Waiting for Enzo - Perfect 308.pdf - Ferrari Life

Deciding to buy a Ferrari is the easy part; choosing the right one is the challenge.GEORGEAVGEMKIS explains how he found the perfect 308.Yan VUSATI, ,N6w- @/a

ive days later, I had dinnerwith Gary in hisremote Connecticuthome. I confessed to him thatIU never even sat in a Ferrariandthe next thing I knew, Iwas nearly wefting my pants asthe'Weber carburetors gaspedbehind my head, a head beingounched back into the seat withixhilarating force. For the firsttime in my life, I was actuallyscared to be riding in a car.Could this be why so manyowners are obsessed with theirFerraris? If so, I wanted a piece.I waited until an appropriatemoment, then popped thequestion: "So how much doyou want for the Ferrari?"Garyt nine-year-old sonimmediately stormed fromthe table, wailing, "You promised!The Ferrari was 'posedto be mine when I grow uplBwahhhl""Uh, I can recommend adealer I know who might havea nice 308 for you," said thered-faced father.Unless I wanted to start avendetta with Garyt son, itlooked like the '78 wasnt tobe mine. It was time to srarrmy search.7f few days later, The NewAV**Timeslisredalg824 1308 GTS "priced tosell at $28,000." My wife, Tica,and I drove out to see it. Ticawas an essential element in theFerrari purchasing process: Shecheerfully helped me alongwith clever observation suchas, "Dear, did you notice thatwhile we were out driving hiscar, the owner put a carpet overthe oil puddle in the garage?"Our appointment waswith a big Italian guy namedGiuseppe who lived in ruralNew Jersey. Giuseppe quicklypulled the red GTSi out of thedriveway, and within minuteshe and I were tooling downthe back roads. But unlir

at the local dealer. The soonesrthe dealer could get me in wasthree weeks off so I decided touse that time ro see if I couldfind a bener Ferrari.I spent a lot of that timeexploring websites that offeredFerraris for sale, includingfenariads. com, exoti cars. co m,fe nar i b uy. c o m, ca rfo li o. c o m,dup ontregis ny. com, ebay. com,fenaricarsforsale. com and uelocitfirnl.com.Ialso frequented theFerrari Club of America website(www.fenariclubofamerica.com)and the Clubt regional websites,as well as the forum-basedwebsite fenaric hat. corn.Gary had recommendedI talk with Bill Pollard ofSportAuto in Connecticut. Icalled Pollard one day duringIunch, and he generously gaveme an hour of his time to assessm1' finance5-I was hoping tospend around $32,000-andmake some suggestions. Healso pointed me to a neighbor-ing deder who had two 308sthat might meet my needs.he next Saturday, Ticaand I drove up roConnecticut ro see thepair of 308s. The 1985 QVhad already been sold, but avery nice 1984 model stoodfreshly polished in the doorway.Unfortunately, it hadbegun to rain just before ourarrival, so a test drive was ourof the question; we were limitedto staring ar the car andpoking around.During our examination,Pollard dropped by and joinedus in Iooking over the car.He pointed out a number ofthings that made it a goodprospect, including:1. Many of the metal surfacesin the engine comparrmentwere coared with a delicate,yellow metal plating.Excessive steam cleaning or rheuse of abrasives will quicklywear this surface away, a deadgiveaway rhat a car has beendressed up for sale.2. All the side windows hadthe St. Gobain logo engravedin their corners. If they hadnt,the car might have been in anaccident and received genericreplacements.3. There were no rust bubbles,which are common onolder Ferraris. One can livewith them if they are presenr,indicate a tricked odometer.Also, check ro see rhar rhegrime around the odometernut marches the rest of the dirtaround the gauges.6. The car came with anup-to-date repair history. Thisbegan with the original ownertmanual, in which the dealertstickers were properly stampedand signed.7. Both tool kits wereneatly stored in the luggagecompartmenr. (KeithBluemelt excellent OriginalFerrari 78 lists the tools thatshould be in the kits, as wellas a wealth of other details.)8. The red crackle paint onthe cam covers had a smallchip. If the paint on a2}-yearold engine is immaculate, ittlikely not original.Exterior paint is also anissue. Many older Ferraris arerepainted by body shops thattry to avoid the enormousamount of work required todo the job right. For example,each 308 door takes 50 hoursto paint properly. The giveawaysofa cheap repaint can befound at the red/black borders(the black should overlap thered), around the inside doorpost and, the most difficultplace to do a good job, thetight edge berween the doorside and the window molding."Nobody can ger the paintto go completely up under thatreal good repainr, but the car'snot a virgin. Don'r get mewrong, though, itt a pretrygood car for the money."I thought ir was srunning.The only thing rhat kept mefrom buying it outright was,at $36,500, it was a bit overmy budget.he next car we looked atwas a 1979308 that waslisted for only $26,000.Pulling into the ownert driveway,Tica and I found a contemporarymansion with twoFerraris and a new Mercedesout front. The owner handedme the keys to his grey GTSand said, "Take it out for aspin and dont hurry back."This Ferrari had somereally thrilling snap. It leaptfrom a standing start like aleopard and gave both ofus the thrills we knew we'dfind in Enzot house.rVith theengine purring behind ourheads, the crisp fall nightmarbled with stars and myfavorite woman beside me,I was in Iove again."You know, we could iustkeep taking test drives andnever actually buy a Ferrari,"Tica suggested with a smile.Back in the owner's garage,I gave the 308 a Pollard-styleonce-over. Yellow metal. check.All gauges and lights, check.Interior wear, check.It turns out there's c big difference between the ecrlycqrs clnd the 1980-ecrrly'82 models. Thcrt's when Ferrari wcrsforced to convert to a hcstily engineered fuel-injectionsystem, crnd power dropped precipitously.but they are often the sign ofdeeper corrosion problems.4. The grille didnt have anymissing crosses and the fins onthe air-conditioning radiatorbehind it were in good shape.These fins are easily damagedin a minor front-end impact,and nearly impossible to repair.5. Interior wear was consistentthroughout. Excessivethrottle pedal wear on a lowmileagecar, for example, couldmolding," Pollard said. "Youhave to remove the molding.It takes ten hours."I looked wherever Pollardshowed me and swore rhat rhe308 had never been painted,yet it looked brand-new. Hesmiled, then opened the doorand pointed to a corner of thelatch area. "Down here, theretan edge," he said. "They couldhave compounded it out and Iwouldnt have caught it. It's aPaint...paint? The surface wassmooth but underneath theclearcoat was a fine network ofcracks, as if the car had grownslighdy but the paint couldnrstretch to match.I turned to the owner andsaw him shrink in proporrion.Now I knew why the car cost$26,000; it needed a totalrepaint.'$7hat does it cosr topaint a 308? Back on the inrernet,I found our $10,000-FORZA FEBRUARY 2OO575

12,000 to do it right. \7hen Icalled the owner back, he madeit clear he wasnt going below$22.000. No deal.he 'net soon revealedanother 1982 GTS, thisone in Edison, NewThe ad andcipated myJersey.reticence about a rwo-valve,fuel-injected car, offering thefollowing reassurance: "Runslike a Quattro-Valve car, veryfast 6c smooth."This 308 turned out to beeverything the ad promised.Tica squealed nearly as muchas the tires as I hammered thethrottle, expecting nothing butgetdng a hell of a kick. I wasnow seriously confused; whywas this car so much fasterthan Giuseppe's?Looking underneath, I discoveredthe answer: The caralyticconverters were gone,replaced with a set of "testpipes." Older 308s can sometimesbe rweaked enough toDass an emissions test withoutih.."m.The converter-less'82 wasa blast to drive, but it wasnt tobe my car. I d overlooked a linein the ad that read "rust bubblingon the rear quarter panels."The rust was actually bubblingoff in my hands. This wasa major 6ody job plus a repaint,and even the low $22.000asking price wasnt enough tomake me bite.The next car carne from theNew Yorh Times, a black 1984Mony Europeon Ferrcrris were brought into the U.S. inthe 1980s, when they were so cheqp in Europe that it wcrseconomicclly fecsible to import one to America andupdcxte it to our environmentcrl qnd safety stcndqrds.QV that the owner was sellingas a no-cash lease transfer thatwould net out to $32,000. Itturned out to be a nice car,exceDt for a rust bubble on each,.", qr.r"rt., panel that wouldrequire the top halfof the carto be repainred-say $4,000 fora good fix. But overall, it wasa good car at a good price."It's black? That wont do,"Tica said when I returned home."I decided I want a red Ferrari.Red has got to be more valuable."She was changing the ruleslate in the game, but I wantedthis to be her car as muchas mine. I called Pollard foradvice. and he confirmed whatTica had suspected. "They callit 'resale red,' though blacksa close second," he said. "Allthe rest are considered'rarecolors,' but that really means'less desirable."'Rare-color 308s can bringas much as l0% less than market,so red it was-which leftGiuseppe's humble '82 as theIront-runner.bout this time. I learnedabout Carfax, an onlineservice that gives youan instant report on any carthistory based on its VehicleIdentification Number, or VIN.I paid my $29 fee and thenstarted checking all the cars Ihad seen. Everything checkedout as promised until I got toGiuseppet'82 GTSi-andbang! "Accident with anothermotor vehicle, February 1993."Armed with all the knowledgeand experience I d gainedfrom my weeks of intensiveshopping, I decided to reexaminethe car just two days beforethe scheduled PPI. UnderPollard's examination techniques,the '82 started spillingher beans. My fingernail, rununder the drivert side windowmolding, revealed a badly disguisedoverpaint, and the edgebetween the black and redtrim showed the red had beenapplied lasr. It was clear the carhad been completely repainted.In addition, there were severalspots where white Bondoshowed through the red paint.This is a dead giveaway. Ferrariitself used lots of filler. but thatfiller is mustard colored. \Vhitefiller is often a sign that bodywork has been done. \J7hen Iheld a magnet-okay, one ofthose magnetic refrigeratords6e12gi6n5-uD to the metalbody, I discovered several placeswhere it barely held, anothersign of thick body filler.'With a great sigh of relief, Idecided to walk away from the'82 and start looking all overagain. "I thought you weregetdng too hot to trot," Ticaadmitted, congratulating meon my newfound maturiry."Thatt just the mindset forgetting hosed."Jthen had a brainstorm:I \fhy not call all theI mechanics in the area andask them ifthey had any customersselling their Ferraris?Mechanics would have intimateknowledge of the cars intheir care, and hopefully, notbeing salespeople, would representthe deal from a disinrerestedpoint of view. (As itturned out, some wanted toact as agents for either me orthe seller, others told me aboutcars with no expectation ofremunerailon.,lI called about ten mechanicsfrom Boston to Philadelphia.They pointed me towards anumber of nice cars, includingan'86 328 GTS for only$35,000. After finding out ithad 98,000 miles, I decidedto follow another piece ofPollardt advice and stick tomy chosen model.A few weels later. BrianVignale of Independent Motor\7orks in Short Hills, NewJerseycalled me with what soundedlike a winner. 'A long-term customerof mine has decided to sellhis '84 GTS QV" tr. told me.He just bought a 360 Modenaand is spending a lot of dme inLas Vegas with his girlfriend, sohe doesnt have time for the 308.I ve worked on this car for tenyears. Itt really nice, and youcan get a real bargain here."The car checked out fineto my newly trained eye anddrove like a dream. The onlything unusual was that it wasa European-specification 308,a'

tial part of the deal when buyinga Euro model. It pays to becareful: Although nor havingthe papers for a car as old asthis '84 may not cause a problem,authorities can and sometimesdo confiscate cars thatare not properly documented.In addition, many srateswill refuse to register carswithout the proper paperwork.This is because many Ferrariswere neither legally importednor legally updated, or theyjust have shady histories.Vhatt more, Carfax is nohelp in sleuthing Europeancars: Punch in a Euro VINand Carfax reiects the numberas "invalid."I decided to go to rhesource of any problems Imight have, the DepartmentofThansportation (DOT) andthe Environmental ProtectionAgenry (EPA), the rwo governmentorganizations thatregulate grey-market cars. TheIRS sometimes takes part, aswell, but no special taxesapplied in this case.Surprisingly, DOT and EPAhave very efficient processes inplace. For the DOT porrion,you simply submit the VINonline and pay $19, then you'llreceive a letter by fax and/orin the mail. The 308 QV wasIegit, and I received the faxedletter in iust a few hours.Next, fax a copy of that letterto the EPA. In a few weeks,you'll get a (free) determinationby mail. With rhese twoletters, you should be ali setto register your Ferrari.The Euro 308 received irsEPA approval, so I decided tobuy it. It cost roughly $30,000,and it came with 15 morehorsepower than its U.S. equivalent.Since I wanted Tica to beas excited as me about the purchase,I took her to IndependentMotor'Works, whereVignale took her for a ride.tVhen she emerged, she gaveme a big thumbs-up and said,"This is our new baby!"The big day finally came,and the seller and I agreed tomeet at Vignalek garage, wherethe 308 had iust received amajor service. Certified checkin hand, I left Manhattan at2p.m. for the 20-mile driverightinto the biggest snowstormto ever hit the New YorkMetropolitan area.The seller and I soonchanged the meeting to aparking lot only five milesfrom me. I arrived at7 p.m.I waded through the snowbanksto his rental car, wherewe exchanged check forpaperwork. I then trudgedback to my car with only thetitle and, of all things, theFerrarit donut spare tire toshow for the months-longjourney. My new Ferrariwould have to wait our rhesnow in Vignale's shop.Since that anticlimacticbeginning, Tica and I haveenjoyed many snow-free milesin our new Ferrari. It deliverseverything I had hoped for ina sports 621-xnd it will keepthe rest of my driving dayshappy ones! C)FORZA FEBRUARY 2OO5 77