Should I walk away from this 355?

I just completed a PPI on a 96 355 gts. At the start, everything that turned up was very minor, a grab bag of cosmetic issues and little rattles.

Then it turned out that the car had not had any fluids or filter service (much less a major) in 6 years. Granted it had only been driven about 4,000 miles in that period - but still.

Compression test came back excellent. However the leak down showed major issues in 2 cylinders. I am unsure if it is valve guides or what but it promises to be expensive.

The final straw is that there appears to have been a number of parts replaced on the left side and some evidence of paintwork - although there is no actual record of any accidents.

So - all in all I am told to estimate $7-10k to put it all right. The car is listed at $59.5k. Let's say I could get it for $47k - is it worth the trouble or should I keep looking?

Opinions please.

 

Keep Looking, IMO. The engine can be brought up to par with a major service, but body work is a red flag, especially if nothing shows up on carfax and it looks like there was a good amount of body work done.

 

How major is the leakage?

Someone far more knowledgeable than me will certainly chime in, but isn't major leakage on two cylinders a good enough reason to RUN?

 

Sounds like a $32-$37k car to me.

 

+1

 

From what I gather, a major service *plus* valve guides is closer to $20k than $10k, expecially once you consider the odds of finding other stuff as you go along (like bad cats and headers).

I passed on a 13k mile 97 GTS a while back because when I asked about the results of a compression check (showed up on the carfax report), he also revealed that it had 20% leakdown in one or two cylinders. Saved me a trip to Utah.

That car was purchased by a dealer, and is back on ebay now in another state. No mention of the leakdown problem, of course. Previous owner thought it might be carbon and might clear up. I'm sure it's possible, but if I were the owner and really believed that, I would have done my best to blow the carbon out of it and re-test rather than wonder.

 

+1----All these guys with $40K think they are going to find a great 355---Ain't happening---I have yet to hear of one owner that bought a sub $50K car and not ended up spending another $12-$15k min. to make it right... Spend the money an buy a car that is correct, right and ready to go.... Parts get very expensive and a Ferrari is not something you want to skimp on to save a couple $$...

 

A major + valve guides should not run over 10k otherwise you are getting taken.

 

I have a strange question. What kind of person doesn't change their oil in 6 years or even now when they want to sell it? It's not that expensive to get the issue over with.

They may give you a bit of mindset on the seller or previous owner.

 

Looks to me (E-bay, Autotrader) that this is a buyers market and a great time to purchase your dream car... No need to settle for a subpar 355. With the money you have to spend you should be able to find and purchase a nice example. Happy hunting. J

 

Absolutely +1

 

Let me be perfectly clear... MOVE ON!!!

 

You should not walk away from this...RUN!!!

 

With the repairs I think you could find another. It just doesn't sound like a "deal" for anyone but the seller.

 

I'm with you, Robbie. We can hold on to our "perfect" cars until some of these guys realize that spending $15-$20k after acquisition just doesn't make sense!! I purchased mine with the criteria that I shouldn't have to spend more than $5k to make it absolutely PERFECT. It is

 

Wrong. It is info typically like this on the net which one heard from someone that heard from someone else that scares most would be F355 owners away and subsequently give F355 a bad rap.

A major service *plus* valve guides *plus* water pump CAN be had for about $13K. And this is not from any street corner auto repair shop. It is straight from one of the best and very well known independent service here in SoCal.

BTW, to the OP, pass this one and find another.

 

+355 on this, too, Robbie.

I would sell my 355 to the right buyer today--however, after spending over $20,000 to make mine perfect over the last year, nobody is going to spend a measly $40-50k to take her off my hands. Don't need to sell....but always open to the right buyer.

Besides..after spending all that money, every single thing on the car that could have an issue was fixed and she is running perfect since!

Definitely NOT gonna complain if I have to drive her for another year before the right buyer comes along.

 

I'm with you----I am trying to sell my car and with the bad economy, I think it is priced great for that. It is priced a few $$ less than my mechanic told me to offer it for. He told me to please don't sell it for the price I am asking, but I know the economy sucks. Have noticed alot of guys recently on here trying to buy exotics for next to nothing after seeing a few examples go for below market value.

2-3 years ago, most users would tell guys to buy the best example car they can find with there money--That hasn't changed. If you want to buy a $40K 355, go for it---You might get lucky and only have to spend $10K to make it average. But if you want a great car---you will NOT find it for $50k.....

I would guess there are $50k cars out there and after spending $20k to make them nice--they still can't compare to alot of users well kept cars....

 

Very few are perfect. If everyone continues to pass on sub par cars then that would leave very few to choice from then what should happen to these cars?

if sellers price accordingly then buyer could make the correction and have a good car.

price, shopping around and some DIY is key

 

I agree Robbie.

 

I was thinking the same thing. No oil change in 6 years????

 

This may sound like a dumb question, but could the leakdown numbers improve with a little driving time? What I mean is if it isn't valve guides, instead sticky rings or carbon buildup. Would they loosen up with some running time on the engine?

If it has only covered 4000 miles in six years, I wonder what fresh fluids and new cambelts would do for the car. Of course you have to pull the engine for the belts, so perhaps it make sense to open the head up to diagnose the leakdown problem at the same time...

 

Thanks for all the opinions and advice guys. I can appreciate where everyone is coming from.

For the record, I'm not one of those guys trying to find one on the 'cheap' with unrealistic expectations of it being perfect. I've been looking for 6-8 months while reading as much as possible on this forum. I certainly know what to expect and am prepared to pay-up for a decent car (an 8 out of 10 would do nicely) or pay for the repairs to make it an '8'. I'm not looking for a garage queen/perfection as I do intend to drive the car regularly. If any of you guys reading this have a black, 6 speed F355 - either Berlinetta or GTS - that you want to sell, then PM me and let's talk.

Anyway, back to this business of the PPI. The seller has alleged that the shop that did the PPI is lying to me about the condition of the vehicle. The seller further claimed that they were trying to steer me towards a Spider in the shop's own inventory. This claim was substantiated by an email I got from the shop asking if I would be interested in their Spider now that I decided to pass on the GTS. I am trying to work all of this out with both parties and get to the bottom of it - so I will not name anybody.

Don't know who to believe anymore. Who would have thought it was this hard to buy a decent car?

 

+2

 

I "heard" that number from the service dept at Steve Harris Imports (the Ferrari dealer in Salt Lake City), when I called them. We were talking about a major, plus valve guides, plus QV headers. They said budget about $17k, which *is* closer to $20k than $10k.