Urgent Dilemma; Which 355?

I for one disagree with that. The upside is far more likely than the downside on any decent 355. But that's just me.

 

I'd go with a gated Spider. Just my preference but I live in California. If you are planning to hold long term, gated seems to be the way to go.

Unless I missed it, on the Spider when were the big gaps in the service history? You are talking about a 20 year old car. If it has a good current service history, at least going back to the most recent engine out service, you should have a good indication of what has been going on with the car. A gap from 15 years ago would be basically irrelevant at this point for the actual current condition of the car. My '98 Spider has a gap from 2001 to 2005 but complete service history since then.

You should also be able to take it to a Ferrari dealer and pull a service history on all services performed by an actual dealer. It won't fill in the independent service gaps but would let you know what the dealer has done and if the recalls had been addressed properly.

As a side note, is a RHD car really worth more than double what a comparable LHD goes for? You can find several outstanding examples of a gated 355 Spider in the US for under $100K USD. The RHD market is much more limited for resale. I have a friend in London that loves to purchase California cars (rust free) for sale in Europe. He has his own LHD cars in London as well.

 

Current condition over service history any day

 

GTS

 

I bought a GTS because it has the nice lines of the original design but you can take the top off if that's what you want. It's also the lowest production variant if that matters to you.

My car has some previous records but not like some you see for sale with complete folders. So when I took it for its major I had everything fixed. What more could someone buying it want? Yes you can buy one with full records but if the current condition isn't perfect it will still need something.

 

The US market is very different to the one in the UK at present, 355s have leapt far higher in price here than with you or even the much closer european market. Top end prices for average cars are very over inflated here. Check the pistonheads link I posted, wildly varying prices for very similar cars.

RHD examples are limited in number and heading off to other RHD markets as a result which has fueled the recent increases. LHD examples are ten a penny in comparison.

Certain countries such as Australia will only allow RHD cars to be road legal, the UK was the biggest market for such so it is where buyers from abroad head to source a car.

 

GTS

 

Originally Posted by Redlyne_mr2 View Post
Current condition over service history any day

Hmmm... No, I think Ryan and I are saying the same thing. My car *did* come with a nice, thick service history book, and that's great for knowing what has been done and how long ago, but it will always be clear if a car was maintained well even without a complete history. You might be able to fool people on the surface, but a moderate deep dive will reveal the truth to a tech.

If it is checked over well by a tech who knows the 355 and its idiosyncrasies, it will be easy for him/her to see whether or not it has been maintained. Book or no book, you can't fool a good inspection with a knowledgeable tech.

My guy was able to see things like upgraded/rewrapped OEM headers, upgraded hoses, gold connector kit, upgraded cappy bypass, etc. during his first 10-minute look at the car. The book backed these things up, but he knew what he was looking for, so the book was just confirmation of what a good tech will be able to ascertain. Looking at the current condition and how it reflects recent maintenance will weigh more heavily (to me) than high mileage, etc. Granted, the book is good for things deep in the engine that can only be seen with a teardown, but you have to balance that with how many more common things are a problem much more frequently.

My car now has almost 57K (14K in 3 years... yeah! drive it!) and yet it whips up on 360s, especially ones that just sit for most of the year and only get serviced every 3-5 years based on time rather than miles... so taking proper care of the car and driving it regularly is more important than keeping it pristine and rubbing it with a diaper in the garage, IMHO.

Indiana Jones said "It ain't the years, it's the mileage"... but with Ferraris I don't think it's the years or the mileage... I think it's the maintenance.

 

All the things you listed sound to me like they are just cosmetic. I wouldn't get too hung up on that. They are creeping up on 20 years old now, so if they have been used at all they are going to have blemishes. You should have seen the condition of the leather on my seats when I bought it... but holy hell did it run strong and sound amazing. I'd be more leery of a pristine car with low miles than one that has clearly seen some use but was well-maintained.

You're going to have to drop some money into *any* Ferrari at some point. That GTS sounds similar to mine in terms of condition (when I bought it). I found it much less painful to take care of surface "prettiness" issues, knowing the engine was in great shape, compared to friends of mine who got "cheaper" Ferraris then ended up dropping an additional $25K year one just to get the engine issues worked out.

I'd go with the body style you like best (for me it was GTS). Either way, the car is going to require some cash input... if not immediately, then eventually, it's inevitable with a Cavallino... both on the engine and on the cosmetics. Better to be spending money on the exact car you wanted rather than one that was your second choice.

 

To quote Clarkson, "I bought the wrong one" when referring to his GTS. I am personally firmly in the gated spider camp, unless I was tracking the car and then I would want the GTB.

 

Dub100, i have been reading both threads on here and the UK forum.
I noticed on the UK forum that there were comments about some of the high prices asked for the f355s.
One comment was that they made to many of them. However the 11,200 f355s production numbers are small compared to the 38,500 Jaguar e-types produced.
They are now commanding way more than the f355 are, some at 200k. Using the 355 logic they should be worth nothing.
Things are moving in the right direction IMO.

 

Go to YouTube, you can find his comments there.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

 

At the complete other end of the spectrum I do know of a 355 that is coming up for sale soon at sub £50k in the UK, thats where my money would be going if I had any spare. A practical car you would not be scared to use, that won't lose any value in the future.

LHD, GTS, 5.2 Yellow, Starship mileage but everything virtually replaced with a folder full of invoices