I have to say, this is one of the best threads in this section. Nice work. Couple of questions: are the roll bars structural? Are they made of aluminum? Shouldn't they be steel? I don't know much about roll bars, but everyone I have seen that is structural is steel. Be very careful with the paint/top interface. I am sure there are better products than the crap we put under our Cobra hard top, but it definitely marred the paint. The way I drive my car (GTS) I often leave the top at home if the weather is agreeable. This looks like a really cool setup. Keep the pictures coming!
I would be very interested in buying one for my Spider. Although price would be pretty important. I can talk a lot of game without knowing how much it will cost but things could change when it comes time to pull out the wallet. I know quite a few companies did this for the Honda S2000. Most of theirs were made out of carbon fiber or fiberglass. A few were Aluminum.
Roll bars are steel and will be optional. They are attached at the sides at the mainframes of the car using the existing holes where the soft top bolted in.
OK, keep in mind that the car and top need paint and it is still in the finishing stages. As I said we are working through a new cap design as this one looks too much like the retracted top once folded. The new cap will look alittle more like the 360/430 except it will be more suttle. If you look at the shot from the back corner you can see how suttle the line is. It actually joins like it came from PF. PAINT GOES ON TOMORROW!!!! ENJOY!!! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Cap only (old design), cap with roll bars Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The roof looks very nice, it should be excellent once painted. Looking forward to the finished presented pictures. But man o man i was right about the roll bars. IMO they ruin the lines/side profile of the car when the roof is folded down along with the windows being down to. The bar sits alot higher than the seats and that does not look good in profile. But to be fair you did say that they are not an integral part of the new roof system, so they would not need to be on. But like i originally said the roof is looking ggrreeaat!!
I'd like to get my hands on a top for sure. I am always fighting with my top. It's a pain in my you know what. I think it looks SEXY and mean. Can't wait to see the top painted. Can you send more pictures? If you could send more pictures of the roll bars as well. I like them. I can see a little of what Sambomydog sees but I think the pictures are not doing much justice. Need more shots all around, from more perspective. The roll bars make the car look race ready (Sportier). You said their is a new cover/cap coming. What will that look like? Have you any pics yet? Please keep me posted. Good work my Brother.
Respectfully i had to smile to my self when reading that We are talking about making one of the worlds greatest exotic supercar brands, and model, the F355 spider.....more ....sportier Anyway joking aside IMO, any roll bars on this model that sits 4 inches plus above the seat head rests will never look good from any angle. I just cant get arouind this, ok i will shut up about it now. Chances are i am getting on every one nerves
I think the rollbars look great, and it sounds like they are functional. The height is necessary to make them worth having. You could potentially get them approved to use when tracking the car, something that many spider owners would probably like to do occasionally. They do make the lines more like the 360 with it's similar roll bars, but I think it looks great. I like the lines of the hardtop too. You are NEVER going to please everyone. Even the 355 as it is doesn't please everyone!
I can't imagine anyone not liking the 355... its one of the most beautiful automotive designs IMHO. The design is not quite as timeless as the Dino but close.
I agree. Ferrari-lover or Ferrari-hater/basher, you have to admit that it is one of the most elegant looking vehicles in the world
Don't get me wrong gentlemen. This is one sexy car. What I was trying to say is it looks ready to go to the track with those roll bars. RACE READY. The 355 is certainly one of the nicest Ferraris ever made. Still waiting on more pictures F-MAN.
Glass, Weather stripping will go in next week. In person it really is tough to distinguish it from a B. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Roof line is perfectly proportioned the join at the front is almost invisible. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Coming together very nicely. Great feat of engineering, and very nice lines. Looking forward to seeing pictures of the car finished and outside in the natural light. Well Done mate. Can i ask, on the right hand side of your car. What has happend to the front wing and the section on the rear wing behind the door. Has there been a repair?
man my car needs a paint job. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Sam. Thanks for the kind words. Showing it without the roll bars to show that it does not need them to secure. This car was damaged on the front bumper and relatively minor damage on both front fenders which my friends repaired last summer. The one on the rear wing was a key type dent the size of a quarter. It needed paint anyway so I covered the complete car with a flat black vinyl wrap. It will be painted for the coming year. Jeff
I've been reading this thread like some daily ritual and I must say I am beyond impressed. I have always felt that the 355 is the best looking Ferrari ever made, period. This comes from a 360 Spider owner. The lines, the look, everything is just without question the greatest feat of styling genius I've ever seen. All my life I wanted a 355 Spider, to me it really was the holy grail of Supercar and I couldnt wait to get my hands on one. When the time came to pull the trigger I flippped 180 and went for the 360. Weird huh. There were 3 things that swayed me away from the 355: 1) Not as powerful as a 355 - dont get me wrong its not a Honda Civic 2) The interior is very dated already and the 360 (internally) just had more longevity to me 3) When the roof was down it never retracted fully into the car to give that clean look, it always sat ontop like an old Beetle or the like. Again, dont get me wrong, its a look that if anyone could make work then Ferrari could but it just didnt do it for me. So with that said I went 360 but whenever I see a 355 I acknowledge that externally its miles more attractive than mine and will ALWAYS be that way, in an ideal world I'd have a 355B too but hey. What you have done with this roof conversion is AMAZING (no roll-bars for me, ruins the lines) if you had been around with this all those years ago when I got the 360 then I would of definately of gone 355 with your top. I think that black is the best colour to enable you to get away with the lines and joins but either way you should be saluted for this outstanding feat of genius - Maranello would be proud. I constantly get ribbed by mates for my steel iron defiance against 'modding' cars especially a supercar like a Ferrari, to me thats like taking a bible into a church, standing at the Altar and taking a steaming dump on it but hey thats me. When I first started to read your thread I was in total disbelief that anyone could even think this let alone attempt it or make a good effort at it. I put aside my personal thoughts and watched transfixed as you wove this piece of magic and the result is something you can be more than proud of - if he could I am sure Enzo would give this his personal stamp of approval. Great work.
Sorry folks..IMHO you have butchard the car. Yes the "B" looks better then the spider, but the GTS offers the best of both worlds. Should have sold your spider and bought a GTS. Good luck trying to sell your car later on down the road. However I do applaud your efforts..it actually looks good!!
Butchering the car means cuting or altering or drilling into the car. I can have the car back to stock in about 3 hours. Other than you/your mechanic removing the soft top, there isn't any other modification to the car. The plates made for this mount to mounting holes already exist in the car. Although I do not intend to sell either of my ferraris I would have (and was intending to) aquired a coupe. I don't intend to buy the coupe now because this car is now a B which happens to be a spider. I respect your opinion however, if you saw how exact it is in person I know that you would be pressed to tell the difference other than at the join lines but even they look like they should be there.
Thank you for the kind words D. The only magic that I provided was the insight for the crew to follow. It had to follow the lines of the car and be as exact as possible while the modifications remain invisible. Thanks to Astas, Shane, luke and Tim. Stay tuned, the car will be finished in about a week or two.
I would love to do the 'OutRun' / Straman conversion to a Testarossa, but have never seen a great top that maintains either the lines of the 'OutRun' modification, or the original lines of the Testarossa. This is great inspiration towards that, and much better on the eye than my current solution, a 206CC hard-top. Well done.
