It appears the Yakima roof top tent trend is in full effect....
I'll expect to see one mounted on you Berlinetta. Great for track "weekends", but might slow you down a little on the straights.
Pretty https://www.ferrariofnaples.com/inventory/used-1998-ferrari-f355-gts-rwd-2d-coupe-zffxr42a9w0110914/
Now that the auctions over, I can put on my Johnk hat and point out nuances I’ve spotted. 1. Still on original headers from 1999 (unless invoices show otherwise) 2. Stickies not addressed 3. Passenger airbag deformation 4. Some distortion in leather on driver’s side door panel 5. Some leather discoloration on passenger seat. 6. “Busted up” front undertray. 7. Front bumper will need a respray. 8. 1 paint nicked wheel 9. Busted up driver’s side door sill. The good: 1. 1999. Last MY assumed to have steel valve guides. 2. Late model rare option embossed fenders/shields. 3. OE Sony/Ferrari headunit 4. A painted and unpainted Targa 5. Low 15k mi 6. OE Tan floor mats, which are impossible to come by. 7. Capristo muffler 8. Resale Red/Tan the market can never get enough of The perfect 355 is hard to come by. Hardest issue to attack for this car will be the airbag deformation. Probably seat discoloration second. I haven’t seen a solid solution for the airbag deformation that retains the OE look with embossed “airbag.” Original Connolly leather is difficult to come by. Most live with airbag deformation issues. Personally, I can’t. When looking for a car, one of the first places I look is the passenger airbag and possible dash shrinkage. I’m more inclined to pass if it has issues simply because I don’t want to deal with finding the perfect solution outside of luckily finding a good dash and airbag from a crashed car, which seems near impossible. Both of my 95 cars have pretty good dash and airbags. The 355’s main hinderance is leather work and getting it to look new and OE if you have deeper issues. Best thing to do is to find used replacement in better condition or work from there. Finding these parts requires some combination of determination and luck. Everything else on the car you can get to look close to brand new or possibly even better. Except for calipers . Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I was waiting for it. LOLNot only all those things, but it's one of those effed up GTS cars. By the way, nix the shipping. They all have to be shipped. Was the buyer American? Oh, and by the way, my spider doesn't have any of those problems and you could buy it for 1/2 as much, IF I was selling.
My upholstery guy can emboss the airbag. Anybody needing that done, feel free to reach out and I'll get you set up. Is the multi-color tan interior factory leather fading to different shades, or is it mix and match dye work? My car has that a bit too.. thought it was dye jobs but it seems like all tan interiors get it to some degree. Sorry for muddling up the valuation thread.
The 355 is a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get . Just gotta pick your battles. What can you easily resolve and what is more challenging to execute… Here’s the 17k mi BAT GTS that went for $300k for comparison. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1996-ferrari-f355-gts-3/ Which car is the better buy?? Or are they just about the same when weighing pros and cons? For me, interior needs to be on point first. Everything else on the car can be attained. Embossed fenders will be near impossible at this stage though, but even then I still managed to find a pair of brand new fenders. Then again, my determination to find rare 355 parts isn’t exactly normal either . Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I'm a little surprised the seller didn't take care of the bubbling HVAC piece. It could have been redone for $55 DIY or completed for about $500. The airbag cover can be redone and that's not a big deal either. He also should have had the stock steering wheel swapped in considering the conservative nature of BaT's audience. The more difficult and expensive things are finding fenders with shields and a painted top. Imagine if this car had the FHP and CF racing seats, which are unobtanium these days.
Redone with leather from where? If it’s not original Connolly leather, it won’t match. Might match in color if lucky, but not texture. You’d have to re-do the entire dash. Which then would require doing the door card sections including the top roof half of the interior.
But that $300k car wasn't perfect either. Dash leather looks to be pulling Numerous paint chips on rockers, bumpers and elsewhere Crack developing on passengers side at front of buttress Front bumper wear and effed up repair Fuel distributor recall not done. (I know, BFD.) Point being we can nit pick any car. And that car sold in April. Looks like maybe market is kind of flat.
You might have a guy to re-do, but what leather is being used? That’s the million dollar question. I’ve been looking for perfect Connolly matching leather for 6 months to a year with no luck. https://www.instagram.com/p/CSacorehWIt/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY= Not sure what was done here, but looks like the simply replaced the leather. Color is slightly off. Can’t speak on texture. No airbag embossment it seems either. Also have to bring the car to them as well.
Hi Fellas , my poor little red/tan 1999 355 GTS Stick with 23,500 mi is still avail on f chat I’m happy to discuss all offers , I want it to go to a good home with an F Chatter I will be submitting the car to BAT on Monday . Thank you Mike 973-610-7111
$285k purchase price $5k buyer fee 2.5% duty = $7125 Currency conversion (assumes 0.5% spread if you know what you're doing) = $1425 MPF = $538 Broker fee = $300 Entry bond = $550 Total: $299,938 + shipping
Guessing you have not bought or sold on BaT before. They merely facilitate the sale by connecting buyer and seller. You don't remit payment to BaT (other than the buyer fee). The buyer will need to remit payment for the vehicle to the seller, and someone will have to eat the currency conversion cost as the seller is in Canada and mostly likely does not have a USD account. As someone who has purchased multiple vehicles from Canada, typically the buyer ends up eating the conversion cost as most Canadian banks won't receive USD wires, meaning the money must be sent pre-converted (unless the person receiving the money has a separate USD account).
Buttress cracks are on every 355 that hasn’t sought out to address. No point in mentioning it at this stage. Paint work needed for bumpers and sideskirts will be normal. Can be painted to better quality and durability than OE. Minor issue and a given for a 25 year old car imo. That dash pulling looks like there’s a good chance it can be fixed. It hasn’t pulled far enough to where yellow core underneath is revealed. Here’s the dash from the silver Berlinetta on BAT. Neither of my 355’s have these issues . Image Unavailable, Please Login
My dash was recovered by the prior owner. The airbag cover was left original with original embossing. The match is perfect between the 2. Not sure what they use or where they found it, but it can be done.
Looks pretty much like mine, Image Unavailable, Please Login except I got one of these. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here’s a conversation I had with Judd’s Coach Trimming in the UK back in Dec. 2021. They deal with Connolly UK on a daily basis. https://www.instagram.com/p/B-NbW7-pDuF/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY= Here’s a 550 dash they did. Supposed to be Connolly leather from factory. They ended up using a general Napa leather, which was still not a perfect match in color or texture, which they admit, but best they come up with. Many claim they can get perfect matching Connolly leather, but when I see results, they look below 90% accuracy to my eyes. I’d like to find something 95%+ close to OE Connolly. In short…. Place higher value on a 355 with perfect of near perfect interior because it will be near impossible for you to mimic it without actually replacing the pieces with better ones. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
When was it done? Early 2000’s? Who did it? Recovered completely or re-working existing leather? Got pics?
