New twist on Ferrari miles

I have 73000 k on my 512BB.

 

And I'm pretty close to cracking that, but in miles, on my 348. So in kilometers that would be about 117,000km. Put 85 miles/136km on it today.

I'm finished caring about "resale value" and even looks. All I care about now is driving and enjoying it.

As for "when do miles become irrelevant" I think it depends on age and rarity. If it's old enough, and rare enough, it won't matter at all.

 

How do you really enjoy it if you let the looks just go to hell?

 

If mileage is a problem to you then you bought it for the wrong reason, simple.
I have a 355 spider. The weather in the UK can be c--p in the summer and I probably only avarage between 2-3000 miles per annum. It is a joy to drive each time I get in it. I look after it and 'fix' it when bits need attention. I could have bought Ford, Vauxhall, Audi, BMW, Merc etc, etc, but, they do not attack my senses the same way, always remember this is not practice for another life, this is it!!!! Forget the money, just put your foot down before the politicians screw it up big time. (P.S. as you can appreciate I do not wish to be asssociated with anyone of the politically correct persuasion!!!!!)

 

miles have always mattered...but not necessarily always a primary focus

more important has been a matter of the availablity... with only a few cars available to select from, possibly without any other cars for sale, it becomes a matter of "take it or leave it" regardless of mileage... back in the day a year's production was a hundred or so cars total. Also inflation has affected price, new cars in their day were under $10,000, a car a couple of years old could be had for $5000, whereas todays cars start at over $200,000 with essentially an unlimited supply, with production approaching 8000 units annually. Buying a new or newer Ferrari one has many choices, certainly a car with lower mileage would be more attractive...

I have used Ferrari as a daily driver since I bought my first one, I bought it to drive and never paid attention to mileage.
Depreciation happens whether or not the car is driven, expecially with the current high rate of production, there are too many owners falsely hoarding their cars without enjoying them in hopes of some windfall profit. It ain't gonna happen... there are too many cars and not enough people that can afford or want to have a high priced used car. At these production levels and prices it is another car as BMW, Mercedes, Porsche

 

I think it depends on how rare they are, but as people like me start to restore our cars like 308's - high quality is high quality regardless of miles.

Bullfighter is having his classic German car fully restored, and I am sure mileage isn't an issue there, but quality is...

MB

 

never mattered in the past.. only now if you are looking at the usual used one 3 to about 8 years old... after that its old enough it will be in bad shape from Lack of use. I know too many garage queens 12 years old go to a new home with a excited new owner who actually starts driving it and everything falls apart from years of never being used. Don't want to hear about starting it for fifteen minutes a month and services done either, that wont save it. Then fast forward to it's next "life" 20 years old and more. By then most need so much work done to be great that if they get the attention and money put into them they come out better than new anyway. (a lot of Thanks to forums like this and owners refusing to give up on their issues)

 

Yup, just another mass produced car. I actually had to use my alarm button to find my car at the supermarket last week because there were so many in the parking lot.

Give me a break. Even at 8000 for ALL models, that's less than third for Porsche the smallest above. For the others its what.. a months production? Even the modern ones are uncommon cars.

 

Ferrari's are now Ferrari common cars. The numbers are just too high.

 

I'll give you an example.

Years ago I had a bunch of paint work done to my car. I had both bumpers resprayed, the targa top painted body color, as well as deck lid and the lower rockers painted to match the body color. It was all shiny and new. But I was so overly careful when driving it. Almost to the point of being scared to drive it. Then I got a rock chip, and another, and another, and another. Then this ding and that dig. And now it needs paint again, BADLY. But you know what? Now that I know the paint is shot I don't care. I just drive it and have fun. If it gets a rock chip or a ding "oh well" it gets a rock chip bfd. I can always get it repainted...................but I won't.

That and my car is such a pile anyway, it would cost me more than the car is worth to bring it back to "show room new" condition. And even if I did the car still wouldn't be worth it. Look at what 348's in very VERY good condition are selling for, in the $30k-$40k range. So screw that, I'm putting milage on this ride.

 

It will take guys like me that don't give a damn anymore, and who will put 100k+ miles on it and not care. And then see if it will do 200k, and then 300k. Guys like me who aren't worried about "resale value". If you want an investment then go buy some stock or real estate. But for crying out loud DRIVE YOUR FERRARI, that's what it was built for.

It will talk the general public seeing loads of Ferraris with 100, 125, 150, 175,000 miles on them and still running. Only THEN will people say "hey it only has 60,000 miles on it, it's practically brand new".

Now go drive your Ferrari.

 

Agree Ernie. I have 49k on my 83 308QV and non-Ferrari owners tell me how awesome it looks and how low the miles are...of course Ferrari owners (including me) think it needs a new paint job and once I take it over 50k it will drop off the planet....soooooo, I need to get out and drive it some more. Think I only drove it about 2000 miles this year. Short of my enjoyment quotient...

 

+1

 

Anyone who does not drive their cars because of not wanting to add miles is sad. Because of the numbers built now, they will come down in price big time. Look at 360's, 430's, 550's, etc.
Another reason they'll go down in price is while they are very reliable now, if something were to go wrong it's super big bucks, carbon brakes, F1 transmissions, retractable roofs, etc. In a way it's kind of sucks, before a "regular guy" could aspire to have a used Ferrari; 308 through 355's and 360's. But now one of these repairs would be catastrophic.

 

can anyone beat this example for going around the world a few times in its life

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1997-FERRARI-355-GTS-TARGA-GIALLO-FLY-LHD-LEFT-HAND-DRIVE-AMAZING-VALUE-/300668847063?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item46014283d7

 

I agree with the above. Of course, the regular guy demographic has also changed in that time frame. I bought mine five months and 2800 miles ago. I hope to put at least 6k on it this year, as I travel for work about a third of the year.

Miles dinner matter to me, I know I'll never get back what I paid for it. But I didn't intend to, I bought it for the experience and feeling I get when I unleash it.

 

Everyone's reason and goal for owner their dream car is individual as they are. I did not buy mine thinking what will other people think of the mileage on it.
I bought it for me to drive, enjoy and escape from the world and drive on my own terms. Do the maintenance and repairs and drive it again. People ask me how many miles and they are shocked at how low the miles are, but Ferrari people immediately say they know of another one just like it with half the miles, but I say that he is enjoying it half as much as me! I buy, I drive, I maintain, I enjoy, I smile.

 

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin bout!

 

In the old days - back in the 1960s and 1970s, before most of you opinionated people were born - miles didn't matter because these cars (Ferraris, Lambos, Maseratis) were worthless once they were 5 - 10 years old. In those 5 - 10 years they lost 2/3 to 3/4 of their new cost, pretty much no matter what their condition or milage.

Yes, those cars (like 250 California Spyders, 275 GTBs, 250 SWBs and LWBs, Ghiblis, and Miuras) that we now revere were $2-4,000 clunkers at 5-10 years old. For comparison purposes, during that era (late 60s early 70s) that $2 - 4,000 would buy you a new Ford or Chevy or maybe a Pontiac - nothing fancy.

So, the rich, fat-cats who bought the new exotics and used them, drove them a lot, abused them, and sold them for nothing. They didn't care because these few rich guys had plenty of money to burn. Remember too that the production numbers were very low so that Ferrari et all only had to sell a few cars to a very few very rich guys.

So - miles didn't matter...the used exotic was near worthless.

Things started to change in the late 1970s. The older than baby boomer generation (funny we don't have a cute name for them - guys who are now about 70) and the early boomers (now early 60s) decided that they wanted these old exotic cars. Why? The old cars were cool in a way that the then new cars were not. Owning a new Ferrari made you establishment, a fat cat - uncool at the time. But, owning an old classic one that you got for next to nothing made you very cool - anti-establishement - a connisuier - never could spell that word.

PLUS - the then new cars were crap because of the smog and safety laws.

So, suddenly there was an interest in the old cars. Their prices started gong up ... slowly at first. But prices kept going up throughout the 1980s. As this happened, it created renewed interest in the new (and newer) cars. It was more reasonable to buy a new Ferrari if it diodn't depreciate so much. More people had more money (and a lot more people had a lot less too - but they are not part of this story) and more of them were interested in fancy cars...so production numbers increased.

People began to view the old classics as good investments, and their prices jumped. People began to speculate that the newer and new cars might be good investments - the demand jumped, and the prices for the slightly used ones firmed up. There were suddenly waiting lines to buy 308 QVs and 328s, where much more limited production Daytonas had sat unwanted on dealer showroom floors a decade earlier.

But - as soon as the Ferrari was viewed as an investment - or a possible investment - and was purchased by people who could only justify the purchase if it returned at least a good portion of the purchase price, if not a profit, there was a push to keep the car pristine and for it to have low miles.

And that my students is why there is such a desire to have a car with low miles today.

I see very little possibility that these modern era Ferraris will be resotred 20 years from now. They are too complicated - too many specific parts. So, projecting out to 2030 - a low mile pristine 430 mayu be worth a lot as a collectible Ferrari - but a clapped out 430 with 150,000 miles will be worthless.

Amen

 

no one can guess which one will hit classic status... maybe they all will in 50 years when gas is the secondary choice of fuel. Miles will not matter, how many people drive their 60's era 250 or 275? They get trailered from one show to the next as retired legends. If I were to purchase one would I care about mileage, thinking how many miles I may burn onto it? Nope. (love rhetorical questions I can answer)

A cars significance is not measured by miles or production numbers but where it falls into the long lineage of ferrari pedigree and albeit nostalgia. Lets see what happens to the gt4 and 400 in 15 years when they turn 50 years old, we may be having one of those "shoulda woulda coulda bought when it was 20-25k, now look what it's worth", nobody would care if it had 10k or 100k miles (though the general public would be more impressed if it had over 100k)

..... drive the car, if you love it keep it to admire when you buy a new car, chances are you will not be driving the same car for 50, 60, 70 years. call me crazy

 

+1

spot on

plus there are too many of those with the hoarder mentality holding too many cars to be absorbed, we'll see soon enough how this plays out as the next crop of new Ferrari affect the market... the GTO is highly sought after, now going limp with anticipated new introductions with more power and speed... being unique isn't lasting very long...the demographics don't support the number of cars produced to retain the lofty pricing