550 Barchetta Vs 575 Superamerica Vs Straman 550

The 550 Barchetta is the nicest in my opinion.
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I might be alone here, but I much prefer the Superamerica. I think the back of the other two look like Aircraft carrier landing decks. styleless and flat.

 

Great idea for a thread... need a few more pics... it'll be interesting to see the comparisons.

William, can I add a poll to the thread?

 

For me the 550 Barchetta by far looks the best, tuffest. May not be the most useful, that's the 575 Super America. The worst looking one IMO is the Straman 550, the back is to flat.

 

When I first saw the 575, I was not sure I liked the design. Now that I see them one after the other, I find myself leaning towards the Superamerica.

 

Ok this will sound nuts..

How about :

Get a Maranello , send it to UK to get the LM treatment and then send it to straman ?

1400 kgs , 540 HP Maranello Spider ?

 

575 SA: The rebirth of the Ferrari Targa

I like targas.

 

From the front

 

From the rear...

 

Peeking inside...

 

Which one can you drive @ 150+ with top UP?
My guess, 575. 550 B has weird hump in decklid as well. I like the Straman/Brunei cars best, but try to get one fixed in TX hill country.

 

The Barchetta is the car that made me fall in love with Ferrari, so im gonna stick to that. But I do love the new 575, it prob looks awesome in person.

 

Here there are some pics and explanation of the Pavesi 550 Convertible, just click on photos :
http://www.cavallino.cc/index.php?section=stradali/ferraris/modele/550barchetta

But, it is only for 550 Barchetta.

Alain

 

I went with the 550 Barchetta; I prefer the 550 to 575, the Barchetta is 'purer' than the Superamerica, which I bet will be much heavier...

I think the Superamerica was a missed opportunity to do a real coachbuilt stunner a la 250 California.

Robert.

 

I think it is a dead head between the Straman and the Superamerica. I have never been a big fan of the Barchetta because of the goofy roll hoops over powering the windscreen, and the impracticality of the roof.

The Straman in the most traditional convertable of the group, and does look great, but others have made a good point that the rear deck is too flat. I suspect if the factory had used this configuration, they would have devised something with a bit more style.

The Superamerica is probably the best all around option based on practicality, ingenuity, and style. I love that they put some flying buttresses on the car, as someone who grew up with 1980's Ferrari styling, that is such a trademark, it's great to see it back. The car has a very balanced look front to rear, and is still 100% Ferrari, and perhaps even a bit more aggressive than the berlinetta which is almost too graceful.

 

As some of you are aware, I own a Straman 550. The car looks great with the top up and this is what separates it from the Barchetta. The curves behind the seat on the Barchetta look great with the top down. In fact, I wished that they had done this with my car. The Straman car can be driven at high speed with the top up and probably works better than the Barchetta in that respect. Another difference is the cost. It would have cost me an additional $100K for the Barchetta (at least). I will try to post pictures of the top movement in a week or so since I am heading out today. I feel that the Straman is the best of both worlds since it looks great with the top up or down, not just one way. However, I am obviously biased.

 

I voted for the 550 Barchetta, however I always found its roll bars too high. I have some pictures of a modded 550 with lower rollbars which looks 10 times better. I'll see if I can get permission from the author to post them.

 

William, I was told that Mr. Straman was highly motivated to begin his world tour when he did. There was something about some VW conversions that had problems.

Has anybody else heard anything?

Dale

 

I have a question for those voting for the Barchetta. Why didn't you buy one when it came out? I realize that the poll only asks which style you prefer. Let's change it up a little to which style would you actually buy?

My impression of the Barchetta is that it is strictly a Southern California car. You'd have to be nuts to have this car in Houston, where we just got over 15 inches of rain during the last three days.

Dale

 

Many people, myself included, are simply too tall to sit inside it well. :-/

 

From the side, the SA looks best, but all three shout 'compromise' to me:
1) 550B- no place for a roof so don't use one.
2) Straman- cleanest line but what if the car lands on its 'roof'? Well, no-one would accuse you of being a big head ever again. It's presumably why the ugly rollover hoops on the 550B
3) 575SA- that dished recess for the roof looks a bit odd, but at least the kids could use it for playing Beyblades.