Mat Armstrong has spent thousands on a Ferrari 296 that still won't start and Ferrari won’t service it

Mat Armstrong thought the worst was behind him.

After rebuilding a crashed Ferrari 296, he was ready for the moment it finally fired up.

Instead, the car stayed silent, even after he spent a whopping $23,800 on a brand-new hybrid battery.

Now he’s stuck with a supercar that won’t start and a manufacturer that won’t make it easy to fix.

Mat Armstrong spent thousands on a Ferrari 296 that still won’t start

After buying the crash-damaged Ferrari 296, Mat Armstrong rebuilt it and then pushed things further by fitting a full Challenge kit. 

That decision alone meant reworking major parts of the car just to make everything fit.

Because of that, the build quickly moved beyond a standard repair. 

The team relocated radiators, fabricated custom mounts, and reworked pipework – all before even turning their attention to why the car wouldn’t start.

That issue pointed straight at the hybrid system.

The 296 relies on its battery to fire up, and Armstrong suspected the crash had damaged it internally. 

So he took the hit and spent around $23,800 (£18,000) on a replacement, hoping that would finally solve the issue.

It didn’t.

The car still wouldn’t start, wouldn’t charge, and immediately threw up warnings, including ‘battery thermal runaway’ alongside multiple temperature sensor faults.

There were small signs of progress – the hazard lights eventually stopped flashing, and for the first time, the ignition came on – but it still refused to fully run.

So despite replacing one of the most expensive components in the car, he ended up back where he started, just deeper into the build with fewer answers.

Ferrari’s systems are now the biggest obstacle

At this point, the problem isn’t just mechanical.

And according to Alvaston mobile mechanic Daniel Preston, that’s where working on Ferraris starts to change.

“Physically working on Ferraris doesn’t pose much of a challenge,” he said.

Instead, he told Supercar Blondie, the real difficulty comes from everything around the car. 

Preston explains that getting parts and technical information can be a battle, with dealers often reluctant to supply independent garages and pushing owners back toward official servicing.

Even with UK right-to-repair laws in place, he says access isn’t always guaranteed.

That lines up with where Armstrong has now found himself. 

Because modern Ferraris are so tightly controlled, he believes the car needs Ferrari’s own diagnostic systems to move forward.

Those tools can cost tens of thousands, and even then, certain functions are locked behind factory authorization. 

Ferrari has responded, but only on their terms.

The car needs to be fully reassembled before they’ll even look at it, and with the level of modification involved, there’s every chance they’ll flag parts of the build and push for replacements.

That’s where things escalate. 

A single repaired section of wiring could lead to a full loom replacement, which means stripping the car back down again before any real diagnosis even begins.

So after all the time, the rebuild, and nearly $23,800 spent on a battery alone, Armstrong is still staring at the same problem.

The Ferrari won’t start.

And getting the manufacturer to help might be even harder than fixing the car itself.

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