RE: The £17K Ferrari? I bought it...
Discussion
405dogvan said:
edo said:
At the price you paid I had (wrongly) assumed it had much more miles on it than that. Top purchase; keep us posted!
58K is moon miles on a 456 isn't it? Ferraris of that era were expected to be 1.5-2K a year cars - hence all this "if you use it it loses value" stuff.
Time has passed and I still marvel at this. I must be stupid, but I'm more envious of a guy who manages to buy a £17K 456 without actually having many problems with it, than of a rich guy who could afford a top-notch car.
This is inspirational! If there are any updates I'd love to see them :P
This is inspirational! If there are any updates I'd love to see them :P
paulg390 said:
Well dear thread followers I am pleased to announce that the 456 made it to Le Mans 24hours and back with no issues at all....
Well ok, one problemette.... I was getting a wet foot on left hand bends ??
Looks like the aircon drain is blocked so after 4 hours of aircon running, the water is collecting somewhere under the dash and spilling over on left handers. So no aircon for me until I can get to the pipework under the dash. Oh and the CD changer decided to go into reset mode the day before I left so only French radio and V12 music to keep us happy. When scouring the web for door seals I found a tip to help reduce wind noise from the gappy side window, that was to insert some hard rubber tube into the door seal edge and it pushes the seal closer to the window by a mm or 2 and bingo much quieter, but still needs sorting properly. Other bonus was fitting the override to the 2nd fan so I can switch it on as I approach a queue and before the temp heads past midway. Worked a treat even in lengthy queues, temp gauge sat bang on mid way.. 
The refurbed wheels make the car look much sharper already, the Pirelli tyres inspire a bit more confidence for those B road blasts (this was before the British GP :-)), and the interior smells a whole lot better after a through clean and "shake n vac" but sadly the "modified" rear pipes made no difference at all :-( I need to try harder to release the V12 howl as I disappointed a French border control guard who said "make some noise please..." and I'm afraid it wasn't too impressive (I needed my old VXR8 with Wortec really !)
Next stop Goodwood FOS after I have cleared my Third World debt rivaling overdraft accumulated at French fuel stations !
Sorry - only just saw this - I had similar 'wet feet' problems on my 456 - if you jack the car up and blow a bit of compressed air up the aircon drain tube (from memory it comes out under the clutch pedal or thereabouts) then that should clear any blockage. Make sure you close the vents first!Well ok, one problemette.... I was getting a wet foot on left hand bends ??
Looks like the aircon drain is blocked so after 4 hours of aircon running, the water is collecting somewhere under the dash and spilling over on left handers. So no aircon for me until I can get to the pipework under the dash. Oh and the CD changer decided to go into reset mode the day before I left so only French radio and V12 music to keep us happy. When scouring the web for door seals I found a tip to help reduce wind noise from the gappy side window, that was to insert some hard rubber tube into the door seal edge and it pushes the seal closer to the window by a mm or 2 and bingo much quieter, but still needs sorting properly. Other bonus was fitting the override to the 2nd fan so I can switch it on as I approach a queue and before the temp heads past midway. Worked a treat even in lengthy queues, temp gauge sat bang on mid way.. The refurbed wheels make the car look much sharper already, the Pirelli tyres inspire a bit more confidence for those B road blasts (this was before the British GP :-)), and the interior smells a whole lot better after a through clean and "shake n vac" but sadly the "modified" rear pipes made no difference at all :-( I need to try harder to release the V12 howl as I disappointed a French border control guard who said "make some noise please..." and I'm afraid it wasn't too impressive (I needed my old VXR8 with Wortec really !)
Next stop Goodwood FOS after I have cleared my Third World debt rivaling overdraft accumulated at French fuel stations !
Isda
isda said:
Sorry - only just saw this - I had similar 'wet feet' problems on my 456 - if you jack the car up and blow a bit of compressed air up the aircon drain tube (from memory it comes out under the clutch pedal or thereabouts) then that should clear any blockage. Make sure you close the vents first!
Isda
MAny thanks for the tip, that sounds a lot easier than trying to take the console apart trying to get to the pipes.Isda
While I'm here I might as well give a bit of an update on the last few months of 456 ownership since Le Mans... Have done a few hundred miles since then and thankfully all is well. Had a couple of "interesting" moments of Ferrari ownership, once when the cooling fans came on of their own accord one night when I was at a mates house before Goodwood FOS, It was a warm evening but not THAT warm,.. Bit of strange experience hearing your car's fans come on at 2am when you are tucked up in bed ! Turned out to be a dodgy relay fitted with the override switch I had installed to prempt traffic jams in hot weather. Then another dodgy relay caused my wipers, indicators, and interior fans to stop working one day, lucklily only 10 mins from home and after a bit of googling a quick waggle of the offending item restored service and now have a spare in the glove box... Just in case. So all pretty minor stuff but the most embarrassing one was when I went to open the bonnet to reconnect the battery after disconnecting it when I was away for a couple of weeks... I pulled the release and one side popped up ok... The other side stubbornly refused to budge... So there I was, battery disconnected, car blocking garage and drive and no way of starting or moving it.... 1.5 hours and many garage and kitchen implements, grazed knuckles and swear words later, bingo... A coat hanger did the job ! I have now adjusted the latches and fitted some failsafe pull straps behind the grill just in case it happens again.... Even the emergency pull didnt work..
All in all can't complain at "cheap" Ferrari ownership...
Hi Simon.. a timely post, in more ways than one as I have seen the "456 Spotted" article too. Indeed the 456 has been tucked up in dry storage since late November, but is due to resurface next week when my 156 GTA comes back from having some bits done. On the "to do" list for the spring is new door rubbers (eye wateringly expensive but I think a must do now, oil change, MOT, another attempt to release some V12 howl via the spare set of second hand back boxes I bought, an investigation into the aircon drain issue (hopefully fixed by judicious use of an air line), and much needed paintwork for the front and rear bumpers. I was intending to have the seats reconnellised but I think £££s dictate that the other items are more pressing/worthwhile... so hopefully in a couple of weeks the sun will be out and it'll be on the road. Sadly no Le Mans this year... but going to Ring 24 instead. Would be rude not to take it
lamboman100 said:
Great article and follow-ups.
A dude down the road from me bought a lefthook early-1980s Ferrari for £17k last year. Imported from the US. Everyone thought he was mad, but it has been entirely trouble-free and it sounds great.
I'd wager its worth more than he paid for it even after a years use and the extra miles. A dude down the road from me bought a lefthook early-1980s Ferrari for £17k last year. Imported from the US. Everyone thought he was mad, but it has been entirely trouble-free and it sounds great.
But these are a risk if anything big goes wrong its very big money to sort - though same could be said for far too many mundane cars these days too.
When I was younger and on my way to a meeting in Europe I caught up with one of these ........ Anyway we was not going to let a S1 111s past ........he looked a little concerned at 120 on a curve as I began to close .... Fortunately a roundabout appeared and he became history under braking.
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