[328 GTS]

Hi Guys,

Apologies if you have read this on another forum but I thought I'd cover all bases..........

As a 328 owner living in Oz, I thought I'd ask you guys a question..........

With the Aussie dollar strengthening and the exchange rate being well under 2:1 to the English pound, I can't help but surf websites such as Pistonheads and get quite excited at the prospects of getting a second car and importing a 308 GTB/S into Australia from the UK.

To put things into perspective, Ferraris are VERY expensive here. Compared to the USA it's a joke but I'm not interested in importing a LHD vehicle. Australian customs slug you 10% GST if the car is 30 years or older. Cars nder 30 years incur an additional 10% import duty. I've done my homework and realistically, cars in the UK are 25%-40% cheaper than here.

Now, here's the tricky bit............ I've seen what appears to be acceptable 308's (1977-1979 models) for around 19,000 - 21,000 pounds. These cars would owe me with all taxes, GST, freight and admin charges around $45,000.00 - $50,000.00 landed into my garage. Even allowing $5,000 for basic mechanicals, it would still be $20,000 cheaper than an equivalent locally delivered car.

My big question revolves around RUST. I hear horror stories about rust so the last thing I want to do is go down this path and end up with a rust bucket. I'm not a penny pincher so I thought I'd stick with "reputable" dealerships such as those on Piston heads. I'd be very skeptical buying privately off Ebay.

Am I dreaming or is there a fair chance that a dealer would wholesale a sub-standard car (or not acquire it in the first place)? Or are all dealers tarred with the same brush and sell anything they can get their hands on?

I’d be grateful for some feedback, firstly on what sort of 70's 308 I could get for around 20,000 pounds and whether the dealers mentioned would be trustworthy enough to deal with. If I could tick all the boxes, I would naturally need some help in obtaining a recommended person to perform a thorough pre-purchase inspection.

Thanks for your time guys and look forward to hearing some responses.
Cheers,

Bob.

[woodyz]

i found cortese at bath to be very helpfull(in somerset)my gtsi has been with the last owner for 15 years and onlyb has a couple of blemishes .i think you will find a lot of 308's if theyve been drystored will be fine,but it did come from southwest england where they get fewerfrosty days hence less road-salting.salt is highly corrosive and british cars like mine were probaly used quite often in the early years as daily transport.going off my receipts and service history most of the miles were put on in the first 5 years!averaging only 1000 a year since 1990!but higher before.go to a dealer as otherwise you could buy a problem.in your climate steel probaly goes forever,in ours it has a definite life if not treated properly!take care woodyz

[archiegibbs]

Sounds like a great plan.

Rust is a concern on anything pre 308 QV, as it wasn't galvanised. However, if you buy from one of the better independents you will know your car has been well sorted.

Try Nick Cartwright or Rardley Motors.

As a rec, I have bought a 328 GTS and 308 GTS QV from Nick Cartwright during the last 4 years, both cars were in concours condition when I bought them and had been fully undersealed and wax oyled, and had been treated to a major service. You do pay for it, but that peace of mind is well worth it.

Good luck

Edit - you need to be looking at 23- 27K for a good properly sorted out QV with Nick, but his cars are as good as new.

You could also try Hollingworths, they had a QV for about 23K last time I looked.

You might get a QV privately for under 20K, but you really need a PPI doing on it

You won't get a decent 328 for under 30K GBP at a good independents, probably nearer 35K now

[328 GTS]

Originally Posted by archiegibbs

Sounds like a great plan.

Rust is a concern on anything pre 308 QV, as it wasn't galvanised. However, if you buy from one of the better independents you will know your car has been well sorted.

Try Nick Cartwright or Rardley Motors.

As a rec, I have bought a 328 GTS and 308 GTS QV from Nick Cartwright during the last 4 years, both cars were in concours condition when I bought them and had been fully undersealed and wax oyled, and had been treated to a major service. You do pay for it, but that peace of mind is well worth it.

Good luck

Edit - you need to be looking at 23- 27K for a good properly sorted out QV with Nick, but his cars are as good as new.

You could also try Hollingworths, they had a QV for about 23K last time I looked.

You might get a QV privately for under 20K, but you really need a PPI doing on it

You won't get a decent 328 for under 30K GBP at a good independents, probably nearer 35K now

Thanks Archie, I appreciate the feedback.

With the 30 year import rule advantage, I really need to stick to the 1977-1979 cars. I also like to the idea of having a carbureted version to compliment the last of the 328 series which I own.

Have I got any hope in picking up something decent for around 20K?

Cheers.....

Bob.

[archiegibbs]

Bob, I honestly don't think you will find a properly sorted carb'd 308 under 20K GBP. Good ones are fetching mid to high 20's at dealers now, I'll paste the links to dealers cars if you like?

You can get a carb 308 for around 20K privately, but you really do need to be very careful as rust is a big problem on them, and let's not forget they are 30+ yrs old, so they are bound to be a bit rusty.

If you don't mind spending a bit of money on a car to sort out the cosmetics, as long as it is good mechanically, a 20K car might be a good option.

This car is a real gem, and will be as good as new. You might get it down to 25K if you are lucky
http://www.nickcartwright.com/details.asp?StockID=1531

[Barry]

Originally Posted by archiegibbs

Sounds like a great plan.
Try Nick Cartwright
As a rec, I have bought a 328 GTS and 308 GTS QV from Nick Cartwright during the last 4 years, both cars were in concours condition when I bought them and had been fully undersealed and wax oyled, and had been treated to a major service. You do pay for it, but that peace of mind is well worth it.

Bob,
For what it's worth I bought my 360 from Nick Cartwright and found them to be excellent. Great service, easy to deal with and very easy to communicate via phone/e-mail (I'm in Dublin, Ireland so was exporting too) which might be important to you given you location.

Good luck with the search.
Barry.

[archiegibbs]

As per Barry's comments, Nick and his son's Ben and Jamie are excellent, after buying two impeccable cars from them in the past, I will not go anywhere else in the future. I've never heard a bad word spoken about them. They are good, honest, down to earth true Ferrari enthusiasts, not salesmen.

[328 GTS]

Originally Posted by archiegibbs

As per Barry's comments, Nick and his son's Ben and Jamie are excellent, after buying two impeccable cars from them in the past, I will not go anywhere else in the future. I've never heard a bad word spoken about them. They are good, honest, down to earth true Ferrari enthusiasts, not salesmen.

Thanks Archie, your testimony is respected.

This gives you a better idea of what I’m talking about.
Check out this thing with an asking price of $80,000

http://www.carpoint.com.au/all-cars/...cs=6&silo=1011

Compare it to this one………… If it could be bought for 25K that would equate to $55,500 landed into my garage.

http://www.pistonheads.com/SALES/1199708.htm

Cheers,

Bob.

[archiegibbs]

Bob, I can see why you are looking over here now. What on earth is that Stradale stripe doing on that Oz model? I see you have found Nick's car on Pistonheads too. I'm not bulls***ing you, but his cars are worth every penny.

If you do speak to Nick or Ben on the phone or e-mail, tell them that you know me

The only criticism I have of the early Euro 308's is the single tailpipe, but you can pick up a decent 4 pipe sports exhaust for £1000.

[Boxer]

Originally Posted by archiegibbs

Try Nick Cartwright or Rardley Motors.

+1, Nick and Mike Wheeler at Rardley are the only two I would recommend dealing with based on personal experience.

http://www.rardleymotors.com/docs_08...8/listings.php

DK Engineering and Bob Houghton also have very good reputations.

[328 GTS]

Originally Posted by archiegibbs

Bob, I can see why you are looking over here now. What on earth is that Stradale stripe doing on that Oz model? I see you have found Nick's car on Pistonheads too. I'm not bulls***ing you, but his cars are worth every penny.

If you do speak to Nick or Ben on the phone or e-mail, tell them that you know me

The only criticism I have of the early Euro 308's is the single tailpipe, but you can pick up a decent 4 pipe sports exhaust for £1000.

I'm more curious about the injection. I would have thought it still should have had the Webers? The single tailpipe doesn't worry me as it's good to see it in it's original form.

I may have to stretch the budget to 25K......

Bob.

[archiegibbs]

Originally Posted by 328 GTS

I'm more curious about the injection. I would have thought it still should have had the Webers? The single tailpipe doesn't worry me as it's good to see it in it's original form.

I may have to stretch the budget to 25K......

Bob.

If you can stretch to 25K, you should get a really good 308 that won't cost you a fortune in putting things right on. Cheaper cars normally end up costing you more in the long run. Looking at how much you can potentially save against an Aussie 308, it's worth it if you can raise the extra

Agree on the exhaust, it is nice to see an original car. If you do fancy changing, I can highly recommend a Larini sports system, it's what I have and I love the sound it makes

[Boxer]

Originally Posted by 328 GTS

Hi Guys,

Apologies if you have read this on another forum but I thought I'd cover all bases..........

As a 328 owner living in Oz, I thought I'd ask you guys a question..........

With the Aussie dollar strengthening and the exchange rate being well under 2:1 to the English pound, I can't help but surf websites such as Pistonheads and get quite excited at the prospects of getting a second car and importing a 308 GTB/S into Australia from the UK.

To put things into perspective, Ferraris are VERY expensive here. Compared to the USA it's a joke but I'm not interested in importing a LHD vehicle. Australian customs slug you 10% GST if the car is 30 years or older. Cars nder 30 years incur an additional 10% import duty. I've done my homework and realistically, cars in the UK are 25%-40% cheaper than here.

Now, here's the tricky bit............ I've seen what appears to be acceptable 308's (1977-1979 models) for around 19,000 - 21,000 pounds. These cars would owe me with all taxes, GST, freight and admin charges around $45,000.00 - $50,000.00 landed into my garage. Even allowing $5,000 for basic mechanicals, it would still be $20,000 cheaper than an equivalent locally delivered car.

My big question revolves around RUST. I hear horror stories about rust so the last thing I want to do is go down this path and end up with a rust bucket. I'm not a penny pincher so I thought I'd stick with "reputable" dealerships such as those on Piston heads. I'd be very skeptical buying privately off Ebay.

Am I dreaming or is there a fair chance that a dealer would wholesale a sub-standard car (or not acquire it in the first place)? Or are all dealers tarred with the same brush and sell anything they can get their hands on?

I’d be grateful for some feedback, firstly on what sort of 70's 308 I could get for around 20,000 pounds and whether the dealers mentioned would be trustworthy enough to deal with. If I could tick all the boxes, I would naturally need some help in obtaining a recommended person to perform a thorough pre-purchase inspection.

Thanks for your time guys and look forward to hearing some responses.
Cheers,

Bob.

You might take a look at this one:

http://www.dealer.ferrari.com/carrs/...xeter/15171470

Carrs is highly professional to deal with and I am sure the price is negotiable.

[328 GTS]

Originally Posted by Boxer

You might take a look at this one:

http://www.dealer.ferrari.com/carrs/...xeter/15171470

Carrs is highly professional to deal with and I am sure the price is negotiable.

Beautiful car but I doubt they would be that negotiable. Thanks for the link though.......

Bob.

[Boxer]

Originally Posted by 328 GTS

Beautiful car but I doubt they would be that negotiable. Thanks for the link though.......

Bob.

I beg to differ, October 1 is next week. Buyers are disappearing with the wind. Dealers have zero interest in holding stock until next spring and are starting to cut deals to get cars out the door. I would think it would be worth a call.

[Jephma]

Originally Posted by 328 GTS

Thanks Archie, your testimony is respected.

This gives you a better idea of what I’m talking about.
Check out this thing with an asking price of $80,000

http://www.carpoint.com.au/all-cars/...cs=6&silo=1011

Compare it to this one………… If it could be bought for 25K that would equate to $55,500 landed into my garage.

http://www.pistonheads.com/SALES/1199708.htm

Cheers,

Bob.

Hi
Good luck with your shearch, if you need some help in France don't hesitate even if I know you look for RHD.
The price is amazing, near Testarossa or 355 here (not in pristine cond of course)! And as I can see, they don't know what they are talking about, how can they say carburator car with the picture they're shown...
Also there were a lot of difference species for Australian car, wouldn't it be a problem importing one ?
Jephma

[328 GTS]

Originally Posted by Jephma

Hi
Good luck with your shearch, if you need some help in France don't hesitate even if I know you look for RHD.
The price is amazing, near Testarossa or 355 here (not in pristine cond of course)! And as I can see, they don't know what they are talking about, how can they say carburator car with the picture they're shown...
Also there were a lot of difference species for Australian car, wouldn't it be a problem importing one ?
Jephma

Hi Jephma,

Cars that are 30 years+ don't need anything special done to them. The air-conditioning needs to be degased but that's about all.

So few of these cars came to Australia, that's why the prices are so high.

Cheers and thanks..... Bob.

[328 GTS]

Does anybody know this car?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Thanks,

Bob.

[Boxer]

Originally Posted by 328 GTS

Does anybody know this car?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260506241921&ssPageNam e=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Thanks,

Bob.

No but if they are already admitting that the engine is smoking, I would not touch it.

[JazzyO]

Looks like a very nice example, and very original too with its original rims. But as Boxer says you need to keep an engine overhaul in mind for this car, which as Vitalone can testify, can run in very large numbers...


Onno