I feel like too many of these are at the expense of David who, prior to starting this website, was a high-functioning disaster. Apparently, we were all David needed in his life to start living better. You hear that kids? Just start websites. It’ll always work out. Today, our Tales from the Slack comes at the expense of poor Adrian, who bought a 1983 Ferrari Mondial QV because, well, he hates himself? Blog the misery, as David says.
Here are the categories of Slack conversations about our cars:
- Mercedes talks about a car we forgot she has, because she has so many.
- David brags about the i3 or decides to buy something terrible and hopes we’ll talk him into it.
- Jason talks about a car we forgot he has because none of them work.
- I brag about my BMW and complain that I don’t have time to work on it.
- Adrian talks about his Ferrari and makes us all glad we did not buy an old Ferrari.
Here’s all stuff that happened to Adrian… in the last week.
Oh, you’re going to need a battery. No big deal. That should go well:
Eventually, he got the battery and was all set to a trip out the famous Brands Hatch racing circuit:
Poor Adrian…
Welp, I guess I should finally make use of lemonsparty.org.
Yes, one of the many awful things about my dad’s Dodge Stratus was the battery location in which you had to remove the driver’s side front wheel to replace it. This was especially annoying as the car had a number of electrical gremlins and seemed to need a new battery every 18 months or so, which is ridiculous.
Glad to know it and a Ferrari have something in common.
Time to bring out the chainsaw! For sure.
Hmm, I had always just assumed Adrian’s Mondial was black. Red huh? Classic.
I didn’t have a lot of choice, although I’m all black all the time. I haven’t seen another Mondial since I’ve had mine, and then on the M25 Friday shortly before I broke down a black one pulled alongside me FML.
Oof, you got Highlandered. There can be only one (running Mondial at a time)!
It IS a color that looks good with black, though.
So you’re saying it’s a color?
I use a trickle charger on the Alfa. I don’t know if I should mention a name so I won’t but it’s green. It has a lead that can be permanently connected to the battery terminals at one end (it’s roughly 30 inches long). The other end has a small quick disconnect terminal with a waterproof cap. The trickle charger had a corresponding cord is regulated so you can leave it plugged in indefinitely without harming the battery and the charging is very mild so it won’t send any surges through the electrical system. I like it. It’s literally a 5 second job to unplug and be ready to drive away, and when you return to the garage it’s no more hassle than plugging in a micro version of a Tesla charging cable.
I have battery charger/maintainers on most of my cars, as when you have more cars than drivers, some of them tend to not get run often enough. The ones that get nearly daily use don’t have them. It’s a great way to prevent the dead battery problem. However, when you *forget* that you added a maintainer to a car and drive off, it’s not so much fun – ask me how I know (did it again just *today* for cripes sake).
There’s magnetic quick-release connectors you can buy for battery tenders that can solve this problem.
That’s brilliant!
Sorry to hear Adrian! Just drove my Mondi coupe yesterday and she was running beautifully. I think you cursed it haha. Hope to see some more (not broken down) stories soon. If it’s any comfort, I’ve had mine since 2015 and it has not seen the back of a flatbed.
I know what happened becaused Adrian posted about it on instagram, and it does feel like the most Ferrari thing ever. But I don’t really know much about old Ferraris to be honest.
Oh wait, upon closer inspection of the top picture I think it may be a different Ferrari thing.
I take no pleasure in your suffering. But even with all your troubles the car looks good even on a flatbed. Here’s hoping no greater damage from the overheating and you can get everything fixed expeditiously.
Driving a Ferrari is like dating a model – we know what you’re here for, and it’s not because they’re reliable or good for your wallet.
Still looks fast even strapped to a tow truck. Which is good!
It’s Italians in general. I’m 0-3 with Italian women. Never again.
Update II: car and I are safely back home.
What an ordeal. Hopefully it’s driveable again sometime next week and that there are no gasket issues.
It starts and runs absolutely fine, so I think I’ve dodged a bullet there.
Can we get an Adrian / Gossin podcast? I feel like there’s loads of potential there.
Just the 2 of them, no one else. Ship SWG over to merry old England and let them loose at Goodwood or something. Hilarity ensues!
Are you shipping us, as the kids say?
Lol had to look this term up, so I wasn’t trying!
Don’t tell him, but he is a dreamboat with a lovely voice. Bastard.
I recommend checking Ferrari Chat before you do ANYTHING–somebody’s done it before, and probably done it wrong, so you know what to expect and to avoid. For instance, here’s the first thread that came up:
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/jump-starting-a-mondial.468231/
Also I use the battery cutoff knob religiously because I’m dreading the inevitable anguish you’re experiencing!
Ferrarichat is great, I have used it a few times.
I looked at the procedure you have to do every time you use the battery disconnect on my car and decided I’d rather just use a maintainer. But I decided I should make sure I knew where it was just in case I ever needed to quick disconnect – and it turns out someone has *removed* it from my car. Why? Why would you do that?
The Mondial has a built in isolater but I’m too lazy to use it because I don’t want to keep setting the clock.
I share your predilection for order, but my seat must not go back all the way because I’m at least a few inches shorter than you and I can’t see the clock whilst driving!
PS An almost BRG ‘82 just went up for sale in bev hills. Very pretty, worth a glance. I’d link but I’m not advertising!
If it’s an 82 make sure it’s a qv not an 8. The 8 was a bit marginal on power.
That’s madness, beats me. You have a Mondial? Say more!
I believe they hide the battery and have no jump points because jumping it voids the warranty. Actually I heard just starting a Ferrari voids the warranty.
Sorry to hear it Adrian, hope she’s roadworthy soon, and I can commiserate at least a little – I found out last year as I was working to get an old 911 back on the road that it’s next to impossible to find information about battery dimensions anymore.
Not to mention that group numbers and specs seem to change constantly, so unless you actually lug the old battery around with you, it’s often guesswork. I did both but not in that order.
The problem was because of the way it’s mounted in the car I couldn’t see the label which has the size on it. So I had to use the website to find the car (which was listed amazingly) but it gave me the wrong size.
When you hold a battery over your head, screen obscenities, and fling it as far as you can it will only go about three feet. You have a broken battery plus you feel stupid. Sorry for your troubles.
Update: the water pump has seized which then snapped the accessory belt. It does start and run fine so hopefully there’s no further damage. Currently riding in the recovery truck on the way home. Should be going to the local specialist Tuesday ( it’s a holiday weekend here).
Fingers crossed you’re in the clear!
So does that mean the engine has to come out to replace it? Also, how much for the pump? Oh Mondail, such a great name, such beautiful lines, such a letdown.
Matt, can I please join the pian Slack? Is there a membership level for it? You ignored the CSL piece so I’m feeling discouraged, but I’ll keep trying if it might get me in. 😀
No it can be done with the engine in. The water pump is £195 which is less than I was expecting.
That is good to hear and far less than expected.
Damn.
I can certainly commiserate with Adrian. I’ve had plenty of ‘gotta accomplish task A in order to go Xing’ Then task A goes from a minor pita to pear-shaped b/c of a wrong part or PO’s modifications. That overcome, you set out—and quickly get (metaphorically) a nail in your foot.
FML is my standard response-quickly followed by a reduction of my solvency