[Newman]

Just took delivery today of a 76 boxer I inspected for a buyer that wanted a car that was complete but needed restoring. This one fit the bill perfectly so after a thorough inspection and report, the car was purchased and shipped from the US to Canada to my place for a nut and bolt restoration. Before I remove anything Im taking hundreds of pics to document everything then it'll sit briefly while I get ahead on some other projects im in the middle of with spring deadlines.
Previous owner thought it was a good idea to paint the airfilter lids with a textured grey paint as well as the top of the block and bellhousing. Ill hit it with some paint stripper to see how easy it comes off.
Tinited windows, shrinking dash, several personal touches, tired engine, a beautiful repair on the coolant tank, only the best paint brush was used to paint the window frames, the list goes on and on. Looking forward to getting into it but I have to just stay focused on these other projects while I glance over at it sitting there! Pretty cool car.

[Granucci]

looks fwd to the pics. Looks to be a long, restoration project.

[Jimmy Chen Shiba DDS]

Paul, thank you in advance for another exciting project to unfold. w/ smiles Jimmy

[tazandjan]

Paul- Looks like a great car for a project. It is amazing what some of the lower end gray market types did to Boxers. Same for low end owners.

[brettgagnon]

first 512bb, correct?

[212Export]

A Boxer is always a delight to see, restored or not. Good luck on the restoration path.

[cribbj]

This project will be a joy to follow. Best wishes for it & to you Paul.

[JayG]

I kinda like the air cleaner textured look. The rest will need some attention but that looks like a really solid car.

[Boxer]

I am sure this one will keep you busy for a while.

[Newman]

Originally Posted by brettgagnon

first 512bb, correct?

Yes according to the chassis number. Lack of build sequence numbers say pre-production. Waiting for some info from Ferrari. If its the 1976 Paris show car it'll add to the cool factor.

[Newman]

Started taking the car apart, photo documenting everything along the way. DOT marker lamps were 1/2" off from side to side, they wont be going back on but it was interesting to see how sloppy they were during the conversion.
The engine was painted with silver textured paint for some reason. Air cleaners are fiberglass like the 365's, not sure when they switched to metal. They got the black textured treatment including the part number labels.
Proper exhaust but painted silver, ill have to try to dupilcate the gold tint that they have when new because were aiming for maximum points.
Mini spare should be 20" as per parts manual but we have a 19" dated 74.
I removed the add-on BBi fender lip trim and seals that were added in 88.

[Newman]

More progress. We found the rust on the forward tubes during the PPI so we planned to replace them anyway. Now that the bumper is off we can see they're pretty rough but no signs of collision damage which is the main thing.
I made an interesting discovery. The car was orange originally. Orange! It was repainted grey between 78-80 then repainted red in 88. It will be going back to Orange. Very cool.

[Newman]

Continuing to break the car down to the bare frame and cabin. RR quarter glass leaked and caused some rust on the parcel shelf which ill address after its sandblasted. Note the 5.L on the head liner. This car has no (and I mean zero) coach builder sequence numbers on any part like its pre-production. Its been confirmed by ferrari that the car is indeed Rosso Dino originally on Beige interior. We still need to confirm boxer trim but its a sure bet. The car has a Rear fog switch and wiring right to the rear but the light is missing. We scored one today, pretty unusual - see example below.

[Newman]

Removed everything from the clamshells before removal, its just easier for me to remove that stuff rather than struggle with it off the car.
Removing fiberglass wheel wells for frame access with the sand blaster. Ill be removing the floor tub to remove the brake and clutch lines and have them replated if they're not corroded. The floor and front wheel wells are installed in several pieces then bonded with strips of fiberglass to look like a single piece. The parts manual shows how they are attached. Ill carefully cut along the bonding strip lines to seperate the moulded parts then re-apply the strips during reassembly so it'lll look like it did when new.

[tazandjan]

Paul- Pretty scarey when you get one of the pre-83 cars pulled apart. May not be much better for the rust-proofed ones, either.

[JazzyO]

Why was there a pic of a black 512 in there, Paul?


Onno

[Barry]

Originally Posted by JazzyO

Why was there a pic of a black 512 in there, Paul?
Onno

I think to show the rear fog light Onno.

[Newman]

Originally Posted by JazzyO

Why was there a pic of a black 512 in there, Paul?


Onno

Originally Posted by Barry

I think to show the rear fog light Onno.

Thats the reason, I did mention to look at that car as an example sorry for the confusion.

[Newman]

Originally Posted by tazandjan

Paul- Pretty scarey when you get one of the pre-83 cars pulled apart. May not be much better for the rust-proofed ones, either.

Yes but the 78 308 im restoring is super clean, its just a matter of where it lived and who looked after it I think. No big surprises here, now if it was a 76 Volare I cant imagine the level of rust!

[tazandjan]

Paul- Affirmative on where they lived. My 78 GTS came out of Germany and I had to replace both door skins in 1982 because they had rusted through.