Peter at Gullwing is generally known for pricing vehicles to sell. Can a 1997 550 with 8K miles be worth $179K in today's market? 1997 Ferrari 550 Maranello -
who knows.....feels about right, obviously its a manual and in demand as of late. Could of grabbed this car 4-5 years ago for way way less
By looking at the drivers seat. it looks like it has a lot more than 8000 miles on it. My 550 has 40000 miles on it and the drivers seat is in much better condition than the one in the pictures.
Seems high to me. 8000 miles or not, that thing needs a thorough reconditioning / detailing in my opinion.
Indeed it does not seem in a great condition for 8,000 miles - I am sure there are many cars with 5 times that mileage that look better (and are probably less expensive).
When the market was hot, prices flew. But now a lot of dealers seem to be holding onto those prices when in fact none of them can be materialized today. Kumar is not one of those people; he truly does price to sell, although in this case I think the price is ambitious. Perhaps a consignment car?
My wife, Cowgirl, wouldn't take $165K for her '99 550 (Guido) so what's that tell you? Last year I suggested selling at that price (this was a solid offer the afternoon of the car's third place finish at the Ferrari concours in Columbus) and she said ok, but told me to add on the cost of a divorce. When I asked if she was kidding she simply gave me The Look. And, dear pals, we ALL KNOW what that means... My point is a car (or anything else) is worth the intersection of exactly what somebody will give you for it and what you are willing to take.
I think there are a lot of people in the same situation right now - judging from my ongoing conversations with dealers here. People won't, and don't need, to sell their Ferraris for less than x, and people won't buy for more than (x-y). y being a fairly notable sum. So the market is stuck. I think people who know about these things (I don't) call it a bid-ask spread or offer-bid spread, and it's high. What happens next - either people decide to pay more, or decide to sell for less. The wife element is of course a significant unknown. An unknown unknown.
Collector car market in general is over inflated. This isn't specific to the 550's in my opinion. Hysteria had settled in over the last year and driven prices out to lunch.
I have a '99 that I will be putting on autotrader for $85k with 67k miles but is in FAR better condition than this example. It's all about the condition and care, too many folk are hung up on mileage.
Peter Kumar was usually competitive in the seller's market, but now that it's a buyer's market he has not adjusted his prices. All of his vintage Ferraris are significantly over-priced and have been sitting on Ebay way too long. Sheehan is selling now. The cars at Gullwing are collecting dust.
My 355 has 70k miles, 550 has 20k miles. The 355 feels better...the 550 feels oddly rigid and brittle if that makes any sense. If I could go back, I would've passed on my 550 to find something with more miles yet still maintained just as well.
exactly right, Tal; year ago I wrote the identical thing on a post on market prices, just added - the price a willing buyer and seller agree on, on a particular day.
While my car is higher mileage (but, I feel, nicer) than the subject of this thread, there's no way I'd sell at $179k. I don't have any desire to sell but if I did, my number starts with a "2". If that means I hold onto it forever, that's fine. What would I replace it with? V12, three pedals, best looking Ferrari of the (semi) modern era? There isn't anything.