When I was told about a one-of-a-kind 348 ts being built by a longtime Ferrari owner, I was interested. Then I learned said owner was working with a creative group of designers and highly skilled craftspeople at a shop near my home—and that’s when I cleared my schedule and made an appointment with Michael Donnelly, the owner of The Paddock Classic Car Restorations in New Britain, Connecticut, to check it out.
The driving force (pun intended) behind the project is Dick Spooner, who over the years has moved through a series of wonderful Ferraris: a 328, a 348, an F355, a 575M Maranello, and a 599 GTB Fiorano. Despite a racing background, when Spooner moved up to the newer front-engine V12s, he realized things had changed.
“I really had to admit there was far more car than driver,” he says. “There was a lot more potential in these automobiles than I was capable of exercising.”
When a fellow Ferrari enthusiast saw Spooner’s 599 on The Paddock’s website, he offered to buy it. Spooner, while surprised, figured that, while he loved the car, the other guy loved it more, so he sold it.
“After it was gone, I thought, At my elevated age, I’m probably done with Ferraris,” Spooner says. So he bought an MG TD with a Ford flat-head V8, then turned to the team at The Paddock to do a custom interior, a disc brake conversion, and custom bodywork. While he still owns the MG, it wasn’t quite right. As he puts it, “I thought, Boy, I’ve had Ferraris for so many years, I’m feeling the loss. What to do, what to do?”
4.3-liter V8 from F430 Challenge sits on custom subframe.
Spooner began to think back about all the qualities he admired in his past Ferraris. Each one had its particular style and uniqueness, but there was one car that still pulled at his heart strings: the 348.
“I absolutely loved that car, but I was a little underwhelmed with its overall performance and you had the very expensive, engine-out service every three years,” he says. “But it looked like a Testarossa and it was the correct size.”
This led to a dangerous train of thought: What if he bought a 348 and upgraded it? And in case that wasn’t bad enough, he began to dream about the possibilities.
“I wanted to turn it into a street car, track-day car, and show car all in one,” Spooner recalls, “reminiscent of the early Ferrari days, the ’60s and early ’70s, when you could literally take your street car to a racetrack, spend a day racing, and then drive it home.”
The key to his dream car? An F430 Challenge engine.
AS THE PRESIDENT OF TEAM PILOTA, which raced in the _FORZA_ Tifosi Challenge, Spooner knew the F430’s 4.3-liter V8 was powerful, robust, and reliable—and, because it utilized timing chains instead of rubber belts, it didn’t require that engine-out service. He presented his idea to John Tirell of Independent Ferrari Services, a highly respected full-service Ferrari shop that had wrenched on Team Pilota’s cars, and Tirell was able to provide both a rebuilt F430 Challenge engine and a donor car.
The 348 ts came with a salvage title due to a blown engine, but had so few miles and was in such immaculate condition that it was tempting to simply rebuild the original engine and flip the car. But the die was cast; The Paddock was going to build Spooner’s dream Ferrari. He wanted a car that respected the 348’s original styling but updated the look, as if the model had continued and evolved into the 2000s.
“It would certainly have to accommodate more power and more ‘aids,’ like flared fenders for bigger wheels and bigger brakes to handle the additional power,” he says, as well as a diffuser, a rear wing, and a front splitter. “But I didn’t want any electronic driver’s aids. They went back to basics. The design is quite raw.”
There’s an old joke that says a giraffe is a horse built by committee, but Spooner wanted the team at The Paddock to be involved fully in planning and designing the car.
“I wanted this team to feel every bit as much a part of the project as I was,” he explains. “I wanted them to have pride in the project, because when you do that, you get a better product. And I think it shows.”
As one example, from just looking at the Ferrari you’d have no idea of the difficulty involved in fitting the F430 Challenge engine into the 348.
“There was some engineering that went into it,” confirms Nick Andreas, who runs the mechanical shop at The Paddock, “but it was not the first time I’ve done swaps into things where they didn’t belong. It really was a matter of building off the axle flanges and seeing how low we could go in the car.”
Given Spooner’s desire to keep the 348’s look and size, the axle flanges couldn’t be moved; if they were, the car’s wheelbase would change. Working within this constraint, Andreas was able to fabricate a new subframe that met their needs. As he says, “The engine definitely looks like it belongs in the car now!”
The F430 Challenge V8 sends its power to the rear wheels via an F430 Challenge paddleshift transmission. This wasn’t an obvious choice, and was eventually made on the grounds of safety.
“Originally, we wanted to stay with a three-pedal configuration with a gated shifter,” says Andreas. “But then we thought it would be best to keep both hands on the wheel given all the extra power in such a small package.”
There was another benefit to this decision, specifically that they could also use the F430 Challenge’s electronics rather than relying on an aftermarket engine management system. They did, however, leave out the traction control and ABS functions to meet Spooner’s desire for a raw experience. (Although they fitted a road-going F430’s reverse-gear “T” handle, the Launch Control button doesn’t work, since it wasn’t a function used in the Challenge car.)
“We didn’t want to spend time having someone tune the car when the factory equipment was available and works so well,” says Andreas. “What we ended up doing is taking all the electrics from an F430 Challenge and putting all that—the wiring harness and subsequent computers—into this build.”
Because the 4.3-liter engine is larger than the 3.4-liter original, it had to be located further forward and lower in the chassis. This, in turn, required building a custom exhaust (the center outlets were inspired by the competition Daytonas of the early 1970s) and relocating the fuel tank to the front. The latter change delivered a positive side effect; after placing the Ferrari on scales, they discovered its front-to-rear weight distribution with a full fuel cell is close to 50/50, versus the original’s 42/58.
The team notes this change improves the car’s overall handling. Thus far, however, there have been few alterations to the stock suspension.
“We’ve changed to stiffer and shorter springs that lower the car, with the stiffness compensating for the weight up front with a full fuel cell,” explained Michael Donnelly. “Given the dynamics of weight distribution as fuel is consumed, we’re planning a change to KW V3 coilovers, adjustable control arms, and likely a hydraulic nose lift. This gives us more freedom to raise and lower the car’s profile for street or track. It’s another item on our list as we continue to dial in the dragon.”
Front-mounted fuel cell changes 348’s weight distribution to 50/50.
GIVEN THE 348’s newfound speed potential, the team knew the brakes had to be up to the task. In the end, they opted for 14-inch Brembos with six-piston calipers at each corner. Since there was no ABS, Andreas installed a dual-circuit brake bias valve that allows the driver to adjust braking pressure between the front and rear axles via a knob in the cockpit.
Andreas also spent a lot of time fitting the F430 Challenge’s steering column, which came along with the Challenge car’s steering wheel and shift paddles. He fabricated bracketry to secure it to the bulkhead and ensure the wheel retained its tilt and telescope functions. (Other race car hardware included the turn signal stalk—which had to be modified to incorporate the headlights’ high-beam function—accelerator pedal, and instrument panel.) Because the 348 fit Spooner very well, Andreas knew he had to get the relationship between wheel, pedals, and seat perfect.
The seats are from Recaro. The brand is much more closely associated with German automakers than Italian ones, but that’s what happens when you have a Porsche guy, namely Spooner’s youngest son, pick them! But Spooner says they are perfect for the job; they fit, are the right height, and are a good compromise between a racing bucket and something comfortable for the street.
“I wanted something you didn’t have to climb into but would be supportive while I was on the track,” he says. “And yes, like my earlier Ferraris, this one will be going to the track.”
Elsewhere, there was plenty of work happening on the outside of the car. Spooner described his vision for flared fenders, and Aaron Borchetta and Sean Barton developed it with cardboard templates and metal mockups before fabricating the final sheet metal.
The trio also coordinated on the car’s unusual open rear deck. This design was arrived at after much debate about clearance, cooling, and style.
“We had all kinds of ideas, from an F40-style Plexiglass covering to a ‘bubble,’” Spooner says. “We decided to leave it open to better display the engine and have the benefit of additional cooling.”
With the metalwork done, Borchetta turned his attention to developing the car’s paint. As was the case with having ownership throughout the project, he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind.
“Dick came in one day and said, ‘I got it: yellow!’” recalls Borchetta. “And I replied, ‘Over my dead body!’”
After more discussion, Borchetta began mixing paint and spraying samples. It took a lot of experimentation, not just with different colors but also in the application of material to metal. As he explained it, a standard paint job might have two base coats, two clear coats, and that’s it.
“But for a special project like this, I might put on as many as seven coats of clear and wet sand like crazy until it’s all flat,” he says. “That’s what you’re not seeing, you know, the inner details.”
The final color, which was dubbed Dragon’s Blood, was achieved by spraying orange metallic over a white sealer topped by a burgundy candy. Borchetta, ever the artist, had offered purple as one of the car colors, an idea Spooner nixed out of hand. But Borchetta, confident in his vision, snuck some purple paint onto a support in the engine bay—and, I have to say, it works.
As the handmade components were completed, they were painted and stored for safe keeping. Also set aside were the interior parts, lights, trim, and glass. When it was time for final assembly, technicians Ben Andreas (Nick’s brother) and Chuck Bruneau were brought into the project to make sure everything went together correctly. One of the final steps was bolting on the custom-made 18×9-inch front and 19×11-inch rear Rotiform wheels.
The result, to my eyes, is simply spectacular—and the Ferrari’s not done yet. Those suspension upgrades will happen after Spooner gets more seat time in the car, and in the meantime there’s some tweaking to be done, starting with the transmission.
“It’s set up as a Challenge car, and it’s programmed to just want to get through first and second gears and into third,” says Spooner. “That makes it jerky and uncomfortable when going through the first two gears on the street. I either have to reprogram the transmission or adjust the accelerator so it has more of a dampening effect and makes it easier to drive.”
Another issue, evident as Donnelly drove me through town on the way to the photo location, is the exhaust. It’s loud—“probable cause” loud—especially if you happen to cruise past a police car. While the system, built in-house by The Paddock, has resonators, the team plans to modify it to lower the decibel level and remain underneath the proverbial radar.
Otherwise, the F430 Challenge-powered 348 feels like a remarkable accomplishment. From the passenger seat, the barking engine note, crisp acceleration, flat cornering, and comfortable, supportive seats stand out. As mentioned, the Ferrari looks fantastic, and it certainly drew a lot of attention when it was shown at the Lime Rock Park Historic Festival in early September. It took a lot of time and money, but Spooner certainly got his dream Ferrari.
