Future collectability of an F355

I am considering the purchase of an F355 as a third/tertiary car to my small stable - for nothing other than I have always loved the design of the F355 and next to a 430 and my 458, one of the best sounding factory equipped exhaust F-cars and one of the last 6-speed manual equipped Ferrari models. My question for you current owners are, how do you feel about your cars as potential appreciating assets.

I am debating to purchase one and try to keep the miles as low as possible to see if one day it would become the next 246 Dino...(20 years ago, could be had in concours condition for $42,000 and now the same car is worth above $200k).

My biggest fear is buying in at $55-65k and then 5-10 years from now, be lucky to get $25-30k for them because of the stigmas attached to maintaining them (ie: 308/328).

Open to your thoughts.

 

Even if u lose $20k so what..... Better than buy a $150k new mercedes and lose $$70k plus in depreciation within 1st 4 years.

 

I personally think the 348/355 cars are appealing to look at, and a blast to drive. But, considering the engine out service needed every 3-5 years depending on your thoughts on belt maintenance and cost associated with that the 355 is not a winner in the appreciation department. The cost to maintain could and likely will overcome appreciation dollars, and that's IF they appreciate at all. If your looking to buy and drive a cool car, IMO the 355 is a great choice, I've had both the 348 and 355. If your looking to invest, I would personally be looking at other cars to invest in. That's just my .02, and I've had hundreds of cars/trucks. Some were investment grade that I did make 5-6 figure profit on.

 

308/328 have been picking up in value quite strongly lately...

 

I think the 355 will be very collectable in the future, but that does not mean that they will go up in value. Chances are slim that you will buy a 355 now and have the value appreciate at a rate that outperforms inflation once you factor in running/preservation costs. The problem is there were 12k made and they are expensive to maintain.

 

In 200 years, a low mileage (under 15,000 of course), well maintained 355 might well have appreciated........ Take into account 66 cambelt changes and other servicing during that period and the maintenance cost will be in the region of £500k if nothing major goes wrong.... It would have to appreciate ALOT to be an investment.

 

You are worried about a 355 losing 30 000 USD over a decade when your 458 is probably depreciating by usd 50 000 per year and the 430 at least usd 10 000 each year ?

You then suggest 308/328 which cost less to buy outright than you currently lose in depreciation per year have a maintenance stigma ???

Over the next twenty years its the cars without computers that will survive best and cheapest

Get real or are you a troll ?

 

That says it all. The 458's and Le Ferrari's will be long gone or in museums by then. The fewer the computers, the better the cars will survive. I certainly didn't buy my car as an investment, but I'm hoping since it only has the 2 engine management computers to deal with, the car will live on for a while.

 

the 355 will appreciate as well as your 430 and 458. these are production cars and all of them will depreciate. I bought a mint condition 355 only 4.5 years ago for $72K and am now asking only $58K and not getting much response.

 

Most of the cars appreciating at high rates are cars that have no computers in them. When we get to and what will be the next stage of collectibles time will tell.

I would say the 348/355 will be one of them

 

I don't understand why folks think the 355 is a computerless car. We have ECU's for catalytic converters, ECU's for seat position/top operation, ECU's for engine management, etc. I'm sure there are others I'm not listing. Granted they aren't as "wired" as a 430, but they aren't as simple as a Daytona either.

It's wishful thinking to think these will ever appreciate. Like the 308'a they will hit bottom and maybe keep pace with inflation (2-3% appreciation/year) going forward.
Nice 308's were $35,000 cars ten years ago and they still are, no real growth at all.

 

I would not expect to see anything appreciate greatly until possible the drive alone cars have a 20% market share. Then possibly early ecu cars may get a uplift in price. Not holding my breath or speculating just driving the heck out of it like any other car / bike I owned

 

Just watch in 20 yrs the 98/99 f1 cars will be the one's worth the money.

 

If its not carbed it has some type of computer in it.

 

If you are looking for an investment "vehicle" with a time span of 5-10 years, find another "vehicle" such as the equity market. If you plan on driving the 355 and enjoying it for the experience then buy it.

 

If you're over 45, you'll probably be either dead or way past being physically able to enjoy the car by the time its worth significant money. Of you're under 45, you'll enjoy diving it too much to keep the miles down, so its a losing proposition in investment terms imo. Buy it for the other reasons you mentioned and forget about the long term value. JMO.

 

While it IS true that all cars with Injection have computers, as the does the 355, the point is that most cars past the 1995 355 have much less user access.

Starting with the first "immobiliser" cars Ferrari, and others, have tied owners to the dealer network for service. Computers now control the gearbox, E-diff, and an entire host of advanced systems that are not currently user serviceable. It is also unlikely that they will ever willingly release the code to independent shops even after they themselves stop supporting the cars with spares and updates. Why should they? They now have full control over the idea of "planned obsolescence". This has often been the attitude of Ferrari towards all models falling between the descriptions of "new" and "Classic". "Why make it easy to keep an old Ferrari on the road when there is a showroom full of shiny new ones for us to sell?"

This situation will only become worse in the future, and it will serve to make the last of the "open source" cars like the 1995 355 more desirable and sought after by owners who want to service the car themselves. Even in the worst case any floor shifted 355 can be converted to run a stand alone aftermarket computer without effecting any of its other systems. (An F1 can also, but its a bit more complicated and expensive)

Unless the aftermarket invents more easy to use "plug and play" software for next "neo-vintage" cars in the near future, I think that this issue alone will depress the value of older high tech cars and invigorate the value of "pre-tech" cars in the next 15-20 years.

(FYI-Right now my "Pre-tech" 1995 355GTS runs like a top, but my 1997 355 GTB is stranded because the last remaining FOB failed and I am waiting for the Factory to bestow it with new immobilizer credentials

We have seen Orwell's "BIG BROTHER" and his name is Enzo....

 

I have a friend who works for Bonhams the auctioneers and he said they reckon the 355 will be a car for the future if its low mileage, manual etc

 

Luca called the 348 the worst Ferrari ever. He was right from Ferrari's perspective of dumping a car on the market and letting the aftermarket fix it. What he and others have underestimated is the braintrust who have fixed these cars to be ultra reliable. Witness typical trouble free 348 roadtrips like Time and Plugzit antics from LA to KC last week. That's 2 cross country roadtrips for Time in 2 different 348's.

We have not only an incredible braintrust but a back pocket Pro in Scuderia Ramante who is unwilling to fix Ferraris as Ferrari intended which is to replace parts. Their philosophy of understanding problems and fixing problems for lasting solutions is changing the fleet one car at a time. Gold connectors, coolant hoses, fuseboxes etc from SRI will add value to 355's making them reliable cars performing at their peak. Hill engineering shares a similar philosophy making hardparts to fix Ferrari's shortcomings. Two pros and a huge braintrust will buoy the 355 market. There is no question that great 355's will command top dollar. We already see $40k clunkers and $85k well cared for examples. If owners want to maintain value we know how to do it.

 

Respectfully, they said that about Carbs when FI started getting big. In time OBD2 and CANbus and all the other incestuous stuff will become easy to deal with as OBD1 and CIS fuel injection. While we with a smaller braintrust are prisoners to Ferrari the same level of OBD/CAN is found in same year corvettes for example and that aftermarket has those systems totally licked. Call any of the corvette tuners in any city and they will ask you what flavor do you want.

The FOB issue was easy to remedy. You just did not research your options. One of which would have been to clone your FOB before it died for less than the cost of an oil change. Eric355 and Gobble have been our saviors in this regard for years! We really owe these guys.

 

With all of the threads over the years talking about how the 355 is a maintenance nightmare, I wonder if I just got a good one. When I purchased my 355, I had a major service done immediately that ran me $6500.00. Since then I have made a couple of upgrades, but absolutely ZERO repairs. I just have the oil changed every year with royal purple. Now I'm getting ready to do another major. This time I am going to try to do it myself with the help of the guy who did it for me last time. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I don't see how these cars are such a maintenance nightmare. If you guys think that these cars are bad, get a boat. My boat makes my 355 look like a cheap toy.

 

How do i clone FOB I only have one ?

 

I hate to even write this because something will break. But I've had the same experience. My car was serviced regularly and I haven't had any problems. I've had mine 6 years. Of course I don't leave it out in the rain, or abuse the car. But I do drive it a couple times a week all year around.
I would guess my car has only lost 10k in value from what I paid.
Compare that with a 5 series BMW I bought a year after which has lost about 60k in value. Ferraris are a real value.
I think the 355 will go up in value. They are getting destroyed at a good clip and people love them. I love mine and it's a blast to drive. It's also easy to drive, but still has the feel of raw power without traction control and all that junk.

 

PM

gobble

He is great did a few for me

 

Wake boat with fat sacks?