355 help

I just don't get it, why would you buy a car sight unseen? You really should personally inspect it yourself.

As for shipping--screw that, buy me a plane ticket, and I'll drive it back for you!

 

Make sure the top works!

Do you trust the people inspecting it? Unless you know them, I would consider buying someone form Norwood's a ticket or at least have Norwood's talk with however is doing the inspecting.

I also agree with the above thread. I wouldnt buy it unless I saw it.

 

Not just the top, but I believe the 355 has these auto-moving seats that work with the power top. They need to be working correctly also.

Other areas -- exhaust manifolds are prone to cracking, the catalytic converters are notorious for failing so get an emissions check, and there's some evidence that the valve guide issue might extend to later years so a compression and leakdown test is recommended.

I think Nick's is for sale locally.....

 

Forget about a visual inspection, you really need to do a full pre-purchase inspection to check the mechanicals. You do know about maintenance costs on these things, right? An inspection is cheap insurance. I had my '98 GTS with 12K miles sent to FOA before finalizing the deal and it came back with a bad compression test and needed new valve guides. The seller was fantastic about the whole thing and covered the expense per our agreement, but without such an arrangement you could be in for a big surprise. The retail price from FOA for 15K service, belt change, and new valve guides was about $12K. Why take a chance?

 

If the cars in FL, you might post a thread in the FL section, there's a LOT of Ferrari knowledge there, including Martin from Cavallino Motors.

Just because there is no mention of the valve guides being done, doesn't mean you're out of the woods. Be sure to get the compression test.

 

Hope it'll work out. We'll have another 355 in our group!! What's the color?

Interior of a car looks different in pics. You don't see the stickiness in pics of a console. You may want to ask PPI people how the condition of a console.

Do the search on 355 inspection point here, and there're a lot of good pointers. I just can't remember details, but it was very useful for me.

Good luck!

 

Post the specifics of the car (everything you know about it) in the FL section and someone there might know the car, previous owner, how it was fed and cared for, etc. When I was first looking I came across a silver 355 that I was interested in but was warned off it as several members knew it to be sitting for a while and potentially used as an exotic rental. The Ferrari commmunity is fairly small, you'd be surprised how often the same cars circulate.

 

Brian,

Just make sure that they guy that does the PPI is not TONY .. forget his last name. He was highly recommended by people in the area. I paid him $350 for my PPI and it was crap. He did not want to be a "deal breaker" I would talk to Martin and some of the other guys. The simply thing is you want to most thorough inspection by somebody who is not shy about telling you the good bad and ugly.

 

Great colour choice Brian, exactly the same as mine, you'll love it! As for resale, at least here in Switzerland they're quite popular as many seem to look for alternatives to the usual red or yellow ones.

Cheers
Andy

 

I have silver/black 355 GTB. Brian gotta good taste, don't y'all think?