TradeUniqueCars.com.au 109LEFT ABOVE
It’s a shame to
hide the lovely
exhaust system
from view.RIGHT Correct
old-school wood-
rim alloy wheel.LEFT BELOW
Wheels copped
a total factory
refurb.PRESENTED
BYABOVEYes,it
comeswiththe
toolkit.LEFT Soon to be
ex-owners, John
and Marj, appear
to be missing the
Ferrari already.
on the cargo ship, Ataio, on 11 November,
1964, imported by WH Lowe Pty Ltd. This was
the fourth 330 GT to be imported to Australia.
The car was then presented to the Australian
motoring public at the Melbourne Motor
Show early in 1965.
After featuring in the motor show, it was
delivered through Scuderia Veloce Motors to
its first owner in Sydney by Australian auto
racing champion and team owner, David
McKay. His experiences of the drive from
Melbourne to Sydney were written up in a
four-page article published in the August 1965
issue of Modern Motor magazine.
The restoration was a top-to-toe task
undertaken over a five-year period from 2014
to 2019. The work was done primarily by three
South Australian restoration businesses.
Tim Ringwood Restorations was the first
business employed on the project, initially
given just the task of rebuilding the engine.
When the scope of the restoration was later
expanded to include the rest of the car, Tim
coordinated the work of other specialist
outfits brought in to restore the bodywork
and paint finish (Custom and Classic Cars)
and the interior trimmings (Willshire Motor
Trimmers).
The engine was removed from the car to
facilitate the rebuild and the car was partially
dismantled for bodywork repairs.The engine rebuild included: replacing or
machining all moving parts and wear surfaces- cylinder liners, pistons, rings, connecting
rods, gudgeon pins, crankshaft journals,
bearings, valves, camshafts and timing
chain; replacing the starter motor with a new
high-torque unit; replacing all non-standard
or burred fasteners with stainless steel
equivalents; replacing the exhaust system with
a stainless steel set-up.
The car had accumulated various layers
of paint and patches of acrylic filler over the
years, and these were removed by hand with
gel stripper, rather than sandblasting which
can abrade the metal and harden it, with
hardened metal causing the finisher’s files
to slide over it rather than bite in during the
metal finishing process.
When it came to rust, the worst damage
was found in the door sills, parts of door
panels, the rear parcel shelf and boot. The
chassis, meanwhile, was found to be rust-free.
The worst-affected parts were cut out and
replaced with new steel, attached with oxy
welding rather than MIG because oxy welds
are softer, thus making the task of grinding
back easier and a smoother finish attainable.
Meanwhile, some minor deformities found
in the bodywork shape were corrected with
panel-beating, and redundant holes were
filled with welds before finish grinding.