Good morning All, First post here… sorry it has to be a question . I’ve been watching here for a few years, gathering information while waiting for my time to begin the Ferrari ownership experience, and now the time is quickly approaching. I’m retired Air Force (Flight Engineer) and now 19 years in commercial aviation, post military. Owning a Ferrari is going to be a big deal for me. I’ve owned MGs, Z cars, a Bugeye, and most recently sold a ‘67 Alfa Duetto to make room for the future F 355. This next chapter is going to be an exciting leap! As I look through online ads for cars currently for sale, it appears everyone sells their F 355 when it’s due for the major service, so that doesn’t seem to be much of a factor that can be considered. There are some with time still left on the belts though. I’ve seen a few cars where everything looks good except for the dashboard leather; which brings me to my main question: does anyone have any current experience having their dash recovered? I know the price changes by locale, but in round numbers how much has it cost? I know most things Ferrari are costlier than most other manufacturers. How much work is involved for a shop to do it? Does the windshield have to come out? Lastly, does anyone know of a good buying source other than the usual online sources? Brokerages maybe? I’m in the San Diego area BTW. Thanks for reading! Mark
I had my dash redone 2/3 years ago. I took it out/ but it back myself. Windscreen does not need to come out. I also had the door cards partly redone to match the leather as it will be slightly different colour/ grain. Mine was relatively cheap as the guy that did it was an aircraft trimmer and did cars as a side job. I also got the hides at wholesale price, including the skiving for the airbag. cost me £1.5k total. Think I was quoted circa £4-5k from an indie.
The 355 dash is in 2 pieces, the upper part is the one that shrinks and gets rewrapped along with the airbag. Fifteen years ago, I was given a fully wrapped upper dash for $1,000 and then the installation cost of one full day. That is probably a $2500 job. I ended up buying a spare upper dash, covered it myself, and spent a whole day swapping it for the dash in the car. No, the windshield does not have to come out. I still have the old upper dash over my desk right now. For a DIY, that is how you do it. No need to have your car in pieces for 2 weeks waiting for the dash to be wrapped. Right now, I don't think anyone will be able to do it for $2500. All things have gotten more expensive. I would budget $4,000 for a good leather rewrap by a professional.
I was betting $4K would be in the ballpark. Yes it seems like everything has gone up at least a third in the past three years. This is representative of a lot of the cars i see for sale: Image Unavailable, Please Login Thanks for the reply.
My wife had work to do in Denver this past weekend so I tagged along and we went to look at an F355 for sale there. It was quite a sight! the pictures attached show the condition of the interior. The front of the car appeared to have been repainted in someone's garage and the top was tattered and wouldn't go down. The best was the service records dating back to 2011: * Top won't go down. Found top frame bent. * Undercarriage panel ripped off of bottom of car while driving. replaced panel with used panel. * Major service. All carriage bolts seized. applied heat and penetrating oil in cycles to break bolts free. Engine compartment had to be pressure washed twice to remove caked on mud (Local ferrari dealer) *Dashboard recovered (also local Ferrari dealer) Top won't go down. Found top frame bent and cracked. Welded crack and adjusted frame. Top won't go down. replaced top frame with a used unit. Dashboard recovered once and it looks like this?! Top fixed multiple times (bent frame? How do you do that?) and it still doesn't work. the dealer selling the car said the owner lives down a dirt road and may also have left the car outside from time to time! they're asking $84K but talking closely to me the dealer said I could probably steal it for $75K ! I guess sleazeball used car lots exist in all markets . I'm going to go see Mike Sheehan of Ferraris online tomorrow and see if he can help me sift through the market. Best Mark Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
They all do that. The leather on my dash has shrunk over the 20 years I've owned it. I'm sure I'll get it looked at some time in the coming 20 years. FWIW, the cost to buy a whole hide is about £150 plus some contact adhesive. The rest you're paying is labour and F-tax...
I have done a few of those dashes myself. Even if the 355 upper dash does not involve any sewing (meaning gotta have machine and special skills), the process of stretching / cutting / trimming / gluing takes some special skills to master. If someone is charging $1,000 to do a dash recovering, pay him. That car for sale above is an embarrassment of a Ferrari. The visuals are terrible and I would bet there is no recent engine out service done in the last ... 5 years. There is a value for that car but I personally would not pay $75K. I just sold a 355 spider for my friend and ... when the buyer shows up, I flipped the car cover off and he said "wow," took him for an 8000 rpm drive, and the deal was agreed to at full asking price. We stopped at the bank for a cashier check.
Well, big or small, the pulls and leather tears need replacement. So once it needs it, who cares how bad it is? $84k for that car is crazy. Yea, it's a manual shift car, but still.... That's a $40,00 project at best. Less if it has higher mileage.
I've only seen one other F355 in "as bad" condition. this car has been horribly mistreated, has 40 some odd thousand HARD miles on it and is due for it's major service. I went and talked to Mike Sheehan at Ferraris online in Costa Mesa about it and he agreed with the consensus here that the car needs $40K in visible repairs, not including getting to the root cause of the chronic top folding problems and the miss it had at idle. I'm going to utilize his brokerage services and see if I can cut down some time and effort in finding a reasonable car.
First time I've seen a mouse hair dash in a 355: https://www.ebay.com/itm/116764899073?_skw=ferrari+355&itmmeta=01K4DSXMGWFZKD65WEFYK3MS2V&hash=item1b2fbaf701:g:mqQAAOSwSqRoGhbM&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA8FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1dfdSyuX7fkEdUSW%2FItupBjXU4iC7BbWel3ajM3H6qU1YYaGJ%2FnH%2BgUY1LU2IVkiQ8ydw0JbmLtGlQEBGt87qxu8nBCPcSIws1Y37BhXxzrD3Pc%2F%2BmLY%2Bv%2BSd0FICQG3DvVMUPliXpVsClessYriVAAkZTWce%2Fk5Qc3WjxaQNcaJAGYksRadd2ncXX3If0zPA1s1hr6ME%2BqmC0fNcGrpDePe%2FNRIjET0tfACh6GF8gFpxja%2BmpfZsXPHPwdLv9jAakLM8svn2er5pg2NgoRmLzH4wghT1Xp4vH1Gsa4zd5ZnQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR-bK9rmjZg
Hmmmm….I’m having a little bit of trouble digesting that. Not that it’s necessarily bad, just different.
$285,000 !!! I need to contact the buyer of my identical 355 from some years ago and asked for my $200,000 ....
Alcantera. Several of us have done this, to eliminate reflective glare on the windshield. 360 Challenge cars cam that way, as did the 550 Barchetta (at least, those that I've seen). That ebay example should have done the grab handles in black leather, for both contrast (texture), and durability.
Is windshield glare a problem with these? I know it’s a big windshield. I was at the concorso last year in Monterrey and noticed a lot of the newer Ferrari’s have a similar leather used on the dash.
My Boxer and 400GT also came with black leather on their dashes, and there is a definite sun reflection that you will see in the windshield. Even non-leather dashes like Porsche, Smart, Mercedes, Subaru (other current cars) have the issue with their textures. Now, imagine having an ever-so-stylish lighter-colored dash as a fashion statement!! Additionally, the leather will dry and shrink over time, while the alcantera will fade a bit if not protected from UV (nearly clear ceramic windshield film is available for exactly this). Both the Boxer and 400GT have alcantera now - they're for driving, not absolute originality. The 355's lighter colored lower dash is barely visible at the top edge of the windshield, so the jury is still out on whether or not the sunvisors and "eyebrow" tint will address it. We'll see, when it's back from getting its new interior.
How are you doing the interior? Replacement panels and pre sewn seat covers from the usual suppliers or all done from scratch at an upholstery shop? I’ll be interested in hearing your experience. A lot of these cars have sun baked interiors and /or just 30 years of wear.
All from scratch. GAHH, ReOriginals, etc. don't make the color combinations I'm using across all three cars - light grey with black accents, and "Daytona" seats were never a factory option for the 355. All three cars are white, as are the Porsche and one of the Mercs. You could say that there's a theme....
