Ferrari Challenge Car values Factory Built vs. Customer Built

Prices for 355 CH in Europe:

Not street legal

From 130K to 190K depends on shape and history

Street legal

From 180K to 300k depends on history and condition

 

Yes all are known and if you post a serial number and year we can tell if its real
Many look a likes

 

To OP:
Just to clarify, are you defining customer-built as ones built at authorized Ferrari dealerships to actually race in the Challenge series? If so, I have not seen a distinct delineation in values between such cars and the later 355 Ch cars built as race cars from the factory.

To Andi355:
Interesting. Though I'm not surprised that "street legal race cars" vs not is diverging in values a bit - not dissimilar from the 50s/60s race cars. Whether I regularly drive a race car on the streets or not, I would value a more functional/versatile street legal race car with everything else being equal. When I was looking for a 355 Ch, I specifically sought out the street- registered/titled ones.

 

There was no such thing as a customer built car, a 355 Challenge car was assembled by a designated dealership or by the concessionaire in the country to ensure all cars where identical and complied with the Challenge series rules ( and to prevent cheating.)
The majority of the 250+ F355 Challenge cars where ordered as Berlinetta's and fitted with a Challenge kit.
There was no difference between a car built at the factory or a converted Berlinetta, except that with a converted Berlinetta the owner usually ended up with all the road car bits and could sell them, or put them back on the car for road use ( depending on how & where the car was sold, titles, local laws etc.)
Market value today depends on condition, completeness (having all the hard to find Challenge bits), crash history, race history, can it be road registered ?. Whether it was factory converted vs kit is not a factor.

 

All the ferrari challenge cars are available and prices are listed here:

Ferrari Challenge and GT Cars: Cars for Sale

Great site!!!! Thanksl

 

I respectfully disagree. First I don't know where you get your production number from. My 1997 has a VIN plate that says "Challenge" as it was a factory built car. The ones with a kit installed at the dealerships have a 355 VIN plate. What is that worth? I'm willing to bet down the road there will be a difference. Also the factory built cars have some subtle chassis differences.

 

The production number is compiled from #chassis numbers from in era race results and other sources.

The front end chassis bracing on early F355 Challenge was also supplied with the kit and every car that raced in the Challenge series was fitted with it. That modification became standard across all every 355's during 1997.
The whole point of a one model race series is that the cars where identical, regardless of how they where produced. There are no subtle chassis mods on the batch of cars assembled at the factory.

My understanding is that the early US delivered F355's where supplied with a VIN and thus there is a change they can be titled in the US, whereas later US cars where sold as race cars with out a VIN
This was because it became illegal to sell a road car in the US without OBDII but the F355 Challenge rules meant all cars had to run Motronic 2.7 (but which was only OBD1) to comply with the Challenge rules.
To ensure there was no chance that a later build car with only OBDI would ever run on the road the batch of factory cars where sold in the US for "off road use only" without a 17 digit vin. - ie the "Challenge" identification plate.

In the US, the early build Challenge cars seem to be more sought after, because they can be titled for road use.

M

 

You are wrong and I will leave it at that. Your production numbers are double anywhere else mentioned. The real number is less than half what you claim. Also there were left over challenge kits sold and installed in cars that never raced which is another reason the factory cars will be worth more. At the end of the day the price will be whatever someone is willing to let it go for or whatever someone is willing to pay.

 

Im afraid he may be right. Ive been looking into the numbers and there are just about 300 355 challenge cars produced.

 

I am compiling records for all F355 challenge cars and maybe a future book like the Original V8 Compendium (restorer's guide). The answer is likely to be somewhere in the middle of all the numbers. All F355 Challenge cars have a VIN. Our car is a factory car from 1998 and it also has a VIN...

Currently I have 1997 and 1999 records for all cars and their serials that DID race worldwide with their original drivers and teams.

The number is at 144 different cars so far for those two years only. I am guessing that there will be MORE cars that raced - added obviously.

Stay tuned as the list is finalized. It will be good to know the real facts. I will be going back and forth with my dealer and team contacts as well as asking Ferrari SPA for input.

I would put the 1 of 72 and 108 numbers on-hold until the results are in.

Robb

 

Just a little biddy on my thoughts

Just because a car raced in the Challenge series and fitted with some challenge parts does not make it a challenge car.

A legit Challenge car was one that was built / sold as one from new

 

Is this definite, rather than hearsay, that there were 355 Challenge cars built as such by the Factory? I know for sure that all UK 355 Challenge cars (and 360s for that matter) were supplied by the Factory as berlinettas with a Challenge kit which was then fitted by MHT (a Ferrari main dealer at the time and what is now Bob Houghton). I had understood that to be a similar situation worldwide. I also know that even 458 Challenge cars, although supplied as such by the Factory, have to have some adjustments applied by dealers (or importers) since they are not 100% set up as track/race cars - although I forget exactly what the adjustments are.

Of course, it is true that however a challenge kit was fitted should have made no difference for racing since the cars had to be equal.

Jonathan

 

Which is why, in my opinion, the factory built cars will be worth more. Which brings up the question "what is it that makes a car a Challenge 355?" If you could still buy left over kits from dealerships after the 355 was no longer in competition and installed it on your car does that make it a Challenge car? In my opinion the answer is No. No more than if I installed an RS kit on my 70's 911 would make it a real RS. If the car has the bolt on kit and was actually raced in the series does that make it a real Challenge car? At least with race history you can make a case for it being a Challenge car. In my opinion to be considered a real Challenge car it would need to have been raced in the series and/or built by the factory as a Challenge car.

 

Agree, particularly as I understand that the earlier ones raced in the series would've been fitted with a Challenge kit and track-supported by an authorized Ferrari dealership.

 

Agreed

For me personally being in the USA I prefer the 95 as it was 100% street legal for use on the US roads from day one as intended

This appeals greatly to me.

Yes anything can be made street legal in some way or another with some solutions but the fact that it was intended from the drawing board the 95 is my favorite.

 

It's subjective, but the most valuable will most likely be the one with the best race history - which is how it almost always goes with race cars. So, look at the cars that won the world championships in Italy - regardless who built it, those are the cars to have.

Converted road cars are much more likely to have a valid title, at least in the US. They only made a handful of '95's that came with titles and the '96-up factory built cars have a VIN but I don't believe came with a title as they were not legal for road use in the US due to the OBDI setup. Some factory cars could have been titled at some point, but a converted '96-up would have come with a legal title. I'd be after a '95 or a converted '96-up car as they would be the very last of the dual purpose cars Ferrari built.

 

My car was built up by the French importer (Pozzi) and not the factory. But this was done new and the warranty card says 'challenge'. Does it make a big price difference vs. later factory built car ? I don't think so.
As it has a full road title does make it more valuable in France where road licensing authorities are a pain to deal with.
All serial numbers of car prepared that way were known and recorded at factory. that is quite different from just a road car that was at some point partially bought up to challenge spec.

 

This point make sense. Clearly, one would think, a 355CH built in Maranello by Ferrari is going to be more desirable than a 355 that had a kit installed by any one of the several dozen Ferrari dealers. Likewise, I'd rather get an engine from the factory as opposed to one rebuilt by the local Ferrari dealer.

The later cars built at the factory do indeed have VIN #s but they are unique numbers with an "X" in the VIN.

Similarly making them unique you can buy a factory CH built 355 with a model year '97 or '98 and it will still feature the 2.7 drivetrain.

Purely from a collector's perspective what will be most valuable are factory built race cars and cars modified after they left the factory that have successful racing histories.

 

I bought a new red 355 Challenge from The Collection back in the day and actually "broke it in" driving on the streets of Miami before racing it in the series for several seasons in the red, white and blue Tommy Hilfiger livery. The car came from the factory as a Challenge car, but a kit of parts including springs and shocks along with other items were included. The car was a road registered (Florida plates, sales tax paid) race car from Ferrari. Ferrari had me sign something about not driving it on the road as a formality.

 

And yours was a 95? Interesting. This reminds me: if I remember correctly, the previous owner of my 95 Ch had to trace the MSO back to FoH in 2005 to get it street-registered. Based on carfax, a title seemed to have been issued in 1995, but not street-registered until previous owner did in 2005. Such history on my car makes more sense as I learn of your firsthand experience with your 95.

 

This article (Motor Trend June 1996) talks about the Challenge program. NeilF8888, per the article, perhaps your car came from the factory with stripped interior and some Challenge bits already installed. Please feel free to confirm.

By the way, I understand that the car shown in article is Paul Frame's, #100608.
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Unfortunately that article is from June of 1996. It is my understanding that Ferrari began building in-house factory 355 Challenge race cars in 1997, quite some time after that article was written.

It's easy to tell if you have a factory built race car or a regular 355 that had the kit installed.

If your VIN number shows a production date, for example, of 1997 (which will appear as a "V"in the 10th position) or a 1998 ("W" in 10th position) or a '99 ("x" in the 10th position) and yet you have a 2.7 drivetrain you know you have a factory built race car as opposed to a car with a kit installed by the local dealer.

 

What I was pointing out was that even prior to 1997, Ferrari had the option for the Challenge cars to be fitted with Challenge bits before reaching the dealerships. This was mentioned in the article and NeilF8888's experience with his 95 Ch seem to support this option.

 

By the way, you are correct on 97-99 Challenge cars having the 2.7 OBD (if factory-fitted) and 10th digit from 97-99 (which are the same nomenclature as street 355 VINs). But to state the obvious, just because it has 2.7 and a correct-year 10th digit doesn't mean it is a Challenge car. The VIN still needs to be recognized as a Challenge car.

Anyway, period race history (Challenge series in this case and the more successful, the better), VIN and street-registration are the most important factors for me other than the usual condition and completeness.