F355 Market

It's called flat rate consignment. Many dealers are lazy, but the top selling dealers go the extra mile and their cars sell for a premium as a result.

 

Yeah, that is bad. And all over. The one comment explaining it away based on the brand of leather conditioner? I've never had Connolly leather in a vehicle but don't buy that the conditioner was to blame. I would believe if it were improperly stored. But really, how difficult is a $500 detail for a seller of a car like this (or significantly less for a stealership)?

 

It’s borderline insulting. You want us to bid on that?? Are we supposed to be blind? You came with a serious car but half-ass effort. Why should any bidder take you seriously?

 

It's not just astoundingly lazy, it's strategically stupid. When you sell a high-end car, you want to present it as close to needs-nothing as possible. A cream puff. Sign the papers and you own something close to perfect. But you put a moldy Ferrari up for sale, and all anyone is going to be thinking about is the terrible things that were done to this car in the past. How was it stored that it has MOLD growing on it? Was it kept in a hidden lair behind a waterfall? If the PO let it get moldy, what else did he let happen to it? And those carpets -- it looks like some toddlers had an ice cream party inside the car. Also too much trouble for anyone to deal with before the photo shoot.

I have a pretty high tolerance for stories but this is a 355 I would not bid on unless I'd inspected it in person.

 

Like the Swater Blue car. $3500 for a cut and buff and ceramic, but why bother to clean the engine bay or under the front bonnet. Makes no sense. And how often do you see a car with a filthy under tray, oil pan, .....

 

The seller of that 95 has been busy cleaning and posting updated pics, as well a few correct pics of the undercarriage - unfortunately, you don't get a second chance to make a first impression.

It'd be interesting to know what sort of environment the car was actually stored in - was hard to see the mold on my phone, but the corrosion on the trunk release lever was clearly visible at that smaller scale.

 

That was me, happened to my car with leatherique last year. I think the linked video is the last time my car was driven in the rain, note the year. For the last few years I've only washed it waterless, so the only thing that could have caused it was the conditioner. There is actually mold growing in the bottle and it somehow sucked up all the air and imploded itself....Maybe I got a bad batch or something but I won't be using it again.

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Clean? What's all that green stuff on the diffuser, moss?

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He probably hadn't gotten that far yet; actually never mind, I doubt the seller will bother cleaning down there. At least these are pics of a 355 undercarriage this time.

The comments section will likely be interesting in this auction as it develops.

 

It was never driven and it was damp...

sjd

 

Major service was performed last week, but no one thought it was a good idea to clean anything while the engine was out. I’m sure that 101 point inspection was easy to perform through all that grime.


Were the brake ducts part of that 101 point inspection?


Both owner and seller must have low expectations for this car. Someone might get a deal on a 10k mi 355. Hopefully, it goes to someone who cares.
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I think those undercarriage pics were prior to the major, as seller said they provided the same pics prior to the auction to BaT but they didn't post them. Overall the strategy is puzzling to awful, but I think the way BaT works is you have to submit your car and it can be months before it actually goes up for sale, so they probably got the car, submitted to BaT and then did the work thinking they could update the pictures etc. Good learning experience for them (and other potential sellers).

 

If the undercarriage was actually any different now, that would be a blessing if BAT didn’t post the pre-major pics. That’s an opportunity to post a post-major undercarriage cleaned up, yet they chose to post what they posted. My bet is it’s in the same state.

It’s still not too late for them to post any updated pics.

 

Agree - but it does not look like the engine has been out or undertrays removed anytime recently in those pics, so my bet is seller quickly uploaded what they had and will have to take new ones (which I hope they do). I would, FOR SURE, go look at this car in person first if I was thinking about bidding. This is the case for not buying a low mileage car though, as it's clearly just sat for a long time. I'd expect it to spring other issues in the first few thousand miles from sitting. I'd be surprised if the shocks, steering rack, shifter seals etc. didn't end up leaking before long. Throwout bearing will probably crap out as well. I'd rather have a 50k car that was used and maintained.

 

I've been searching for a lower cost F355, but the phrase is, "Nothing is more expensive than a cheap Ferrari!" I agree it would be nice to see someone with deep pockets do a complete restoration on this, but I'm betting a "nice driver" would cost less than bringing this up to snuff.

 

Major done last week, but didn’t bother to replace the leak prone power steering fluid reservoir with a $40 better one.


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Never had a problem in 32k miles and counting. No runs, not drips, no errors.

 

Does anyone else WANT the old ps reservoir n their car? I know it's not as good as the updated one, but it's not period correct for the '95. I just make sure mine is screwed down firmly and I inspect around the cap periodically for leaks.

 

Its known to fail and fail spectacularly. I'll take the updated one. Ferrari did supercede it so it's technically correct. That said I recently picked up a "new" updated one. There's a few different ones out there all marketed the same ZF part number. The cap on the new replacement one I received doesn't thread on nearly as far and secure as my old replacement one. I stuck with the old.

 

For fun I look at the various 1995 cars for sale. Less than 1/2 had the PS reservoir updated. It was never an official recall, so I would not think it was a safety issue.. My understanding is that the cap would crack and as a result would not stay tight. I always assumed it was from over tightening. I assume most that have been updated were out of fear/caution, not necessity. Another, "they all do that".

What is a spectacularly failure?

Updated ones are BMW (and other) parts from, for example, 1989 325i. Anywhere fro $8 to $38 at Rock Auto depending on manufacture.

 

Yeah it's cheep to replace, I know my 95 puked ps fluid so I changed it. I still have the original on the shelf.

 

Here’s how you present a low mileage car.

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/2GJPl10ZvvE?feature=share

 

One of my longer term watching finally sold. Price listed was the ask.

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