F355 Market

No... question was is there anyone else but hippies. I'm guessing the appetite/population density is much thinner for resto-modders today than it was 15 years ago is my theory. It was primarily boomers as every tv show customer or every auction winner would show on TV, who is it today is more the question. Maybe is the same but dwindling. So Who else, its probably some Gen X'ers which I am one. I was a muscle car guy once. Probably not Gen Y or definitely not Z.

355 is timeless the design is goregous, Let's hope new generations figure that out. Fairly easy as DIY also to keep it pretty and fresh. As of now its all Teslas every time I talk to them and I do often etc.

Muscle cars I think the clock is ticking down why restomod a Challenger when you can buy a new one. Although I think they killed them I think I heard. eMuscle is next I suspect. I bet the modern gas versions become the new classic muscle cars in time. There is a metric azz load of them.

 

The hobby will continue to evolve, but there is just as much of a market today as there has been. In fact, I'd say what started with muscle car resto-modding has certainly moved up-market with businesses like Singer and even Modificata Ferrari. Electric motors are just a new way to modify classic designs.

 

The classics are far far better looking. A new Challenger is huge, bloated and strangely proportioned compared to the original.

I have a 69 Charger which I guess you could say is a restomod. Personally would rather have a tastefully upgraded classic than anything new that would be considered it's equivalent.

 

Ohh I totally agree with you on looks. Based on the sheer numbers I see, seems many people prefer to buy then build. No matter how hideous and huge the new ones are.

 

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That's just maintenance in my book. I do the same type of things for all my cars. Even my 2002 Toyota pick up with 164k miles. As for the pictures, I take picture of the all. Even the damaged ones. 18 years owned until some old lady pulled a left. Even the cop almost cried.

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I think an F355 with a new LT6 engine would be super--basically a 5.5L version of the F355 motor. 670 HP, 450 lb-ft.

 

If it doesn't rev pass 6k.... oh wait...

 

You do realize that many of the forces on engine components increase as RPM squared.

 

I don't think I ever saw my father, a retired project physicist, ever take a car past maybe 4000-4500 rpm because of this exact thing. Granted his dailies weren't things you wound out. He drove my 355 and didn't go above 4500 or so; I tried to get him to, and that it was ok, but he said he was good.

On a related note, I thought I read on here that the 355 motor was conservatively redlined at 8500rpm and that it was actually designed to take 10,000rpm? I could be wrong.

 

The engine was designed with a high redline. If you're afraid to rev the thing you would likely more enjoy driving a car with less rpm capability.

 

Luca gave Michael Schumacher an F355 with a motor that could spin 10,000 RPMs {cams and headers}

However, emissions control becomes increasingly difficult with cam overlap.
So, while the motor will not be damaged/ come apart at over RedLine RPMs, wear accelerates--and the valve guides were found to be a weak link.

My impression is that Ferrari built the engine that could take 10K RPMs, and then settled for only "the highest specific output V8 of all time" up to that point. Whether the settlement was due to emissions, valve guides, warrantee, or other engineering issues we will probably never know.

 

Honestly, how much time does anyone here spend at red line. If you're not on a track what do you do, drive around in 2nd gear? Red line in 2nd is like 72 mph. 51 mph in 1st.

Personally I find it a lot more enjoyable to shift at 5 or 6k and go through a few gears as I wind through the twisty back roads of New England. After 2nd gear there really isn't any place on the street to get to red line.

 

If you never shift pass 6k, it’s just another “used car.” It all makes sense now .

 

Between 6,500 and 8,500 full throttle::

Texas World Speedway:: 30%-35% 2.9 mile course
MSR Houston:: 27%-32%
MSR Cresson:: 27%-30% long course

 

Ken , thanks for the kind words!!
Have a great weekend

 

It's a good question really and kind of hard to quantify.

99% of the time I am in agreement. It can be/is enjoyable to leisurely run through gears at 5-6k through twisty roads.


Also would say, I find enjoyment in running it out to the limiter when the opportunity presents itself.

No agenda to do so, but no apprehension either.

 

"Yes, now if 6 turned out to be 9 I don't mind, I don't mind"


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No pics/info yet, but here's a 94-production metallic black/red GTS with 27K miles at $275,900 ask.

https://www.reimelmotorcars.com/vehicles/270/1994-ferrari-f355-gts-6-speed

Same dealer has an incoming 95 GTS in silver/blue w/40k miles at $225,900 (also no pics yet).

 

Oh boy. A European Christmas.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1997-ferrari-f355-berlinetta-4/

 

https://www.connorsmotorcar.com/vehicles/960/1998-ferrari-355-gts-f1

Yellow 98 F1 GTS, carbon seats and clean Carfax, 86k miles $89K

 

Hi Mike, this is Dan. Is this car still available for sale?

 

Hi Dan, yes my 355 GTS is still available and I now have documentation to show that the Carfax damage was really nothing at all.
Feel free to give me a call if you’d like.

 

It's still a 355, sounds like another way to overhype your own car. What about the very few 2.7 with airbag produced between the end of 95 and early 96? It's still one of the many 355s built over the years, it doesn't make any difference to me.

If you really want to mention a rare F355, then let's talk about the Fiorano version which is a limited, final production with features you don't find on the " standard " F355s - that's the definition of something rare and interesting to me.

 

Rarest in my opinion is, in no particular order:

Street Legal Challenge Cars
Fiorano Spiders (bonus points for manuals)
FHP Berlinetta/GTS (bonus points for Carbon seats or carbon options + fender shields + manual)
2.7 Pre-Airbag Cars (bonus points single piece undercarriage cover + carbon seats)

And of course colour combinations. RC/Tan or RC/Black is probably the most common by far.

There's a ton of cars in between these. I'd guess these account for like, 5-10% of total production...if that?