Why bodywork and paint is expensive

Post by **330GT** » Tue May 31, 2005 6:53 pm

The best way to find the original colors is to apply for a heritage certificate from Ferrari. Go to the Ferrari Owner's site and click on Historic Documents. www.owners.ferrari.com

Keith Milne · Post by **Keith Milne** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:10 am

I was unable to secure a heritage certificate from Ferrari because the numbers on my differential were unreadable. I went back and forth with them several times, but to no avail. However, Ferrari was kind enough to supply the original paint color when I registered on the Ferrari Owners site. This confirmed the original paint still on my headlight support tubes.

judge4re · Post by **judge4re** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:03 am

You don't need the heritage certificate to get the paint code, all you have to do is send an email to the customer service address on the owner's site and they'll get back to you within a day or two. I just did it on the 308 proving that it came from the factory in rosso corsa.

matt · Post by **matt** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 2:24 pm

Keith: Looks great! Who did your paint and body work? I am in the Bay Area as well.

erik330 · Post by **erik330** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 5:27 pm

OK, now I'm truly confused.

Ferrari informs me that the car was originally Grigio Fumo with a Pella Rosso interior. That's what I remember from when the car was in my family from 1966-1970. I also clearly remember that the car was a non-metallic darkish gray color, a little darker than battleship gray. From the photos of Keith's car, it appears to be more of a silver or metallic gray.

But pictures can be deceiving.

My questions to Keith: How did you match the color to arrive at what you have now?

A modern cross referenced version of the old paint codes?

Match some original paint from the body of the car?

How did you arrive at the (very beautiful, incidentally) shade that is shown in your link?

Keith Milne · Post by **Keith Milne** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:05 pm

Erik - I had the original paint codes from Ferrari, but we were not able to find a match. The photos on my site appear a little darker than the color actually is, but not much. We found virgin original paint on the fender brackets behind the headlights (and some on the inside of the doors). Then it was just a process of finding a chip that matched closely. We chose a BMW color (I can't remember what year or car), but it was dead on. It is a metallic color.

erik330 · Post by **erik330** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 6:25 pm

Keith Milne wrote:Erik - I had the original paint codes from Ferrari, but we were not able to find a match. The photos on my site appear a little darker than the color actually is, but not much. We found virgin original paint on the fender brackets behind the headlights (and some on the inside of the doors). Then it was just a process of finding a chip that matched closely. We chose a BMW color (I can't remember what year or car), but it was dead on. It is a metallic color.

Thank you Keith, it is a wonderful color for the car. I think 4HL 330s look great in any dark color other than red. :) What color is your interior, I missed that part?

BTW, one of the old stock photos on Kerry's site, a 4hl 330 in the Dolomites, I think, is almost exactly the color of your car (or as close as 40 year old digitized Ektachrome can provide) and it's my screensaver. :)

My father (who bought the car from his best friend in Germany) didn't like the color and had it repainted in 1967 in an almost plum color that was a Cadillac color. It looked good, but not as neat as the gray, I think.

erik330 · Post by **erik330** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 6:28 pm

ps if you want to see it in B and W in gray and in color in the plum, see Kerry's site, 6161 is the telaio.

Bryan P · Post by **Bryan P** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 12:59 pm

I am using Eastwood's 'de-kote' to strip the 500 Mondial. Environmentally friendly and won't turn my liver into soap by breathing. I takes about 3 coats/scrpaing sessions per area to get through paint/primer/filler. Plastic scrapers on the thin aluminum body.[/img]