Just my 2 cents on the last couple pages. I learned my lesson on cheap 355s. My first one was fairly inexpensive but not in terrible shape. $24k later I got tired of getting it sorted, sold it and bought one that had been well taken care of. 2 years later my only issue has been the bypass valve. It’s been as reliable as a Toyota otherwise. I would never buy a car that has any shady history or if I can see the slightest bit of evidence that the previous owner didn’t fanatically take care of it. Here are some of the things that are show stoppers for me. These things are fixable but many of them show you the kind of person that owned it in the past, that’s the most important thing. Also, anything can be fixed with enough money but you can’t get back the time a bad car is in the shop. Sticky interior. If you haven’t fixed that you don’t care about the car. Send it to Dave now. If you haven’t fixed this issue you have bad judgement or do not have the money to maintain your car. Aftermarket anything.... almost. You can replace the radio but keep the original. Exhaust is exempted too. No stupid cosmetic things like aftermarket wheels, speaker boxes or amps or non original carbon fiber pieces. If I see anything thats been done to the car that didn’t need to be done to maintain it I don’t want it. Extremely worn leather. You can keeping in good shape even with high miles if you take care of it right. Dirty engine bay. Show stopper, you don’t love the car. What else do you not care about? Missing engine bay shields. Fuel recall not done. Missing years in service records. Skipped annual oil changes, etc... Fabspeed headers. Don’t cheap out on headers with these ugly things. Get Tubi or OEM. The hood should close properly when you drop it from about 12-18 inches. You shouldn’t need to push down on the corners. Hood and engine bay should stay open by themselves. It’s a cheap easy fix, what kind of person doesn’t fix it? Do you want their car? The car should be wired for a trickle charger and preferably should come with one. I want to see it in the car when it’s for sale so I know you have one. Flaking valve cover paint. The slightest hint of F1 issues. It better work perfectly sitting in traffic for an hour in a Texas summer. Mine used to fail when it got hot. Blocking traffic in a Ferrari is not fun. If buying from a dealer they better have a sterling reputation and specialize in exotics. No hard sell salesmen who are not Ferrari experts. If buying from an individual they better be an expert on the 355 and be able to discuss all it’s idiosyncrasies at length. It’s not really the money that it takes to fix these issues, it’s the annoyance and time. This is why cars in good shape go for much more than those that even have slight issues. The car should never have issues, when one pops up you get it fixed NOW. If the car has been owned by someone who defers maintenance, even cosmetic maintenance run away. I’ve got my car now but when I was shopping I was willing to pay a lot extra, even above market value for a car that met my criteria. It worked out well for me. When I’m shopping for a car like this I’m using what evidence I can see in the car to determine if the previous owner had good judgement. Things like sticky interior may be an easy fix but I don’t want to buy a car that was owned by someone who didn’t fix it.
Has this yellow spider been discussed? The paint looks excellent, looks like it needs a new sticker over the HVAC controls, and the airbag leather redone. https://imperialmotorcars.com/vehicles/9/1997-ferrari-f355-spider 16k for $86k
This is exactly the case. Some of the things i have seen other owners do over the last decade Pulled dash lights such as cel, sdl, airbag, shocks, i have seen it all. When they park, oil spots, coolant spots, etc I can tell what they are usually because i have fixed most of them on my car over the years I dont understand the lack of love for the car but I guess thats just me.
Back when I was a kid my car mentor was my best friend's dad. He just happened to be Porsche legend Chuck Stoddard. He taught me to always find the lowest mileage, best example you could afford, and then save up more money and get a great example if you could find one.
I like the top up look to. Kind of like an F16 fighter. Aggressive looking. But top up is only for security or if caught in bad weather. Mine stays down April to October. October through April, up with the car in storage. I know many don't follow Haggerty, but just for a reference, as I said, until the 2012 bump, good spiders out priced coupes. Image Unavailable, Please Login I'd take issue with these two. How the hood closes is really a matter of how tight the seals are and where you drop it from. If I drop mine from the center it locks both sides. If I drop if from one corner sometimes it only lock on one side. But that's certainly not an issue that should concern you when looking to buy. As for valve cover paint flaking, it's going to, sooner or later. Frankly, not an issue I'm concerned with. That's one of the reasons people want Bs. Looking for track cars. Some tracks will let you run a spider, some won't. There will always be more spiders for sale in the USA because there are more spiders in the USA. Spiders out sold coupes in the USA when they were new, and coupes out sold the GTS. AT least that is my understanding. If you look at the European market prices are pretty much all over the place for all models.
No idea. We advertised there for a year and I emailed our contact and told him it's a disgrace given it's entirely false. He replied that they would look into it and I never heard back, with the exception for him wanting more advertising dollars
All I know is that when I started looking for my car back in 2010, Bs were priced consistently lower than spiders. I don't necessarily agree with Hagerty prices, but they do seem to reflect the trends. Take a look at Hemmings today. 1995 GTB, red/black 23k miles, $82.5k, 1997 GTB Swater blu/Tan, 30k miles, $$84.9k, 1999 GTS, Silver/Navy, $84.5k, 1995 SPIDER, Verde Silverstone/Tan, 18k miles, $87.5k, 1997 SPIDER, Nart blue/tan, 13k miles, $119k (left hand drive car in the UK, free shipping anywhere) . Of course, these are asking prices but Spiders seem to be holding their own these days.
I can only think of three 355s that are truely marketable for over 100K Well 4 including my GTS. Which is forsale right now for a billion dollars (firm).
The most important pre purchase item for me a leak down and compression test. A dirty engine bay maybe ok they are not washing issues. Respray besides bumper cover a no go. The black spider on fire should have never occurred, prior owner’s negligence on fuel recall and lack of DD partially on him. Heck if we are to dissect all potential 355’s bound to find an issue, then many are even worth $80-90? Crossing fingers on winter spider specials
Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login I agree, Ive always liked the look of mine with the top up, looks good with it down as well though.
I will gladly give you One Hundred Trillion Dollars in cash for your GTS Jeff. Image Unavailable, Please Login
You are right, but you’re pointing to two different markets. While in the US GTS seems to be the pricier, the GTB then Spiders, in Europe the trend is Spiders demand a premium, then GTS then GTB. This seems to be consistent over the past couple years. Two different markets that behave differently. (Of course, ultra low mileage queens are outliers - so even in Europe a GTB can go for a fortune if it’s a queen, but that’s different) Just sharing my reading Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Nice Gtb sold $66k though raising price to $90k here didn’t help. Had over $50k records looked great. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1996-ferrari-f355-8/ Had it been red or black! Market has spoken. A yellow Gtb just listed.