Okay, I can not keep it from you any longer: I just bought a 1998 Ferrari 355 Spider with 102,000 Miles on the clock. This in itself is amazing but better: The owner is a late 80 year old man The car still has the ORIGINAL clutch The car still has the ORIGINAL brakes. It runs and drives excellent. Has the usualy rockchips but even those are not that many. Has some scratches on the rear bumper, inclusing a little hole from backing into a pole, but wheels for example are in great shape. Some wear on the seats. The dash is starting to show shrinkage but can be stopped if it is properly maintained from now on. The 102,000 Miles are obviously highway miles. One owner. Anybody interested let me know. The car is black on tan interior. Books and tools are with the car of course. Service receipts I should get in a few days. The service book has the 30K and the 60K stamped. 60K was done in 2000. I love it, just thought I need to share with my buddies that think cars should be pampered Photo from the odometer tomorrow. With some more pictures. The car will go on eBay tomorrow as well. $45,000 starting bid.
All right!!! it would be interesting to see what the cost per mile was on this car versus a garage queen. Vincent.
Martin, please do me a favor and call the gentleman who just sold you the car and tell him he's got an official fan in NY... This is the best story i've heard all day; all week...! This is awesome... He rocks...
I second that! now THATS a real Ferrari owner and DRIVER! Martin, that is the EXACT kind of car I am going to have you find for me in 6 years. Are you up for it? If you can find me any other Ferrari for under 20k with similar conditions, let me know because that I might even be able to swing in a few years once Im settled in at College.
That's great! I wish I could add it to my stable. Well, actually it's more like a stall at the moment.
wow! we are NOT worthy! if the car has a september 1997 build date (first or so 1998 model) that's not quite 6.5 years - netting to about 1,400 miles per month. some folks don't do that in a YEAR fer crissakes! kudos to him! make sure you send him a link to or printout of this thread so he knows he has a fan club!!!! let's say he did two majors at $6K each plus $2K per year in the off-years, that'd be about $21K in maintenance or about twenty cents per mile (plus gas, etc.). doody.
I've got 178,000 on my 1991 'vette,and 18,000 on my 1981 308. Thats about to change as soon as the Weather starts warming up here in the Windy City!!! (new priorities!! )
That is a true Ferrari owner, and my hats off to him. Drive and enjoy, that's what the car is for. "Just say NO! to Garage Queens!" Dave
I think there should be some kind of a fine for putting that many miles on the car. What the hell is heated garage for anyway.
I thought you guys would enjoy that! Al of those miles were driven between some of his factories in SC and Orlando. Constantly on the road. I think the reason he sold the car is he is getting too old to drive. He certainly is very sharp in his head. A true business man of the old school and has behaved in this entire transaction more than honorable. He is one of those guys I would easily do a handshake deal with and not lose sleep over. I feel fortunate having met him as well as having the opportunity to sell this car to the next owner, who hopefully puts another 102,000 Miles on her.
I bet he never had any timing belt issues!, and his Ferrari probably had a reliability record that the owners of garage queens would dream about. Man if they would just drive their cars we could save this site for more interesting posts than 'my car has this fault, etc', or yet another 'Timing belt' thread Good on this guy for getting the most enjoyment out of his car. Pete
20 cents per mile? Saturn advertised to be like 30c per mile operationg costs. Gas alone would be 11-12k i would guess (15mpg, might be a bit high and $1.65 a gal which sounds like a good average for 98-now if gas prices are anything like they are here). We also dont know what he had to put into the car. I DOUBT he drove this car 102,000 miles and ONLY had to do scheduled maint.
It's really great to read about this. Just show you how driver friendly these modern Ferraris really are. Thanks for sharing Martin.
I'm willing to bet that he didn't have to do much more than scheduled maintenance. A Ferrari can spend some serious time in the shop for unscheduled broken items which would inhibit the amount of regular miles an owner can put on the car in any given year. Also, if it kept going into the shop for bull**** problems I doubt he'd have kept driving it all over the place. The inconvenience of even two flatbed tows for problems would've kept him from racking up all the miles in that particular car.
Okay, maybe I should make the jump now instead of in 3 years. I am interested in possibly trading in one of my cars on that one. Let me know if you would be interested. 1994 Acura NSX White/Black leather 71,349 miles 5-speed stored winters Overall an 8.5 out of 10. I love the car, and was just getting ready to upgrade it, but if we can cut a deal I have been dreaming about owning an F355 for several years. Please let me know what we could do on this, and send me some pictures. [email protected]
cavallino, this post really made my whole week! its really great to see such a perfect car being used and used often. if i could ask you just a couple questions: is it practical to buy a well maintained f355 or f550 with more than 50k miles? what are some major cost items that would need to be replaced before the 100k mark (engine?!!) thanks in advance for helping educate a newbie! regards ernie
A testament to the 355 . I saw one when shopping for mine with 108 on the clock. Martin Im heading to Moroso in an hour or so you gonna be there and what car are you bringing?
ewright - don't let miles scare you. I researched this site and everything I could get my hands on to learn about "issues" of the 355. Garage queens are subject to atrophy....I have seen posts about shocks and ride control going bad due to "sitting"....to you name it. Talk to any 355 owner who drives daily and he will tell you it is reliable as a chevy. I drive mine if not every, every other day. Re: the rebuild. Like any car, do a PPI and a compression check with leakdown....rings and valve guides may be an issue....but who knows? I don't think there is a lot of documented history with these cars with over 100 on them...I'm sure Martin, or the new buyer, will post something.