When picking a classic for their first attempt at a restoration, most would select a simple car. Too easy — instead Rob Wilby chose a Ferrari.

Since the early ’70s my passion for most things automotive has taken me to literally thousands of motoring events worldwide. It’s never ceased to amaze me the quality of workmanship in vehicles that just seem to appear from nowhere at each and every event. The people behind these cars are also special — people who defy all odds with such unwavering tenacity and commitment that they have made our hobby what it is today.

What’s so incredibly special about this story is the fact that Rob Wilby, the owner of our featured Ferrari, had never done as much as an oil change and didn’t even own a socket set before buying this mid-engined Italian classic. Yet he put his head down and, with immense patience and determination, carried out one of the finest restorations you will ever see.

The project begins

In late 2001, Rob and Julie moved from Wellington to Auckland. During the first weekend in their new house, over a coffee during unpacking, Rob spotted a Ferrari 308GTB for sale in the newspaper. Bearing in mind that he’d just bought her a lovely new home, he was emboldened to mention the Ferrari to Julie. Her reply was quite non-committal but, with typical male bravado, he took it as permission to proceed further, although with some caution. Rob’s journey towards Ferrari ownership had commenced.

When Rob first contacted Daryl Burke, the vendor of the Ferrari, the message over the telephone was brief and to the point: “I don’t want any timewasters — and, by the way, it’s not red!” Undeterred, Ron and Julie arranged a test drive — with Rob, an enthusiastic Ferrari F1 fan, hooked immediately. The car was duly checked out by Ferrari guru Alan Cattle, who pronounced it mechanically sound and, after a few more checks, a decision was made. Darryl’s words as Rob drove the silver Ferrari away — “It just needs a bit of touching up here and there Rob, nothing major!” Rob didn’t know it at the time, but his life was just about to change.

Seeking advice

Rob and Julie spent the next three years acquainting themselves with their new Ferrari, just the excuse needed for driving the car as often as possible. Rob also learned about Ferrari maintenance during this time, with Active Automotive refurbishing the brake system, installing a new clutch and completing general maintenance requirements. After some temporary cosmetic maintenance it became obvious that the car’s body needed major attention, and Rob sought some advice from fellow Ferrari Owners’ Club members and Derek Atkinson. The best advice Rob received was — “Do it once and do it well,” and, “There’s always three times as much rust on the inside as the outside!” In February 2005 a leaking radiator eventually became the catalyst for starting the restoration on the Ferrari, a daunting task considering Rob had never attempted a gigantic task such as this. He continued to seek advice from as many qualified people as possible, and was wise enough to take lots of pictures, write everything down, draw lots of diagrams, label all parts and most of all to be very patient.

Starting work

Rob, determined as ever to complete the car’s disassembly himself, started at the front by removing everything from the bonnet area, including the headlights and all the cooling, heater, brake and vacuum lines which would eventually be replaced with new items. At this point he discovered rusty areas in the frame and decided to leave the suspension on the car.

Rob’s patience was to be further tested as he focused his efforts on removing the front and rear glass, an operation requiring delicate trim to be removed first. Rob’s personal highlight was removing the engine. Fellow Ferrari owner, Nigel Derbyshire, was on hand to offer patient and humorous support as they carefully raised the engine from its mounts, ensuring no damage was caused to the body on the way out. After a few anxious moments the beautiful piece of Italian machinery was placed on the ground, much to the relief of Rob and Nigel. Julie was also on hand to help and witness the moment by taking many photos, and providing well-deserved cups of coffee.

At this point, the Ferrari was ready to move into Rob’s newly refurbished garage — and it became time to remove the Ferrari’s interior. Although the dash was left in place, everything else was removed, including the door trims. Rob was careful to ensure every part and electrical connection was clearly labelled to avoid confusion later on. With the glass removed the doors were finally unbolted from the frame, ensuring that all 18 electrical cables and connectors were left intact.

Messy work

Rob decided it was a good idea for his wife to visit her mum in the UK, a good move considering the next task — stripping the car — would take place on the driveway.

This stage turned into something of a nightmare for Rob. After injuring his hand trying to scrape paint off the roof with paint stripper and a razor blade scraper, he discovered that the layers of paint remained steadfast. Now it was time for the heavy artillery — an angle grinder and 3M pads. This didn’t go down terribly well with the neighbours as Rob, dressed like he had just returned from a space mission, covered everything in sight with light silver dust. Just as well Julie was away.

With the old paint and filler removed, Rob could now see rust in both outer and inners sills, behind the front wheels, rear pillars, rear boot, the areas around both screens, the door-frames and skins. Rob remembered Darryl’s final words — “It just needs a bit of touching up here and there Rob, nothing major!” — as he uncovered some dodgy sill repairs.

Rob sand-blasted and hand-sanded the remaining hard-to-get areas around the swage lines, channels and screen apertures before trailering the car to Derek Atkinson for some major repair work and paint. With the car gone, Rob was now able to tackle the huge task of cleaning and refurbishing the many boxes of parts, not to mention cleaning the silver dust from Julie’s beloved garden plants.

Surgery

After a few weeks Rob called by to see Derek and check how the surgery was coming along, and was surprised to see how much rust there was in the doors. The door-frames had been sandblasted and were ready for new sections along the bottom. Rob purchased new door skins from Ferrari UK, which were now almost ready for installation.

Both sills had been cut away, re-fabricated and were ready to be welded in place. The vertical sections of the rear pillars were corroded and had been replaced. The bottom of the side of the boot sections also needed replacement. Back home, Rob started cleaning and repainting the fuel tanks and coolant expansion tank. The dry sump oil reservoir and air box were treated to a black crackle paint finish, adding an authentic touch.

Meanwhile, Waitemata Hydraulics in Henderson assisted with the project by fabricating new oil lines; the original fittings were re-used with new metal braided hose sections. They also supplied all new rubber coolant lines, vacuum and heater hoses, fuel lines, clear petrol lines, oil seals, wheel bearings and other restoration supplies.

From silver to yellow

Julie returned from the UK in late 2005, and was ready to help Rob choose the final colour scheme for the Ferrari. Julie wanted to keep it original, but Rob suggested yellow to show off the car’s lovely Pininfarina-penned lines. Rob finally got his way, and Glasurit supplied an appropriate supply of Giallo Fly  paint. Julie and Rob were delighted when they saw their glistening yellow Ferrari in Derek’s workshop for the first time — Rob was so eager to get the car home he took the next day off work to help Derek put the doors, boot and bonnet on the car. Rob learned very quickly that this exercise required infinitely more care, time and patience than the removal, and after a few sighs of relief (from Rob) the car was ready for the trip home.

The stress of putting the Ferrari back together without scratching the fresh paint now began. Aware of the task ahead, Rob decided not to give himself any unrealistic deadlines, and to adopt an easy-does-it approach — starting with simpler tasks such as the tail lights and bumpers.

He was now ready to tackle the rear suspension components, completely disassembling everything for cleaning and repainting. A set of dolly wheels bolted to the chassis made life a lot easier, enabling him to move the car in and out of the garage when necessary. Once all the parts were packed with grease, and new bearings and CV boots were fitted, the suspension was then re-assembled. The refurbished fuel tanks and pump could now be slotted into place. Rob was starting to feel quite satisfied with progress, things were starting to look really nice, and the late nights in the garage alone, eating takeaway dinners, were now starting to pay dividends.

A fresh challenge

Putting the engine back into the car was always going to be a challenge, which made Rob nervous to say the least. With loads of foam rubber carefully draped over almost every surface — and with the help of Nigel and a friendly neighbour — the V8 was carefully lowered onto the mounts. Everything went according to plan, without scratching the bodywork. An hour or so later and the boys were celebrating with a few well-deserved bottles of beer. The next task was finishing the front of the car, including cleaning and degreasing the chassis, under-sealing, repairing the fibreglass wheel wells, painting the chassis, refurbishing the steering rack and re-installing the brake booster, radiator and fans.  The front headlights were tricky. The frames had to be re-installed so that as the lights popped up they didn’t touch and scrape the sides of the paintwork. Rob repeated the refurbishment of the front suspension so that it matched the rear, resulting in a pristine undercarriage without a speck of dust or dirt anywhere.  With all the suspension back in it was time to fire up the engine — with Nigel’s support and helpful assistance.

The sound of success

After a few minor electrical hiccups, the Ferrari’s 3.0-litre V8 fired into life — although very smokily and out of tune. After a quick trip into the house to reset the smoke detectors, Rob made a few adjustments to the distributor and swapped over a coil lead before cranking the engine over again.

“Bingo! Music in the garage!” The fantastic sound of a Ferrari V8 was soon echoing off the garage walls. This was an emotional moment for Rob, Julie and Nigel — what better than to celebrate than with a glass of champagne? Rob was now starting to sense the restoration was nearing completion with just the interior, glass and doors to complete.

The doors did, however, prove to be rather tricky, and they actually had to be removed again for the installation of the retaining brackets, another stressful time for Rob.

It was quite an easy task for Rob to re-install the interior vinyl trim, re-covered by a local upholsterer. Rob had the seats and steering wheel refurbished by the Leather Colouring Company. The seat upholstery had been cracked, especially on the bolsters, so were filled with resin, then the leather was re-dyed and given a coat of clear — just like new. With the external trim in place, it was time to fit the front and rear screens, a job completed by Ian from Auto Performance Glazing.

The Masters’ Class beckons

With Christmas approaching and the car nearly complete, Julie and Rob decided to have it ready for the NZCC/Ellerslie Concours d’Elegance in February 2007. This certainly gave them something to focus on. There were still 70 items on the to-do list. Nigel was a tremendous help over this period, as were other members of the FOC, and Julie of course, who had got the hang of cleaning and degreasing car bits by now. The last tasks included a final cut and polish and a WoF the Friday before the Concours.

Not having experienced the thrill of driving a Ferrari for some time Rob felt great to be back in the driver’s seat again. Naturally, the car looked sensational when Rob collected it, and on Saturday final preparations and cleaning were completed for the event.  Julie and Rob enjoyed the Concours and were delighted with their score, especially as they came close to matching the points tally of their rivals — two of which were entered by restorers who had previously won the Masters’ Class.Rob and Julie acknowledge that without the help and support of so many people the restoration of their Ferrari would not have been possible, and send a thousand thanks to all those involved with the project — especially Derek Atkinson and Nigel Derbyshire.

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