458 Spider glass engine cover from Capristo

Expensive gadget to see some black plastic boxes. Some weird curves there going around the glass.

NOTE: No place for the Sat/Nav box or antenna.

 

Tony showed me his first steps of this project since a very early phase.

For me it looks now very harmonious and in perfect quality.

I know that he got "I like it" from Ferrar guys also.

Capristo built his own shapes for the production.

 

While it's not a large window, IMHO, it does add character to the rear engine cover section. I would consider this if I could even get a spider in the near future. What's it look like with the top up?

 

Crappy mid engine cars that didn't have glass in the rear

Miura
Countach
246 Dino
308
328
348
355
Testa rossa
512 Boxer
Murcielago

And now the 458 spider. How can people buy such ugly cars without glass in the back. We should retro fit all of them now. Their values surely would go up.

 

Lol.


Kai

 

Not sure how one thing relates to the other but LOL...whatever.

 

Pointless.

 

I don't care for the look of the Capristo glass cover. It looks too small, Earl Scheib like. I wouldn't ruin the look of the Spyder rear deck.

 

Hello everyone,

As I already mentioned, this rear hood was not built so that you can see the engine. But rather it was our goal to bring some contrast to the rear portion. I see that some don't like it but as everything in life, this is according to taste. And if we receive even an email from Ferrari where it says that this is good work, then this says everything. And shows us that we are going in the right direction. Of course, there are immediately negative reactions when you show something new, but we have gotten hundreds of positive reactions and that we already have 18 pre-orders, speaks for itself.

When I saw the 458 Coupe, I was in love with this car right away. And bought such a car. Then the 458 Spider came and I also liked it but when I stood at the rear of the car, I did not like the upper portion. And the same was said to me by many 458 Coupe drivers. That was a reason for me to order a Spider in order to change the rear portion slightly, without strongly changing the beautiful lines. So as said, it was never our goal, to see the engine. Under such a glass pane, carbon parts and Ferrari logos can also look good.

I am thankful for any opinions, negative and positive, and as soon as we have pictures of the finished car, we will post them.

Kind regards,
Antonio

 

Antonio: Everyone as their own view on what is and is not attractive to look at.

I think when Capristo does something in performance, then it's hard to question. If it makes it go better or sound better or louder, that's easy to justify.

But, when you start to do a major change to the looks of the car, it gets very subjective.

To me, Ferrari has (IMO) taken a new path away from what has become a cliche' they stated in 1999 (well, back further if you consider the F40). It's been overused now by many who have copied them (Audi, Lambo, McLaren -- even the Corvette). I have no problem in moving on in the world of mid engine car design.

I'm not sure you're solving any problems with this glass lid. You can't see much under that part of the car. It adds weight. It will cost a lot of money.

Even if it made the car look "better" to some, is it worth all the money to damage the originality?

I don't think so.

 

Antonio it looks great, very nice workmanship and that is nice for you to post photos to show the building process, don't worry about comments from posers/users who only drive a 458 going 55 mph at best. Keep up the good work.

 

Do you really feel that the rear end design of the Spider is beautiful?

Than its an evidence for different taste! Because I ordered the Coupe only because of the ugly rear end of the Spider. Principially I would have prefered the Spider.

If the Spider would have had this rear end from Capristo, maybe I would have ordered a Spider.

But let me point out that now I am absolutely happy with my Italia!

Regards - Webber 45

 

The apparently commonly held view according to motoring press is that the rear deck with its Dino echoes is one of the best parts of the car. Not that I am interested in their opinion as in aesthetics all is a matter of personal taste, but yes, I love it and regretfully don't like the Capristo option at all, but good on them trying and producing a quality product.

 

I like it

 

It's s stunning solution for the rear of the Spider, both in and of itself and as an echo of Ferrari's heritage. And all the more so because the 458 now comes with two equally valid rear end solutions. This rear end doesn't need glass and shoehorning it in is just desperate.

 

ِAgreed. Let's wait and see some real shots of two cars side by side with/without the glass, I don't think it will look better with the glass but you never know.

 

Yes. Is the rear of the 246 Dino beautiful. Yes. Is the rear of the 355 beautiful? Yes.

Even if you didn't think it was, this is not an improvement. Its desperation like this:
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Agreed, that vette hood is plain ugly

 

They way Ferrari have sculptured the rear of the Spider is a master stroke in design aesthetics, it lineage seductively takes you to the famed Dino and 355 which is a beautiful thing to me, I'm full of admiration on how they have achieved this whilst solving the technical concerns.

Whilst the Capristo products are held in high regard, some things should be remain sacrosanct especially with such a celebrated model as the Italia and Spider.

All very subjective but that's my 2 cents on the matter

 

+1

 

Pininfarina, with input from Ferrari at times, has almost always struck the right chords with its body designs. It seems a sacrilege to tamper with a well-thought-out design just for the sake of variety. The designers of the 458 came up with two quite different solutions for the designs of the Italia and the Spider, of necessity, due to the employment of a retractable top on the Spider. I commend them on the originality of their solution to the problem of the rear deck/engine lid on the Spider. While my comments are in no way a criticism of Capristo's desire to satisfy certain enthusiasts who crave an engine window, I don't think that the resultant product improves upon Ferrari's original design. Since the window is merely an aesthetic twist, and serves no practical purpose, it seems to me a case of overkill. Fred

 

Please keep your insults to yourself or you'll find your only friend is yourself.

 

The ZR1's glass hood is indeed desperation, it shows a plastic cover, is hilarious.

They might as well put a picture of an engine on the hood for the same effect, and is much cheaper to produce.

You do have a point there, TheMayor.

 

Seems pointless to thrash the guy's ideas....obviously they've spent a lot of time on this and, being a reputable company as they are and given their track record, I think they know better than all of us if this is a worthy product to produce/sell or not.

We should be allowed to express our opinions here both positive and negative but when people start implying that they know more about aftermarket Ferrari parts and upgrades than the guys at Capristo: I don't think so...

I think it looks cool even if you don't see the engine. It's probably not worth spending 5k-10k on such a thing IMHO BUT, then again, is it worth spending 200-300k on any car when you could get a perfectly good Honda Civic for less than 25k?

Opinions are fine but we should be a little more respectful to the guy trying to do something for Ferrari owners. If someone invites you for supper and cooks all afternoon a meal that ends up being terrible, would you say it sucks? Or would you feel bad and try to eat as much possible disguising the fact that you hate it?

Is hiding behind a keyboard suddenly remove all good manners and kindness? Not attacking anyone here, just sayin'...

 

I would say let's wait how it looks in real life, but why do you always talk of engine? and why are you talking box of plastic? under the glass plate are high quality carbon parts.

I would say that we should wait, then we see how it looks.

there will always be so ... there are people whom it does not like, and the other likes it

Last week, two Spider customers come and have seen the pictures, both have ordered a hood. it is an experiment, we will see how many customers want to have a .... at the moment there are already 18 pieces.

Antonio