Ferrari Testarossa and 246 Dino

I was hired to to a pre-purchase inspection on a very nice 1986 Ferrari Testarossa the other day. This is a very attractive car with 40K miles and very little “road rash”. The reason I am mentioning road rash is that for some reason these cars age very quickly both on the interior and the exterior. These cars have both a low front end and long overhang in front of the wheels so curb damage is hard to avoid and stone chips are common. This car is clean.

Also, the interiors on these cars are prone to premature aging but again, the tan leather looks great but the chocolate colored dash is starting to pull, common on these cars. The car runs and drives very well and it went into second gear when cold as though it was brand new. Did someone put a 40K odometer into a 10K car?

These “single mirror” cars are super cool and I think that they are on the way up in desirability and value. They offer killer looks and performance with good reliability. I am finding that buyers like these early cars with the center lock wheels because they do not have the DOT mandated “mouse” seatbelts an the strange looking under-dash shelf.

The guy who hired me to do the PPI is debating whether to buy this silver car or the black car 1986 Ferrari Testarossa that I have for sale.

The Dino is in for its first major service after the engine was overhauled. We are going to do a head re-torque, valve adjustment and camshaft timing check. We typically remove the camshaft support caps to inspect for wear on major services because we have seen some ugly wear from plugged oil passages.

This is a very nice Dino that will be prepped to run trouble free in ‘08.