[no subject]

["Jim & Michelle Trofitter" <alfajim@xxxxxxxxx>]

George, None of this information is correct about the motor having to come
out, all of the repairs can be done with the motor in the car. Having worked
on Ferrari's for the last 25 years I sure hear allot of misinformation.
             Jim Trofitter



Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 15:29:55 -0700
From: George Graves <gmgraves@domain.elided>
Subject: [alfa] Re: Ferrari  1976 308 GT 4

It's true. Many Seventies vintage Ferraris are trucks. Fast trucks, fun
trucks, but trucks nonetheless. I too was about to purchase a 308GT4
and likely would have lived with the heavy controls. After all, the car
was meant to be driven fast, not slow. The 308GT4 is one of the best
handling cars Ferrari ever built. It is light, small, real tossable -
sort of like a 2 + 2 Fiat X1/9 with balls. What put me off was the
maintenance costs. New cam belts every 15,000 miles at a cost of about
$3000 to change them (engine has to come out) is oft-putting in the
extreme. My GTV-6 is faster (0-60 in about 6.0 seconds - of course,
it's not stock) and the engine sounds better and I only have to replace
the belt every 30,000 miles and when changing both belt and water pump
at 30,000 miles, the total cost is only in the neighborhood of about
$400. The 308 GT4 water pump alone costs $800 to buy and you still have
to take the engine out of the car to put it in! Of course an Alfa is
not a Ferrari, but I think overall, that my GTV-6 is certanly as well
designed and as well made as Ferraris of the same era, but I HAVE had
to resign myself to not owning a prancing horse. Also most 308 GT4s
that I have run across are victims of their own affordability. Because
this model is one of the "unloved" Ferraris at the moment, one can get
into them very cheaply (you can spend more for a perfect Alfa GTV and
certainly for a decent GTA.). This tempts those without the means  to
try to fulfill a lifelong dream and buy one. Once they do, and realize
what upkeep is on these cars, the whole enterprise becomes an exercise
in deferred maintenance. Often these cars need everything when changing
hands (which they seem to do often), and the bill for everything ain't
pretty.

If you truly must have a 308 (either a 4-seater or a two) or a 328, for
that matter, make sure that when you buy the car, you have a spare
$20,000 AT LEAST to pour into it right away. If it doesn't eat all that
$20K, consider yourself lucky, put the excess in the bank under the
car's own account and add to it when you can. You will need at least
$7000 every year for as long as you own the car to do right by it. A
harsh reality, but reality nonetheless. Ferraris are built for the
rich, the rich don't care that much about $6000 service bills.

George Graves
'86 GTV-6 3.0 'S'
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