A Tale of Finding and Buying a Vintage Ferrari.
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Craving
It all started, really, with one of those unsatisfied cravings. After getting a taste of exotic cars in my teenage years, I've ended up mostly driving those reliable but gutless commuter cars. This created the opportunity to do other things with whatever spare time and money we had. February 2001 though, we had two reliable paid for cars, and I figured I wasn't getting any younger. Time to scratch that car itch, and after looking at the finances with my wife Liz, we figured we could swing something.

Searching
I started thinking new. BMW M3s are nice, but waaay too expensive. OK, perhaps a used 3 series could be made a fast daily driver. A friend at work was telling me about his Gen3 RX-7, and it was a lot cheaper than I expected. This got me thinking that I HAVE a reliable car, perhaps I could get a fun project car instead. I bought a Hemmings and looked at Alfas, MGs, Lotus, Jags, muscle car Camaros, Mustangs, etc etc. Then I found Chris Kantarjiev's article and it awakened memories of the Ferraris at HMI. I Figured the prices were misprints, went back to Hemmings and descovered that not only were Ferrari prices below 6 figures(!), they weren't much more than I was thinking about for that new car. At this point I was doomed.

Deciding
I decided not to muck around, and to go straight for the grand prize - a V-12 Ferrari. I found the Ferrari list server archives and searched on 330. Lots of good info - from what I read 330s are quite solid if not neglected, and parts are available as they are common to other models. I contacted the brokers, searched on-line, and began assessing what was available price vs condition. All the while educating myself on the costs, strengths, and weaknesses, and what to look for on a Pre-Purchase Inspection. I decided on a running 330GT 2+2 that was complete but had lousy paint, hammered seats, and needed a few gaskets and seals (quite prophetic really), and buy it before the market recovered.

Convincing
We went to see 7113, a low mileage Interim 330GT 2+2 for sale locally. It had had a lot of work done to it, so was way out of our price range, but I wanted Liz to see for herself what I was excited about (and they look better in the flesh than in pictures). It had new leather, OK paint, was generally in good shape, and had that wonderful wood/leather/oil smell. We both tried it on for size, and it fit well, but was having some work done on it and wasn't driveable that day. Liz liked the looks and the size, which was great. And I can safely say I didn't buy the first Ferrari I saw!

Finding: The Sunday Paper
On Thursday, March 22, 2001, we made a lunchtime visit to Fantasy Junction, where I told Russell Vincent, their Ferrari guy, about my desire for a V-12 Ferrari project car, preferably a 330GT 2+2. He casually asked "So, did you see that one in the Chronicle?"

Well, no, I hadn't. But a quick search found the ad, and I called the number. "It's an estate sale", I'm told, "so come and look at the car if you want and we're accepting bids. Once the bidding period is closed, there will be a hearing with perhaps some additional bidding, and whoever has the highest acceptable bid at the end of the day gets the car." Oh boy, it didn't sound as straight forward as I was hoping.

They had some pictures posted online, so I could see a little of what the car looked like, and they sent me a copy of the appraisal.

A Good Project or A Money Pit?
These showed a car which looked ok for the most part, but what a fun color combination. Could it possibly be stock? Seats look nice, but what happened to the engine - was there a fire? Staring at pictures and overanalysing them is only fun for a while, and I really wanted to see it in person. Looking at the car proved more difficult than expected, as it was located at a business not normally open on the weekends. This is one downside of the estate sale process, as the sellers don't necessarily have a staffed showroom. So I took a vacation day and drove the four hours to Reno for a looksee:

Here is what we found during the Pre-Purchase Inspection

Now What?
I admit I was pretty pumped at this point, as this was exactly what I was looking for, although running would have been better. The engine condition was a huge unknown though, it's the heart of an Ferrari after all, and also the biggest potential money pit. So I had to make a decision - weigh what I had seen and the history of the car known up to that point, against the unknowns in that engine.

We had the pictures developed overnight, and Liz and I had a good chat about the car. I had a good gut feel about it, and we decided to go for it.

Estate Sales Are Awful
I sent the offer letter on April 3, 2001 and was told I was the highest bidder at that point. The waiting began. On April 10 2001, the bid announcement went out to 100 people inviting them to come to the hearing: "The high bid which has been submitted at this point is $21,000.00, but anyone wishing to bid an amount higher may do so by appearing at the May 10, 2001 hearing with their cash offer". Yikes! Then there was agonizing wait till the court date. To stay busy, I explored all the possible ways of transporting the car home, just in case. Uhaul gave me a deal on a car trailer to bring it BACK to California! What, is everybody leaving?

Estate Sales Are Wonderful
Finally on May 10 2001, 49 long days after I first heard about the car, the court date arrives. 8:30 am I go in (with some extra money in my pocket just in case (don't tell Liz!)). I expected at least one person there to snipe the car at the last minute, so it was an enormous relief to be the only buyer there. The proper incantations are spoken, and I was suddenly the owner of a Vintage Ferrari! What a relief - the waiting and uncertainty was over.

Ah, but the waiting was not quite over - off we went to the DMV to get the title transferred. This went as well as could be expected, and while waiting I spoke with another friend who was going to help me tow the car over the mountain to home. Sadly, he had just had a family emergency and couldn't make it. I mentioned my dilema to Mr Jensen, who very kindly offered to tow it himself. Of course I accepted, and after a quick dinner we made the four hour trip back. At Midnight we had the car safely in the driveway - boy what a long day!

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http://www.jb330gt.com/Purchase.htm
Revised: March 25, 2002 Copyright © 2002 Jonathon Brent