458 Spider glass engine cover from Capristo

Hello together,
It's been a long time since we heard of each other. This was because we only now finished the solution for the satellite antenna. The only option that was left to us, was to produce a new glass pane, with a hole where the satellite antenna is attached to. I think that is the only solution which at the same time, looks elegant. Since we also have a designer among the Ferrari chat users, his opinion would interest me very much.

At the lower portion we had the problem that you could see the thread, and that would not have looked so nice from below. We produced two plastic parts where you can hide the cable and the screw.

I hope that this solution of the satellite antenna would also convince "The Mayor".

Ciao,
Antonio
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Any information if something similar will be made available for the 348 ?

 

I was the first to decry it in the beginning and even though you cannot see the engine and I would not put it on my Spider, I think you have done a great, quality job.

 

First of all thanks for posting this info about the antenna.

I somehow think the Ferrari design of the antenna, drilling a hole through the metal panel and covering it with a plastic cover, that s just not very elegant.

What about placing the antenna in a different location say in the "B" pilar. There is already a plastic cover which should be fairly transparent and good for reception.

 

Am wondering if an engine window would get dirty and be a cleaning problem. My engine seems to be getting much dirtier than in the 360 Spider...and that window rarely ever needed cleaning.

 

My biggest issue with this is still that you're basically seeing two rubber hoses and an oil filler cap. It's better than the McLaren spider though which you see even less.

 

I feel exactly the same way, good job Antonio! You did the best of what is possible.

 

Hey it is a beautiful oil filler cap!

You do see a tiny bit of the intake manifold.

Not for me either, I like it stock back there, but I think it is cool.

 

It looks about as good as the Corvette's attempt at a glass windowed hood (which isn't saying much).

 

That Corvette's engine window is beyond lame, it is solely showing the plastic engine cover.

 

Antonio,

There is one thing I do wish you did differently, is to not increase the number of cooling louvers from the stock 3 to 4. It makes it look more busy, less OEM and more tuner like.

Just want to voice my opinion

Otherwise, you did the best from what is possible, which is wonderful.

 

I only signed up on FChat recently so I missed the original proceedings. But the ideas expressed here do echo my own.

When I first looked at the 458 Spider from behind I had the same initial impression that Antonio had - it looked a bit too monochromatic even though it was still done in a very pretty way and resembles the Dino's engine cover. I also understand the detraction that can come from making the wrong mods to a Ferrari but since Ferrari decided to put a great engine window on the Italia it might be nice if Capristo could make it also possible for the Spider.

I think at the end it does come down to different tastes as there are established rationale for both sides of the argument, so long as the end results are well executed and do not detract from function.

That Ferrari has already expressed its compliments and the paint being applied in Maranello lend legitimacy to cars that sport this feature (and if one is worried about resale, then simply hang on to the original cover).

Having said this, I wonder if the antenna should be placed all the way to the back instead of at the top. The upper part of the cover will be exposed the antenna to more heat and… putting it there also obstructs the view of the intake manifolds. I agree with Antonio about having a peek at the manifolds because these red units are what gave Ferrari its famed "Testarossa" name - "red heads", the red intake manifolds used in the famous 250TR of the mid-50s. So having a small window to their "current descendents" would make a great conversational piece. It doesn't have to show everything.

I am attaching a photo-edit to illustrate what I mean.

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Someone also mentioned leaving the same number of vents to make it looks less busy.

I think there's some legitimacy to that point.
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Regardless of three or four vents, I think it's just pure art. Beautiful!

 

Sorry to read mostly negative opinions about it!

Therefore I want to point out that I am absolutely positive impressed by this engine hood! The original rear style of the Spider is the reason why I did not order and decided for the much more beautiful Italia (I am talking about my taste!!!). The orignial is very unemotional and remembers to a Vintage-Car, what I definitely don't like on a brandnew, middle-engine Ferrari!

So, honestly spoken, if I would own a Spider I would immediately change the engine hood to Capristo's one, which gives the car a much better, more modern and more sportive look!

And I think, that if Ferrari would have designed this engine hood for the spider in original, the demand for this car would be astronomic.

Regards - Webber45

 

Saw someone selling this on Ebay for 12k

 

In Capristo's defense, you are seeing essentially very similar view from the LaFerrari's window too, you just see 80% of the intake manifold instead of 20% on the 458 Spider.
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Exactly my point.

 

Uh, no. Not even close.

 

Intake rubber hoses, throttle bodies, oil filler cap, part of the intake manifolds.........not even close?

You just see much more of the intake manifolds on the V12.

 

Hello together,

Firstly, thank you very much for the suggestions and feedback that you gave us. We chose this place because this is also the original spot. If we had put the antenna at another place, then the cable would have been too short.

We have made a short video where you can see the production where you can see the hood and how it was made. For now we only have the German version but the English one will follow soon.

In the meantime, we have delivered approximately 60 pcs and many new vehicles have been sold with this engine bonnet. It looks like it is well accepted on the market. I'm very happy about this since it took a lot of investment to produce this part professionally.

Capristo Carbon Produktion - YouTube
Ciao Antonio

 

Fantastic job Toni!

Greetings Christian

 

It looks overdone and ruins the lines of the car. If you want glass, get the Italia. The rest look cheap.

 

How can a flat lid ruins lines?

And how can a highend finish and material look cheap?

You don't like it, ok!

But your arguments...

 

The geometry looks horrible - the edges of the glass are NEW LINES. The very small window is obviously forced into a place that was never designed for a window. If the design objective was to see the engine, this looks cheap and clearly aftermarket. The extra pair of vents makes it worse.

Ferrari would have designed it far better had the goal been to see the engine on a spider. They clearly moved on from this option after seeing design studies that showed how it ruins the cars rear deck lines for the above reasons.

 

And you even posted images to disprove your point?