Photo: Wheeler

I was invited to NJ to join a bunch of Ferrari 250GTE owners at a collector’s house and a good time was had by all. The weather in the Northeast has been cold and dreary this Spring, but the snow relented for just this one day!

Last year, I had a slight mishap with my 330 America when the check strap in the right door dislodged and allowed the door to swing past the stop. The bottom edge of the door folded over and cracked the paint. Since I bought my car already painted almost 20 years ago, I had no idea of the quality of the work underneath the paint, but I knew there might be issues lurking. I could see from the crack that there was a good amount of filler used, so fixing this door could open up a lot of other problems.

A friend of mine agreed to take the door and repair only what was necessary to make the door close properly. He would fix it properly but resist the temptation to fix the other problems. Someday, I may strip the whole car, and do this car right, but for now, I needed my door fixed!

As soon as I got home from the GTE Gathering, I took the door apart so I could remove the door.

Photo: Hill

Shortly after getting the door to his shop, Cory stripped the paint, and fixed the bent sheet metal. He’ll get the door painted and blend it to match and I should have my car ready for more Spring driving!

A couple of weeks ago, I was fixing a brake booster out of a 365GTC/4 and found a broken piece inside the brake booster. One solution was to buy a billet aluminum replacement part that a company in Italy makes for about $800 bucks! If you remember, I looked in some local junkyards to see if I could find a core I could disassemble and cannibalize the part, but no dice. Finally, a friend of mine came to the rescue and found a usable core. At a $100 bucks, it was a lot cheaper than the billet aluminum piece, but I used up a favor in the process!

The next issue was what to do about the can? The original gold cadmium plating was worn off and the can was rusting in some places. Now was the time to re-plate this part, and the owner agreed. Hopefully it won’t take my plater too long to turn this around.

Don’t forget to reserve your space for the Tomyang.net/Radcliffe Motorcar Spring Car Show!

May 5, 2018

Radcliffe Motorcars

12340 Owings Mills Blvd.
Reisterstown MD 21136

Call to register (410) 517-1681