[DeTomaso] Repair Costs - New vs. Old

[David Fisher]

Speaking of repair costs.   I let my Ferrari 355 go when it cost $5000 to
replace the A/C compressor.   While the $5k was bad enough, what made it
really offensive was that it was $5000 even... not $4834 or $5124...
I would have replaced it myself, but that would have devalued the car more
than $5k...

Sad but true... there are driver cars and then there are cars that would be
great drivers, but the economics have taken a lot of the fun out.  I have
great respect for those that still drive the $1M collectors around..



On Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 9:07 PM, Will Kooiman <will.kooiman at gmail.com> wrote:

> Jack,
>
> I just read your newsletter article title, "Failure Analysis of a
> Home-Built
> Stroker", and I really enjoyed it.
>
> What I enjoyed most was the stroker destroying so many parts, and still
> only
> setting the owner back $2511.  That's a lot of money, but let me put it
> into
> perspective.
>
> I had my Viper on the track a year ago, and it started running rough.  I
> didn't know what was wrong.  It didn't pop or crunch.  There was no oil on
> the ground.  I just didn't like the way it sounded.  The plugs looked okay.
> So, I drove it home.  I know ­ stupid, but what's life without a little
> spice?  When I got home, the catalytic converters were hot and smelled bad.
> I suspected plugged cats.  I was thinking about taking it apart, but
> Tomball
> Dodge is in town, and they are one of the premier Viper dealers in the
> world.  Morgan at Tomball is excellent.  Hennessey is also in town, but
> they
> are further away.  Morgan replaced the computer because mine was showing
> codes.  Then once he had a good computer, he found a cylinder that was
> running rich.  The old computer wouldn't show a code for that cylinder, but
> the new computer did.  He checked the injectors, but they were okay.  He
> finally pulled a head and found one keeper had split in half and the intake
> valve had slightly dropped.
>
> The damage wasn¹t bad.  If I remember correctly, there were 2 bent valves,
> a
> cracked guide, the bad keeper, a slightly scarred retainer, and a few minor
> dings in the head and piston.  Of course, I did all of the necessary
> repairs
> including having the head checked for cracks and straightness.  It was
> fine.
> The total bill was $4,000.
>
> I really like the Viper, but $4,000?  Morgan helped me out with some of the
> parts too.
>
> We are currently moving to the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area.  Once we get
> settled, the Viper is moving on to a new home.  The proceeds will go
> towards
> a new Porsche for my wife (hers was totaled last year).  And I'll replace
> my
> loss with a simpler/cheaper daily driver.  #1 in my list is a 67 Mustang
> FB.
> #2 is a 65/66 FB.  #3 is a 69 AMX.  At least with these cars when I break
> something, it won't also break the bank.
>
> --
> Will
>
>
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