Excellent job....well done that man!

FWIW my 328 seems to run out at about ?2K a year for everything (including
petrol) for the same kind of mileage (shut up Duffin!). A Mondial will have
similar servicing requirements & the insurance etc will be about the same
(?400 ish). Seems to be around ?1100 a year for the servicing....one year
its Cambelts & the next some other stuff needs fixing then its back to
cambelts the year after. Of course there may be some things you need to sort
out over the next year or so to get it up to where you want it to be which
will cost more. If you are going to be tempted to take it out much before
March/April  keep an eye out on the roads - the salt is not kind to 'rraris.
That said, try and run it reasonably regularly (every 2-3 weeks) during the
winter to keep everything moving & oiled up - even if you just leave it
running in the drive. ?70 or ?80 for a battery conditioner to keep the
batter charged up over the winter is money well spent too.

Once you are confident in the mechanical condition of the car there is no
reason why you shouldn't do long trips without worry. After all, our
resident "Europhile" Monsieur "MCPD Pointy Burns" himself risks his neck
with those foreign types doing 3500 miles in about two weeks across Europe
every year in "Old Smokey" - and he seems to get away with it....(mind you
he does it wearing Pink Capri pants so maybe that's the trick to it!)

Buy your insurance from Aon & if you are anywhere south of Birmingham you
could do a lot worse than take it to Mike Lester at QV for servicing. Maybe
consider taking it in for Mike to have a look at it & tel you what you
should plan for over the next year or two. Similarly if you are down the
south half of the country then get yourself prepared for the first pub run
of 2004 - expect around mid to late April (!) depending on when "The Burns"
gets his act together, whether Jo can find a day off in the quarter and
whether Rupert has reassembled the Porker - I'll just probably turn up as
usual!

Sometime in July is the National Concourse meet (450 Ferraris in a field) &
there is usually a good day out to be had there (assuming you don't have
such a hangover from the night before that you actually manage to get
there - ahem!)

As for clubs, just join the FOC - there are a variety of "Area Groups"
operating up & down the country if you want to get more involved.
www.ferrariownersclub.co.uk

Lastly, do keep checking back in here - it can be dead as a dodo for weeks
on end - and then someone mentions the Sultan, MC goes nuts and threatens
death & dismemberment to all who take a welding torch to a Ferrari and it
all generally goes off again to much amusement all round. We're about due
for another "Oh my God look at that hideous replica" thread soon....

rgds

I.

Thanks Joe much appreciated :-)

Jon

<<Nothing wrong with the Mondial. A practical (ish) 308, - just not quite so
beautiful.>>

Depends a lot on the colour. Did he mention what colour he got?

C.

Easily remedied - step this way, Neo.

MCPD
(I can promise a ride in 308, and I'd bet a certain low-mileage 328 too)

They've been around a few years. Do you think they just made a mistake
or was it something worse? Did you tell them and offer them a chance to
put things right?

The one and only time QV ever made a 'mistake' (they put a warped disk
on my 308) they called me up, told me they had a problem, apologised that
it would take a couple of days to get a replacement part, then sorted it
FOC.

MCPD