October 2015 Lamborghini Gallardo prices. How much is a Gallardo in the UK ?

http://www.lp500.info/lamborghini-gallardo-price-watch-2015/

Lamborghini Gallardo for sale and prices in the UK

I've moved over to Lamborghini now and have started tracking Gallardo prices and adverts in the UK. Click through to see the current prices

Bought a Lamborghini Urraco instead

With a lack of half decent Ferrari 308 GT4s for sale I opted for a much rarer Lamborhini Urraco P250 - a car I had always wanted with it's slightly more extreme Bertone design flare then the GT4.

You can read about my ownership here www.urraco.info and www.lp500.info

Searching for a rust free Ferrari 308 GT4 for sale

I have to put fingers to keyboard in some ways to vent my recent experiences looking at 308 GT4's For those who know me then you may remember my 99% perfect Dino 308 GT4 that I sold two years ago and bought a 360.

Well whilst I like my 360 it was clear to me straight away that I prefer older cars so I'm looking for another GT4. By way of documenting all the cars I have seen and inspected I'll be writing up a kind of buyers guide so that SDC users can go into an older car with their eyes open! My previous GT4, now Black and in Singapore! bought off Nick Cartwright for £18K in 2006 which was at the top end of the prices at that time. Nick had bare metal restored what was quite a rusty car about 8 years earlier and it was still in perfect condition. Having restored many cars over the years this was the most perfect restoration I had ever seen with virtually no signs of repair anywhere. I wanted a change so I sold it in 2010. Now comes the hunt for a replacement and prepare yourselves for the horror stories!

Looking for a Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 again! Wanted.

So it's only been two years since I sold my Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 and bought a Ferrari 360 but I miss the GT4 so I'm on the look out for another.

I went to see an early Dino badged car in Scotland, but the body work wasn't as hoped and a local car in Cheshire needed a lot of work and had a poor interior. I didn't quite realise just how good my previous one was! So it looks like I'll have to head down south to the Surrey and Kent areas of the UK as this seems to be where most exotica live.

Set of 4 Ferrari 360 Modena Spider BBS wheels for sale £650

Here are four wheels removed last week from my 2001 Ferrari 360 Modena.They are very light. Make a great set of wheels for a custom project. They are 18" diameter and 10.5" and 7.5" wide.

I removed them because I treated myself to a new old stock set to put on my 360 so these are simply surplus. There are in great condition but will need to be refinished to be perfect. There is some surface corrosion in places on the rear wheels. I have been quoted £300 to strip and powder coat all four rims by Prestige Wheels in Stockport (they have the contract with Stratstones and Aston Martin in Wilmslow, UK to detail their wheels). I could do this myself then sell the wheels at a higher price but I am happy to sell them as is and you will get the benefit of the saving, particularly if you can get the wheels refinished cheaper. The wheels are in Manchester,uk and collection is preferred due to the weight. Currently on auction on ebay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290759407328

Ferrari 360 now available for wedding hire - from £299

My Ferrari 360 is now available for chauffeured wedding hire around the Manchester area of the UK.

Email me or message me through facebook for details.

Example price : £299 for chauffeuring the groom to the wedding venue and wedding party photos. Venues within 20 miles of Manchester city centre. I can accommodate venues further out with a contribution to fuel costs.

Please contact me to discuss your needs.

Lee

Now posting on http://www.facebook.com/OwningAFerrari360

If you are a facebook user you can follow my Ferrari exploits on
http://www.facebook.com/OwningAFerrari360

Importing a Ferrari 308 or 360 into the UK from the US

Importing a classic or interesting car from the US (and other countries):

1. Find the car you want (ebay/forum/local add) and discuss with owner.
2. Have a local agent PPI it if you want and send you a report.
3. Pay the owner (better to go through a trusted 3rd party local to them).
4. Have the local agent collect the car and prepare it for shipping.
5. Wait a few months.
6. Recieve notification from UK agent of arrival.
7. Complete customs clearance forms and pay customs once assessed.
7. UK agent arranges transport to your address.
8. On arrive, prepare the car for local compliance and get an MOT
9. Register it and recieve UK reg. number from local DVLA centre.
10. Enjoy the financial benefits of the exchange rate and relative value abroad.

Costs:

Purchase cost + local agent/PPI costs/transport + shipping + UK agent/transport + UK Customs + VAT (on bill of sale, shipping + UK agent and landing fees).

Ballpark is you get the car on your doorstep for the price in £'s equivalent to what you paid in $'s, bonus is usually the body condition. e.g. you paid $10000 for the car, you pay £10000 to you door and the more you spend the better the margin is.

Keeping my eye on cars like this...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ferrari-308-?cmd=ViewItem&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D5%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D5373305616468206139&_trksid=p5197.m7&item=200689142141

Mostly Ferraris in enthusiastic pile-up in Japan

It looks like enthusiasts in Japan got a bit carried away with themselves on a cruise.




I think we can all get a bit carried away when out on a cruise with friends. I'm a grown man with responsibilities so I always hang back from the crowd for fear of a pile-up like this. Of course you don't need to be driving a supercar for this to happen, so it's a shame as it gives us all a bad name. At least no-one was badly injured or killed :| I guess there'll be some spares around now :)

The lifecycle of modern Ferraris so when to buy one - IMHO

The Ferrari 360 (with a 2001 list price approaching £100,000) is clearly an expensive object to own. I certainly didn't have that kind of money in 2001 when the car was new and still don't, but of course time is cruel on such "investments" - to a point that is. Early adopters clearly have the money to spend and are happy to take a hit on the car's value, but there comes a time when the model moves into the next stage of it's life - not really a life cycle because it doesn't start again, but more a journey through it's worth and desirability. www.howmanyleft.co.uk is a great way to subjectively look at these things. Take a look at the the data for UK 360's and you will see that they have been through their early adopter phase and are now comfortably settled in their summer use only phase owned by people like me who polish them, maintain them and occasionally drive them. SORN's are increasing and road licensing in Q1 and Q4 are down. Prices as of late 2011 are all over the place from higher mileage cars (>40k miles) at £30k+ to some examples well into the £50K mark. Sorted examples with solid history but perhaps in need of some minor detail should be around £40-£45k. I'm happy I didn't take the ~£4k depreciate on the car since new, but then again that's what you loose on higher value normal daily driver too... so you may as well have the Ferrari instead.

Cleaning the inside of the wheels on a Ferrari 360

I like the inside of my wheels to look as clean as the outside on my Ferrari 360. After-all you can see the inside clearly so there's no excuse to keep them spotless. I typical run a soapy sponge through the spokes but end up rubbing my hands on the discs which isn't clever. ow:



Here's my prototype alloy wheel sponge-on-a-stick which is exactly what it is. Most of the alloy wheel brushes have short handles and are also too wide to fit comfortably between the calliper(s) and rim.



Well it works well for me and lets you get into all the corners although I could probably just use a long handled bath sponge on a stick.

Ferrari 360 space saver spare wheel

Ferrari didn't supply a spare wheel as standard on the 360 (and 430) but you could add one as an option. Instead they supplied you with a can of tyre sealant which would get you to the nearest garage for a repair.

I wasn't so happy with this option and equally at the price of a new Ferrari spare wheel available here - http://www.eurospares.co.uk and that's just the rim. There is some talk about Volvo space saver spares fitting, but then I spotted a genuine Ferrari one on ebay a few weeks ago. I won the auction and now have a spare. It's never been used - result :)

Extending the alarm fob range from 2' to 40' on your Ferrari 360

Yet another common issue on the Ferrari 360 is the alarm and central locking fob range. You tend to have to be very close to the car to be able to disarm the alarm and unlock the doors - like less than a metre away. I came across this post on FerrariChat which talks about the poor position of the alarm unit antenna in the car which is in the fuse box and under a metal plate - shielding it from signals!



So you remove the fuse box behind the passenger seat (UK RHD) then fish the wire out with a hook from behind the metal cover:



Then just fix the antenna along the top of the plastic fuse box with some tape and reinstall the fuse box cover trim.



Result = key fob range > 40' Cost = £0 or $0

White powder in the engine bay of the Ferrari 360

Ferrari 360's are renown for dumping white powder all over the engine bay - it's due to the heat insulating material in the exhaust disintegrating and leaking out of the outer casing on the silencer.

I have a Nouvalari muffler on my car, but I also have a stock muffler which pumps out the usual white powder form the casing. Ideally I would want a stock exhaust muffler because I want the car to be as quiet as possible around the neighbourhood so I started investigating whether I could solve the white powder issue.

I examined the stock muffler and worked out that the outer casing is only attached in a few places so relatively easy to remove - which I did. Now check out the insulation material which is about 10mm think and just all in bits. With the top and bottom of one half of the outer casing removed the insulation just fell out of the remaining cover sections form the other end of the muffler.







With it all gone now I figured I can find a new alternative heat material in sheets, cut to size and slot it into the casing and reattached the casing sections I removed, tig welding in a couple of places as per factory.





So this is why you get white powder and there is a possible solution for rebuilding the muffler - these mufflers are not cheap (£1600-£2500) so are well worth saving and without a fix you will be cleaning your engine bay for ever.

Keeping your Ferrari 360 charged over winter

Rain rain go away. We are having a rainy time in the UK at the moment so the roads are damp and the sky is murky. This means I've not been out in my car for over a week!

Problem is the various electrical systems on the Ferrari 360 (and 430 etc.) drain the battery quite quickly and even after just a week of non-use the battery can be low enough to cause problems. I encountered such a problem a few months ago. The car had been left for a week and started fine but the dash clocks didn't "boot" up - nothing from any of the gauges. The Ferrari 360 has a battery cut-off switch in the boot and turning off then on again fixed my problem - kind of a reset something I guess.

So after this I researched the most appropriate charging system. Ferrari make their own, but it is a little expensive and many owners go for the CTEK charger and battery conditioner which you can find here: http://www.ctekchargers.co.uk/ctek-xs3600.php



CTEK MXS3600

You can install a subtle plug connector that comes with the CTEK unit behind the passenger seat which attaches (electrically) directly to the main power bus. So now you can just plug the charger in and keep the battery topped up all the time so your car is always ready for when the sun comes out :)

Sticky switches on the Ferrari 360 355 and 348

Modern Ferraris have suffered from stick switches and other dashboard items for nearly 20 years now. It started with the Ferrari 348 followed by the 355 where Ferrari coated various interior parts with a rubberised material. After a few years of regular use such as power winder switches and door pulls the coating starts to peel off - quick still in hot countries.



Here's a picture of one of the window switches on my 360 Modena. Actually the window switches are the only bits of the interior which have peel so far so maybe Ferrari have improved their coating - well a bit anyway.



I dismantled the switch so I could get to the toggle part to basically scrape off all the rubber coating. It didn't take much effort to remove it all then put the switch back together. The toggle part is now a littler shinier than the switch case, but it looks much better than having a partially peeling coating.



You remove the switches by removing the centre console which is only held in my two dome head allen bolts, so the whole job takes less than 30 minutes and costs nothing.

You can send your plastic parts away to www.stickynomore.com who will strip and re-coat your parts with a much better quality material. These guys get good reviews from www.ferrarichat.com forum.

Tatty cloth insulation tape in the engine bay on a Ferrari 360

Heat and age has taken its toll on the cloth insulation tape dotted around the engine bay on my Ferrari 360. The glue has dried and the tape has become unravelled hanging down in places.



No problem though as I bought some Tesa cloth wiring loom tape on ebay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140550857403).



There, good as new. Time will tell as to how well this tape will stay stuck. My engine bay is particularly hot as I am running a Nouvalari silencer (muffler) instead of the stock one and they have less insulation than the factory silencer.

Yellow tachometer face on your non-Challenge Ferrari 360

Our friends at Hill Engineering make a nice yellow tachometer face (http://www.hillengineering.co.uk/catalog/d360y430-p-305.html) to replace the stock black one in your Ferrari 360 Modena. It's a fiddly job to swap, but our friends in the US show you how to do it:

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=176480


http://ferrari-servicing.com/Ferrari360.aspx

Maybe I'll work up to doing this modification. Keys Motorsport Ltd, Silverstone, UK can do the job for you though.

All the service manuals and documents you will ever need for your Ferrari 360

As a DIY owners it's important to have all the correct factory documents and repair manuals to hand for you Ferrari 360. You can get the factory repair book, service diagrams, service manuals free here:

http://www.ferraridatabase.com/The_Downloads/Downloads.htm

On the 360 page of the Technical information and updates you will find the updates, recalls and service campaigns document and it's an interesting read.

After reading this I'm seeking confirmation from Ferrari that my car has seen campaign #97 - replacement of the exhaust variator which has been known to fail causing valves and pistons to get intimate which be a shame and very expensive to fix.



As with anything you download for free from the internet, be sure of the source before and document type.