My latest Ferrari.

[Bootsy]

Excellent, so Mike purchases a car that looks gorgeous and needs very little doing to it.

I look forward to the thread where it gets stripped, resprayed (a few times) and rebuilt.

Launch party 2020?

[Nige]

Well those incorrect polished cam covers must necessitate a full engine rebuild to ensure all is correct.

Croyde, Georgeham, Braunton, Saunton don't think we've missed a trip at least twice a since 1995.

[964RS]

Nice story Mike thanks for sharing.

Ill admit I'm not really a Ferrari fan and probably couldn't grow a decent 80's tash but do hope you enjoy it and actually put plenty of miles on this one.

Just read the Classic Porsche article on your Martini RSR again....still think its in a different league to this in all respects and a shame you couldn't keep it. But horses for courses and if we all liked the same thing the world would be very boring and I'd have no one to argue with or wind up

Looking forward to the pics.

[Mike]

Thanks for that, but rest assured this one was just in need of a little tinkering to bring it up to how I like them!

The thing about the Martini car Jason, it really was the epitome of that awful cliche 'it's about the journey'. Very early on in the
build it took on a life of it's own and developed into a pure racing car, and as I make Captain Slow look like Sebastian Vettel,
I was never going to be the guy behind the wheel.

This thing is all about a completely different ownership experience, I'll post the new pictures shortly but more importantly I'll
try to describe the difference between the carbed 308 and an early 911 in terms of living with one and the different driving
experiences.

It's going to be difficult, as we know the 911 is the ultimate drivers car, the 308 is far more an ethereal experience.......

[Disco]

Mike,

Its a shame that the RSR has gone to pastures new as I was absolutely riveted during its progress, but I can understand your reasons for sale.

Regardless of the car, country it originates from or the condition it is in, I'd like to think that one day I was in a position to be the next owner of one of your tinkerings..

good luck with the Ferrari. I was lucky enough to drive one when I was 21 ( friends father insured him for a day and he foolishly let me have a go !) - personally I think they are great cars and look forward to your next instalment.

all the best

Joe

[964RS]

The thing about the Martini car Jason, it really was the epitome of that awful cliche 'it's about the journey'. Very early on in the
build it took on a life of it's own and developed into a pure racing car, and as I make Captain Slow look like Sebastian Vettel,
I was never going to be the guy behind the wheel.

Funny I've been talking to a number of people for hours today about what I'm going to do with my 964RSR now it is finished

My plan was to do 3-4 trackdays a year with it and keep it and watch it appreciate but as I'm just not going to do them now it's becoming a static investment, when it really needs to be racing and not using something just doesn't feel like me. Problem is everyone telling me they will rocket in the near future.....

and then Hexagon stick a 3.8RS on at £350k and you do start thinking!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 999&type=1

Maybe I should sell and buy a fezza to run around in too!! (if the rain ever stops )

[sladey]

The worlds gone mad - sell your flighty porsche so you can use a nice reliable fezza as a daily driver

[964RS]

The worlds gone mad - sell your flighty porsche so you can use a nice reliable fezza as a daily driver

But the extra £200k in the bank would soon be used up on RAC call out charges and dealer servicing costs Mark

[Vetro]

Or you could spend the leftover money on stockings for Sophia Loren.

[Mike]

So here is the first set of pictures I did of the car once I'd got it home. Done for the insurance company, it was just a selection to show the general condition.
I don't really enjoy taking pictures of the car, it's a little to much like work for me when the cars are meant to be fun, so a lot of time it's on the sureshot.







The engine bay is pictured after we've gone through the car and did a comprehensive service, so it's been cleaned up and detailed here. You can tell it's the rare
dry sump version immediately by the oil tank that's sitting in the foreground. Those are the breather pipes disappearing from it under the air filter housing that
sits on top of the four webers.







The pic of the speedo is a good example of reflection problems that 308 owners have to put up with, not only in the dials but more annoyingly in the windscreen
which show the air vents from the dash reflecting in sunshine. The spare wheel is of the space saver type, this ones never been used and complete with stickers
and leather tie down strap.

[Lightweight_911]

It looks lovely Mike !

Just a question - what diameter is the steering wheel ?

I've seen a number of different Momo wheels fitted to 308's - was that model/diameter the standard fitment ?

[Mike]

You and your steering wheels! Just measured it at 365mm, and standard as far as I know.

[swift911]

Considering you say you don't like taking pictures of the car, I think they are very good. Car looks great, very clean example.

[Mike]

First thing to do was to go through the car and give it a decent service which was overdue.

The great news about finding Aldo the Ferrari mechanic wasn't just how fantastic he is, but that he's about 15 mins from my place as opposed to
a 3 hour round trip when I was going to Neil Bainbridges place in Oxfordshire all the time. Aldo kindly took the car in and started the work.

Main thing was the cambelts which were overdue and tappet adjustment for valve timing. Aldo had explained that the engine is pretty bullet proof
and he certainly revved it when he drove it, but I was being gentle with the old belts so hadn't really red-lined it so far. There was a little pop and
hiss at idle so we decided to strip and rebuild the four webers. Just as with any carb'ed car it's so important to have them set up and balanced
properly and Ado did a great job doing needle valves, float heights and replacing all the gaskets, o'rings and setting the mixtures.

He also stripped and rebuilt the distributor, setting it up on his new dizzy tester, so with that and the rebuilt webers it's now running like a dream.

Finished off with new fuel lines and clips to the carbs, and a new throttle cable as the old one was a little sticky. Interestingly Also recommended
changing the two offside engine mounts, on the transverse engine they where the ones on the belt drive side and take more of the strain, just
changing them really made the gear change at the gate even more fantastic as the lump had been very slightly down on one side. Also set up the
pedals properly and it's now the first car I can really heel and toe in which is great. Obviously oil, plugs, coolant change and new fluid to the brakes
and we were good to go.

I should have taken the opportunity with the cam covers off during the service to have them vapour blasted to get rid of the polished look, but that
will have to wait for now.

[davep]

There was a couple of obvious thing as it drove out of the garage which you can see in the film clip, like only one reversing light working, must be those Italian electrics, and the hand brake was rubbish but that's perfectly normal for a 308.

I remember a joint Ferrari/Porsche concours event back about 1980. I overheard a conversation between a few Ferrari owners whose 308's had just been judged. One said his car was the only one that did not have a penalty for electrics, and a good thing they had not spotted such & such and so & so. Does Italian electrics make Lucas electrics look good by comparison?