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I bought this off of eBay as I was curious. The top coat of red is 100% original & tough and the undercoat is tan and a much softer paint that scratches off easily. Surly any undercoat would be harder than the top coat ?

Base photo

What immediately strikes me is how the undercoat/topcoat combination has been used to give the model a soft-top.
Could that be a pointer as to what's going on here?

This is the very special issue Ferrari Berlinetta that came with the SF 2 Loop set or SF 4 Double Loop race set.
Note the cut of tow hook to reduce the cars body length to allow it to get around the loops with out mishap!
Unfortunately due to these sets being the first issue, the aerodynamics of the loops weren't very good and this meant that the car kept falling off the loop and skidding along the track on it's roof, hence the excessive roof ware!!!!!!

My guess would be someone has tried cleaning something off the roof and rubbed a bit hard removing the red paint.

Cheers, Steve
Matchboxkiwi

matchboxkiwi wrote:Note the cut of tow hook to reduce the cars body length to allow it to get around the loops with out mishap!

No SF75 Ferrari has a tow hook!

Note the Tan colour within the chips on this example.



Ghosthunter.

That looks the same colour Kev, I’ve no idea why this is like it is, very strange, not sure about the loop theory, does anyone know for sure ?

tjlglass wrote:I’ve no idea why this is like it is, very strange, not sure about the loop theory, does anyone know for sure ?

I have heard something similar before, possibly within the pages of "U.K. matchbox", to explain why the SF version doesn't have a tow hook.

Putting the colour to one side for a moment, the tow hook idea is similar to what Rob has highlighted here...viewtopic.php?f=8&t=6657&p=74064#p74064 and throws up the question of how many models were treated like this.

Ghosthunter.

GHOSTHUNTER wrote:Putting the colour to one side for a moment, the tow hook idea is similar to what Rob has highlighted here...viewtopic.php?f=8&t=6657&p=74064#p74064 and throws up the question of how many models were treated like this.

Ghosthunter.

It is not really similar, as those Golf models were made both with and without tow hooks during the same time period, while the Ferrari had its tow hook removed from the interior casting on the occasion of its Superfast conversion. Therefore, as mentioned above, no Superfast example of the Ferrari has a tow hook.

From the top of my head I cannot think of any other model which lost its tow hook with its Superfast conversion. Conversely some models had tow hooks added at some point in their careers, an example being the Maserati Bora, which received a tow hook in 1979 on the occasion of its inclusion in the TP-4 twin pack, where it was supposed to tow a caravan trailer (although it is rather unlikely for a real Bora to have ever towed a trailer, which is the same as can be said of the Ferrari).

I have no idea about the paint question - neither why and how the model lost its top coat on the roof nor why the undercoat is softer. Not my field of expertise!