Almost a year now

I have had my 95 355 GTS now for almost a year and have discovered something unusual about this car. I Love it much more today than on the day I watched it being unloaded off the truck. I have gone through a lot of cars and find that the luster always fades after some time. I have only had two cars that I never grown tired of, a 1996 M3 and this 355.

The car has operated flawlessly. Not one warning light, not one hiccup. Everything on the car works, nothing is sticky or slow. The a/c is cold and the exhaust valve does not rattle. I did try to find a car that was sorted out and had most of the known flaws worked out. Even though my car has relativily high miles at 35K it had a great paperwork trail. New headers, valve work taken care, etc. ( I actually added up all the maintance cost on this car over the years and it added up to over 50k)

Now for the interesting part. When I took the keys to the car for the first time I was a little dissapointed, the car was not quite as quick as I imagined it would be and had some flaws. The handling seemed a little loose and the interior was a little dated with some rattles. I consoled myself by thinking that well while it is my first Ferrari, it is a 16 year old car, what should I have expected? As I drove the car I discovered that the "italian tuneup" is true, the harder I pushed it the better it got. It got quicker, sounded better, some of the rattles even quited down. While it always looked good, the more I rubbed it the smoother the paint became and after several leather treatments the interior smelled more like leather and less like old age, after about 8 months I realized I coveted the driving experience in the 355 much more than when it was brand new to me.

The reason for this post is that I have been reading about the passion for these cars in this forum for several years now and did not really understand, while it took a while I now understand. Initially I was petrified that it would blow up and I would be left with 60 thousand dollars of worthless parts? Was the Ferrari mystique a myth or would this be a great experience.

Now my concerns have changed from can I get some of my money back on this car to, when it is time for my major, will the shop do it right and will the car continue to be problem free, do I invest in the gold kit even though the car is running so well, etc. etc.


Has anyone else had this experience?

 

Glad to hear its not just me, what I found unusual is how my perceptions about the car continue to change for the better. Car even sounds better now then when I first took the keys. (has a Tubi) Hope this continues, I hate selling cars.......