RE: Ferrari 512 TR: PH Fleet

[Ali_T]

Chris Type R said:

My hum-drum Italian car(Alfa GT) has cost thus far this year:
- new battery, £100ish
- new tyres, £500ish
- gearbox rebuild, cam-belt service, MOT, seat repair, etc £1600ish.

Probably only done a couple of hundred miles this year most of it to and from the Alfa Indy.

So, the figures quoted in the article for your bit of exotica don't sound too horrendous.

EDIT: still have to pay for a radiator replacement and some more diagnoses of a braking noise later this year.

Indeed. I've been quoted more or less £1000 just for pads and discs on my Evo from a franchise Mitsi dealer. Standard, run of the mill consumables. I'll be buying the parts and handing them to a local indy.

[EJH]

Zumbruk said:

"Love cars; hate cars."

Know *exactly* what you mean.

This. So this.

There is a face I get tired of pulling whenever I see a £2k+ bill...but it is the cost of knowing your car is perfect and being able to lean on it as hard as you want (when warm, etc) and knowing it has all be done properly.

Doing things any other way doesn't appeal to me nor, it seems, Hr Harris.

I spent 8 hours and lots of my Saturday swearing at my 911 whilst applying parts that should have been made from Myrrh to justify the price Stuttgart wished to charge for them. All was forgiven after I downed tools and went for a 60+ mile drive.

[Shnozz]

vescaegg said:

£4k on a 20 year old Ferrari seems a bargain considering I just had a £1k bill on an 8 year old Fabia VRS!

I never had a service for under £1k on any of the TVR's I owned.

In fact a Boxster S managed to give me a £4k large service bill, and that was at an independent and not main stealer rates.

[drewpasmith]

Zumbruk said:

"Love cars; hate cars."

Know *exactly* what you mean.

There's a world-weariness that comes with an expensive-to-maintain old car that makes hate particularly fruitless.

After all, one could always sell it or scrap it and shut up.

After all, I was the one who decided to buy a 22-year old, velour-lined V12 Mercedes in the first place. It wasn't forced upon me.

And this is how, with all the good, Harris-like spring-cleaning intent in the world, I dumped close to £4000 on replacing wiring looms, tires, HT leads, coil packs, manifold gaskets, ... you get the picture.

This, on a car that cost me £6000 to buy and cost me £3000 last year.

I'm so down on the money but I simply don't give a damn.

It's irrational.

It's wonderful.

It's love.

[peatmoor]

I just love the fact that no matter how bad I feel about my car addiction, Chris makes its all ok (relatively speaking). Its the complete honesty I love, like an Alcholics Anonymous confession to a group of similar alcoholics nodding in unison - of course without the life ruining effects!

I lose track of what he has - the 512TR I'd completely forgotten about! Anyone keeping track of his current collection? I love looking at everyone's garage section so disappointed not to see one on Chris' profile

Audi S4 Avant
Ferrari 512TR
RR Autobiography
Ferrari FF

What have I missed?

[Chicane-UK]

peatmoor said:

I just love the fact that no matter how bad I feel about my car addiction, Chris makes its all ok (relatively speaking). Its the complete honesty I love, like an Alcholics Anonymous confession to a group of similar alcoholics nodding in unison - of course without the life ruining effects!

I lose track of what he has - the 512TR I'd completely forgotten about! Anyone keeping track of his current collection? I love looking at everyone's garage section so disappointed not to see one on Chris' profile

Audi S4 Avant
Ferrari 512TR
RR Autobiography
Ferrari FF

What have I missed?

2CV!

[TroubledSoul]

More to the point, how on earth does a journalist afford all this stuff!?

[dtmpower]

TroubledSoul said:

More to the point, how on earth does a journalist afford all this stuff!?

Not this again - can't you just enjoy the story rather than dissecting the backstory ?

[Adenauer]

TroubledSoul said:

More to the point, how on earth does a journalist afford all this stuff!?

That's none of your business, surely?

[dubmonkey]

Balancing the banks?? Had a nasty flashback to the cringe worth scene from Gone in 60 seconds.
Then I did a bit of looking around and saw the two Kjet metering heads.

Sod that! It's bad enough getting a MK2 Golf GTI 16V to run nicely with Kjet, never mind a 12cylinder!

So how does a Kjet injector provide resistance???
Did Ferrari use some halfway house of mechanical and electric injector??

[LY99]

peatmoor said:

I just love the fact that no matter how bad I feel about my car addiction, Chris makes its all ok (relatively speaking). Its the complete honesty I love, like an Alcholics Anonymous confession to a group of similar alcoholics nodding in unison - of course without the life ruining effects!

I lose track of what he has - the 512TR I'd completely forgotten about! Anyone keeping track of his current collection? I love looking at everyone's garage section so disappointed not to see one on Chris' profile

Audi S4 Avant
Ferrari 512TR
RR Autobiography
Ferrari FF

What have I missed?

E30 M3 rally car

[dtmpower]

LY99 said:

peatmoor said:

I just love the fact that no matter how bad I feel about my car addiction, Chris makes its all ok (relatively speaking). Its the complete honesty I love, like an Alcholics Anonymous confession to a group of similar alcoholics nodding in unison - of course without the life ruining effects!

I lose track of what he has - the 512TR I'd completely forgotten about! Anyone keeping track of his current collection? I love looking at everyone's garage section so disappointed not to see one on Chris' profile

Audi S4 Avant
Ferrari 512TR
RR Autobiography
Ferrari FF

What have I missed?

E30 M3 rally car

e28 M5 ?

[Chris Harris]

Been for a drive. Motor absolutely belting now. All forgiven.

[Ali_T]

Chris Harris said:

Been for a drive. Motor absolutely belting now. All forgiven.

And that's the flip side to Italian motoring...

[Fastchas]

EJH said:

This. So this.

There is a face I get tired of pulling whenever I see a £2k+ bill...but it is the cost of knowing your car is perfect and being able to lean on it as hard as you want (when warm, etc) and knowing it has all be done properly.

Doing things any other way doesn't appeal to me nor, it seems, Hr Harris.

I spent 8 hours and lots of my Saturday swearing at my 911 whilst applying parts that should have been made from Myrrh to justify the price Stuttgart wished to charge for them. All was forgiven after I downed tools and went for a 60+ mile drive.

I agree, this is important. Thats why I never moan about my 'blade's rear tyre costing £140. When you've got your girl on the back and you're leaning at 50 degrees from upright at 'inappropriate' speeds, when you go airbourne over different levels of tarmac and land again, it's good to know your tyre will grip.

[Gravelcar]

Chris Harris said:

Been for a drive. Motor absolutely belting now. All forgiven.

Chris - Steve here.......we met in Woolaston outside Neil's house not that long ago. Have you seen the Renault 8 Gordini nestled on its own at Thompson & Thompson - top of Lydney?

With your love of French historics and your mood having returned to something above suicidal, I thought it might take your fancy.

Not sure how much they want for it.

Cheers

[dtmpower]

The Chris Harris said:

Been for a drive. Motor absolutely belting now. All forgiven.

[Ari]

TroubledSoul said:

More to the point, how on earth does a journalist afford all this stuff!?

You don't seriously think a journalist wage pays for all this do you?

Clearly other means involved. But equally clearly non of our business.

[gcpeters]

Chris Harris said:

Been for a drive. Motor absolutely belting now. All forgiven.

I was actually picking up my F430 and saw your car there ready for pickup/delivery on the Tuesday. I was going to take a pic and instragram it but I forgot..

my bill wasn't as bad as yours, but was double the amount of the "off the shelf" service costs..... these little bits do indeed add up. But, and I will 100% agree once it was driven again you simply don't care....

[sisu]

We feel your pain Chris....