458 Official Ferrari 458 Italia Picture Thread

Roll on the 458 Spider but I bet you won't be able to take delivery of one for another 18 months, as they want to max revenues from the California

 

reminds me of the supposed way the Miura Jota was destroyed...

 

CM, Great shot! Is that from the 3rd or 4th floor of the Planet? Fred

 

Some strange pieces taped up there. I want to believe it is the scud version and when it appears we can expect some new treatment where tape is. Bob

 

Most you already know that the 458s currently being built are only for the dealer market therefore parts like the mirrors and fit and finish are not all together there yet. The red mirrors were put on there temporarily, if you look carefully at some of the other red cars, they too have the California mirrors. I believe the 458 mirrors weren't complete yet.
Didn't get the chance to take pics of the black one as it didn't seem like it would come out all together that well in the lighting.
These particular cars were being processed to be shipped to a German dealer.

 

I quite like the red mirrors with white body look, especially if they set them off with red calipers

 

After being to the factory several times, this isn't unusual. In 2003, my wife and I toured the factory and there were many stradale's and 360's on the production line. Most of the 360's had mismatched headlight units when compared to the exterior colors. Almost all of the stradale's had mirror's of a similar nature - from 360's and mixed colors.

In '05, we saw the same thing with the "disquished" 599's, we took some of the first photo's of the undisquished 599 on that trip.

In '07, we once again saw the same issue with the yet to be unveiled scuderia's on the production line (clearly pre-production models).

I asked at the time we saw the stradale's and we were told that the parts has yet to come in and it was easier to assemble the car and replace the part than to hold off. Made perfect sense to me. From that point on, I never asked again as it made sense.

In 2003, there were literally scores of stradale's sitting at the factory with the same mismatched stuff. The side mirrors I understood, but the headlights always seemed weird to me as they were the same as the 360. Oddly, there yellow cars with red headlight buckets and red cars with yellow headlight buckets. I am sure it makes sense from a car production standpoint, but I never understood why they didn't do a better job of trying to match the cars with what they had rather than just grabbing it off the shelf.

 

That thought crossed my mind a time or two. The diagonal black tape and the white square is only covering sheet metal, why tape it up?

 

5th floor

 

Great stuff! Fred

 

I totally agree..)

 

This is my first look thru this thread to see the 458 in "real life" and I must weigh in with a dissenting voice. I find the styling details on this car to be just foul.

Why-oh-why does that line on the door start out as if it will blend up nicely with the rear (ala TR), but then droop downward for no reason .. making the rear fender line start over from scratch? Why not just connect the 2 lines? It's like someone slipped with the mouse in AutoCad and didn't bother to fix it.

What is up with all that weird metal around the base of the B-pillar? Looks like a test mule with camoflage masking still attached. Or maybe one of those ghastly Gemballa type Porsche body kits from the 80s. Awful.

The headlights look like ... what the hell shape is that anyway? the sheer size - must be 2 feet from front to back! And those jagged points inward at the front? I never thought anyone would invent a nastier headlight shape than the Porsche 996 but it seems the bar has been raised.

And why can't Ferrari fit their taillights into the rear of their cars, why do they all have to bulge out on top? They look like scabs that need to be picked off.

The basic stance and "100-foot" silhouette of the car is great, I love the interior, and I'm sure it will perform like a demon. But someone has to say it - the "styling for styling's sake" elements of this car - contrived details when simplicity would be cleaner - just kill it for me.

 

That is great to know that the styling killed it for you, but do us a favor and try not to kill this thread with your opinions and dislikes. I'm sorry if this sounds condescending in anyway, I don't intend it to be, but It kind of angers me a little that the title of the thread is "official 458 picture thread", and you failed to see the 80 thousand other threads discussing people's opinions and disliking for the car's styling. That being said, I think the line on the door is there to break up the shape into several planes, creating a much lower, sleeker feeling. A smooth transition would completely contradict the overall styling direction. If that line weren't there, the side of the car would look tall and much more like a GT car than a supercar. The rear fender line starts at the door handle, not "from scratch", and the transition between the two lines is an engineering and design masterpiece, thought some people may not realize this. It is different, It is engaging, it's functional, and I like it. Same with the headlights, to me it was more of a relief than a disappointment, to see something contemporary and unique, unlike any headlight design i've seen previously. I do agree that the rear lights are too exposed, I don't mind the connection to the enzo, but they could have done something better from the side view. Here are some more pictures for you guys.
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Thanks for the pics! I'm beginning to think that yellow might be the choice for this car. Every photo I've seen with it in yellow looks amazing.

 

I agree. A few more pictures, I tried to find some with yellow cars but this is all I could come up with:
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Glad you are back from wherever you have been for the past 4 months.... To each his own so please stay off the waiting list so I can get one that much quicker....

Merry Xmas...............

 

I think the yellow in the pictures is one the special 3 layer jobbies.

 

In the background of the second picture is a dark red 458. I saw this car by our factory visit on 05. of december with two rosso corsa painted and two in rosso scuderia driving around the fiorano circuit. I don't know if it's rosso fuoco or rosso monza because it's rainy and cloudy this morning! My father (loan1at) made any pics of the car!

I also saw the white one and the black with the red mirrors. Our tour-guide told us that they are ordered from dealers as their presentation cars! There's also a red one with white mirrors!
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That dark red 458 is drop dead gorgeous.

 

The Dark Red with a charcoal interior and darker rims with all the CF trimmings seems to be a good choice......

 

At odds with everyone else I've never liked the CF trimmings. They seem to be tech for tech sake (with a little macho thrown in) and way too busy on the eye.

 

The metallic red is Rosso Fuoco.
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http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/8066/rafax.jpg


.....

 

Wow the dark red is amazing. Hey in that last picture, it looks like steve correll is standing on the right

Here's some more pictures, none are mine, linked from flickr.

 

I think I just fainted...