classic, this one looks a bit more modern.
The series 2 mirrors are quite a bit smaller, the series 1 mirrors gave great visibility.

Overall I had a lot of fun.

Pretty cloudy here today so these pictures aren’t the greatest. You’ll get the idea.

 

Its the little things that really set this car apart.
Just one example.....

The factory first aid and tool kits are still 100% complete and in the original leather pouch.

 

When I get to the winery tomorrow I'll get you the list with serial numbers and location of every black interior 5-speed in the US.

<laughing>
Probably more than anyone has paid in the past 10 years. But considering the condition, mileage, completeness, etc. I did ok.

 

You just won't believe it..........hell I can't believe it and I've verified it with the appropriate government agencies.............

.........23+ years old with less than 29K.

 

<laughing>

<laughing so hard I choked on my drink>

 

Here she is parked on pit lane at the Sebring event.
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