Worldwide 355 model years. Slightly confused.

I technically have a '94 F355 Spider

 

US cars are 95 to 99. Last year are spiders and its the overlap year. Elsewhere there are 94s. Similar to 348s - 89 to 95, last year spiders for 1/2 the year. Seems a factory pattern.

 

I'd have to check my paperwork but I'm pretty sure mine was built in late '94 and registered in early '95.

 

If you do a online search for owner's manuals you will see listings for model years '94 - '99. My particular one has a build date of Oct. 94 stamped on the build plate but was sold as a '95 which I believe was the first year sold in the states.

 

Ryan - nobody in the rest of the world cares about model years - so there's no sensible way of answering your query !

 

I posted this the last time this came up. In the USA can cars build after Jan 1 or the preceding year may be designated as the next model year. That is, a car built after January 1, 1994 can be designated as a 1995 model in the USA.

 

US Market - 1995-1999 model years. Spider/GTB/GTS all years.
ROW Market -1994-1999 model years. Spider/GTB/GTS all years.
ROW Market generally considers build date as model year so that is why there are 1994 models in in ROW market and not US market.
1999 had Series Fiorano
1997-1999 F1 transmission was available.
Any 1996+ model years in the US market had to be OBDII and therefore had the 5.2 monotronic ECU.

In the US market the 355 and 360 both had MY 1999. The same with 348 and 355 both having MY 1995 offered.

 

Hi Steve,

I've not seen a 97 MY F1 - are you sure they did not start as 1998 MY?

 

I have seen them in person. One of my fellow 355 Seattle owners has a F1 355 which is a 1997 according to him. Every historical article I have read about the 355 states that the 97 MY 355 was the introduction of the paddle shift technology on a road car.

Next time I see my friend with the 97 F1 I will look at the build date.

 

Not doubting they came out in 97, just did not thing they were produced as a 97 MY

 

The original press pack for the launch of the F1 transmission was printed in July 97 which would normally suggest that US cars should be MY 98

 

Interesting. I will definitely check the build date on the next one I see. Maybe the MY 1997 references are all for ROW market where they go by build date.

 

As far as I know, F1 cars were all MY 98.
As my TDF B. 6spd car is a MY 99, with production date Oct.98

Here in Brazil, it is registered as 98/99, since we have the year of production, and MY.

I am unaware of 00's spider cars.

As far as I know, the last F355 were Fiorano Spider's 99/99. No MY 00.

 

Challenge should be '99 as well, they did not start the 360 challenge until 2000.