97 Ferrari 456 GTA bought in auction
Discussion
67Dino said:
Congratulations. Loved mine, think it’s a vastly underrated car. Does need a lot of maintenance but then that’s why there’s a discount on the £100k buying price these should be worth. The V12 would be worth that alone. Enjoy!
PS Good article vs Daytona in this one too...
Great find also, I'm attempting to write a Car Pool for the 456 and I remember my Dad taking me to Maranello Egham or perhaps it was nearer Bagshot in the late 80's / early 90's. I remember seeing the Daytona and not thinking much of it as it was parked next to an F40. The salesmen always let us take brochures away which made my weekend. PS Good article vs Daytona in this one too...
Edited by 67Dino on Monday 28th September 09:58
thanks for posting the Car article, I'd forgotten all about it as soon as I saw the picture of the configurator box it all came back.
It's a shame they lost the original 3 spoke wheel, to my eyes its one of the prettiest steering wheels of all time.
Nice car OP looks fantastic in black
It's a shame they lost the original 3 spoke wheel, to my eyes its one of the prettiest steering wheels of all time.
Nice car OP looks fantastic in black
ferrisbueller said:
fastgerman said:
ferrisbueller said:
I'm guessing some of the gap in the history was while it was taken off the road to be repaired. I did wonder how a Cat D car had all original paint.
Yes this is an interesting one as I have an invoice with some details in 2011 from Devonshire Classics and there is still MOT's going. The Cat D is 2011, it then has no history from 2012 to 2016 (maybe in storage), then a huge repair bill at Rardleys end of 2016.Cat D is non-structural damage, with repair bills over 50% of the cars value. In 2011 this car was worth around £20k, so it only needed £9.5k of damage + some car hire costs etc for the owner. Everything including boot, doors, bumpers and bonnet look like original parts but it's definitely had some paint. The first Paul McKenna link above states that a taxi door scraped down the side of the car so it needed paint in the early 2000's.
I think (along with my car viewing buddy) that an owner in 2011 tried to put through mechanical issues on the insurance. There is £17k spent after it's hibernation getting it back on the road and none of the invoices have anything to do with paint/body/structure, it's all mechanical stuff.
The Dick Lovetts Health Check in 2017 makes no reference to bodywork etc and while I have no way of knowing for sure, the price means I have some repair contingency :-).
I suppose you could argue 'how often do you need to buy a new bonnet for a car' but just shows how there was a time where the that single part was worth as much as the car. Even today, with firmer prices, it could still be half the value of the vehicle.
5pen said:
pistolpedro said:
It's a shame they lost the original 3 spoke wheel, to my eyes its one of the prettiest steering wheels of all time.
Completely agree. There is one available on ebay for £2k!
MX6 said:
5pen said:
pistolpedro said:
It's a shame they lost the original 3 spoke wheel, to my eyes its one of the prettiest steering wheels of all time.
Completely agree. There is one available on ebay for £2k!It's a really lovely interior, great looking car generally
So the current list after she’s had a new battery fitted and been taken for a road test:
- suspension is very hard, potentially a simple electrical fix - £18 switch. It may be simulating hard braking.
- engine and gearbox sound fine, fluids will be changed and previously inspected sounds could have just been from the car sitting for 3 years.
- a/c not working, try re-gas first. Heater not working, could be thermostat or another switch needed.
- passenger door lock pin bouncing up and down.
- drivers mirror not electrically adjustable.
- drivers door window switches to be replaced and air vent surround.
- rear spoiler not working (under the bumper), had no idea the car had active aero!
- service, cambelt change and mot required.
- paint required to all window frames - must have had a cover over as roof needs a good mechanical polish also.
That list isn’t too bad...
- suspension is very hard, potentially a simple electrical fix - £18 switch. It may be simulating hard braking.
- engine and gearbox sound fine, fluids will be changed and previously inspected sounds could have just been from the car sitting for 3 years.
- a/c not working, try re-gas first. Heater not working, could be thermostat or another switch needed.
- passenger door lock pin bouncing up and down.
- drivers mirror not electrically adjustable.
- drivers door window switches to be replaced and air vent surround.
- rear spoiler not working (under the bumper), had no idea the car had active aero!
- service, cambelt change and mot required.
- paint required to all window frames - must have had a cover over as roof needs a good mechanical polish also.
That list isn’t too bad...
Edited by fastgerman on Friday 2nd October 08:14
Cheers Guys,
So, I might attempt the window surrounds being sanded and painted, once upon a time I split some BBS RS's and refurbed so have some skills - my blog http://fastgerman.com/forum/garage/
I've seen some guides on Ferrari Chat about refurbishing / tightening the leather on the dashboard and passenger airbag, so will give this a go.
If the car needs parts such as accumulators, actuators, Bilstein shock refurb etc then I might get involved in the sourcing depending on the garages prices. Otherwise anything mechanical and electrical will be done at Rardleys and I'll do some cosmetics.
So, I might attempt the window surrounds being sanded and painted, once upon a time I split some BBS RS's and refurbed so have some skills - my blog http://fastgerman.com/forum/garage/
I've seen some guides on Ferrari Chat about refurbishing / tightening the leather on the dashboard and passenger airbag, so will give this a go.
If the car needs parts such as accumulators, actuators, Bilstein shock refurb etc then I might get involved in the sourcing depending on the garages prices. Otherwise anything mechanical and electrical will be done at Rardleys and I'll do some cosmetics.
Owned a 456 from 2010-14. Beautiful car and I'd been admiring them since they were new. Mine was a 1999 model (so the 'M' or Modificata), with various minor changes to the engine and removal of the active aero under the rear, as I believe it was pretty unreliable.
Minor problems included driver's door being unable to be opened from the inside (first drive after buying!); the typical Ferrari 'sticky switches' that you either spend a lot to fix or learn to live with and the aircon needing regassing.
Major problems were two of the coolant hoses splitting on separate occasions. The first, shortly after I bought the car, was just forward of the passenger wheelarch and was fixed by the AA on the roadside. The second, a couple of years later, was in the middle of the V and required a lot of expensive work. The view was that they'd perished over time and they are a weak point, especially the one in the V, which gets very hot from the engine.
Despite spending probably £10k on repairs, it still sold for more than I'd paid for it + repairs. I do regret selling, but I need to at the time.
Hope the OP has as much fun with it as I had with mine. It's the one car I've owned that I've always looked back at when walking away and think how lucky I am to own it.
Minor problems included driver's door being unable to be opened from the inside (first drive after buying!); the typical Ferrari 'sticky switches' that you either spend a lot to fix or learn to live with and the aircon needing regassing.
Major problems were two of the coolant hoses splitting on separate occasions. The first, shortly after I bought the car, was just forward of the passenger wheelarch and was fixed by the AA on the roadside. The second, a couple of years later, was in the middle of the V and required a lot of expensive work. The view was that they'd perished over time and they are a weak point, especially the one in the V, which gets very hot from the engine.
Despite spending probably £10k on repairs, it still sold for more than I'd paid for it + repairs. I do regret selling, but I need to at the time.
Hope the OP has as much fun with it as I had with mine. It's the one car I've owned that I've always looked back at when walking away and think how lucky I am to own it.
V12GT said:
Owned a 456 from 2010-14. Beautiful car and I'd been admiring them since they were new. Mine was a 1999 model (so the 'M' or Modificata), with various minor changes to the engine and removal of the active aero under the rear, as I believe it was pretty unreliable.
Minor problems included driver's door being unable to be opened from the inside (first drive after buying!); the typical Ferrari 'sticky switches' that you either spend a lot to fix or learn to live with and the aircon needing regassing.
Major problems were two of the coolant hoses splitting on separate occasions. The first, shortly after I bought the car, was just forward of the passenger wheelarch and was fixed by the AA on the roadside. The second, a couple of years later, was in the middle of the V and required a lot of expensive work. The view was that they'd perished over time and they are a weak point, especially the one in the V, which gets very hot from the engine.
Despite spending probably £10k on repairs, it still sold for more than I'd paid for it + repairs. I do regret selling, but I need to at the time.
Hope the OP has as much fun with it as I had with mine. It's the one car I've owned that I've always looked back at when walking away and think how lucky I am to own it.
Always good selling a car for more than you paid and what a great car to do that with :-).Minor problems included driver's door being unable to be opened from the inside (first drive after buying!); the typical Ferrari 'sticky switches' that you either spend a lot to fix or learn to live with and the aircon needing regassing.
Major problems were two of the coolant hoses splitting on separate occasions. The first, shortly after I bought the car, was just forward of the passenger wheelarch and was fixed by the AA on the roadside. The second, a couple of years later, was in the middle of the V and required a lot of expensive work. The view was that they'd perished over time and they are a weak point, especially the one in the V, which gets very hot from the engine.
Despite spending probably £10k on repairs, it still sold for more than I'd paid for it + repairs. I do regret selling, but I need to at the time.
Hope the OP has as much fun with it as I had with mine. It's the one car I've owned that I've always looked back at when walking away and think how lucky I am to own it.
I can see there are some dark blue Samco type hoses and some receipts for this work in the middle of the V, so that's good to know. Hoping for little else in the first year and perfectly happy with approx. £2k a year in maintenance. Ed Rudler (where mine was stored) has a 550 and says he has 2 years of £1k ish and the 3rd year is usually around £3k ish at cambelt time.
Popped over to Rardleys to drop the recent invoices off. Great to meet Martin, the head mechanic and absolute gent. This is probably going to end up being my favourite place to visit and you almost feel like you could be in Italy. With the parts vans in yellow and a number of older Ferrari’s - 3 x 348’s in, a Mondial, 599 and a very nice Green 456 next to mine.
Good fun having a poke around the car and being able to see everything, which isn’t that common in other garages today. Can’t imagine having the same access to the car with my old 997 at Guildford Porsche.
I’m already missing the smell of petrol, Ferrari pictures on the walls and the happy faces on everyone.
Anyway, here’s a couple of pics:
Good fun having a poke around the car and being able to see everything, which isn’t that common in other garages today. Can’t imagine having the same access to the car with my old 997 at Guildford Porsche.
I’m already missing the smell of petrol, Ferrari pictures on the walls and the happy faces on everyone.
Anyway, here’s a couple of pics:
Seeing those oil filters reminded me of the heart stopping moment the oil pressure gauge went to 0 on my old 456. I turned everything off, checked under the bonnet, checked oil level and crept the last two miles home. Ran fine. Stuck it on the lift to check underneath and noticed a dangly wire just by the oil filter. Popped it back on and hey presto pressure back to normal. Just thought I’d mention it in case it happens to you when you give it some beans. Great car - glad you’re enjoying it.
Wow imagine that was a heart stopping moment!
Seems most issues are electrics, there is a good Ratarossa link where he goes around the various plugs in the engine bay, cleans them up and applies some sort of conducting grease.
There is quite a ‘nuts and bolts’ feel to this car, which in some ways is similar to a Porsche 993.
Does anyone know if there are aftermarket solutions for door modules? BMW had no issues with the e36. Mine has 2 sets of invoices where they’re been investigated, hopefully it doesn’t all need re-wiring.
Seems most issues are electrics, there is a good Ratarossa link where he goes around the various plugs in the engine bay, cleans them up and applies some sort of conducting grease.
There is quite a ‘nuts and bolts’ feel to this car, which in some ways is similar to a Porsche 993.
Does anyone know if there are aftermarket solutions for door modules? BMW had no issues with the e36. Mine has 2 sets of invoices where they’re been investigated, hopefully it doesn’t all need re-wiring.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff