How to rebuild a totaled Ferrari's undercarriage damage using $25 in scrap aluminum!

[Xist]

Samcrac bought an auction Ferrari with various problems. He showed how to fix the rest of the stuff and everything was great, but then he decided to patch a stamped aluminum with a thick flat plate. He could not bend it to fit, so he used a thinner piece, which he more or less bent to fit, riveted it, applied seam sealer liberally, made a negligible effort to smooth out the seam sealer, and then spray-painted it.



Before I buy $2,000 cars I have mechanics inspect them. You would immediately see this patch on a lift. The fan boys keep saying this is great and nobody would ever see it. No, as long as you sell it to someone stupid enough to not put a Ferrari on a lift before buying it.

John Hull wrote "That looks like a repair you would see on a 79 chevy work truck."

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-lbQdRpToU

[Move this to the unicorn corral? ]

[Xist]

Samcrac started today's video responding to criticism on this job.

He just said it was good enough.

Then he sprayed starting fluid inside the Ferrari and lit a cigar--without clipping the end first.

Aren't Ferraris notorious for engine fires?

[Snax]

Originally Posted by Xist

Samcrac started today's video responding to criticism on this job.

He just said it was good enough.

I think he is kind of an asshole honestly.

That said, as long as he discloses something like that to a buyer and it doesn't affect the structural integrity, it is not something I would care about as a buyer and track, hillclimb, and autocross participant. The first time you admit to having a car like that in any of those events, you lose snooty buyers and or value immediately. If they want perfection, I tell them to walk. If I wanted a track toy and could easily afford it, I'd be eyeballing something like that pretty hard to fill out the stable.

I think I am dealing with that perception in trying to sell my Miata. It is a 2002 with less than 61,000 miles on it, and people ask me for maintenance records. "I'm the 6th owner! Screw off!" I tell them it has never been raced as long as I have owned it, but who even knows what they believe.

Disclosure matters more than anything - and I would call posting a Youtube video about it full disclosure.

[Xist]

I do not know what he tells prospective buyers, but the title says "Rebuilt Salvage." He insists that is as good as a clear title and structurally maybe his repair is sound, but I think only an idiot would buy a rebuilt car without having a mechanic look at it, and they would see the repair right away.

If a technician says the patch is sound, I guess that it is as if the floor had just been dented, not broken--except now the already low floor is a little lower, and whatever happened the first time is a little more likely to happen again.