Automotive Restoration: A Frameless Body Repair of a 1960 Ferrari
This automotive restoration project began in June 2010, with the client’s eye on displaying it at Pebble Beach. This 1960 Ferrari 250 GT Pininfaria Cabriolet (PF Cab) was stored for 30 years in Arizona before being purchased by the current owner. Ferraris during this time were hand built by Italian coach manufacturers and the engines were also hand built by Ferrari. The 250 GT series was built for the customer who wanted a street-legal car that could also take to the race track. Of course, not everyone raced their Ferraris, some customers just wanted the incredible power and beautiful styling of the 250 GT. Pininfarina is still in business and still makes concept cars and prototypes for major companies around the world.
After the Ferrari 250 GT PF Cab was disassembled and criticized by the media, I began to repair and rebuild the body to its original factory condition.
This client was particularly concerned with making the reconstruction perfectly symmetrical. I had an idea, born from my experience working in the prototyping industry: build a box with a measurement system to help build the vehicle. The photos below are a brief sample of the posts to follow.
The first part of this post covers a measuring device we designed and built especially for this Ferrari PF Cab and the second part explains how it was used to rebuild the taillight area.
The purpose of the measuring box is to determine if the body of a car is built at right angles to the chassis and if it is symmetrical from side to side. Before we delve into the body measurement, please remember that this is a hand-built Ferrari body built in the 1960s, so tight tolerances are not expected. The idea is that the body and chassis of the Ferrari PF Cab sit on a center line within a three-dimensional steel-framed box. The box perimeter acts as a measurement datum so that measurements from the box to the Ferrari PF cockpit can be taken on the left and right sides and then compared to verify symmetry.
The three-dimensional box is divided into 3 planes that represent length, depth, and height. In each shaft there are 1/2″ machined holes 200mm apart, these holes are locations for the measurement stations. A line runs down the center of the bed and the center of the chassis is aligned with a custom body mount. The center line only runs lengthwise, as the body is only symmetrical in one direction. The body is divided into a grid, with the aid of a laser, and numbered to facilitate registration.
These were the most important findings for this Ferrari PF Cab:
1. Right headlight housing is 10mm forward of left headlight
2. the body style line is 6mm higher on the right side than on the left side
3. The entire rear of the car is flipped to the right hand side 50mm from the rear of the doors to the rear of the Ferrari. Not from accident/damage, but from how the car was built.
4. Left tail light housing peak leans in 8mm
After discussing the above findings with the customer, the first issues addressed were the left tail light issue. Now we will show the step-by-step reconstruction and manufacture of the light housing. Why rebuild this area? At first glance, the sheet metal casing clearly looked as if the top was sloped inward, and secondly, the casing was too large for the light bezel, which formed the appearance of a step. For proper appearance, the surface of the bevel must be even with the surface of the paint. As part of the “measuring box” process, we recorded results showing that the top of the case was 5mm to the right of center. To fix both of these problems, the most practical and cost-effective thing to do was to make a completely new shell and then graft it onto the fender.
Steps:
1. Cut off the original tail light shell from the car body.
2. Make a pattern from the original and cut a new piece of sheet metal to match.
3. Shape the new part, using the old part and the actual taillight until it fits perfectly.
4. TIG weld the new sections together.
5. Place it on the car body, tightening again until it fits snugly. Cleco instead.
6. Check the bottom, top, and sides against the measurement box for perfect squareness and symmetry.
7. TIG weld the new casing onto the Ferrari body.
8. Finish the metal and then you’re ready to paint!
Please visit my website for step by step photos of the metering box and this process.