Nuno- Chassis can definitely rust, and body can corrode. 911- Incidentally, your being new has nothing to do with posting in the classifieds. You have to be a subscriber to post there. Costs $15 last time I checked.
When I asked our friends in Maranello a few years back why everything was now F1, they said nobody ordered manuals. Even the supercustomers ordering numerous cars at one time. F1 and as bespoke as you could make it inside and out.
I think there is a difference between what purchasers of new vehicles vs those who buy used, are interested in. Those buying new want latest technology an/or convenience, while those buying used may be after something retro/nostalgic/etc. You don't see many posting on here "looking for an F1"; however plenty are specifically looking for manuals. No need for anyone to defend their ownership of F1 cars; they are fine, and, like anything else, one gets used to and appreciates what they have...
True. Although from my experience and from what I've seen, I'd say a hefty 90% of those cases are north american owners in north america. Over here in Europe only seldomly I come across such a situation, and in Portugal I've never met anyone paying that much attention to transmission. Color, model and year seem to take over mileage and transmission type (private sales, auctions are a different ball game). Mileage is usually the issue, not transmission type. On a personal note, I don't care about those two: PPI and past history do the trick for me. On the three F cars I've bought, those were the issues I thoroughly gave attention to. Except my 355 F1 GTS in which I really wanted a GTS and really wanted an F1 (I alredy owned a manual 3.2 Mondial cabriolet). Kind regards, Nuno.
64k $US at current exchange rates... 1999 Ferrari 550 full history just serviced for $79,900 in Toronto | autoTRADER.ca
Any replies from the OP? As well as a lively tangential debate on transmission type, we have provided some useful tips...?
I believe Terry provided some very valid and useful advice, telling the prospective buyer to have a look at Autoscout for instance, to which I would add Car and Classic. The prospective buyer hasn't put many obstacles to an hypothetical buy, being open to model, transmission type and color. There are never hundreds of cars to choose from at one point, but he should find a suitable one without much trouble. And if he indeed finds one or two, we're here to help should he need/ask for it. Sometimes it's easier to help when a particular car is identified as being of interest. Maybe the prospective buyer is busy conducting his searches. I know many people come here asking for advice when in practice they can't/won't buy any Ferrari, but imho we must give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Kind regards, Nuno.
Just noticed that the OP is in the UK. I'm guessing he is not interested in cars on this side of the pond.
Just as a quick response to the transmission issue . The 550 will be (in my opinion) the car to add to a collection, even if compared with a 575 manual. It has simply the more classic interior, an apparently fully mechanical instrument dashboard with 4 instruments in front of the driver and 3 instruments in the center console. Even the odometer appears to be mechanical (it is electrically driven, I know). All this, together with the shifter gate, makes it far more classic "Ferrari" and "collectable", if compared with a F1 575. I know that the manual gearbox in the 550/575 is far from being perfect. Gearshift in my Alfa Montreal is by far faster and lighter. And the F1 in my 599 is quite OK, of course . In the German market, 575 manuals achieve clearly better prices, compared with a F1.
Bernard- The market right now is saying the ones to collect are 550 WSRs (33) and 575M manuals (246) and HGTCs (100?), the Holy Grail of Maranellos being manual HGTCs. I much prefer the interior (seats, instrument panel, especially the steering wheel) of the 575M to the 550, but again all that is only opinion, and everybody is entitled to have their own opinion and tastes. Never was too fond of instruments scattered across the dash.
And I, on the other hand, much prefer the 550 interior layout, especially the center console and dash. I just assumed the Daytona seats were the the same. I'll have to look at the steering wheel, I assumed it to be the same as well. Just looked and there is quite a difference, I lust after this one, wonder if it would fit, it would go well with my full carbon package. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Magic numbers aside (e.g 33, 246, 100ish and not forgetting 448 and 559) the relative scarcity of 'special' models/variants thereof is clear. When personal preferences enter the mix, it quickly highlights how hard it can be to find ones ideal partner... I'm no statistician but just for fun, I ran a few numbers starting with the 2064 575M's produced, taking out the 264 manuals and 251 UK RHDs leaving 1,567 LHD F1 575M's. I then thought about my own car and its factory configuration and plucked some figures out of the air to indicate the potential uptake of each option as follows: Rosso Corsa 50% with Cuoio interiors 30% with Daytona's 40% FHP 75% Shields 75% When one multiplies these factors we come out at a theoretical pool of just circa 53 LHD F1 Rosso Corsa/Cuoio Daytonas/FHP/Shields cars worldwide. So perhaps just twice as rare in this configuration as the circa 25 550 WSR cars that were built in the default Grigio/Bordeaux. On that basis it's looking unlikely that I will ever pull up at the traffic lights next to another similar car - even though mine is arguably in a fairly classic/conventional configuration. Perhaps more saliently, if I had missed this one, the chances of me finding another 'similar' car available for sale in a market I could deal with would be 'close to nil' so I might have ended up looking at very different cars. [Not necessarily a problem as they all have merit and I started out looking seriously at a Pozzi 550 ]. In my case, I actually found the consecutive chassis number to mine for sale at another dealer over here. It too was in Rosso Corsa but came with Nero carbon sports seats with red inserts (I could have lived with that!) but with 3x the mileage, no modulars and the asking price was 25% more... This is all just a bit of fun and I'm making no comment on relative values as the market will take care of that but for those still comparison shopping out there, it may serve to indicate that you can look for a long time but but if you miss one that ticks your boxes, you might end up somewhere quite different. At least the OP is interested in Red or Black (plus other colours) so would appear to have most bases covered!
There are two manual 575s on the open market right now on this side of the pond and they are very expensive...been on sale for a couple of weeks now. (Today, that's a long time) Nearly twice the asking price of an equivalent F1. Either the selling dealers have read the market well, or are being optimistic. Time will tell..
M- FHP was more like 20% than 75%. Here in the US, the dealers were actually discouraging owners from ordering it because the brakes squealed. Probably the same in the ROW. Cuoio is rare, too, with beige, nero, and, for RHD-land, Crema more popular from what I have seen. I have actually seen more Bordeaux interiors than Cuoio. Dave- Tastes vary, but the 575M wheel is pretty much attractive to most of us. That CF wheel you showed is about $2K plus a 575M wheel. I like it, too, except for the red stripe. I picked up an old 575M wheel for $250, just in case. Probably fits the 550, but you would need the airbag and cover, too, unless the 550 airbag fits in the 575M cover. The aftermarket 575M CF wheels are more attractive to me than the OEM one. Had one of those and sold it.
Yeah, I don't care for the red stripe either and I would need black stitching. It doesn't look like it would fit without a lot of work. Knowing Ferrari there would be one compatibility issue after another. I don't need that kind of grief. Would be neat though
Back to the OP's question, Palau, main dealer in Bordeaux, have up a well specced 575F1 (daytona seats) for 58k euros, 53k km, which in this market and with the weak euro is reasonable. Just over 40k GBP. Main dealer will also take care of paperwork & hassle for export to UK and 1 year warranty and good provenance. But like all the other links I sent you would need to move fast.
That's a super pricetag indeed. Leaves room for unforeseen maintenance issues and/or importation for instance. I know Portugal is too small to be a reference, but 550s are hovering around 70.000 and the only two 575s for sale at the moment that I know of, hover around 90.000 (F1). Kind regards, Nuno.
Thank you to everyone for the replies, I have been on holiday so it has been nice to read. I want a car from the said countries because from my experience, they are easier to deal with. Most of the cars mentioned have sold.. the Bordeaux car, Ferrari Toulouse. To buy from Switzerland, as its outside the EU means you have to pay 16% duty + 20% vat. UK is too expensive.. £25k more. Most dealers do not reply.. or are not interested in proving history of a car.. But I'm still confident.. any more suggestions? US will have duties and vat to pay Too.. Thanks again
My only advice would be to check the sales sites as frequently as a teenager checks instagram, and respond even more quickly. They know they will sell the cars so not motivated always to email you invoices service book etc. There are still some well priced 575s around, try the German main dealers. Germany has strict laws about sales, if they declare it is accident free (unfallfrei) I believe it is a criminal offence if they are wrong. Good luck!
True. This is a worry. Before I bought my 575, I was looking at a french based 599 GTB F1. I decided to phone them directly, even though my french is below average at best. Even getting them to answer the phone was a monumental task, imagine if I just wrote them an e-mail and waited. I reckon I'd still be waiting as of today if I didn't adopt a more aggressive approach. It annoys me considerably to chase a car dealer to answer me the phone, seems I'm the only interested party in closing a deal. Nevertheless, sometimes it's the way to go. I'd also recommend checking, rechecking and doublechecking the car online insanely frequently before making arrangements to travel and see the car, to avoid making a trip for nothing. Kind regards, Nuno.
If such law was applied in my country, 7 or 8 out of 10 dealers would be behind bars. Kind regards, Nuno.
Dave - Look no further than the steering wheel fitted to the 550 Barchetta. It would appear to be very similar to wheel that they subsequently fitted to the 575M (but on the 575M wheel, the horn buttons are separate and in aluminium - presumably to match the F1 shift paddles). A carbon topped Barchetta wheel may be hard to come by but a carbon topped 575M wheel would probably be easier to source and one would like to think that it could be made to fit without too much trouble! A link to the full-size source image here... http://i.wheelsage.org/pictures/f/ferrari/550/ferrari_550_barchetta_pininfarina_25.jpg Image Unavailable, Please Login
Would you care to provide a link to an official source/document that backs-up your statement about the duty that would be payable by a UK resident on the import of EU produced car from Switzerland? e.g. just the duty component, not the VAT. Thanks.
