99'F355 GTS F1 how much?

355 market pretty fluid right now, but I am looking at a 99 GTS F1 10k miles with 30k service completed. What should I pay/offer and what should I look out for in the car. Any council/suggestions appreciated.

 

Last model year, GTS = desirable, 30k completed, all good. Mileage is high for resale impact, but the fact that it was nearly a daily driver is a good thing if you're unconcerned with its value when you go to sell it eventually.

What about PPI and leakdown test results? YES even a 99 355 needs it for sure, valve guide issues HAVE been reported and repaired this late in the line. Rare this late, but still needs to be checked.

I'd be prepared to pay no more than $85k - $90k if it was me (I'm in So Cal, LOTS of inventory here) but I'd start at $75k for sure. You might just steal it, because the 355 has so dramatically fallen in value over the past 12 months, and because there are just so damn many of them for sale at any given time.

 

Check the calendar Mako, its 2004. This car is 5 years old. 2k miles/year hardly puts it in daily driver territory. Having just bought a F355 GTS I can tell you that the average of all the examples I looked at seemed to indicate that 2k/year is about average for this model.

Considering that the belts were changed at the 15K serivce, $85 - $90 would be a very fair price for a manual transmission in pristine condition. The F1 probably pushes you closer to $90K. Any flaws would move you lower from here.

 

I would try to stay away from any F1 trans Ferrari. If your buying this car without a warrenty your taking you wallets good health and putting it on life support. Be sure so factor in the cost to repaire anything thats goes wrong with the f1 system. Parts for these tranny's are very expensive and they take a long time to get. The dealer is also the only one who can properly diagnose the f1 trans in the cars with there scan tool. Most independant guys that I know will try to avoid any work involving the trans in these cars. Normal service stuff is fine.

The F1 trans has an uncanny ability to leave you looking like a fool in the middel of an intersection when it decides to drop out og gear for no apparent reason. (happened to me on a road test!! I almost got creamed by the truck!!)

If you must have an F1 equiped car..be sure that everything is in workin order and have the bills to prove it!!

Good luck in your search

Tom

 

That's fine, and if you think for one second that this car wasn't driven at least three days a week, you're a jacka$$. Next time check your mouth before you pop off, there's likely a foot in it.

On an F-car, 2.5k miles a year is probably 3x the average that a typical owner puts on it. No, F-chatters are not typical Ferrari owners.

 

We are not talking about F-cars in general, but specificially the F355. This model seems to carry higher miles than the average F-car.

Instead of checking my mouth, how about checking the facts: Currently there are 7 F355 GTS models listed in the Ferrari Market Letter. Between them the average mileage/year is 2,280. Any questions?

More facts for the mathmatically impaired. If this car were driven 3 days/week over 5 years it would have been driven 780 days (5x52x3). At 10K miles and 3 drives/week, the average daily drive would have been 12.8 miles (10,000/780). Are you saying that the previous owner stayed within a 6.5 miles radius of his home whenever he took the F-car out? You would call this a daily driver?

 

Exactly, because most guys aren't going to take their F-car into heavy morning traffic for a work commute of beyond 10 miles. They'll daily drive it short distances to the office, to run light errands, etc.

I stand by what I've written, nothing you've shown changes the original fact that the car has been driven and is close enough to my original estimate of its status. Be funny to call the owner and see how he describes the driving frequency, I'd bet a ton he'll say "a few days a week". LOL

I recommend the orignal poster just re-read my first post, as it's the smartest one in this thread thus far. Everything since then has been useless information.

 

Obviously the F1 trannys have held a higher premium than manuals. I'm not sure I'd favor that, let alone for more $$$. The manuals have dropped more than the F1s have, though.

 

More data for the slow learners. There are 11 1998-1999 F355 Berlinettas listed in the FML letter right now. The average mileage of these 11 cars is 2,123.

Most people live more than 6.5 miles from work.

People normally run errands in their F355? Why, because they love to park them in public parking lots at the supermarket? I always thought these cars were used for weekend pleasure drives or maybe to escort a date/spouse out to dinner. I suppose Mako takes his dates to the McDonalds on the corner to ensure the mileage stays down.

A car that travels 6.5 miles and then is turned off, then started and driven 6.5 miles and turned off again should be avoided at all costs. Most wear an an engine occurs when it is started, not when its running. A car driven like this would have been started, stopped, and started repeatedly. Furthermore, a car that rarely reaches full operating temperature will have additional problems. Fortunately, I would seriously doubt that these cars are driven as Mako suggests.

(trainer shouting from the corner, holding white towel) "Stay down Mako, for God's sake don't get up again"

 

I agree and disagree with Mako.

99 with 10K miles is not high nor truely a daily driver.

It has been driven at that is a good thing. Fully agree here.

Instead of arguing about it you all shoult, as Mako did, give this fellow an estimate of what you would pay.

I agree on the 90s mark.

 

I never said it was too high, I said it's been driven. When I say daily driver in reference to an F-car, it means an F-car that actually gets use multiple times a week. It doesn't mean Honda Civic-style duty to and fro work, at some 15k miles a year. I would classify that in F-car speak as "driving it into the ground".

PS - I wasn't the one that argued it.

 

That was a great line. Not necessarily original, but neither is a pie in the face at a ball game, but that's funny as well.

 

You have a good point there. The pie in the face thing never gets old. I am a big fan of the 'hot shoe' also.

On the mileage thing, we'll just agree to disagree. Either way, I think our valuations were close