Car
|
Ferrari 308 GTB
|
Miles this month
|
314
|
Latest costs
|
£86
|
I believe that every car deserves a long run each year and
this August it was the turn of the 308. You learn more about the car on a long
run and get a better feel for it. Also you notice problems before they become
major fallings – like the lack of charging I noticed last year on the way back
from Dunsfold. The Ferrari especially responds well to a long high speed run
too.
This August the excuse
was a visit to the Cranleigh Car Show in Surrey (incidentally where I grew
up)
on Sunday after a visit to Oliver’s “soon to be” in-laws and extended family on
Saturday afternoon. I’d detailed the car over the previous week – washed it and
applied a full wax – using Dodo juice dark seems to be the best one I have
found – and the car looked spotless. We had an easy run on the way down – A12,
M25 etc. but I was a bit alarmed by the small backroads we used across the
south Surrey countryside.
Just for old time’s sake I parked the bright red
Italian outside my parent’s old house in Brookside and took a snap for
Instagram. The final leg was mistakenly over an unmade road as we missed a
turning. However, through everything the car behaved itself as normal and shows
what an un-temperamental beast the 308 is.
When we arrived I was given the safe slot on the drive and the
car was admired on and off, with Oliver playing “find the door handle” and
“where is the fuel cap?” with a younger cousin. Best of all was that the
grandmother disappeared for a while and was found outside on the drive just
admiring it. She also wanted to come out and hear it start up when we left –
for a lifelong non-driver she has good taste. A Ferrari can divide opinion but
I feel that the old ones like mine don’t offend too many people.
The hotel we chose was in the Surrey hills and the drive in
the dark over roads I used to tear up as a teenager was only partially
remembered, that’s what 30 years away will do for you. On arrival I
deliberately parked ostentatiously outside the main reception of the hotel and
was glad to hear an appreciative American voice. I’d forgotten the slightly
poor turning circle the car has so had to do a five-point turn to get out - I
passed it off coolly I thought. Our room was on the edge of the complex and I
never did find the car park, but with a bit of manoeuvring and a slight clutch
smell I parked it overnight outside the room safely tucked away. That’s one
element of taking the car out and leaving it in an unfamiliar place that still
worries me after these years – is it the value or just the apprehension of it
getting damaged ?
The car show was packed and even though we got here early we
had to queue for quite a while to get in. I parked on the end of a row of very
red cars, a TR3 a MGB and a TVR. Overall there was a great selection of cars I
had not seen before as well as the usual suspects. I was especially taken with
a grey Lancia (a 1962 Flaminia Touring 218 GT) and white BMW Isetta 300, but I
did find myself being drawn back to the 440 Dodge Charger.
Overall I’m finding less cars to photograph, although the
weather was a bit dull towards the end of the day which always dampens my
enthusiasm. However no other Ferrari’s on show – just one lone 360 on a trade
stand. Where were they all?
During the day I opened the bonnet and went into the boot
for some water to spot a small split in the top of the large “bellows” that
attaches the air filter to the air intake on the right hand side. I mentally
added it to the fix list.
Wondering round the show, with Oliver despairing at the
costs of everything and how he’ll ever buy anything classic, we chatted to two
opposite ends of the classic car spectrum. Firstly a young chap with a pristine
white Volvo P1800S he had had for a few years. He lived in London and ran the
car for six months a year then put it away when the weather turned bad. Proof
you can run a classic in the city? His take was that the car was becoming too
valuable, it was concourse and needed to be kept that way. Although he had
invested emotionally in it and was desperate to keep it, he worried about using
it more.
The second was an older chap at the side of the Aston Martin
owner’s club group. He had a DB6, again concourse, but had owned the car for
many years. He had paid for a superb renovation and was revelling in the
astronomic values they commanded and saw nothing to worry about.
Early on Monday a
look at the Eurospares website identified the part quickly (the same as on a
Ferrari 288 GTO I was shocked to see) from their diagram, I phoned to confirm
it was in stock and that I was right. It arrived the next day and I set about to
fit it. Having a great Ferrari spares supplier in Halstead only thirty miles
away and coincidentally just around the corner from Grimaldi’s who service the
car, is an added bonus.
The fixings were a strange affair – bands of metal like
large diameter self-tightening jubilee clips.On taking the bellows off it was
obvious that the split on the top was tiny compared to the shredded lower
portion – not sure why I had missed that before. Thirty minutes of twisting got
the new one back in position, although I am not sure it should be resting on
the water pipe – that might explain the damage to the underside over the years.
I’d hoped that it would also fix the whistle that you can
hear at 70 but it did not, although I thought the note changed a bit on the
test drive. And yes the car did seem to go better after the long run.
The start point was at Stonham Barns and being close to home and a little unsure of the format we were one of the first to arrive. We
looked at the other cars arriving as they assembled and it was soon obvious
that being a 1985 Kent Crossflow ours was one of the oldest cars there – and
one of the few with full front wings. It’s the fashion to have the smaller
cycle wings on the cars now and I’m in two minds what I prefer.
This August the excuse
was a visit to the Cranleigh Car Show in Surrey (incidentally where I grew 
Overall I’m finding less cars to photograph, although the
weather was a bit dull towards the end of the day which always dampens my
enthusiasm. However no other Ferrari’s on show – just one lone 360 on a trade
stand. Where were they all? 
