long shot question on a 348 TS VIN

Hi, I am new to the site but have been an enthusiast for as long I can remember. I am looking hard at 348 TS currently for sale in Florida. The dealer has no history on the car, at least none he's sharing! I was very fortunate to have a Ferrari master technician look at the car earlier this week who was down from North Carolina visiting my dad in FL. He found it to be a pretty solid car with some minor fixes required, I got the punch list last night. In short, he found the car to be correct, but one big question mark is that it's been repainted, and with the limited resources during the inspection, he can't tell why. The VIN is zffrg36a5n0091621, so I'm hoping to find anybody who might know anything further about the car's history. Mechanically, I'm comfortable with it, it'd just be nice to know more. Anybody recognize that VIN?

 

Hi, new the site but I've been a Ferrari enthusiast as long as I can recall. I am looking very closely at a 92 348TS for sale in Florida. The dealer has no history on the car, at least none he's sharing with me. I was fortunate enough to have a Ferrari master technician from North Carolina look at the car earlier this week while he was visiting my dad in FL nearby. He didn't find any show stoppers, and overall he found the car to be correct and in good condition. He was limited on what he could look at bit because they didn't have a lift available. A big lingering question is that it's been repainted, but he couldn't say why, the body is good, everything is straight and solid. So, I'm taking a shot in the dark to see if anybody may know the VIN zffrg36a5n0091621.

 

The car's now 23 years old so a repaint during that time is not that uncommon and could have been done for any number of reasons.

If the car has a clean title, shows no signs of any undeclared accident damage and the repaint is to a high standard then personally, I wouldn't be too worried about it.

If the repaint is causing that much concern though then walk away as it's always going to be a nagging doubt for you, making this car not right for you.

 

google the vin, carfax and autocheck, 348refgistry.com

 

thanks for feedback everyone! It is very reasonable that at 23 year old car would be repainted, and it was an excellent repaint. Autocheck and Carfax reports agree and don't show anything to worry about. It would be nice to have more history, but if it works out and I get the car, I'll just start a record from that point. thanks again!

 

My car was repainted somewhere along the line, but the roof, engine cover, and bottom were painted to match. It didn't affect my decision at all and I wanted a car that was already color matched. As long as the usual sources check out, they're normally ok.

Also, my car didn't come with history prior to the PO. I ended up spending more when I had the engine out than I would have if I had all paperwork.

 

The thing is, these cars have a habit of developing cracks in the paint along the lower edge of the rear buttresses - where they meet the top of the rear wings, thus requiring corrective work + paint.

Add into that stone chips on the front end and suddenly it's quite easy to see why a 348 might have had a full respray at some time in its life for very innocent reasons.

When I bought My 348 TS it was obvious to Me that it had had some paint at some time (and it was all detailed openly in the service records), and TBH, the paint job wasn't as perfect as I would really have liked it to be (even though the paint job had been carried out by a recognised and established UK Ferrari specialist), but funnily enough, that simply made the car more of a drivers car for Me because I didn't see the paint as being so precious that I wouldn't want to drive it in case of causing any damage to the paintwork.

Don't get Me wrong, the paint on My car looks very good, there are just one or two areas where it could be better (funnily enough, everyone else who has ever seen My car cannot see what I mean so I guess I must be being a bit picky!).

Had the paint been pristine perfect, then even the slightest mark put in it from My driving the car would have irritated Me greatly and might have put Me off driving it.

Sometimes it pays to not be perfect!

 

Looks like the car is no longer listed with IAG. Were you able to work out a deal?

 

unfortunately not. I drug my feet a bit too long and by the time I got back in touch with them, somebody had been in and put a deposit down. I am still shopping...knowing what I know now based on a lot of looking, I should have jumped on it.

 

Do you happen to know what ballpark price they dealt the car at? Had been watching that one, and IAG had it relisted a number of times, with bids up to $42.1k not making reserve, with their ask around $49.5. Not sure if it was in need of servicing, etc.

1) 9/1/2015 - $41,100.00 high bid
2) 9/9/2015 - $38,300.00 high bid
3) 9/16/2015 - $41,100.00 high bid
4) 9/23/2015 - $41,100.00 high bid
5) 9/24/2015 - $40,200.00 high bid
6) 10/1/2015 - $42,100.00 high bid
7) 10/11/2015 - $49,500.00 Asking Price
8) 10/19/2015 - $25,800.00 high bid
9) 10/20/2015 - $40,800.00 high bid

 

FWIW, the car is still being listed for sale: 1992 FERRARI 348 TS 27K MILES ROSSO CORSA BEIGE 5 SPEED GATED SHIFTER COLLECTOR for sale: photos, technical specifications, description

If a major belt service is being included in that 38k price, gotta say, it's worth asking about.

 

Doesn't seem right, at that price.

 

I think that listing is bogus, it's just a recycled add using the text of the IAG listing. The car had no service history, but was in very good condition. I don't know the final sale price with certainty, but in dealing with IAG, they were willing to take 49.5K as it sat, and would have performed a cambelt belt service with water pump for another 5k. Anything else would have been extra of course.

 

That sounds like a fair price if the PPI checked out.

Good luck with the search.