This car is a 1977 Ferrari 400 Automatic that I bought in September
1997. A front-engined V-12 with double overhead camshafts per bank and
fitted with 6 twin choke Weber carburettors and twin distributors, it develops
340bhp. The car is finished in Rossa Corsa with black leather interior
with light grey inserts, and light grey carpets. It was in generally good
condition when I bought it and I started to restore minor items, fitted
a stainless steel exhaust, had new original specification Wilton carpets
made to replace the faded originals, renovated the leather, refinished
the magnesium wheels plus dozens of other jobs. In 1999 I stripped, cleaned,
painted and rebuilt the front and rear suspension. In 2000 I stripped the
engine and engine bay of all ancillaries, rebuilt and refitted them whilst
preparing the area to concours standard. This took an amazingly long time
but was very rewarding and looks great.
Having done all this work I realised that I was going to keep this car
for a long time so I decided to take the plunge and have the bodywork fully
restored. Although the body was in very good condition there were a few
areas that required attention and there were some micro-blisters appearing
on the roof and boot-lid (trunk), also the paint on the bonnet (hood),
roof and boot-lid was blooming quite badly. 'Blooming' is where the paint
has a white cloudy look. This can initially be polished out but soon returns
after a short time. It is caused by the paint pigment being affected by
sunlight and basically means that the paint is worn out. Strangely enough
this condition happens most with bright red paintwork. So, in January 2001
I sent the car to a paintshop recommended by a friend as having done an
excellent job on his Lamborghini. The first job was to remove the complete
interior, all brightwork, bumpers and lights and then the front and rear
screens. As these screens are bonded to the body I was very lucky that
neither broke. The body has been completely stripped of all paint and any
rust cut out and replaced with new metal. The worst areas were around
the screen apertures, especially the rear screen. The estimated date to
finish
the bodywork restoration is mid-May. This should give plenty of time
to refit the interior and exterior trim and to clean up the suspension
and engine bay for the UK Ferrari Owner's Club Concours on 1st July.