8/12/01
Second Anniversary

A fellow Ferrari owner reminded me that on August 7th was the second anniversary with my Ferrari! I’ve been so preoccupied with planning for the Monterey weekend, I totally forgot! Thanks for reminding me Jonathon! Here’s how the second year of my restoration is going:

The engine has been done since October of last year, and she’s been sitting patiently to fire up her twelve cylinders. I, on the other hand can’t wait!

The transmission was completely rebuilt after I found a jammed 1st gear synchronizer. Luckily nothing was badly broken, and François was able to fix it without buying any of those expensive Ferrari transmission parts!

I put the crowning touches on the transmission last week by installing the handmade shift knob.

I had my clock repaired, but only realized that it’s not going to match the other gauges now that it has been restored! After the car is reassembled and running, I’ll slowly send out the rest of the gauges to match!

For the Christmas season, I made some 330 America T-shirts for fun. They sold pretty well, and I only have a few sizes and colors left. I haven’t made another batch, but may consider doing another run this season.

Paid off the chrome plating bill in October. The stuff was the best I have ever seen so it was worth the expense, but it was still hard to stomach!

I fit an electric fan to my restored radiator to help eliminate hot running conditions when driving in traffic during the summertime. When installed, you’ll barely see the electric fan.

One of the first pieces to my interior was finished! Don’t be fooled into thinking it’s getting completed however! I’ve been working hard at getting the engine installed, and the suspension attached so we can roll the car down to my upholsterer. The thinking is he’ll eventually get tired of my car taking up space in his shop, and do my interior! It goes along the old saying “out of sight, out of mind!”

I learned about making exhaust shields from scratch. After some failures, I successfully made exact copies!

I found a badge for my car! Not bad considering there were only fifty 330 Americas ever made!

And finally, the front suspension is coming together. All the pieces are falling in place for the final marriage of the engine/transmission to the car!

As much as I would love to finish this car soon, I realize there’s still a ton of little things to do! People always ask “when’s the car going to be done?” It’s a question I have trouble answering. If I give a date and fail to meet the deadline, then it looks like I failed, but people don’t understand the concept of “it gets done when it gets done!” The success is in the completion, not the time in which it takes!

I want to take a moment and thank everyone who has lent their support to this web site. It has steadily grown over the past two years into a place that makes me proud. Your viewership, and participation is a large motivational factor to my continuing this site. Sharing information, and ideas helps everyone out there discover owning an old Ferrari is not an impossibility, and it keeps the owners from giving up on their old steeds! Thanks again!

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