Here's the story of my procuration of my 1963 Series III GTE for your Owner's Gallery. Please find three pictures attached to this e-mail to illustrate the following tale, the elderly gentleman in one of them is my predecessor on title to GTE 4495, Mr. Geoff Ford.

I first laid eyes on 1963 Ferrari GTE 4495 in September,1998. It showed up at an annual All British Field Meet/Picnic in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. I live in Vancouver, Canada, about an hour away, and was attending the event in my newly restored 1969 MGC GT. Apparently one of the organizers of the event was an acquaintance of the owner of the Ferrari, and had invited him to the picnic knowing that he also owned a Jaguar MK VII and a Jaguar MKII. The Ferrari owner, a certain Geoff Ford, had wanted to drive the Ferrari that day instead of either of his Jaguars. The volunteers at the gateway to the display field hadn't quite spotted the cavalino rampante on the grill and simply waived the car onto the display field--much to Geoff's amusement. He parked it in the middle of a row of Jaguar XKE's. Needless to say his slightly tatty silver steed was the star of the show, being the only
Italian alloy in the field of British iron!

I couldn't believe that such a unique car was hiding away in the wilds of very rural and agricultural Chilliwack and thus spent several hours getting to know Geoff and his car! He told me that he had had it since 1969, that he had bought it in Anaheim, California where he had lived before emigrating to
Canada in 1981, that he was the second or third owner of the car, that the guy he had bought it from had club raced it in California, and that it had had, at one time, a brass plaque on the dash pad engraved with the serial numbers, a build date and the name of the first owner. He claimed to still have the plaque somewhere, and he thought it was installed by the factory for the first owner, though I did then, and do now, doubt this theory somewhat. Geoff told me that the car had come with a hood (which Geoff claimed was original to the car) which had an air scoop fashioned into it, which had since been replaced with a standard scoopless hood as the other had at some point been forcibly detached from the car and run over, resulting in serious damage to the hood.

I thought the car and its irascible elderly owner fascinating. I remember my first impression of the car was that it was a little too bulbous front to back, a little too flat sided and a little dowdily stubby in its front to rear fender proportions to be considered "pretty", especially when parked beside a row of contemporary XKE's. I was shocked to see the back seat when I got closer, expecting only a two seater! The 1970's vintage brown shag carpeting throughout the car was thoroughly repugnant and somewhat distracted one from its other charms! The car had clearly been driven hard throughout its life and money had been spent only on what was absolutely necessary to keep it driveable. Cosmetics, including the chrome and paintwork had been largely ignored. Indeed, when diplomatically questioned
about these things Geoff explained that he considered it a point of honour that the car was treated no differently then any of his other machines, that is to say, no allowances were made for its pedigree, construction, peculiar sensitivities, disposition or requirements! "Its just another machine" he said to me--"its not in any way a museum piece--to be coddled and polished!" I disagreed, but was too polite to say so to someone I had just met! There is after all a difference between a garage queen, always polished and neverdriven, and a practically concourse car, driven regularly the way it was intended, but maintained to factory specifications; with my views on the subject falling squarely into the latter philosophy!

After spending an hour around the car, its proportions grew on me, and I began to see in its' little details, though all very tatty and worn on Geoff's example, the beauty of a piece of antique jewellery; things like the small chromed cavalino grill badge, the Pininfarina crowns on the front fenders, the faired in Marchal driving lights, the column and centre console switches, the stunning Veglia gauges, the rotating vent window opening mechanisms, the one piece tail lights, and the little bee-hive shaped front marker lamps!  While I would be taking editorial liberties if I suggested that I fell in love with the car that day--it would be closer to the truth to say I was very intrigued with it, and remember thinking to myself that if ever a chance presented itself for me to buy the car I would seize the opportunity!

Well, in June, 2000, just such an opportunity arose. Geoff was seriously ill,  had been hospitalized and needed some minor assistance with some legal matters. The organizer of the All British Field Meet where I had met Geoff, also an acquaintance of mine, asked me if I would help (I am an attorney)
and I was happy to do so. Unfortunately, Geoff passed away in August of that year. I volunteered to help his son Randy clear up Geoff's garage--the one containing the Ferrari and the two Jaguars--and naturally, as I had avowed, I seized my opportunity to deprive the GTO replicators (who had already
contacted Randy somehow and offered him a ridiculous sum, sight unseen, for the car) their carrion for the day! Randy, preferring that the car he had worked on with his dad when he was a boy be restored by an enthusiast, sold the car to me for the lowest of the three  offers he had from the scavengers. It still cleaned me out, and represented the first (and hopefully only) time in my lengthy and eventful automotive career that I purchased a car without turning it on (it had no battery in it), moving it, putting it on a hoist, driving it, or otherwise inspecting it in any organized, methodical way. My option was simply "meet the lowest offer or let the car go". Obviously that was Hobson's Choice--no choice at all! My cheque was written in a flash, all three ageing steeds were placed on a flat bed and hauled to a buddy's Jaguar shop for further sale and restoration (the two Jaguars were to be sold, my Ferrari, to be restored!) That was August 23, 2000. I did not even get title to the beast until well into October when Geoff's estate was finalized! At that point, restoration began in earnest.

By October, 2000, I determined from the mass of material that we had dug out of Geoff's garage along with the car, that it had been in Geoff's possession since July 1969. Being a machinist by trade Geoff had kept a thoroughly retentive log of everything he did on the car from the day he bought it through the last time he drove it in November, 1999. The log detailed the brand and quantity of all fluids added, including gas and oil and water, and all maintenance and restoration. It documented two engine rebuilds, at least as many valve jobs, one tranny rebuild, several brake and clutch rebuilds and countless tune-ups. It showed 49,000 miles when Geoff bought the car and that it had covered a total of 130,000 miles. The log documented one paint job, one new exhaust system, and two new sets of tires. As astonishing as this was, it got even more retentive. Every part ever stripped off the car by Geoff had been kept and labelled. There was the damaged hood, a complete set of pistons, valves, valve guides and engine bearings and shells, several transmission components, several clutches and pressure plates, spare fuel pumps, light lenses, bulbs, switches, relays, nuts, bolts, washers and screws, and 13 complete sets of used spark plugs, that's 13X12 plugs, each carefully boxed in their original boxes and dated and labelled as to cylinders! The original California Black Plates from 1963 were also buried away in this treasure trove. And, above all else, last but not least, at the bottom of this mound of material, minding its own business in a nondescript black heap was a nicely patinated original tool roll and kit, missing only one wood screw driver, the lead hammer and the jet key! Bless you Geoff!

The first thing we did was remove the awe-inspiringly ugly shag carpet. The dash was removed and the gauges sent out for complete restoration. The dashboard and all interior metal door and side cappings were stripped and repainted. All interior leather panels, including the dashpad and rear deck,
excepting only the seats front and back, were removed and re-upholstered. The radiator was removed and recored. The entire engine bay except for the engine block itself was stripped, sanded down to bear metal (aluminium would be more accurate) primered and repainted. All ancillary systems except the suspension, rearend/axel, engine, and fuel tank were removed from the car, rebuilt and reinstalled. The brakes were completely resleeved and rebuilt. All hosing, fuel, oil, air and water was replaced with new correct items. The fuel pumps (both electric and mechanical) were rebuilt, as were the wiper motor, alternator and starter. The heater box was removed and rebuilt and the heater core recored. The entire electrical system was overhauled and all brittle, burned or missing wiring was replaced. All damaged or missing chrome was located and replated as necessary, including the Borrani knock-offs. The Borrani wheels were cleaned and polished by hand, one spoke at a time, to avoid the cost of a restoration which will still ultimately someday be necessary, as the spokes remain somewhat faded. The damaged rear bumper was replaced with a good one from a wreck in California. The correct
lighted interior rear view mirror and bracket were separately located and obtained for prices that would constitute the value of my "first born child" if I had one! Rear bumper escutcheons were located and replated to match the front ones. All exhaust hangers were changed as the originals were barely there. The exhaust itself was removed, stripped and painted. The down pipes were renewed. The transmission and overdrive were removed and have been rebuilt. The pinion seal and all wheel bearings and seals have been renewed.

What's left? Well, the engine, carbs and ignition haven't been touched. My logic is that the engine ran for Geoff in 1999--I have had it running since, it does smoke slightly on idle, and odds are the valves need doing again, but I'll let it go until my bank account recovers from the above detailed carnage! It will need a thorough tune up and valve adjustment before I drive it. The engine leaks oil prodigiously, so much so that the belly pans are probably more of a liability then a help and I will likely leave them both
off the car to allow the oil to drain! I would dearly love to fit the 6.5 inch wide Borranis of the America to the car at some point instead of coughing up for the restoration of the standard 6.0's now fitted--but I need to find such beasts at a price I can manage! I fully intend to have a local aluminium maestro repair the damaged scooped hood and may return that to the car when the body work is undertaken, perhaps in a few years. The paint is still very tatty, the rockersills show signs of some repair, though no
visible rust. There are a few tender spots in the rear wheel wells which we have patched against the day when real body work is at hand. There are a few tender spots in the double skinned rear floor boards that will also eventually need attention. The original trunk carpeting has a nasty tear in it, but is too nice to replace just yet. I need a driver's side door panel kick plate to return symmetry to the interior of the car and the four jacking j²ªt caps to do so to the exterior. The front seats are missing
their rather odd aluminium lower trim panels that run forward from the reclining mechanism to the front of the seats on Series III cars and America's. I need one original thumb screw and an aluminium bezel for one switch on my centre console. Beyond that, she's all there, all correct and on her way to a full recovery from years of what I would describe as "loving" neglect. I can't complain. If Geoff had kept the car in great shape, I probably wouldn't have been able to afford her when the time came for a new home to be found. Besides, there is a certain satisfaction in saving something precious that would otherwise be lost to the automotive world because of the dictates and economics of classic restoration.

GTE 4495 should be complete by the end of September, 2001, barring any unforeseen difficulties (who am I kidding, virtually every difficulty I have so far encountered has been "unforeseen", that is apparently, as you Tom know so well, the very nature of the beast known as a restoration!) Thank
you for inspiring us all to persevere when things look bleak...your friend in Ferrari bondage/enthrallment...Wolfgang Rao

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