I got a 365GTC/4 in my shop to see if I could get it started. The last time I saw this car was at Francois’s shop a few years ago, but it seemed to be having some trouble starting. After several attempts by the owner, he decided to send it to me for further investigation. Click on the picture above to see the YouTube video I posted about it’s repair.

Externally, the carbs looked great, but inside, was another story. The lack of use caused the old fuel to gum up the accelerator pumps and jets. Each time the car had trouble starting more fuel was pumped into the carburetors, and after sitting some more, the fuel would evaporate and leave even more residue. This car didn’t stand a chance without having to partially disassemble all the carburetors!

Once I got the car started, I assessed the condition of the rest of the car. Damp storage was wreaking havoc on the exhaust system, and it was getting to the end of its useful service life. Having these gaping holes below the passenger compartment was probably not very healthy leaking large amounts of CO into car. We ordered a new set of mufflers.

I also found two upper ball joints with torn boots leaking grease. These joints will wear exponentially faster when the grease is not allowed to do its job contained inside the ball joint!

The leather surfaces inside the car was largely original, but were a little dry and getting stiff. Since the car was going to be at my shop for a few weeks, I went ahead and moisturized the leather with some leather conditioner. I tented the seats with some plastic sheeting to contain the conditioner to help the leather absorb a little more moisture instead of having the conditioner evaporate into the air.

Moving into the trunk area to replace the fuel filter, I found a nice little mouse condominium. They really made a mess with stuff pulled out from other parts of the car and gathered in clumps in the trunk. I removed two carcasses, and a whole lot of dropping from back there before I could replace the fuel filter.