Anyone know this 355?

Hi all,

I want to pick up a 355 for my father for Christmas. He is 73yrs old and he bloody well refuses to spend any of his money on himself. He has busted his ass all his life for himself and for my benefit.

I've been looking for a while now but every damn one I run across has its own issues.

I want to make sure to get a well sorted 355 for him. He is not easy on cars (dents, dings etc...) and will likely put some miles on it, so the higher (lol) mileage on it isn't such an issue and not worth the premium for a lower (lol) mileage one. I think the asking price is high based on current market, but that is always negotiable and may not be out of line if the car is well maintained and had the big stuff taken care of.

Obviously I'd get a PPI and want to see the maintenance records, but I thought it might be nice to know if anyone here knows the car or has looked at it and what you saw.

Car:

http://www.drivingemotions.com/AllVehicleDetails.asp?c=DRIVINGEMOTIONS&VIN=ZFFPR48A2S0103059&color=Red&transmission=Manual&make=Ferrari&Model=F355+Spider

Carfax:

http://www.carfax.com/VehicleHistory/p/Report.cfx?vin=ZFFPR48A2S0103059&partner=CTK_0

Besides looking to see if the valve guides and headers have been replaced (provable by service records), anything else I should look for in the service records that a PPI might not reveal?

The car is in Palm Beach, FL area. Does anyone know if Tim Stanford does 355s or if not if there is anyone else in the area who is a real pick-ass and trustworthy?

Thanks for any input.

 

Oh yeah, if those things haven't been done then it is a pass or a substantial price drop for sure.

If it was for me I'd be a little more "reckless" and might buy it (at a lesser price obviously) knowing that I might be in for valves and headers, but I'd really prefer to find one with all that done since the car is going to my old man. I'd hate to give him the car only for it to blow up on him. Me, I'd say "I knew this was coming and negotiated the price accordingly." My old man would be like "This was my fault for driving it wrong, I'm so sorry."

I'm not 100% sure if this is acceptable here or not, so if not feel free to edit accordingly, but if anyone has a 355 rosso/tan spider that is well sorted and documented at a price that reflects today's market and not 3yrs ago market, I'd love to hear from you. I'd certainly expect that an F-chatter owned F-car would probably be taken care of much better on average.

**Add** as this is for my old man, it has to be a stick shift. If I got him an F1 I'd have to buy myself a corresponding tow truck and drive behind him every time as he would be at 7000RPM and DOWNshifting when he should be UPshifting thereby leaving pieces of the transmission all over the highway I love my old man, but some things you just know, and this I know...

 

I've heard nothing but glowing reviews of Tim as well, but I did hear mention that he didn't PPI "newer" Ferraris. Hopefully the 355 is still a vintage he is willing to PPI as his reputation seems second to none when it comes to honesty and doing a great job.

I've also since been PMd that the F1 transmission won't allow you to downshift at 7000RPM which means I wouldn't also have to look for a tow truck to follow my old man, but being as how he is 73 and not of the Nintendo generation, I still think the paddles would drive him batty in short order and he is already loopy enough as is

 

He's done so much for me over the years and made so many sacrifices. His one longing the past few years has been a sports car, but even though he could buy pretty much any one in production today, he simply refuses to spend money on himself. Coming up from nothing to where he is today, that is just how he is.

I've had a good decade, didn't get hurt too badly by the events of the past 2yrs and I just made up my mind to do this after our last outing together when I caught him gazing at a Porsche Cabriolet with big eyes. He has always loved F-cars but we don't see many back home (I just moved to Sarasota from Ottawa, Canada a year and a bit ago, he's still up there) but when we'd go to the annual Italian Festival on Preston street in Ottawa he and I would both drool.

So this is my small way of thanking him for all the sacrifices he made and continues to make.

And maybe if the Ferrari Gods believe in Karma I'll be blessed with finding a nicely sorted 360 or 430 spider of my own sooner rather than later (most of the ones I've come across that meet my specs have been pretty badly beaten )

 

Sadly it seems that a lot, not all by any stretch, but a lot, of the 360s and 430s were bought by people who over reached and when times got tough, the servicing of the cars was let go. Then you have the yahoos who drove the hell out of them to the point of abuse as a pose to good 'ol hard and fun driving.

Just makes a PPI by an honest, trustworthy and picky expert all the more important. One of the first questions out of my mouth when I talk to someone about the car they are offering is "I will want to get a PPI by the person of my choosing. Do you have a problem with that?" If the answer is anything other than a quick "No Problem" then the conversation pretty much ends right there.

 

Well I've walked on this one.

Tried to talk to the dealer (John) and couldn't get any straight answers. Seems he was too occupied to bother checking into whether or not the valve guides, headers & cams had been done. He made it seem like answering my questions was an imposition. "But the car looks pristine." Maybe he is selling pretty cars instead of mechanically sound ones - lol...

I just don't get it. If you are a dealer selling exotics (they have others on their lot), don't you think you should know about the car(s) you are selling? And why would you act all bothered when a potential customer asks questions about the vehicle's history?

Oh well, the search continues.

May just have to give dad the keychain for X-mas with the car to follow...

 

I posted in the FLA forum but no joy so far. It spent a lot of its life in St. Pete and Sarasota/Bradenton. Suncoast serviced it a couple of times based on the Carfax, which is kind of troubling since while they have a Porsche dealership in the group, I would doubt they have a skilled Ferrari tech on staff.

I'm really kind of bummed, because as you say, it looks nice. But there is one thing I've learned in life and that is never to fall in love. I'm taking the point of view that this is a business decision and should be made with logic and as many facts as possible. If it was just love, I'd fly into Palm Beach and drive the sucker back

I just got a really hinky feeling when the guy made me feel like I was keeping him from his tee time or something.