LHD Ferraris in the UK

Probably better to ask this question in the UK section. However, it makes almost no difference at all. Doesn't effect insurance. You have the power you need to overtake things. Might occasionally get stuck behind something you can't see past but unless you're intending to use as a daily driver (and I wouldn't suggest you do) you'll not even think about it after a bit.

That said, LHD cars aren't any cheaper to maintain than RHD cars and there are some about with next to no history and that may not have been looked after so tread wearily when buying.

I'm not sure you'd need £100k to buy a RHD Testarossa currently though.

 

I have a LHD F512M in the UK. It’s better around town and you exit onto the pavement. Slightly more annoying when overtaking on country lanes. Otherwise very little difference, except if you enter and exit car parks, when you have to park and exit the car (or have a passenger) to collect a ticket. Would probably be annoying at a McDonalds drive-thru also.

As Jonathan says, be careful of provenance and I would not buy an ex-US car here. And LHD are more difficult to sell on.

If you can find the right car at the right price, you’re getting the same car for 30 percent off.

 

could be worth renting any old lhd car to see how you get on first, I personally hate the experience but there's lots of benefits if you get on with them

 

i had my lhd 512tr in the uk for years.
its fine on the open road of course, somewhat of a pain on small country roads, and you have to remember to drive on the correct side of the road since the interior of the car is not reminding you!
pita when coming to parking machines etc.

the upside is that when you drive to the continent, you are like all the other cars !

btw, other pita for a tr in london is you are too wide for some of the streets....dont test the bollards....they win.

 

Talking of bollards, i imported a couple of 124 Spiders from California some years ago.

Great fun around London until i managed to misjudge a narrow road in Highgate and scraped the right hand side.I had been through that dozens of times in the RHD 308 without a problem....

But on a good day with the top down it's almost as much fun as a 250 Cali,hell from 20 metres with a squint it even looks somewhat similar.

 

I’ve had a few over the years, I didn’t get a lot of seat time in them all. The worst was a corvette C5, due to being on the left, overtaking was a nitemare on all but the straightest roads. Bugatti EB didn’t seem as tough, but maybe i didn’t drive it as much so the Vette gets more memory of scary overtakes!

 

I did a 6 foot 6 width restriction in the 512M once. In Church Row, Hampstead, north London. Never again. Though LHD or RHD would have made no difference.

 

I had a speciale in LHD in the UK. No real issues bar the overtaking which is a real pain.

 

Yes two white van men behind me were not going to back down. There was a tiny scrape thru the wheel as I edged thru but thankfully it was the tyre not the wheel.

 

My experience is that you park at the far side of a car park as far away from anyone else as possible and when you come back all the spaces around will still be empty apart from the one right next to you which will contain a battered Fiesta or similar parked so close you can barely open the door to get back in.

Incidentally, I haven't done it myself but I saw someone suggest getting one of those litter picker arm things to use for ticket machines etc. when you're on the wrong side of the car (RHD in Europe or LHD in the UK).

 

I ran a LHD 550 in the UK for a couple of years (I saw it went through auction recently). No serious issues but overtaking is frustrating and in these cars you’re going to be doing a fair bit of that. With this in mind I wouldn’t have another as it affected the experience too much. However I also run a Fiat Dino Spider, which were all LHD, but in that it’s much less of an issue with its relatively meagre 160/180Bhp making overtaking somewhat less frequent.

 

I can recommend a 355 Never driven a Testarossa though. Plus with a 355 you have the option of a Spider or GTS too, with the open-top motoring definitely adding something to the experience IMO. Good luck with your search.