WORKING WITHOUT PREASSURE

After Manuel's ok Jack spoke with Jose M. to see where he could keep the car to take it apart and fix it, he recommended him a workshop of his choice where they were used to repair machinery of that caliber. I've been to this shop several times and have seen several 911 turbo, MG, even a Ferrari 328 and a Lancia Stratos! The shop owner called John is specialized in restoring Minis, he owns 6 and even Portuguese people go there to rebuild their cars. Jack decided to take the F355 there because they had a place to fix it with complete peace of mind and because John knew the best panel beater and the area.

The truth is that in this workshop you breathe a predisposed genetic mechanicians to repair all types of cars.

Obviously the car repaired at any shop outside Official Ferrari it devalues the subsequent resale or for the pure collector, but without any doubt ENZO FERRARI will approve the project because Jack was moved by the pure pleasure of driving a true sports car, chosing the effectiveness chrono rather than any component of luxury and exclusivity.

While Jack managed the place of repair Manuel from Germany talked to the dealer who was keeping the car maintenance and managed to fax the last review of the car made in the Official Ferrari workshop in Munich. Here you are the pictures of that report. Although it is in German it can be summarized in a complete review of the air conditioning, brakes, engine, suspension, gearbox, anti-rust product application advocated by Ferrari, change all fluids, etc ...

Manuel also verified that the car documentation was legal.

THE FIRST CONTACT.

Seeing that it was good looking car, Jack decided to search how much could cost..., for example, a front mudguard and the front bumper of such car, for this purporse he called a dealer and was told that the mudguard cost about 650 € and 1.750 € the bumper without painting, but the problem is that they did not sell to independent repairers for repairing the car out of the concession, but should bring the car to the dealership and repair it there with consequent bleeding money, so he had to look for other solutions.

Jack was increasingly infatuated with the car and he didn't care about the difficulties. He contacted the seller through a message, helped by Pascual who translated it into german.


With his dream chosen and even with the price closed, Jack thought that this particular car should be seen, it would be better go to Germany, and he would do so if he hadn't been lucky enough to have friends who have, many friends also passionate about cars, here I will appoint Jose M. which encouraged him greatly to bring the car, he said that if anything went wrong he could always sell and not lose all the money invested. Well, Jose M. suggested not to go to Germany because he knew a Spanish man who lived there and he was retired, this gentleman was engaged in importing cars to Spain from the area north-west Germany, he was called Manuel.

MANUEL was the key for Jack to buy the car, he traveled 600km and 600km round trip to go and see the car, talk to the seller and review the documentation of both the car and owner, official revisions etc ..., this man was even able to renegotiate the price and download another 1000 €.

From this time on Jack couldn't get rid of his mind the image of the car, once repaired with the appearance that he had always liked. Below these lines I will show you some pictures of how he would like to restore the car. He would like to change the F355 Berlinetta into a F355 Challenge, it is a classical transformation from "Gentleman driver" in which the car could travel on the street or could compete in a circuit.

JACK´S INSANITY.

Good morning, my name is Yago C. I'm 33 years old, I'm single and I am very fond of cars. I've decided to start this blog to show that dreams can come true. A friend of mine wanted to own a Ferrari and with hard work and patience he's got it. This blog will be updated weekly to show you how he has managed and I will even try to transmite his feelings. Car lovers will see that even if they have a limited budget it can be achieved, we ¡ust need the will and clear objectives.

It's true that the car has lost the Ferrari pedigree but it has gained SOUL in return, because his restorer has given part of his life in its resuscitation. My friend likes to be called Jack, he always liked the Ferrari F355, despite the new models which came out, 360 Modena, F430, the retractable headlights aesthetic and rear uprights with horizontal engine hood design seem to him genuinely Pininfarina for Ferrari.

Jack finished Mechanical Engineering studies in 1996 and once he got a job with a certain stability, he seriously proposed to himself to make his dream come true. Many of us told Jack that his craziness would pass away. I, myself, even told him that for his purpose a much wealthy situation was needed and a person with his responsibilities, a family depending on ¡ust his wage, could not achieve such dreams. He got so angry that he didn't talk to me till he was about to take the first real step to own his F355.

Jack always searched on Internet sites for price of second hand F355, but they really could not be reached, then he re-drawed his dream and decided to look for a damaged one and restore it himself. His intention was to buy a car beaten but with the gearbox and engine in perfect condition to repair only the aesthetics. He always liked to fix everything that came into his hands, he is a real handyman.

Internet was the place where Jack had been looking for 2 years a damaged F355 and was in September 2007 when he saw one in www.mobile.de that got all the requirements, Ferrari F355, Berlinetta, red, with few! Km with a blow that could be restored, engine ok, ok gearbox, his dream was to a single click on the computer.

His mind and his heart came into conflict and then he called me to ask for advice, I freaked, I thought it was a joke, he showed me the advertisement on Internet, I am still amazed by the courage he had.

Hereunder I show some photos of how the car was advertised on the Internet. Jack said that the car may have had an accident on a country road, with several drifts and repetitive blows to the four corners of the car, so, though ¡ust the right door was ok, all the other hits were not very important, they could be repaired by a good panel beater, he said that obviously on Internet you can always have surprises you can not see, so it is necessary to assume a repair budget 15% higher for any contingency, however the car did not seem to have a strong impact, he was highly convinced the chassis was intact.