The GTC project is getting some attention after sitting idle for a few weeks. The car is very solid but suffers from the same problem as all Ferraris which is water getting trapped between layers of unprotected steel and corroding it away. The GTC has a very elegant circular vent in the “C” pillar to let air pressure out of the cabin when the doors are closed and when the vent system is used. Since this vent is an open hole into the interior, a little catch tray with a drain pipe is attached to the inside of the pillar so water doesn’t ruin the headliner and flood into the interior. A hose that can be seen under the car allows this tray to drain onto the ground but over time it plugs with debris and the water builds up and leaks inside the rear fender arch making the car disappear into a cloud of brown dust.

Understanding that this car is 45 years old, the bodywork is in amazing condition but you can see the concentrated rust damage connection to the leaking “drip tray”. The front of the rocker panels is rotten away which makes sense because of all the water spray getting inside while driving in the rain. Pininfarina did a great job sealing these car up when new and we will follow their technique so when we’re done, we’ll use the same super thick and rugged seam sealer (that smells like Star Wars Action Figures) allowing the car to last another 50 years when we finish with it.

Remaking fender arches Ferrari GTC

Carrozzeria Touring Berlinetta

Ferrari Headlight detail

Touring Carrozzeria Body Dashboard

High Build Primer Ferrari

Here are a series of photos of the block sanding process on the Ferrari 166 Touring Berlinetta. The sheet metal is all sorted and gaps are perfect but the body needs hundreds of hours of serious elbow grease (sanding) to make sure it is all straight as an arrow. Syl isn’t scared of the “mud”, he completely fills in all of the door and hood gaps allowing him to block sand right across them so when the light hits the highly polished top coat you won’t see any waves or change in reflection.

Even though the grill we made fit the opening in bare aluminum, Syl spends hours making it perfect with skim coats of body filler and attacks the headlight rim contact areas with the same level of perfection. There isn’t any room for error when working with super fine trim that is used all over this car like the delicate headlight rings and the low profile windshield and rear glass surrounds. Imagine these surrounds,  start with a long  section of 1/4″ aluminum rod and whittle it down so only a quarter of it is used.  We re-made this trim because the delicate original material was destroyed when the car was disassembled.

Right now, the car is sealed up in high build primer with a blue tinted epoxy primer that seals the polyester filler from moisture and greasy finger prints. Now we have some more fitting here and there before it goes back to Syl’s shop to work out some more details such as the incredibly complex belt-line crown that goes from the headlight to the tail light..

We’ll probably have more hours in sanding and painting the dashboard that it would take to paint an entire late model car like a Mercedes or Honda. The dash on this car is a thing of beauty but it requires a perfectionist sicko to finish it because like the rest of the car, the trim that surrounds the gauges and switches are like string bikinis

This is a subject that I write about frequently because I just don’t understand why Ferrari Transmissions are bigger than the engine in front of it. We just had a transmission out of a 1955 Ford Pickup that was the size of a shoe box and a 5 speed ZF transmission out of a Maserati is tiny compared to the 5 speed out of this 330 GT 2+2. If I seem frustrated it’s because getting this Parthenon out of the car is a job that only Zeus can handle.

This transmission works well but the synchronizers are worn to to point of having a chrome plated polished look instead of the required rough cast finish but all the bearings and gears are perfect. We used to replace the operating sleeves on these transmissions but they take so long to “wear in” that I feel they are doing more damage than good especially considering how well they shift with the original parts re-installed.

5-speed 330 Transmisison

Well, I did it, I finally convinced the original owner of this spectacular original 1972 Porsche 911 to sell it to me. 3 years ago we did the top end end of the engine, shocks, brakes and tires and replaced a few rubber seals. The only thing  that isn’t original on the car are the wheels, we painted them silver as the original chrome was peeling and nasty, so to make them silver was an attractive solution. If someone made me a strong offer I may be motivated to sell this sweetheart but when something this great comes along, it will take a strong offer!

1972 911T

Things are coming along nicely on the 1950 Ferrari 166 Touring Berlinetta, here you can see the dashboard lining up nicely with the upper door panels and the windshield glass fitted with new mahogany tack strips installed. All around the body openings are hand whittled wooden strips to jamb the glass into place while providing an area to tack the headliner and upholstery. Hidden under the painted aluminum trim on the top of the door is a tack strip to which the leather door panel upholstery is attached . Near the rear vent windows, the tack strips secure the headliner on the top half and the rear package shelf leather to the bottom half. Unfortunately these tack strips are in channels around the glass openings which means they are sitting in pools of water every time the car is washed or driven in the rain so all of the strips were rotten to dust.

Six tack strips secure the front windshield, two on top, two on the bottom and two on the sides. These dog bone strips were in decent shape because they are located on the sides and didn’t spend much time bathing/rotting in water but since they are so thin, the tacks securing the headliner caused them to splinter and blow apart. They are totally different pieces left to right and had to be hand shaped for 6 hours to make fit correctly. This is a lesson in how not to build a car!! They don’t make them like they used to… thank god!

Mahogany Tack strip

Lining up Dash Ferrari

Maybe this is the reason Lampredi design features are not used in current engines such as Honda or Mercedes Benz and the reason Ferrari had the most success with the Colombo designed engines. The V-12 Lampredi engine has cylinders that thread up into the cylinder head instead of pressed into the block, but the camshaft and valve actuation are similar to the Colombo designs.

The block of this 4 cylinder Lampredi engine is actually the head, a huge casting with enormous cylinders that thread into it like the V-12′s. The valve actuation is a different style with a huge aluminum followers and a roller of the same size as the V-12 engines. There are huge and very strong “hairpin” style valve springs and enormous coil springs to keep the aluminum followers from floating.

Ferrari 750

Cam Follower Ferrari 4 cylinder

Roller followers Needle Bearing

Ferrari Camshaft wear repair

Due to lack of Ferrari Factory  testing in the mid 50′s, they didn’t observe that this is just too much spring pressure for the roller follower to handle so after less than 2000 miles something gives up, be it the roller follower or the camshaft… and in these photos you can see what happens. The tiny needle bearings come apart and scatter in the engine and the cam is torn up. Maybe the load is too much for the roller follower and it blows apart or the camshaft gets worn and hammers the roller follower until it deteriorates?

Ferrari water pipes

Here is a fixture we made to duplicate the often rusty steel water pipes on Ferrari 250 engines. I make them from Stainless Steel so they should last for much longer than the originals.  I have a drawer full of the parts needed to make these such as the 2 ear flanges and the temp sensor ports as well as pre-bent tubing.

Ferrari 250 GT coolant tubing

275 GTB’s look so great with the 15″ Borrani 4010 and 4011 wheels, the factory should have fitted all of the cars with these instead of the little 14″ wheels. While the rear fender vents are interesting, they look great when they resemble the vents behind the front wheels, more square and in keeping with the 250 GTO. We have learned lots about this car recently and enjoy having it around the shop.

GTB/4 Ferrari 275

rear vents Ferrari GT