SINGLE MIRROR TR'S

FWIW mirrors mounted high on the passenger side are useless. The A-pillar blocks the view from the drivers side. I've sat in a Tr with 2 high mirrors to verify this. People add these on to 'balance' the look not for functionality. IMHO it kills the looks but that's just IMHO.

 

+1000 The single high mirror will make this a more valuable TR IMHO. I would venture to say there are less than 400 of these left in the US.

 

To add a mirror you can either buy an aftermarket Vitaloni ("Baby Turbo" maybe?) mirror or the other option is to order a R/H outer mirror from Ferrari for a RHD TR. You will need to add a "stiffener" steel plate inside the "A" pillar to support the mirror.
Like everybody says the mirror is less than functional AND the glass in the Euro RHD mirror might possibly be the "convex" glass not plain/flat glass.

 

tell him just stay in the right lane

- seriously, single mirrored TR's are rare and beautiful. to add a second mirror would kill the look and purity of the car...

joe

 

Dear Ferraristi,

Single mirror TR's are not my cup of tea....yeah yeah, I know....it was THE Vice car.

Instead of ruining the originality of the looks, why not just a camera with the center nav screen. They have them as backup cameras on Lambos all the time. I'm sure a small lens camera could be fitted with very miminal impact on the looks.


Shamile

Freeze...Miami Vice !

 

Tell him to sell the car and buy a different year TR. Don't damage the original.

 

Not much better with 2 mirrors, i have a 90 Testa and what i can see out of the passenger side mirror aint worth **** !!

 

+++ on what everybody else said. Plus this - as I understand it, this conversion could cost 1.5 to 2K dollars, and maybe more. Aren't there more important things to do with that money? I mean besides the regular maintenance -

For example, are all the struts on both hoods working well? How about the all-important release cables to them? Does your glovebox work perfectly every time on the solenoid and then close smoothly without banging on it? Has your accelerator pedal worn a smooth spot down to the metal?

I was actually thinking about starting a thread on this last night. I was driving my ZR-1 Corvette yesterday, and I just noticed that I was looking over my right shoulder when I wanted to turn or change lanes that way. Was this because my single mirror had somehow messed with my mind?

No, I recalled, it was not. I had always driven that way. For one thing, my first car (Corvair Monza) had only a left mirror. For another, I was taught in pre-16 drivers ed to always look over your shoulder to the right even if you did have a right mirror; there could still be a blind spot on that side where a small car or motorcycle could hide.

For what it is worth, my 86 car's former owner put a stickon mirror right in the windshield in the middle of the passenger side about eye level. It was about 3/4" x 1.5" in size. Then, he put another loose-fitting little mirror like this on a ball mount on the vertical post behind the A piller - on the inside mind you. Needless to say, both were as worthless as T*TS ON A BOAR HOG, and probably only added to his paranoia.

I say turn your head, look over your shoulder, and learn to drive with confidence. You will have the assurance that objects viewed that way will NOT be closer than they appear.

James

 

I have a small convex mirror with a suction cup mounted on the passenger side about 6" from the rear view mirror and right up at the top of the windshield. It is small enough that it does not block a passengers view and it is just enough for me to do a quick look before I turn around over my shoulder.

 

I have seen guys use this product:

http://www.autobahnmirror.com/AUTOBAHNMIRROR.html

Jay

 

You don't have it adjusted properly. I can see as much out of my R/H mirror as I can the left.

 

James, get him a euro single mirror (convex). The veiw is excellent, the north american spec car has a plain mirror.

Rocco

 

Ah the purists speak...don't listen...

If you want a right side mirror then by all means DO IT !! It's your car, not theirs.

As to where you can get one besides Ferrari, Johns Italian Auto sells them for around $300 for the right side mirror.

 

First of all it's not the thread starters car it's a car belonging to a client he sold it to. Second, why add a something to try to improve rear view visibility when that something clearly will not and is useless (other than adding more wind noise)??? Did you read the first post in the thread??

 

Why not listen? Isn't this why he solicited advice in the first place? OK, perhaps you meant don't blindly follow the purist mentality of do nothing aftermarket to your fcar. I can live with that. I, too, think sometimes we tend to overdo the 'purist' mentality (unless of course we are looking to keep the car 'concours' ready). But don't solicit advice from people then not listen. A waste of bandwidth.

 

My post was more in response to this one and others like it. I certainly understood the first post and subsequent ones.

 

4Yacht, I sincerely hope that the shimmering heat waves from that turbo-jet will not obscure your view from the right-hand mirror too much.

But, seriously - that was not a bad suggestion at all: If two mirrors are so important to a person, why not just get an 87 or newer in the first place?

 

I had another 86 with the right hand mirror, it was pretty much useless, however I did like the way it looked.

 

The only thing with the 87 and up is they are low mirrors, not the high ones.

 

True. And for me personally, the second high mirror looks decidedly odd. For what it is worth department - my stepson was deeply agrieved to discover that the long-awaited Testarossa had the single mirror. I told him that I supposed that meant he was not going to beg me for the keys (he has a perfectly good Z06 Corvette)...and he kind of thought it over and decided that a single high mirror was actually pretty cool after all.

Just another flight of fancy on the flying mirror (Ha)...is it just us Testarossa types who attract these owner-restyling issues and missing-mirror issues? For example - didn't the Dino, the Daytona, the Boxer, and other famous Ferraris of the day come with a single driver's side mirror? I never seem to notice those owners whining about the lack of a second outside mirror, for some reason.

As a matter of fact - I don't see other model owners going to such lengths as removing the side strakes, putting on unsightly wings, changing out the engine cover panel with clear plastic, etc. Not to forget changing the front valence and painting the side strips body color on the early cars. Even Ferrari had to get in on the act with the 512M - great car, but I never warmed up to the restyling. Good grief - the original TR is probably already one of the most outrageously styled Ferraris ever - ranking right up there with the F40 and the Enzo as an iconic shape.

Is it just something about the Testarossa that stirs up these malfunctioning genetic markers?

 

Possibly those who own the Dino, the Daytona, the Boxer, and other famous Ferraris of the day consider them truer classics? While I like my TR I am not so anal as to consider it so sacred I should never consider improving something I don't like.

With that said, I should note I was on the side of removing the strakes and making other changes to the body. Instead of doing it immediately I chose to wait and review what others did. I chose not to do it because I thought it lost some of it's original character, my choice. Some improvements I believe are beneficial and I'm all in favor of. My car, my choice.

John