You mean the one with the stripe down the middle, the wheels painted black, the seats reupholstered with those red inserts, the banged up front under tray, the messed up paint on the driver's door jam, ..... Almost forgot the buttress cracks. F355 Market No wonder it didn't go for $150,000. (Or ttforced $250,000) F355 Market And seriously, what car isn't TMU. Believe Car Fax? Car Fax says my car was a 2 owner car when I bought it. Funny that it came with records that showed 3.
Inefficient market . Minor issues that would scare off an amateur, easy work for someone in the know. Stripe was removed in 30 min. Wheels were actually in great condition because of the repaint. It would be easy to repaint to silver if I actually wanted to keep them. I prefer challenge wheels. Seats ... probably the biggest issue of the car, but hardly an issue when carbon seats are going in . Banged up undertray... meh. If you want to call a scraping mishap banged up, sure. I've repaired much worse. I think a replacement is a few hundred bucks. What 355 has un-marred undertrays that have never been repaired? Messed up touch-up paint in a door jam? Meh. Buttress cracks... what 355 doesn't have buttress cracks? Oh btw... BAT credited me for the buttress cracks . Here's what the car did have though. 1. It's a 95. 2. Rare U.S Spec Red/black combo 3. No deformation in passenger airbag. Leather interior still in superb condition. OE floor mats. 4. Valve guides done with OE sintered steel valves 5. OE headers replaced with the most updated version for $6k with about 10k mi on them. 6. Clutch replaced with HE bearing installed. 7. A clean Carfax 8. Accurate miles on the car 9. Only driven 800 miles since last engine out. How many BAT cars have #3-9 ?? There's almost nothing for me to do but clean it up and upgrade parts to my liking.
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Oh look. No more stripes and new wheels. No imprint left from the stripes either. My cat checked. My cat approves *stares down @johnk... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
definitely, however the car is in Canada, that could hold it back a bit. Usually cars in Canada on BaT even if U.S cars like this one don't do as well.
Oh look! It has a “banged up” front undertray and front bumper. It’s gonna cost thousands, if not millions to replace the undertray and repaint the front bumper. BUYER BEWARE *@johnk At least on my car, the paint on the front bumper is unscathed . Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Uhmmmm. How that car runs is beyond me. there are at least three (visible) wire looms disconnected in the footwell fuse box area....and two plastic butt connectors. Oy. I am all for projects, but this is doosey. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Pressure wash first. Then a combination of steel wire ball scrubbers and metal brushes with brake cleaner. If you have the textured cover (like mine), which came on the early 355s, it will take awhile to get it super clean. It will be as clean as the amount of effort you are willing to put in to clean it. I’m going to get an OE fiberglass clutch cooler to protect it from dirt as much as possible to minimize future cleaning. My advice: Go with dry ice cleaning first, then finish off manually with scrubbers and cleaners whatever it might have left behind. Will save alot of time. *same texture as the brake hub Here’s how it looked before. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I purchased my 97' from Canada in 2018. All that had to be done was install a MPH/KPH speedometer. I don't know whether it has a MPH/KPH speedometer already.
I brought mine in from Canada as well. I never changed the speedometer, still original in kilometers.
Perhaps it's the transportation cost and added import duties making the transaction a bit less familiar. The good thing is the car was originally a U.S spec car, not a Canadian spec car, which INTMD8 says comes with extra heavy front and rear bumpers.
Yes if I remember correctly US cars had "2.5mph bumpers" and Canadian cars "5mph bumpers". Agreed that it seems like cars in Canada bring less, it's still an inconvenience if even not a major one.
Well, if anyone reading this thread is interested in this GTS, @tres55 is the man to talk to regarding importing a car from Canada. It's pretty straightforward as far as I can tell for a U.S spec car... even to California. Just a 2.5% import fee and maybe a few misc fees.... that's about it. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1972-alfa-romeo-gtv-2000/ I was looking into this Alfa on BAT just a few weeks ago. It's actually originally a California car, imported to Canada, and converted to look euro spec. It actually has the wrong motor in the car, which the seller only realized from the BAT comments. Figured I'd do some digging on importing it. I was thinking, "Ok, wrong motor. Located in Canada. I should be able to snatch this for $60k." NOPE. Went to $83k, which is up there for a car with the wrong motor and rear axle (no LSD). But the car is restored extremely well, which is rare. In short, if people think the car is a hard find... which this GTS kinda is being a 1999 with shields, I think the market would be willing to deal with minor hassle as long as they are fully of aware of exactly what that hassle is. Now if it was a Canadian spec car, that's a different story. That probably involves alot more and even more so if you are in California.
I bet if @tres55 went on BAT and cleared up exactly what needs to be done to bring the car back to the U.S, that would instill confidence with potential buyers to place a bid with little worry.
There is no import fee bringing a car back that was originally a US car if you have proof it was owned/registered in the US at some point.
This I did not know. It's incredible how even when you think you know all the myriad ways the '95 cars are sadly inferior to the 5.2 cars, there's still more to learn. Keep your chin up, Ken. I'm sure you'll find a good '98 or '99 someday (no, mine is not for sale)
If the buyer is re-importing it into the U.S., they will most likely have to pay the import fee. The only way I have been told by importers is if the same owner that exported it, re-imports it. I had to pay an import fee on my U.S. car that was re-imported from abroad. It doesn't make any sense, but neither does having to wait 25 years to import vehicles that have a showroom floor life of approximately 5 years.
Why does someone bid 200k an hour after it was last at $130k with 6 days to go?? Things that make you go hmm….
