This is part ten of the automotive restoration series on this 1960 Ferrari 250GT Cabriolet. Part One of Ferrari Restoration describes the creation of a ‘measuring box’ to check the car body symmetry. Part Two of Ferrari restoration explains the creation of a new tail light housing. Part Three of Ferrari restoration illustrates patterning up the rocker panels. Part Four of Ferrari restoration looks at how the original rocker panels were dismantled. Part Five of Ferrari restoration covers the rocker panel build. Part Six of Ferrari restoration describes the rocker panel graft in and some of the damaged floor rebuild. Part Seven of Ferrari restoration covers the extensive rebuild and restoration of the Ferrari floor. Part Eight of Ferrari restoration illustrates the engine bay restoration. Part Nine of Ferrari restoration explains the steps taken to restore the distinctive mouth area.
After all the work on the front end of this rare Ferrari, we move to the rear of the body, to the trunk area, where the right hand side was lightly damaged sometime ago. This damage also caused a little structural damage on the interior trunk. After removing the internal trunk panels piece by piece and replicating them to make new panels, we welded them back in just as they looked from the factory. To finalize this area, a new trunk sill was made with a rear hole light detail added for the housing, and then metal finished to completion. Bumper was then fitted and away we go.
The last area of restoration is the oil sump pan, cracked and chipped from road contact or just careless driving. Being cast weld presented more of a challenge, but our restoration came out as good as new!
250GT Ferrari restoration: Metal Work structural trunk area
Inside of the Ferrari trunk, we see the right hand panel is totally decayed.
Freshly made panel grafted in.
Simple tooling aided the making of this panel, helping to achieve the correct depth on the depressions.
Damaged and decayed area marked for removal.
Material removed and damaged internal structure revealed.
Internal structure now removed and ready for inspection.
Close up inspection reveals damage to the structure of the panels from a rear end light shunt many years ago.
Newly made panel, patterned up from the original.
Internal structure assembled and new metal made on the exterior.
Fresh sheet metal held into position with clecos. The rear bumper also fitted to check profiles before welding.
Panels are now TIG welded in and the metal finishing process begins.
…and metal finished.
Number plate hole detail: new material also grafted in here.
Ferrari oil pan restoration
Oil pan damaged after years of road scrapes. Walls to be built up with TIG weld. This is a little more difficult since the pan is cast.
TIG welding in process after thoroughly cleaning the surface.
Welded, cleaned up, and ready for service.
This is part ten of the Ferrari Restoration series on this 1960 Ferrari 250GT Cabriolet. Part One describes the creation of a ‘measuring box’ to check the car body symmetry. Part Two explains the creation of a new tail light housing. Part Three illustrates patterning up the rocker panels. Part Four looks at how the original rocker panels were dismantled. Part Five covers the rocker panel build. Part Six describes the rocker panel graft in and some of the damaged floor rebuild. Part Seven covers the extensive rebuild and restoration of the Ferrari floor. Part Eight illustrates the engine bay restoration. Part Nine explains the steps taken to restore the distinctive mouth area.