$16,000 part!

Yes Ferrari inflates prices on a lot of parts. Ignition wires being one of them, and various parts for the older car which were ripped right off Fiats and Alfas, sometimes jacked up to over 200% mark up.

But I understand Brian's point, regarding production and development costs for such a complex peice. Prices for such unquie items are going to be very high. But as production increases, the costs (as they already have) come down.

 

Ernie you are comparing apples to oranges. You are comparing Ferrari to Pep Boys? Why don't you compare Ferrari to Mercedes Benz, or even Ford? Pep Boys beats them all by a very large margin. It's the way the auto industry is and always has been.

If anything you ought to be criticising Pep Boys for ignoring Ferrari owners by not offering a comprehensive supply of parts for us. That would make a lot more sense. The simple fact is that you own a car built by a very small company that caters to varying degrees to an exclusive group often offering cutting edge technology as in the case of the 355 with F1 shifting. Every thing about that spells expensive, it's the way the world works. Sadly for people that are so price driven it is a small enough company that few aftermarket suppliers see it as a good market to break into. They just don't so for many items we are forced to buy from Ferrari. If that were the case with Mercedes, Ford or Toyota we could just as easily be having the same conversation about them.

You talk about interchanging some of the small parts of the system between Alfa and Ferrari. I dont know about Alfa but on the Ferrari none of the small parts are available individually. This is something that is becoming more wide spread in the industry but I will admit Ferrari is probably the leader. On the Aston Martin system the only part that is available is the entire system in one assembly. Need a hose? Buy the entire system. A number of years ago I tried to buy a set of pistons for a Mercedes 6.9 motor, the only way you could get them was with a block. Ferrari is not alone.

In another thread Whart commented on having a Bosendorfer piano. That is something I know a little something about. A Bosendorfer is very special indeed, much like a Ferrari is special. A Steinway is also a very good piano, much like the Mercedes of the music world. Both have 88 keys, both have 88 strings, both have 88 tuning pegs, 3 legs, 3 pedals, a lid, etc, etc, etc. So why does a Bosendorfer cost several times what a Steinway costs? Because it is special, everybody can't have one. There is something about it you cannot put down on paper and if you do not understand that I cannot help you.

 

I do understand it, and that's why I own a Ferrari.

I also understand that since Ferrari is a small company they don't make alot of the things they sell. They get them from suppliers that also supply other companies. Lets take the plug wires made by Beru not Ferrari. There is a company that will make you a full set of Beru plug wires, using the exact same extenders and wire, for a few hundred dollars, yet Ferrari sells the set for a few thousand. The only difference being a little horse being stamped in the rubber boot. Yes the Ferrari market is small, but Ferrari has nothing to do with manufacturing the wires. All Ferrari does is take the wires out of the box from Beru, puts them in a yellow Ferrari box, and marks them up a few thousand dollars.

Now with the Magneti Marelli Selespeed, yes it was origanally developed for Formula 1. Yes Ferrari was the first to have this system. However again Ferrari does not manufacture the part, Magneti Marelli is the manufacture. FIAT found a way to make more money with the system by putting it in Alfa Romeos. You can sell far more Alfa Romeo's than you can Ferrari's, tens of thousands more. So again instead of the Magnetti Marelli system being packed in an Alfa Romeo box and sold for $1,600, it gets packed in the yellow Ferrari box and get's sold for $16,000. Yes they don't have the same amount of gears. But how hard can it be to just program the computer for five gears instead of six?

I used to accept paying alot of money for parts and service on my Fearri when I first bought it. This was until I started doing my own work. Then I found out that you can find the exact same "Ferrari" parts on others car. For example the CV joint's on my 348. Well guess what they use the exact same part on a VW bus, and on a Porsche 930, as well as the boot. The Delco alternator on early 348's can be found in a GMC pick truck. The TH400 automatic transmission in a 400i/412i can be found in a Chevy Chevelle.

So since I have learned this, I do not accept the price tag Ferrari, in particular FNA, places on parts. I have found that if you look hard enough you can find that same "Ferrari" part on another car at a very nice discount.

I needed a new axle connecting flange for my 348. Three different dealers were called, and they all gave the same price for the part, $1,650. I looked, and looked, and looked some more. I found a replacement for $100, yes one hundred dollars.

Now there are people that will pay what ever the dealer tells them the part costs, no questions asked. I am not one of those people.

 

You are describing the exact scenario I experienced a few weeks ago. The pump delivered was for a 360 and IS quite a bit cheaper.

Let us know how it works out.

 

That is an EXCELLENT find Tim!!!! Thanks for the update.

Like I said if you, or your secretary , look hard enough you can find the same part at a nice discount, and $14,500 is a REALLY NICE discount.

I think it would also be nice if your secretary should find a nice Christmas bonus in her stocking.

 

It isn't the first time, or the last time, the bee's nest will get "stirred up" over rediculous prices for Ferrari parts.

Again awsome work by your secretary.

 

Don't - give her a gift. I know the perfect one!

A Ferrari 355 F1 pump!! She can sell it to your dealer for only $14,000 so that he can carry one in stock, and then, hey! Everyone’s happy!

Killer!!

 

Perhaps you should post the contact info here on this thread now so it will be archived. Good work!

 

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

The last thing we need is for the crooks at FNA to catch wind of where he got it.

 

HAHAA great point!!!

I have to agree, some of the markup is just plain outlandish, but Im glad you were able to undercut them!

 

Ernie, do you ever get the feeling that someone is watching you!?

 

LOL!

Hey who's there?!

 

Would this $16K part, diagnosis and installation, be covered by the Ferrari offered extended warranty?

What about other aftermarket warranties?

 

Mr Max1 check your private messages.We fixed one with same problem for a fraction of $16,000,00 and it was the slickest shifting 355 we ever drove. honest! no BS !

 

for 16k i would swap the car over to 6 speed, would probably be cheaper, atleast on any other car it would be

i would like to see how hard it would be to swap 355 f1 components to 360 f1 components too...the 360 f1 pump which i have experienced 5 blowing are under a grand a piece.

 

WOWA ! Thats more than some people pay for a year of college, considering the prices now a days that is

 

Yet another reason to get a real manual transmission rather than the "girlie" F1 type...

 

Correct me if I am wrong but aren't there 2 bits to the F1 system. 1 the pump and 2 the actuator and from when I owned the 360f1 it was the actuator that was about 15k and not the pump. The actuator has a computer circuit and solenoid on one end which is encased in a hard wax type substance and when it ceases to work is thrown away and replaced with a new 15k model which is only available oem and this is the main reason I sold the 360 and went back to a 355 stick

 

On the 360 F-1 setup the pump and actuators are separate units and on the 355 its an all in one assembly.We actually machined and adapted a 360 pump onto the gutted pump/actuator body. and it worked very nice.By we I mean Rodney Drew and myself at FAI.car had been to numerous shops including FOC.
"where theres a will theres a pump."

 

Oh yeah,
as I mentioned in an earlier post that resulted in me getting laughed at and set straight about the real story is this.We found that one if not "the "main causeof F-1 pump failure is due to the Pump control relay.Over time ,the contacts fry and weld together or whatever incineration process takes place and then the pump runs non stop and smoke eventually leaks from the pump.The failed pumps I have rebuilt have been fried to a crisp.they start to melt internally.change the relay.cheap insurance. or dont

 

One point about all of this. The fastest 512M ever built wasn't built or raced by Ferrari it was built and raced by Pensky/Donohue. The Last Ferrari to win Le Mans was prepared by NART. Both of those car used many non original/Ferrari supplied parts. A pump is a pump and can be sourced/rebuilt/for much less than 16K.

 

what year was that? 1980-81 512bblm?

 

The NART win was 1965 with Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt.

The Penske car was a 512M not a bb/lm. I believe Napolis is referring to the 1040 car.