A New Ferrari Plan

This restoration was indeed a sorry state of affairs. Dale started the brakes in May 2018 and here it is July 2020. As with Ferrari restorations, parts take time to obtain and it just goes on from there.

So fast forward nearly 2 years to April 15, 2020. Dale and I were preparing to leave for Canada hoping to arrive there before the pandemic got worse. We’d hoped to spend 7 months in Canada in order to qualify for the National Health Care. Dale had 1 brake completely done, the 2 fronts were mostly done and 1 rear needed to be started. We were a little disappointed as we were going to be leaving the Ferrari unable to be moved and any real restoration started.

Our oldest son was staying with us off and on as he was working nearby. As we sat at our kitchen table, we mentioned that we were so disappointed to have yet most of another year without much progress on the car. As we talked our son had an idea of sorts; we’d stay home for the next few months, his oldest boy, a college student and very mechanically minded, would come to stay with us and help get the car restoration underway. 

As colleges had just gone on-line, our grandson, Elias, could study mostly then help with the car in his spare time. We could pay him, not what a Ferrari mechanic would make but something more in line with the work he’d be doing.

Dale pulled out his books and a list of necessary repairs, a list he’d made back in the late ’80s when we had to put the car into storage. He and Nate poured over the list, adding this and that.

That evening we called our grandson and proposed the plan to him and, of course, he jumped at the opportunity. Elias moved into our house the following week. He liked the idea of a quick walk from the garage to his room or to the kitchen.

I must add that when Elias was a little boy, he would call the car “my carrari car”. He loved the prancing horse symbol so it was only fitting that he should help with the restoration.

The Ferrari Restoration Begins

The Ferrari has been on hold for nearly as long as the Jag. This is the car that Dale feels he can handle, at least some of the restoration, himself. The dream was that he would do as much as possible. We have a mechanic, Bob Klingenberg, who we trust implicitly who can handle the items that we cannot. Dale bought a workbench so that is not an issue or excuse any longer.

1^st item to tackle is the brakes. We do not want the car crashing into the front bar of the car trailer.

Dale got the tire off and washed the wheel. He thought that we might need to buy new wheels, but he now feels that ours are fine.

The Ferrari books came out and the 1^st brake will come apart tomorrow.