Mark Travers' 365GT 2+2


I began looking for a V-12 Ferrari in 1998.  My first inclination was toward a 365 GTC/4. I drove a couple of them in my quest. One was very well kept and I even spent the time and money to have it looked over. The car checked out well
but I could not come to terms with the sales guy. I let things kind of stagnate for a while and received calls from the sales guy as follow up. I could have justified the price he was asking but he was such a patronizing little slime heap that I eventually made up my mind that I was not going to buy a car from such a person.

In December of 99 I had an opportunity to drive a well restored 330 GT series II. The car was a beautiful example and the price was fair. The owner was clearly a knowledgeable individual that cared for the car in the manner in which it deserved. I was in second position for the purchase option but I was not too excited. I wanted to try a 365 GT and I also wanted to try another C/4.

A friend and I took a trip to San Francisco for a weekend to look at another C/4. It was a bit of a bust, the car was clapped out. Bad synchros, smoke, totally shot interior, poor idle, weird brakes and so forth. I also saw a Lamborghini Espada which I enjoyed tremendously. It was a big temptation, but I reeled in my enthusiasm with the knowledge that the older Lamborghinis do not hold their value and have parts availability problems. Oh Well.

I drove a couple more C/4,s that were supposedly low mileage and perfect...... Not as bad as the one in S.F. but still less than promising.  Meanwhile the 330 GT went to the first position buyer.

During this time I was weighing the considerations for the specific model that I was interested in. It seemed to me that the C/4 was complicated and I did not like the driving position very much. My wife, Michele objected to the "bottom feeder look of the front rubber bumper". That's the beauty of marriage, you never know what to expect. I on the other hand happen to  like the C/4 design. On a more practical level, I liked the simplicity (relatively speaking) of the Colombo designed two cam engine. I like to work on cars myself and tend to use the services of mechanics on a specialized basis.

I received a call from someone that had been advertising a 365GT in Seattle earlier in the year. The sale had fallen through.
I took a short drive and had a look.  Same sort of story, a smokey well used example with plenty of rusty/crusty parts. The scenery was nice though, and I learned that I liked the driving position of the 365 GT better than the other models.

My wife and I were off to London for a short vacation in March. I had resolved not to think about Ferraris until after our return. The Market letter came out just before I left. So much for resolutions.. There were a couple of 365 GTs that popped up. One was in California, I called on it but it sounded as if it was a repeat of the others. There were shocks that needed replacing, smoke, vinyl reupholstery and so forth. The other car was in Atlanta.  So I called on it. The owner was a good ol' southern boy with plenty of charm.

The owner had the car in the shop to freshen it up a bit. I called the shop and spoke with the mechanic. He gave me a run down on the condition of the car. Intact but definitely a driver. He sent me a copy of the compression check that he had performed. 130 to 140 psi across each bank, some smoke at idle. Not great but not bad. The transmission, clutch and differential worked well, no nasty synchro problems. The brakes pulled to one side, hummmm. The radiator was bent at the bottom but no leak. The ignition system seemed fine. Suspension seemed tight and no play in the power steering. A/C was charged. All of the lights and accessories that he tried worked. Paint was a "20 feet" proposition, the Borranis looked to have been restored. No manuals, some tools and the spare were intact.

I spoke with the owner and made an offer that was accepted, put some money down and arranged to go out to Atlanta the week end after returning from London. I arrived in Atlanta with arrangements to meet the owner and his "technical representative" on a Sunday. By this time I was more or less committed. If the car met it's described condition then I was in.
The owner had quite a collection, everything from a Rolls to a Straman Daytona (which features in later drama)
located in a palatial air conditioned garage. After reviewing the car and a test drive I received a tour of the collection and then consummated the deal. I received a copy of the title and signed bill of sale. The car would be transported within a reasonable amount of time and the title would be included.

The car arrived two months later.  It was intact but without the copy of the original title or the license plate and some of the other paperwork that was promised.  I spent some time telephoning the previous owner. He was responsive but vague as to why he had not lived up to his end of the bargain. After many restrained phone calls and UPS tracking number foibles everything but the Georgia license plate showed up. Of course I did not need the old plate but found it odd.

I took the car to have it's inspection completed and all went well, the State Police officer doing the inspection took a photo of the car for his scrap book and I went merrily on my way. I spent most of the summer doing two things: Trying to get the car
titled in the State of Washington and making it roadworthy.

It was clear from the beginning that the car sat around during it's time in Atlanta and the previous owner was the first to say so. He told me that the car had not been driven more than 2000 miles in the thirteen years that he had it. The car's condition indicated that it was driven but not maintained, something broke and then it was stored.  It was clear that a bunch of major work had been completed on the car at some time in it's life, some good some bad.

My approach to making it roadworthy was as follows:

Removed and re-cored the radiator, replaced all hoses and belts, rebuilt the fuel delivery system from fuel tanks forward, rebuilt the CV joints replaced all of the fluids and lubed everything, checked the valve timing, replaced the set screws, set the valves, repaired various annoying oil leaks, checked and adjusted the point gaps and set the ignition timing put new spark plugs in and adjusted the slow idle circuit on the Webers.  I had some small repairs performed on the upholstery and put a new set of tires on. I also fabricated a new battery bracket (thanks to Jim Elms) and replaced a faulty voltage regulator.

As I was proceeding with all of this work I was having that sinking feeling because I could not get the State to reconcile the fact that the name on the Georgia title did not match the name on the bill of sale. The previous owner told me that Georgia does not issue titles for cars in excess of 10 years of age. This is apparently common in other Dixie states. Anyway I was getting desperate to get the car titled so I called the State of Georgia to see for myself.  A woman named LaShawna helped me, she spelled her name out twice because I could not understand her accent, I am sure she says the same about me. Regardless, she did help me understand what was going on. It is true that cars are not issued titles after they are ten years old. However, she did inform me that the serial number on my certificate was for a 1972 Ferrari with no model designation......Hummm.  She went on to say that there had been some activity on that title recently by the previous owner.
A person could speculate that there is a certain Georgia license plate on a Straman Daytona.  For whatever reason the serial number may not match the one on the Daytona.  Stranger things have happened.

Slight of hand or not , I still could not get the State to understand that Georgia will not issue a title. I approached my sister to title the car in Oregon and then "gift it to me" because Oregon accepted the Georgia title situation. My sister said she did not want to get involved.... That sinking feeling was becoming pervasive.

Based on a suggestion from a car buddy, I took an afternoon and drove around to different contract licensing agencies. I selected agencies in the blue collar suburbs around Seattle. The third agency I went to was a small storefront with two elderly women working the desk. The office was all of 300 sq.ft., dark and filled with cigarette smoke. The sign said that they license anything from the "space shuttle to a fishing boat". The counter height was uncomfortably high, about  4' 6" or so. I could see the tops of the two women's heads on either side of a sport boat customer. A blast of exhaled smoke and a gesture were directed my way. I walked toward an image of heavy eyeliner and "permanent eyebrows" topped with plenty of coiffed and frosted hairdo. I reached the free slot and presented my paperwork.  A check, and some processing of forms and "oh you want a collector plate?" and I was out of there in 20 minutes. The title was sent via US Mail within a week.

I have been enjoying the car ever since.



Mark recently sent me these photos of his car. He's obviously decided to paint the car!

Back to Gallery