A customer of mine has a nice Daytona that he’s considering taking to a Ferrari Club of America National Event for judging, and asked me to assess its chances at bringing home a trophy.

The difference between a nice car and an award winning car can be quite large. Items that were original to the car that have been removed or lost through the years that may have nothing to do with the drive-ability of the car will now be considered. Finishes, hose clamps, and stickers will also have to scrutinized which all add up to time and money spent. I try my best to take a practical cost-to-benefit ratio approach to whether a car should be judged. Unfortunately, judging a car at a national level has the highest award of Platinum Award set at 97 points or higher in a 100 point scale, so there is little room for error. Our decision between the owner and I is the value of pursuing this award at all.

This Daytona is a USA delivered car, and right from the start I found we were missing all the emissions equipment. The air pump, check valves, and hoses that were required by American emissions regulations in the 70s that strangled the performance of these engines were often removed from these cars and thrown away, and this was no different for this car. I’ll have to see if I can locate some of these parts and the difficulty of returning this car to original.

At first glance this car looks very nice, but as you look closer, I can see some of the imperfections. The intakes were showing signs of past fuel leaks, and are stained with old fuel. To certain judges, they want to see a nice clean engine compartment, so taking all of the carburetors off to get to the intakes for cleaning my have to be considered.

The biggest decision will be what to do with the dash board. The original dash was done in what we call “mouse fur,” which was a special material Ferrari used in the 70s. It was a kind of synthetic suede that was not very durable. It faded in the sun, and stained very easily, so some owners replaced this material with leather when it came time to refurbish the dash. The dashboard on this car is very nicely done with black leather, but not correct to the eyes of the judges.

We’ll discuss the work and I’ll try my best to give an estimate of the time involved with some of the work, but it’s a path that once we commit, we’ll have to take it all the way!