328 GTS/GTB

[classicaholic]

This guy has spent £7360 inc vat but saved £150 by not changing the oil and filter and a new cam belt for mine was about £40, they examined it tooth by tooth, it would have been as quick to replace it! I think I would walk away from that one!

[philwild]

classicaholic said:

This guy has spent £7360 inc vat but saved £150 by not changing the oil and filter and a new cam belt for mine was about £40, they examined it tooth by tooth, it would have been as quick to replace it! I think I would walk away from that one!

There was another page...
Total was £8211.47
Sorry for making you add up all the line items

[4rephill]

philwild said:

4rephill said:

They previously turned down £90K because they were (unrealistically) looking for @ £150K

I'm not sure if you've noticed but this vehicle is now listed for sale @ £78K

I reached out to ask some questions. It can't be taken for a test drive as the owner does not want any more miles on the clock prior to sale but it can be run up to temperature.

I got a copy of the recommissioning report.
The last cam belt service was 14 years ago. At recommissioning, an inspection was done but the belts were not replaced (nor associated work).
Oil and filter were checked and oil topped up, but not replaced (report recommended replacement but not done).
Fuel tank was leaking and was removed and repaired/welded, the refitted. Fuel filter, pump, accumulator and some pipes were replaced.
Air filter was replaced.
Here's the work report if anyone's interested. I fell the owner has spent the absolute minimum to get it saleable. Anyone care to comment/thoughts?

That is a classic case of: Study the service history and buy on condition - NOT ON MILEAGE!

And: A Ferrari that's been driven regularly, with some mileage on it, is a better proposition than a garage queen that has not been driven in years

The cambelts haven't been replaced for 14 years? - I don't car how good they might look, that's a serious "no no"

The owner won't allow any test drives because they don't want the mileage going up? - I wouldn't want to test drive it until it had new belts on it anyway! (cambelts and auxiliary belts)

I thought the seller was taking the pi$$ asking £149,995 for the car! - Reading this latest information, they should have snapped up the £90K , because that car is really worth £55K~£60K at the most!

It's been seriously mechanically neglected (and continues to be seriously neglected, not having it's oil, coolant and belts replaced after all those years!), a cambelt service at a Ferrari specialist is only @ £780 for Christ's sake!

It's basically a low mileage money pit that needs a proper, full recommissioning to be a usable car once more.

As for the seller: Completely delusional!

[67Dino]

4rephill said:

The cambelts haven't been replaced for 14 years? - I don't car how good they might look, that's a serious "no no"

This^. Absolute red flag. If there’s one job you’d do on “total recommission” it’s the cambelts. To leave them just indicates a total disregard for safety and reliability, and a focus purely on cost.

Plus not allowing test drives for mileage! Come off it, how far are people going to go? 20 miles? If it’s any good perhaps 3-5 buyers look at it? Hardly a major addition to the mileage. Only two reasons you don’t allow a genuine looking buyer a test drive and that’s because either (a) it shows up issues, or (b) reliability is so suspect you aren’t sure it’ll make it. Neither is a good sign.

I’d suggest you get a barge pole and don’t touch it with it.

Edited by 67Dino on Sunday 19th March 07:39

[Fiammetta]

£50-£60K and flat bed it out of there to a F specialist to finish the recommissioning.
Belts , all fluids + Valve lash + other niggles should swallow another £5 K tops .

As I said earlier ignore the odo reading assuming it’s connected .If it ain’t spend 30 sec of your life laying down under it reaching in and reconnecting it .

Then within 2 yrs another few £K to put right the stuff waking up from a long sleep and immediately packing up a few hundred miles down the road .

Which within 2 yrs along with nice in date tyres put on ,you are in for £70 K +have decent working 328 .

To enjoy the flat plane crank , clicking gear change etc etc .
Here’s one like mine .You get the idea = use it .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abiGlGjoREQ&t=...

Edited by Fiammetta on Sunday 19th March 14:23

Edited by Fiammetta on Sunday 19th March 14:25

[4rephill]

67Dino said:

4rephill said:

The cambelts haven't been replaced for 14 years? - I don't car how good they might look, that's a serious "no no"

This^. Absolute red flag. If there’s one job you’d do on “total recommission” it’s the cambelts. To leave them just indicates a total disregard for safety and reliability, and a focus purely on cost.

Plus not allowing test drives for mileage! Come off it, how far are people going to go? 20 miles? If it’s any good perhaps 3-5 buyers look at it? Hardly a major addition to the mileage. Only two reasons you don’t allow a genuine looking buyer a test drive and that’s because either (a) it shows up issues, or (b) reliability is so suspect you aren’t sure it’ll make it. Neither is a good sign.

I’d suggest you get a barge pole and don’t touch it with it.

Edited by 67Dino on Sunday 19th March 07:39

Fiammetta said:

£50-£60K and flat bed it out of there to a F specialist to finish the recommissioning.
Belts , all fluids + Valve lash + other niggles should swallow another £5 K tops .

As I said earlier ignore the odo reading assuming it’s connected .If it ain’t spend 30 sec of your life laying down under it reaching in and reconnecting it .

Then within 2 yrs another few £K to put right the stuff waking up from a long sleep and immediately packing up a few hundred miles down the road .

Which within 2 yrs along with nice in date tyres put on ,you are in for £70 K +have decent working 328 .

To enjoy the flat plane crank , clicking gear change etc etc .
Here’s one like mine .You get the idea = use it .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abiGlGjoREQ&t=...

Edited by Fiammetta on Sunday 19th March 14:23

Edited by Fiammetta on Sunday 19th March 14:25

Totally agree with both of these posts.

If ever someone needed an example of why a super low mileage supposed "garage queen" might not be all it seems, and the need to do your homework when it comes to the service history - This car is it.

With (allegedly) less than 10K miles on the clock, this car is actually completely unusable!

The refusal to carry out a full belt service (cambelts and auxiliary belts), the refusal to replace all of the fluids (engine oil, gearbox oil, coolant and brake fluid), and instead, just having some oil syringed into the bores, is just ridiculous - It's the stuff of Ferrari nightmares!

And frankly, the seller sounds like they'd be a complete nightmare to deal with too!

[996Type]

Are there any independents you could buy a 328 from and not need a PPI?

There are a couple of cars at really well respected independents at the moment and I get the feeling they would probably know more about the cars than anyone else.

[johnnyreggae]

Why would you begrudge a tiny percentage of the overall purchase price in exchange for greater piece of mind ?

[Petrus1983]

We bought ours from Talacrest which was fine - but not knowing there isn’t finance against it is essential IMO.

[andylaight]

There's a couple of cars I'm intrested in at Rardley and Simon Furlonger, recommendations for PPIs please

[Petrus1983]

andylaight said:

There's a couple of cars I'm intrested in at Rardley and Simon Furlonger, recommendations for PPIs please

Www.hpicheck.com

[andylaight]

thanks, but think I need something a bit more thorough than just an HPI check

[Aventador 700]

Emblem if you’re on the south coast

[johnnyreggae]

andylaight said:

There's a couple of cars I'm intrested in at Rardley and Simon Furlonger, recommendations for PPIs please

QV & KHPC respectively perhaps

[996Type]

KHPC would be one of the potential people I may buy from, so regards the above question, would you still go for a mechanical PPI if you were to be buying from such a specialist?

[67Dino]

johnnyreggae said:

andylaight said:

There's a couple of cars I'm intrested in at Rardley and Simon Furlonger, recommendations for PPIs please

QV & KHPC respectively perhaps

Interested that others would commission inspections when buying from a respected independent.

Don’t know Rardley but find it hard to believe a dealer like Simon Furlonger who sells million pound cars would risk their reputation on a dodgy 328/308. Likewise Nick Cartwright. Immaculate cars from both.

[rat rod]

QV,Radley, Kent High Performance ,Foskers and Emblem are all good guys when it comes to anything Ferrari's ,

Found Autofficina very helpful and friendly when it comes to servicing but have never bought a car from them.

Bought a couple of Ferrari's from Simon Furlonger when he worked for Kent High Performance some years ago

but not since he went independent, always did what he said he was going to do which is nice.

[Rari]

Rardley are currently recommissioning a 328 GTB that I bought late last year. Going right through the car, valve clearances, fuel lines, brakes, paint, suspension etc. should be ready within the next month hopefully.

Edited by Rari on Saturday 25th March 22:36

[philwild]

Rari said:

Rardley are currently recommissioning a 328 GTB that I bought late last year. Going right through the car, valve clearances, fuel lines, brakes, paint, suspension etc. should be ready within the next month hopefully.

Edited by Rari on Saturday 25th March 22:36

Looks great! A question for you... Was this work an expected expense? As in, you bought something knowing you had to spend a fair amount of time and money recommissioning it, or was this unexpected (as in lots of things were found afterwards)?

[Rari]

philwild said:

Looks great! A question for you... Was this work an expected expense? As in, you bought something knowing you had to spend a fair amount of time and money recommissioning it, or was this unexpected (as in lots of things were found afterwards)?

Thanks Phil. I bought it blind late summer last year and it was a car that I fully expected to have to put money into (the price I paid took that into account). No surprises so far... Its a LHD car that I've bought for the odd Goodwood track day and some European blasts. With 75K KMS on the clock I won't be afraid of using it and looked after these engines tend to be very strong. This 328 came with a great history and on a recent test drive Rardley tell me its rather quick which is interesting as it used to be owned by an ex racer and Ferrari garage owner in Belgium before the last owner bought it in 2010. Once sorted and maintained these tend to be on the more reasonable side to look after certainly compared to engine out cambelts on my 355 and a 4 x new ceramics on my 458 last year!

I'd take advice from Rardley, KHPC, QV, Barkways or Foskers on these cars.

308/328s are great fun, beautiful and fast enough on the B roads to put a smile on your face. Personally I prefer them to the Dino and still can't understand the disparity in price. Maybe their time is now, there seems to be more interest in the model and few for sale....