Yes, unfortunately it is impossible to find 355s in this country... I have no problem if you're pricing it based on lack of supply! I am looking for >98 + F1. I love black but unfortunately this car isn't for me. Thanks for the input.
I don't know what gives. I swear there is a conspiracy in this country. I think someone has cornered the market on every late year 355 F1 that has ever entered this country.
Actually Big Red ... If I had mentioned the Z06 back in 2000 ... you would have said the same thing about it, as you are now saying about the ZR-1 ... The Z06 of the 60's was a racing option code ... and was not resurected until the 2001 C5 model year ... so I would say that the GM Marketing people did a pretty good job ... because now the Z06 is known and respected Worldwide. Why not do the same for the ZR-1? Now we'll have 4 flavors of Vette's ... Coupe ... Convertable ... Z06 ... and ZR-1 ... I love it! Mark
James are you back? I thought you went off to some place where the sales managers spent the day squeezing nickels? Maybe a good place to be for the winter; but Spring is coming! Nice to see those Italian 'curves' coming out again... CH
wow, its been awhile since ive laid my eyes on a black 355...its amazing looking.....god the 355 design will be beautiful forever!!!
Regular techs never worked on the ZR-1. In fact many dealerships refused to work on them when somthing broke engine related. At most they would pull the engines and send them back to GM, or the entire car would be sent back. The dealers that sold the ZR-1 had a speacialy trained tech to work on the cars or GM flew somebody in to fix it. Ford works it the same way with the GT and dodge did it with the Vipers aswell. I heard a story that when the Viper first came out, dealer techs were not allowed to touch the car at all, except to do regular service work. If somthing major went wrong, Dodge wanted the car back, or would send out a team of techs to repair it at the dealership. Acura did the same thing with the NSX. Big companies know that their speacial cars require speacial service, and put rules inplace to be sure the most qualified people work on the comapnies flagship.
Heres a '98 Yellow F1 spider... http://www.buysell.com/root/detail/British%20Columbia/1998_Import_Cars/2118/50593094/1998_FERRARI_SPIDER_18100kms_2dr.aspx
95 355Berlinetas are the best 355s out there. They got a bad rap with the valve guides that went in some of the first year cars but were quickly replaced by the factory. That black 355 more than likely never had the bad guides or they were already replaced hence the high kms. The F1 transmission is a hit and miss as many have run into problems that Ferrari didnt fully correct untill the 2nd or so year of the 360s. 6 speed is the only way to drive IMHO. Also the 2.7 motronic is better than the 5.7. The 5.7 was put in from 96 on because it was cheaper to produce period. There are not many good 355s for sale in Canada simply because there were so few of them shipped here and many here like to keep them unlike in the USA where they change cars like T-shirts.
Most of these guys are smoking...they dont want to sell the car, they keep it waiting for the dummy to buy them. That wont sell anytime soon, so they ask $235k it wont matter.
That's the only thing I can think of. Asking $200K for that car... that's mindblowing to me. A good strategy would be to leave your 355 at the dealership with a $200K price tag during the winter and take it back during the summer. If someone wants to buy it, great, but if not you still get to use it in the summer!
But you can't, therefore the artificially high prices. Sad though; that car is worth roughly 1/3 in the US.
I have a couple of 355's available including an F1 Berlinetta. PM me for complete details on all, including the black 355 you have inquired about.
Hello Ronald: talk to Tom, he will fix you up with a sorted piece. You are not the first person who has coveted cheap 355's across the border. If it was possible to import the 355 then you would see more up here. You don't seem them because the government says they don't meet the Canadian bumper standard for that year. You can't buy the parts to get it converted. Something about being on 'back order' listed item. See Tom or wait until they are 15 years old. CH
Ok... let's say, just hypothetically, that I was a rebellious person. Let's say, hypothetically, I don't really care what the government has to say about the matter. Given that there really is no visual difference between a Canadian 355 and US 355 (like some others), what kind of trouble would I get into if I was discovered to be zipping around in a US 355? Hmm, I wonder if in 2010 there will be a big drop in Canadian 355 prices...
Insurance for one. Getting home across the broader would be another. Even driving it without daytime running lights and getting pulled over by the Police (and it does happen)...the list goes on and on. Use the 348 example and 328 example, they are 15 yrs old now. You will see CDN verisons of the 348 for 80K still, but in the US you can get a 91 for 45K...do the exchange and "bob's your uncle" There are many US/Euro 348s, Mondials, 328s here already. You will have to wait another 4 yrs for the 355, but it will happen.
In order to register a US vehicle in Canada, the car has to pass a federal inspection, which covers any conversions that are "required". This usually includes DRLs, speedos etc. In the case of the F355, it has been determined that the US spec bumpers don't meet Canadian crash specs (a difference of 2 kph or something stupid; someone probably has the exact numbers/differences). So, in order to make the cars compliant, the bumpers must be swapped. The only place to get the replacement parts is at a Ferrari dealer and I believe the work has to be performed by a Ferrari dealer. Strangely enough, the Ferrari dealers just can't seem to get those darn bumpers in stock (GASP). Therefore, you are left with a car that you have paid duty on that can't be registered here until the proper papers are stamped. Not only is this a pain in the ass, but also a VERY expensive way to find out that the car can't be registered. BTW, if you could find the bumpers, expect to pay ~$25,000, on top of the cost of the car, currency, duty, shipping, customs broker, etc... not such a deal anymore. The samething artificially inflated prices applies to all cars that can't be imported from the US (Lambos, Audi RS6 etc...) And you can ask most around here about cars with "fake" bumper work... not a pretty story.
Hehe, sorry, but I don't think my sarcasm came through in my post Let's see... very few 355s in Canada $25K for the compliant bumper...that's misteriously out of stock anyways No way to register the US car Asking prices double that of US 355s CONSPIRACY!
Well said Tom! But you would agree that simple is usually more efficient than complex. Newer cars have become more complex and in doing so the non-dealer mechanic that does not have access to model specific equipment is at a disadvantage. Dealers like that, as they try to keep service 'in house'. More money in parts and service than at the front door. The fact that GM introduced a new plant to build the 'special' motors like the LS7 where one person assembles the complete motor shows they are trying to control production quality better. Which motor takes less man hours to assemble: the Chev LS7 or the BMW V10? They both make 500HP when built. They do tend to throw in another bullet now rather than remove repair and replace. Time is money... CH
I was hoping you were being sarcastic... Sorry, but every month or so, someone comes along that thinks they have the solution/loop hole to the F355 issue. But I think you're right when you use the C-word (no, not that one Vasco!)...
Hi Ronald, glad you are having fun with this . But listen to these guys they know. Take up the offers on the leads mentionned here. The best cars are usually the ones people don't hear about such as in the trader etc. The guy in BC with the 200K 355 is on crack. Do a search on this forum, you will see that there are 678 threads on this subject. It's just NOT feasible bringing them from the states here. V..
