I'm in the market for a 99 355 F1 Spider. I posted to the forum to get some info recently. When I went to buy the car I wanted it had just sold, I found this one today but it seems too cheap Does anyone knw about this car? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3ASS%3AUS%3A1123&viewitem=&item=120216753999
Hmmm...strange. On the surface, that's a fantastic deal - including luggage, factory fender shields, challenge grill, etc. Something is up, first step is to see all the records. Color will reduce price if they want to move it, but not that much.
It's had no major, I guess since there is no info and there is, well, no info! No way of knowing crash history, owner history or mechanical history. "passed through dealer inspection"...not too reassuring!
F355's aren't selling right now, you'd be suprised how cheap you can get one if you negotiate. Asking price and selling price are two different things.
I have owned several Ferrari's and I have learned a lot through the school of hard knocks. I wanted a 355 when they came out but I waited until the prices came below $100K as there was, for some reason, psychological magic to me to not pay more than $100K for a car. I think, in the last year, the prices have consistently been below that arbitrary mark. Since I may be the most recent buyer of a 355 my general observations were that any car with sub 10000 miles was in the 85 to 95 asking range and that most high quality cars in that range could be bought for about 90 assuming all books and records were there and a recent service by a real dealership. As always, quality in a Ferrari is worth a lot and the 99 355 spyder that I bought had two engine out services at Ferrari and multiple oil change receipts from Ferrari. It was sold by Steve Barney at Sport Auto who sold my 328 new and he knows a good one from a dog -- I probably paid extra for the car from him but, hey, what is another couple of thousand among friends. I did look at a 355 Black/Tan 16K mile 355 here in Houston at Driversource and it was a fully serviced, exceptionally clean car with the only squak being a drivers seat that had never been dyed and IMHO needed it. In any event, there are plenty of 25,000 mile 355's around for the 65 to 75 range but, as is the typical case, there are 10K of sins to correct if you are lucky and then you may still have a 75K car. There is a nice pig of a 355 in red/tan at Expo Motors here in Houston that had 24K miles with a 75K asking (that car should sell for no more than 55K). It was fun to see exactly how much interior trim bits can be screwed up on a 355 when it is left in the hands of a bunch of tire kickers. I kid you not, when you shut the doors on the car at Expo the power window switches would fall out. A good major, with none of the while we are in here stuff, looks like 8K and the while we are in here stuff can be another 5K without trying too hard (albeit that varies car to car). Then start tackling the sticky parts and the convertible top -- bye bye to that one. I was also real serious about a 97 355 in Florida with 8500 miles, the car looked perfect and drove perfect. Looking at the car (and I am pretty picky) it was hard to find a cosmetic fault. It was a true one owner car which had never (in eleven years) had the belts done. In fact, the service records showed that the customer refused to do a belt service every time. Unfortunately, that did not scare me off so I paid $800 on a PPI which showed that the car had two cylinders 5 - 6 with weak compression on a leak down. When I discovered that problem the dealer got real aggresive to see the car move. I could have bought the car for 75 but I was unwilling to blank check the major since who knows why it had low compression --- it could have been as simple as low use and carbon buildup on the valves or as complex as a weak ring and a bottom end problem. IMHO any 355 with no history and a low price probably will mean some gremlin hiding somewhere in the drivetrain. When I discovered the leak down issue it seemed like the dealer kind of knew it or at least he expected me to discover the issue. In my opinion I would avoid any car at a second tier dealer that was cheap because it almost always means that it has been a car lot queen. One 355 I Looked at (despite the fact that it had only one owner on CARFAX) had seven different assignments on the unrecorded title because it had been traded lot to lot. The first assignment was over a year and a half ago and started with a reputable Ferrari Dealership that had taken the car in trade and instantly wholesaled the car. The Ferrari Dealership told me that they wholesaled it because it had a leak down problem which they disclosed to the first dealer they wholesaled it to. Of course, since it had been sentenced to car lot hell by the time I saw it the engine, cosmetically, looked horrible as it had been out in the rain and corrosion had set in on most of the aluminum parts -- a Ferrari engine is part of the art of the car. To summarize my thoughts at the end of the process I felt better about spending 90 on a car that drives off the lot and needs nothing (I can have fun with it now) rather than 70 on a car that I would hope might only need 10, may need 15 and heaven forbid could hit me for 20 and at the end and leave me with an 80K car after the fun of having it sit in the shop for 6 weeks for its major. Remember these dealers are selling the cars at a profit so if they are getting the car cheaper than that there is going to be a reason as the prices have fallen but they have not totally dropped.
I know of a local person that bought a 355B a few years ago for around 63k. He flew back east to drive it. It seemingly ran good, drove good, bought it, shipped it home. Two thousand miles later it was running bad and had cracked headers. Upon disassembly it was found the guides were shot, run that way for a long period destroying the valve seats. Estimates were at 20k for everything the car needed. That was 5 years ago. The car is still in pieces.
Ok, I've done some resrearch on this car and this is what I've found: This is a one owner car with a clean carfax The hood and bumper have been repainted, may have even more paint work ALL SERVICE RECORDS ARE AVAILABLE, The owner seemed to mechanically keep the car up, but it wasn't his baby, Albeit it was 2 years ago this car just had a major 2,000 miles ago. It appears to be a good deal for the customer who will settle for a car with paintwork If I weren't across the country I'd seriously consider buying it. I'm a serious buyer for a 355 spyder f1 that I can buyer under $70K if anyone has one on the east coast.
No offense at all, but I think it is the "below $100K bracket" that isn't selling----here anyway. Sounds wild I know, and yes that rules out 98% of vehicles...Reality is that they are selling, cheap or overseas...Spoke to a good friend at a very well-known exotic car dealership and several are being exported due to the value of our dollar!!! In my world, I was listing a corporate airplane with a well known aircraft broker recently for a client. The broker informed me that the last 5 jets sold went to Russia and Germany..Says alot when they sell about 15 a year.... That is the reality right now!!! Above 100K car people are still strong, bizjets are booming private piston aviation is for the most part dead....I think we see the picture being painted.....
Sider prices in particular are waaay down. I found a 1997 Red/Tan Spider with 9K miles on it for 80K. The 30K was done at Brian's shop and the car is spotless.
+1 Many people think they can buy a nice Ferrari for a cheap price. We see these posts all the time. The occassional quote that you see on F-chat "if you can't afford an expensive Ferrari you sure as heck can't afford a cheap one", really is the Ferrari truth of all truths. You might buy a "cheap" Ferrari for your first F-car but you won't make that mistake on your second, assuming your first experience wasn't a financial disaster. Years ago I did buy (happiest day of my car life) a "great bargain" 308 and later regreted it, fed it lots of money, and then the second happiest day of my life came, I got RID OF IT! Buying a 98 or 99 Spider for $70k well......don't say your Ferrari-chat buddies didn't warn you!
Jetfixr don't say piston aircraft are dead yet, I still like my T-34 and the Lear 25 that I right seat still ain't as much fun. Of course, the plane ownership makes this 355 thing seem like nothing.
I wouldn't let the paintwork scare you amigo.. to be honest you'll be hard pressed to find an exotic car without front end paintwork.. I reshoot my front end sometimes every year just to get rid of the paintchips.. that is usually the case.. now if it was mashed up badly that is something else..
The bottom line is pricing is going to move up and down. It is a dynamic number, not static. It is correlated to disposable income,supply/demand, elasticity, season, bla bla bla. There is also a range. To me it is more important to know which way the range is moving. I would be very hard pressed to believe that in general, that most luxury items sold in the US and not exported are moving up. I know there are one off exceptions but in general the trend would have to be downward. I bought my 1998 Spider from FOD for a buck ten in 2003. Back then it was a fair deal, today who knows, but I really don't care. It is how much you enjoy the car. Check back in Spring and the topic will read: Spider Prices Are Way Up!!!!
