Panic buying a pandemic Ferrari

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Slippydiff said:

Hmmm, let’s be brutally honest, that 964 of yours was a leggy, Cat D ? C4, that most likely went through a period of deferred maintenance and servicing (as many did when they were cheap) and you no doubt got to pick up the pieces ...

The 964 fell from favour and was cheap for a reason : They were excellent daily drivers, and therefore clocked up the sort of mileages that give most Ferrari owners sleepless nights.

However, once they reached a certain age/mileage, they all too often fell into the wrong hands, and weren’t given the ongoing maintenance they required. End result ? Lots of cheap cars that needed large amounts of money spent on them to make them reliable and oil tight again.

Let’s not forget, back in 89-90 they were a largely hand built premium sports car that cost what ? £50K ? The running costs remained commensurate with the price they cost new ...

Go for a sensible miles Gen 1 Cayman S and have it borescoped, fit a low temperature thermostat, and if you’re really fearful, get the recommended modified IMS bearing fitted. The resulting engine should be as future-proofed as it can be.
If in doubt, get in touch with the ever-helpful crowd at Hartech, and they’ll tell you all you need to know (as will Phil R)

My 964 like 90% of them needed an engine rebuild at 100k miles.. that has nothing to do with differed maintenance. It was just poor design and parts quality.. the original head studs don’t last in those engines. Look I accept that generally the German stuff was better built With better quality parts, especially in the 80s and 90s but really I do think the difference is often overblown. Yes Italian cars had real rust issues when they were using Russian steel in the 70s and 80s but then nobody seems to give Merc a hard time because it’s cars in the 2000s would treat to rust within the first 3 years..
I do think the GTA will be a pain in the back side though. It’s seem lots of bits start to fail at around 80k miles. Still I’m aiming to get a good one, so hoping it won’t be too much trouble for a while.. that may not help content but I have enough to do with the Ferrari and Sprite.

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All makes sense thank you. It is tempting to think that because the spring is compressed with lots of preload it stiffens up but as you say on reflection that can’t be right as there is drool if I lift the car and certai LT it is not cool bound as such. I will check the other issue you
Mention such as spring being too soft with a go pro on the side but I’m pretty sure that’s not the issue. The ride is stiff from the first few yards. I have put the rear roll bar on the softer setting and that has helped somewhat, Have ordered new tires (made sure I got ones with the lower side wall stiffness and not the XL ones most sites automatically offer) and am getting spacers for the wheels which might also improve things a tad by increasing leverage on the suspension arms.

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Hello all!!

Well you may have seen the last update video from 3 months ago.. if not you’ll be relieved to hear it is still somewhat broken. And engine will have to come out soon.

In the meantime I had started another thread asking for anyone who has classic cars with a comprehensive financial history and to get in touch. I’ve recently done a couple adding up the lifetime cost of ownership on a Ferrari 550 (£110k if I remember correctly) and 360. Basically detailing all the repair and Maintenance costs. Am really keen to do the same on any porsche which is 10+ years sold and has a solid financial history. Also looking to do the same on a Honda NSX and any other interesting car really. Obviously it has to have a daily complete spending history! The original thread was deleted by a mod.. apparently I’m not allowed to promote my channel. Perhaps it’s because I put a link to one of the vids. In any case hopefully this will survive culling.

So get in touch if you have any leads!!

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Hello PHrs!!

Just wanted to let you all know after 3 years the InfluEnzo was finally fixed.. I enjoyed it for a few months and then it was sold to a chap in Texas. It has been an incredible journey.. huge ups… and down. Sorry if I eventually stopped updating the thread here but I was short of time and figured that any of you still interested would be checking the videos in any case. If you’re interested there’s a couple of recap videos on YT showing all I spent to fix it and the goodbye video..

I was so stoked when PH featured an article on this car when I first bought it. This is just a short note to to thank you and PH with all my heart as you guys really helped make this car popular on YouTube and that’s what eventually meant I was able to go full time.

Am looking for another project.. possibly a Pantera.

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996Type said:

It’s unrestored (and better for it) and in good condition.

The engine is basic US American muscle but believe the gearbox was the same in the GT40.

Access is a bit of a nightmare and you would have to watch for corrosion.

I believe they were flawed from the get go and it’s been up to subsequent owners to finish the job that the designers started!

Lovely car in the flesh…..

Thanks all for your replies and for this link to a Pantera.. my budget won’t cover a sorted car.. and that won’t be any fun for YouTube!