home Diary 56,614      10/3/97     
I took delivery of Ferrari 308 GT4 serial number 10656 at about 4 p.m. with 56,614 miles on the odometer. The seller was Jaan Hjorth of. in Piedmont, California . We had seen him and his car earlier at his shop in Berkeley. He had been in the middle of replacing a V8 in a Jag XKE and wouldn't be able to pick us up from the Hotel until around 4 o'clock. He showed up at about 3:30 and drove me back to his house. During the drive he went over a few things, including the sloshy gas gauge (only reads to 1/2 full as the sender in the right tank is bad), oil pressure and temperature gauge which are both pretty constant, and my new friend, the water temperature gauge.

At the house he provided a box with an old air pump and miscellaneous fittings, an old temperature sender and other stuff. Still residing at his house is the old thermal reactor with pipe fittings and various hand-made sway bars. In the trunk is a plate that covers the left side hole on the motor where the clutch is visible. In addition, there are many (16?) screws and spacers for the air cleaner and carbs. I need to exercise caution as dropping one of these spacers down a carb would be disastrous. The purchase price was $20,467.50 paid with a cashiers check. Jaan said he would provide copies of notes and records (in 3 notebooks). He noted that the right rear tire loses about 3 pounds of pressure a week.

 "Keep the temperature around the 90 in the gauge," he had told me. "Check the oil after running and before the oil cooler drains into the sump." I asked about the choke. "Do not use the choke! it's too easy to leave it on resulting in fouled plugs and requiring a tune-up. Turn the car on and allow the fuel pump to fill the carbs. Pump once or twice and provide gas as needed to start." He provided $10 for gas as it was low. I was the first one to drive the car since he'd gotten it. He remarked that it was analogous to someone else kissing your girlfriend.