330 GT Registry

LETTERS FROM READERS
 

FERRARI EXPERIENCES

Sir,

For the past eighteen months I have been running a 1964 330 GT 2 + 2 Ferrari. I bought the car from Maranello Concessionaires, who had serviced it throughout its life with two previous owners. It had 49,000 odd miles on the clock, and the clutch had been renewed a few months previously.

It is an extraordinary car. One expects it to go, handle, and stop, all of which it does splendidly. The docility, reliability and lack of temperament are more surprising. The 330 engine is very similar to the 275, being of just under four-litres, and fed by three twin-choke Webers. Soon after I got the car a plug oiled; with some foreboding I replaced it, and since then the plugs have only been touched at routine servicing, every 3,000 miles.

All too much Of my motoring is just pottering around locally; Usually I use the DAF, an ideal practice car, but my wife has first call on this, so then I use the Ferrari, the only snag being the large turning circle. It never gets hot. Indeed, when I first got it I thought the electric fans must be faulty, and when they did not cut in in the traffic jam after Daily Express Silverstone I was sure of it: however, half-an-hour at a fast tickover with the bonnet covered eventually got the thermometer high enough, and all three fans started to work. The next time they did so was on a hot June day stuck for a couple of hours in a fiesta in Granada, and then it was only for a moment, and the engine opened up absolutely cleanly as soon as we got clear of the traffic.

Soon after I got the car a rear-spring leaf was found to be broken. It was removed locally, and a new one made by a specialist firm, and has proved entirely satisfactory. The gear lever suddenly came loose in my hand, due to a small bolt shearing, but a call at Egham for a new one, which was instantly forthcoming, had the car mobile the next day. The overdrive refused to stay engaged, but this was an electrical fault remedied in a few minutes. The brakes have had new rubbers throughout, and the front exhaust pipes have been patched to take me through the winter, when new ones will have to be fitted.

This is the sum of repairs done. The car now has. just under 60,000 miles behind it, and goes as well as ever. Fuel consumption varies with use, 14 or so in town, though after three hundred miles up to Scotland in 5 1/2 hours, only 15 gallons filled the tank again. In 2,500 miles last summer through France, Spain and Portugal I just used up a gallon can of oil.

Yes, Mr. Thomas, I am sure you would enjoy a Ferrari, and you would probably find it reasonable to run. However. I suppose it is unwise to run any second-hand car that one could not afford to run when new. Any major work must he expensive, tyres cost a lot, insurance is heavy, and if you want to respray the car, a first-class job is essential, and so on. But then Life would be very dull if we only did the wise things!

In conclusion, may I say how much I enjoy Motor Sport. Apart from the War, I have hardly missed a copy for over forty years. Good luck to you, and thanks for all the pleasure you have given me.

Dunstable. G. E. Pinkerton, (Dr.).

MOTOR SPORT, May 1972