Anyone want a very straight and solid California “Black Plate” Alfa Guilietta Sprint? I think it has a 1600 engine. We’ve had it at the shop for awhile and I’d like to sell the car so let me know if you are interested.

Alfa Giulietta Sprint

Alfa Sprint Bertone

Stainless Steel Water Pipes 250, 330

Tubing for Ferrari engine

Since I have the jigs, stainless steel tubing and motivation, I decided to stock up on some commonly used water pipes for Ferrari 250′s. The top photo is a mixture of trashed original parts and my re-made parts that attach to the water pump and have a barb for the heater return and a threaded boss for the thermostat bypass. The pipe in the next photo is a custom job for a repilca 250 that was sent to me for duplication. This part doesn’t follow any of my jigs so I made a crude jig to complete this order. I’ve done 4 pipes recently for 1962 Ferrari 250′s, an early 1962 GTE, a ’62 250 PF Cab and two 1962 Short Wheelbase Berlinetta. Even though they should all be the same, all 4 of these are significantly different with barbs going in different directions and the main bend radius unique from one to the other. I’d like to know how these were made originally because there isn’t any consistency in  the style of construction or shape.

After getting a great response to a post a few weeks ago about engraving on the door handles called Giouche, I thought you would also get a kick out of this old school decorative detail. It’s called Cloisonne, a technique developed to make Jewelry and small fixtures as well as larger items like bowls and vases. Years ago at a Montreal art museum I saw pottery that was finished in a geometric pattern cloisonne that was so beautiful with pools of glossy color and a chaotic randomness.

Cloisonne is typically made by soldering wire to the base material in order to form dividers that get filled with the enamel filled with colored paste that it fired in order to harden and become glossy. These Ferrari and Pininfarina badges are made a little differently. The base metal is stamped to create the 2 dimensional depth which is then filled with different colors of the glossy translucent enamel. The Ferrari badge is an original from the 1957 and the Pininfarina (Letter F) as well as the Ferrari/PF flags are new manufacture. I’d like to know if the modern production pieces are made by the same company who made the originals or if they are reproduced by another shop.

Cloisonne Ferrari

Cloisonne hood badge

Coisonne PF Pininfarina

PF Badge, Ferrari badge

These headlight rims were purchased with headlights and buckets to “bolt in” to the front end of the Touring Body 1949 Ferrari 166 Coupe. The parts are beautiful and very expensive (even though the chrome plating is flaking off) but there is no way to secure them to the car! I have to make these brass tabs which will be soldered onto the rims so I can use a bolt to secure them to the bodywork. I drilled the holes in the parts for more surface area for the silver solder to adhere the tab to the rim. Once I am done I’ll send the rims to the engraver to have the delicate “Carello” script scanned into the computer so when they get re-chromed we can engrave this important detail back in. What an expensive detail!

Carello Ferrari Headlight 250, 166, 212,

Trim Rim Ring Carello Headlight

Over the weekend Steve and I (Bill) headed with one of our customers to the Fairfield County Concours and Bonham’s Auction. We drove from the New Paltz area early Sunday morning, the Ferraris (250 GTE and 250 PF Coupe) caravanned to the event together, with the Steve and the Freightliner in tow, figuratively of course.

Stephan was a Concours Judge, which was as I found quite an honor. He worked to rate countless beautiful cars alongside the likes of Rupert “The Hawk” Banner, Bonham’s esteemed auctioneer, McKeel Hagerty, Dave Kinney, Wayne Carini, etc. Nice work Stephan. You can now find Stephan at the shop under his Fairfield County Concours “Judge” ballcap - commemorative gift with service.

On Facebook we’ve put up a gallery of pictures that I took when I either remembered to get the camera out or when my iPhone actually had battery life. The gallery is here – and a little teaser below. Make sure to “Like” us on Facebook so that our updates show up in your feed.

Bugatti Type 57

Wayne Carini's Leyland Bus

Dial-a-boost on the RUF CTR 1. This knob actually only varies boost from 1 bar to about 1.2 - not a huge performance increase but good to adjusting to the quality of different gasoline.

BMW 2002 Turbo

Me with the diminutive Fiat 600 that we bought.

If I were making a production run of something, this isn’t how I would do it. Ferrari made thousands of “250″ series cars all with these goofy water pipes for the cooling system which vary drastically throughout the 10 year production run.  They are so complex and hard to duplicate that re-making them nearly impossible. This “J” shaped pipe has a compound curve with barbs that have to be welded on in exactly the right location even though they appear to be stitched on at random locations. If they are off one millimeter, they will hit the oil filter or run into the fan.

These pipes are for the Lusso/GTE series of 250, but I can make a number of other styles from 166 up through the 275 cars utilizing my incredible and growing stockpile of bends and flared ends. Right now I am making a short run of the water pipe that connects the thermostat housing to the engine on a 275 GTB/GTS Two-Cam engine.

Water pipe for Ferrari

Water pipe copied for Ferrari

I don’t offer much helpful information on this blog but want to share some photos of the font and progression of transmission, engine, and axle number stampings on Ferrari castings. From now on, i’m going to photograph stamps on Ferrari castings as I have the ability, the transmission stamps are hard to photograph because the interior has to come out for access. These are all photographs of Transmissions from 250’s and 330’s.  As things progress, I will post photos of Engines, axles and trans-axles.

Numbers from early 330 with Overdrive

Series II PF Cab, late production

Early production GTE Ferrari

Transmission Ferrari Lusso 2505-speed 2 mount engine

Ferrari 330, Porsche 356

A local guy just purchased this 330 GT 2+2 and has asked us to take a look at the car before he drives it this summer. It is one of the best paint jobs I have ever seen on a Ferrari, super crisp lines and totally flat panels because it was block sanded to perfection and there isn’t a spot of orange peel anywhere. These bigger Ferraris look great in colors such as Argento or Azuro.

The Porsche is ready for delivery after spending time to sort out some tie rod details and brake overhaul. I had a chance to take the car for a long drive and am continually amazed at how wonderful these cars are.