A warm day with the roof off in a GTS at 5000-8000 rpm is unbeatable. I have the canvas roof which takes 30 secs to fit if I need to when I park. With the body coloured roof on she looks exactly like a Berlinetta Clunky on badly potted roads only Mine has no squeaks and zero leaks I fitted bespoke leather headliner recently... Image Unavailable, Please Login
And then there's the view of the interior with the roof off Just sublime..... Image Unavailable, Please Login
Very nice, I'm getting my GTS back from service friday and they tightened up the roof, and put special lubricant on the rubber for noise. We will see.
Oh blimey I thought tuck and roll upholstery died in the 50's. Good thing Enzo is dead or he would have killed himself upon sight of this modification treachery! Rubbish, and poor taste. You've now bastardized an F355. Why you would choose to do something that god and Enzo did not intend is a bloomin mystery to me......... .............oh sorry, just noticed my keyboard was stuck on lotusk mode!!!!!! Looks great, love the crema
I'm sure the hard top is lighter and stiffer and therefor faster. I do like fast, and especially light. On the other hand, for a lot less money you can build a much faster car. Like a mid engine Rabbit I am building for chump change. Most exotics made after the 355 are faster. So I wouldn't consider anything other than a full convertible for my Ferrari. Driving with the top down when the weather is nice is pretty awesome! And, here in Northern California, that's maybe 200 of the 365 days in a year But that's just me!
Nice one matey!! Not crema....'tis... IVORY Blu swaters, ivory, 1995, gts with the steering on the correct side... You won't see another
Screws on both latches and screws in panel, also refinished the sticky latches. They also applied a Masarati product that is sprayed on the rubber gasket and "de squeaks" the roof.
Agree + 1000 I have a 99 f1 has all upgrades to shock towers, transmission,etc but at the end of the day I wanted an F1 and wanted a berlinetta. So for me you could not give me any other model plus a bunch of cash to get mine. If possible drive them all including the F1 and buy the one that makes you want to keep it forever. If none of them make zyou want to keep them forever buy the 95 gated with a good PPI.
Ivory, even better. Nice combination! I don't know if the steering is on the correct side but it's definitely on the right side. As for tightening up GTS roof, there are also shims under the pads the latches push onto. More shim pulls the panel down tighter (if need be). Also I think new weatherstrip would help a lot.
I have Ivory in my challenge car, much brighter then crema. Also had white carpet that I still have Is that what you have?
Thankyou I've done the shim thing My weatherstrip is just perfect I have zero squeaks...but...does clunk over potholes I think it's the latches clunking....may add some rubber strips there...see if that stops it.
Yes I would think the weatherstrip appears perfect/not damaged but it's been squished for the better part of 20 years now. If you look at the rubber as a spring countering the action of the latches I think something new and not compressed might tighten up the assembly.
Hmmm.. Don't think so My rubber seal all around the car is in great order...lots of spring in them Verrry expensive to replace..there are 2 gaskets...front and rear...1000 pounds sterling for both
In terms of the original question, surely it comes down to personal preference only. Therefore, I'd buy the 98 GTS. The reason being I didn't want an early model (I know saying that is like insulting someone's first born around here, but it's the truth for me), and I think the GTS is the best of both worlds. It is indistinguishable from the berlinetta with the roof on (and therefore has the classic, perfect 355 styling) and offers 80% of the roof off pleasure of the Spider. As for people saying the Spider looks better.... Ummm... Ok. With the roof down it looks great, but roof up it looks like all Spiders until the 458. ie. Not good, IMO.
agree removal and stowing of gts roof is less than convenient. I've always considered my 355 a special occasion car and have only driven in good weather ie top off 100% of the time. More miles you want to drive greater chance you need to use the top hence more inconvenience..(?) That said I consider the gts the most desirable and I think the market in general has concurred as they are relatively hard to find after production volumes are factored in. Personally don't like any convertible where the bulk of the stown top can be seen when retracted so the spider is not for me. One big factor for me when I got my red blk gts 6 spd 10 yrs ago was the ability to have an open air experience and also have a track worthy car. (I never ended up tracking my car as I pursued competition license and a dedicated race car). My 0.02, thx. Cecil.