97 Ferrari 456 GTA bought in auction

[fastgerman]

Well that’s enough messing about with fixing/sourcing bits. The weather has improved and I’ve stuck a thousand miles on the clock now - taken me a while considering I bought the car in Sept!





https://www.instagram.com/p/CMU_4wSgkdb/?igshid=18...

I was trying to explain to a friend what the car is like to drive, in my opinion it feels like a front engined Porsche only a bit bigger and with a better engine noise :-)

Edited by fastgerman on Monday 15th March 12:25

[Sammo123]

fastgerman said:

Well that’s enough messing about with fixing/sourcing bits. The weather has improved and I’ve stuck a thousand miles on the clock now - taken me a while considering I bought the car in Sept!





https://www.instagram.com/p/CMU_4wSgkdb/?igshid=18...

I was trying to explain to a friend what the car is like to drive, in my opinion it feels like a front engined Porsche only a bit bigger and with a better engine noise :-)

Edited by fastgerman on Monday 15th March 12:25

Abinger Hammer?

[bolidemichael]

Sammo123 said:

fastgerman said:

Well that’s enough messing about with fixing/sourcing bits. The weather has improved and I’ve stuck a thousand miles on the clock now - taken me a while considering I bought the car in Sept!





https://www.instagram.com/p/CMU_4wSgkdb/?igshid=18...

I was trying to explain to a friend what the car is like to drive, in my opinion it feels like a front engined Porsche only a bit bigger and with a better engine noise :-)

Edited by fastgerman on Monday 15th March 12:25

Abinger Hammer?

With access to some wonderful roads (mind the cyclists!)

[mrporsche]

My 550 had the same passenger airbag issues, it wasn't hard to remove and re glue, but lining it up straight when it went back on was harder than it looked.

[fastgerman]

Yes indeed, a fun drive within speed limits on country roads with great views. Less bicyclists on week days, no fun Sunday driving around here.

Re-glovebox - yes the lining up on everything that been removed seems interesting, so much tolerance.

Some window regulator love... at least you don’t have these in the 550

[fastgerman]

Mama Mia it looks good today :-)



Only minor tinkering recently was the window wipers crashing in to each other... after removing, cleaning the gunk out of the spindles and refitting, it’s all okay again.

Hi-fi remains unplugged, no further battery draining. Might look into a replacement along with speaker upgrades in existing mounts.

Hope everyone is keeping well

[fastgerman]

Morning

So I'm nearly a year in to 456 ownership without having to take the car to a garage, result!

Now I'm exploring options of where to sink £20k, which I could use some opinions please:

Option 1 - Restomod my 456 (500bhp, 6 speed auto, 1500kg, fairly standard looking from the outside)

Ideas - Corvette C6 automatic transmission swap (6 speed with modern shifting speeds), Dyno Torque in Birmingham could do this I'm told. Could include carbon drive shafts and various cool bits. Fiammenghi exhaust system with 6 to 1 manifolds for the 1980's F1 sound. FW suspension (need to remove hydraulic system). 19" wheels of some description. Interior update (perhaps some Recaro Pole Positions, lighter weight parts, perhaps carbon fibre dashboard. Change of cams / 550 heads / remap / carbon intake

Suspension fun -
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPV2JkHlQ2C/?utm_sourc...

Interior thoughts -

Option 2 - Buy a 612...

Thoughts AND would they both be £50k cars (assuming the 456 is worth £30k now) ??

Edited by fastgerman on Friday 4th June 12:03

[ferrisbueller]

I'm not an option 1 type. I also tend to think the money you put in is never reflected in the final value.

A manual 612 is going to be far more than the 50k. If you had both would you have time and reason to use both?

Swap the 456 for a 550?

[fastgerman]

I think you are right Ferris and just to note it would be a 1 x fun car only, which has a must have of 4 seats.

Guess I’m leaning towards an early 612 F1 auto

Edited by fastgerman on Friday 4th June 13:17

[leglessAlex]

Unlike Mr Bueller, I am an option 1 type... but I agree that the mods done will never be reflected in the final value, they may even devalue it a bit. Both options might be £50k to your wallet, but one will always be worth that, the other will be worth half. At best.

There are two manual 612s on Autotrader right now for about £52k and £57k respectively, you got your eye on one of these? The blue one is nice...

I'd go for option 1 and keep the car for so long I didn't care about the money spent, but then I have a history of making very very poor financial decisions when it comes to cars.

[ajprice]

The 456 is a GT car not a racer, so I wouldn't go with the race bits and carbon fibre personally. Restomods like the better gearbox sound good if they make the car better to drive than the 90s tech it came with though, a bit like the McMerc SLR MSO on the recent Harry's Garage video.

[ferrisbueller]

leglessAlex said:

Unlike Mr Bueller, I am an option 1 type... but I agree that the mods done will never be reflected in the final value, they may even devalue it a bit. Both options might be £50k to your wallet, but one will always be worth that, the other will be worth half. At best.

There are two manual 612s on Autotrader right now for about £52k and £57k respectively, you got your eye on one of these? The blue one is nice...

I'd go for option 1 and keep the car for so long I didn't care about the money spent, but then I have a history of making very very poor financial decisions when it comes to cars.

I doubt they're manuals, which are nearer 100k AFAIK.

[leglessAlex]

ferrisbueller said:

I doubt they're manuals, which are nearer 100k AFAIK.

You're right, I was naive and foolish to trust the autotrader listing without checking the photos

[ferrisbueller]

fastgerman said:

I think you are right Ferris and just to note it would be a 1 x fun car only, which has a must have of 4 seats.

Guess I’m leaning towards an early 612 F1 auto

Edited by fastgerman on Friday 4th June 13:17

I don't know how much a manual conversion would cost on a 612. Worth asking Ed at AV Engineering or SBR (who have just done a 599).

The 612 is a bit of a unit, but 100bhp up on the 456. ISTR the 612 having longer service interval on the cambelt.

[ferrisbueller]

leglessAlex said:

ferrisbueller said:

I doubt they're manuals, which are nearer 100k AFAIK.

You're right, I was naive and foolish to trust the autotrader listing without checking the photos

It's the paddle-shift = manual toxin which corrupts all search engines.

[QBee]

It always costs more to modify an existing car than to buy the car already done.
I can see a very nice 612 Scaglietti on PH classifieds for the sort of money you mention....

link to Ferrari

[Hereward]

QBee said:

It always costs more to modify an existing car than to buy the car already done.
I can see a very nice 612 Scaglietti on PH classifieds for the sort of money you mention....

link to Ferrari

I tried to buy that one in February but Dovehouse wouldn't even counter-offer my opening bid (£51k if I recall correctly). Maybe the owner will be a bit more flexible on the price now...

[ferrisbueller]

QBee said:

It always costs more to modify an existing car than to buy the car already done.
I can see a very nice 612 Scaglietti on PH classifieds for the sort of money you mention....

link to Ferrari

Disagree.

How much is a legit factory manual 599 (of which there are very few)? £300k+? No way it costs anything like £200k to convert one.
A manual 612 is £100k, F1 is £50k? £50k to convert? Dubious.

Just don't expect the retro fitted item to be worth the same as the original factory version.

[fastgerman]

I think it’s not worth the investment on the 456 unless going original 456 GT manual parts from the sounds of things.

I’m still enjoying the 456 as is (could use some more noise) then maybe I’ll move to a 612 at a later date.

Thanks for the inputs all and Happy Friday

[bolidemichael]

My input is that the hugely expensive exhaust system will give you the aural experience that you're after.