1985 Ferrari 328 GTS Replica

This car above is a work of art, a picture of beauty.  The stance, the body lines...all magnificent.  In an effort to personally own a replica of this exotic sports car, I decided to build one for myself.  Why not buy one, you ask?  Well, aside from being cost prohibitive to purchase one (the 20-year-old 328s are still going for around $60,000), the maintainence costs will damn near kill you.  Just for a point of reference, a regularly scheduled tune-up for this car costs between $2,000-$3,000.  Annual insurance premiums are enough to buy you a good used car, if you know what I mean.  I wanted this car, but the maintenance/upkeep costs are exorbitant, to say the least.  Nevermind the fact that the nearest Ferrari dealer is about a two hours' drive from here.  Besides, how cool would it be to drive around in a car that you hand-built, right?  My thoughts exactly. This was an opportunity to fulfill a dream that I just couldn't pass up.

 What I set out to do is to put a copy of the Ferrari body onto a domestic chassis and drivetrain for which I could have reasonable access to parts.  I started out with an American two-seat, mid-engined sports car with a similar wheelbase and weight-distribution: the Pontiac Fiero GT.

Chassis Comparison - Pontiac Fiero GT vs. Ferrari 328 GTS

	Pontiac Fiero GT	Ferrari 328 GTS
Wheelbase	93.4 in.	92.5 in.
Weight Distribution % (F/R)	43.5 / 56.5	40.0 / 60.0
Dry Weight	2740 lbs.	3170 lbs.
Chassis Layout	Two-seat Mid-engine Rear drive	Two-seat Mid-engine Rear drive

This project began in July 1998 with the donor car:  a 1985 Pontiac Fiero GT with 72,000 miles, was stripped down to its chassis, and the metamorphasis commenced.

People sometimes ask me if this is a "kit" car.  Well, I suppose if you're bent on classifying it as something, then it is. However, a "kit car" is usually collection of car parts that you order from a company and assemble the pieces yourself.  The difference with this project is that I am personally fabricating (or contracting to have made) many of the custom parts for the car.  Additionally, a number of the parts on this car are OEM Ferrari.  In the business, this is known as a "component car" or "replicar" (most of which are kits, by the way).  It's probably just semantics, but hey - I'm just trying to keep you informed, okay?

Again, the primary benefit for building one myself is maintenance cost and the availability of parts for the drivetrain.  

I purchased the fiberglass body pieces from an acquaintance who acquired the molds for the car and, with the help of a friend (Steve Alles) the project began.  Here is a summary of the current phase of the project:

Resource expenditures as of November 2007:

     Cost of Materials and Supplies: $12,648 (including $1715 in specialized tools)
     Time:  1025 man-hours

Needless to say, I've got a lot invested into this project.  Here's a portfolio of progress on my car.

UPDATE (8/20/2007):  Thanks to my friend, Andre Pouliot, I've once again started to work on the car.  During the last few weeks, I've gotten the wiring harness finished for the decklid and epoxied the shell together.  Most recently, I've been fabricating a fiberglass piece into the sail panel for the fuel fill compartment (behind the driver's head on the rear clip).  Please go to my Myspace page to view the over 600 images I have posted there  (http://www.myspace.com/1withintegrity).

Feel free to click on the thumbnails to get a larger image.

July 1999                                

As you can see, we spent most of the summer working on the headlights.  After a few obligatory setbacks, they sit nicely and activate up and down without a problem.  I had originally thought to make the lenses round, rather than use the (boring) rectangular GM headlamps, but this is the way it is for now.  We'll see if I have the energy to change the assembly before the car is finished.

November 1999                

The black chin spoiler has not been fully attached, and is just clamped on at this point.  Note the lowering of the windshield wipers and the fiberglassing of the front bumper (unfortunately, this is very difficult to see with the resolution of the images).

Here is an A/B shot of my car with my friend Bill's Ferrari 308 "Mera GTS" replica.  It may be hard to see, but my car's rear springs need to be lowered at least two inches (use the intake scoops as a reference).  The front needs to come down a hair, too - this is tough because of the 328's long nose; driveways are spoiler-killers.

August 2000

I've just recently finished installing the OEM Ferrari driving and front sidemarker lights ($802 from the Ferrari dealer) and the aluminum lower valence and nose grills.  The lights have been wired and work great!  The front clip is now complete except for cosmetic bodywork, emblems and (obviously) paint.  The doors are nearing completion.  The handles have been installed and working since July 1998, but have yet to design and install the door locks.  The power mirrors haven't been installed (or ordered, for that matter) either.

After LOTS of research and design, the custom side air intake scoops are complete!  We'll now turn our efforts to the aft portion of the car, where we're designing the air intake system (side intake scoops, ducting, and air box) for the engine.  Both the front clip and doors had to undergo considerable redesign and modification to keep the body lines straight.  As has been made abundantly aware to us for the last three years, it's not easy to fit a tiger into a cheetah's skin...

December 2001

            Do you see any resemblance yet?

Here's a more recent comparison shot of my car alongside, yes....the "real deal"  -  a 1986 Ferrari 328 GTS.

Here's a shot not showing much of what I've been working on this past year:  attaching the sail panel, moving the battery from the deck to the bonnet, installing a stainless steel exhaust system, reshaping and straightening the rear bumper, moving the fuel fill spout to behind the B-pillar, installing an OEM Ferrari exhaust grille and tail and reverse lights (about the only things you can see in the image) at a price of $600 and $500 respectively.

In the next update, you will see:   The Deck Lid

Although it may not look that impressive, many hours of research, development and engineering have gone into every part that we've made for this car.  After all, each part has to work properly under lots of  wear and tear, just like a production car.  Another $7,000 and 500 hours will hopefully finish the job.  Perhaps someday before I retire it will rumble out of the garage, low-slung, and painted-to-kill!!

Updates of the Ferrari project will be posted on this page, so be sure to check back on its progress!

With Much Appreciation

I'd like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank my friends
Steve Alles and Andre Pouliot
for all of the time and insight they have unselfishly invested into this project.

Spider-Man 3

Ferraristi have visited
this page since January 21, 2000

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