550 Maranello Registry- CREATED!

Sounds interesting can you post a pic of the BluRollsRoyce interior please?

 

Mark
1998
112219
Grigio Titiano
2 tone Bordeaux and black interior
quilted rear shelf and Daytona seats
Skunkworks shock mod and FHP steering relay
Seattle Washington USA
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1999 115838 Corso Rosso crema LHD Daytona power seats quilted headliner and rear shelf Black carpet and floor mats Mods X-OST mufflers, alpine radio sticky no more, clear bra. California, USA

 

Hi there.

Sorry for the long text that follows. It’s a bit long .....

However it’s just to add a little bit of information that may help finding out s little more about your 550. Either early - Wsr - Schumacher Specification - etc etc.


I’m no expert .......

When I think about road going 550’s and the WSR cars I think of them in 5 categories.

It is extremely important for detailed records to be kept as for some reason Ferrari are coy when discussing Vin numbers of the WSR cars.

If an official list was released from Ferrari this would (and will) prevent a lot of confusion which will 100% be coming due to the huge prices WSR cars arena demanding.
An official Ferrari dealer in London (today in 2018) has one of the British WSR cars for sale for £279,991. (Roughly $ 362,000 at todays exchange rate). The huge difference in value and the limited official information means that it wont be long before ‘fake’ WSR cars appear on the market.

I know this as a fact. As a member of the Ferrari Owners Club I am often in contact with official suppliers and have been informed of the recent request for “replacement WSR badges that have been lost”.

Anyway, back to my categories (Ignoring race cars like Prodrive GTS or GTO names models etc).

The obvious way to think about the 550 to start with is simple ... date of manufacture and Vin numbers.

It’s pretty easy to assume that the 33 WSR cars must have been produced ‘after’ the WSR car broke the record.

Therefore I’m going to list my categories by date and vin number.

1. The original and standard 550. (1996-2001)

2. The 550 as above with often requested factory extras. (ie Fiorano handling package)

3. The Official Carrozzeria Scaglietti Ferrari 550 “Michael Schumacher” (and I’m quoting
directly from the Ferrari brochure here - and thats important).

4. The actual WSR car VIN ZFFZR49A5X0113518 (as I’ve been told)

5. The 33 WSR badged cars produced by Ferrari 23 LHD and 10 RHD.

What I’m going to talk about is the 3rd group in relation to WSR cars.

These are the most likely faked into WSR cars and are often called “Michael Schumacher Edition” 550’s.

There is no such car and his term is incorrect as it should only apply to the 456.

Before the WSR cars were produced, Michael requested I custom made 550 for himself (not a WSR car).

This is where things can get confusing for 550 owners.

My car and Michaels car Vin ZFFZR49B000113182 (again - this is the Vin I’ve been told) have almost the exact same Vin number.

In fact the Vin numbers are so close they were likely made on the same day. This is late summer 1998.

The 550 “Michael Schumacher” is a 550 that replicates the special order of items that Michael requested on his car as officially listed by Ferrari.

It is no surprise that the WSR car that was then released ‘later’ has the “Michael Schumacher” items as standard with a couple extras that I will try and explain.

The Official Ferrari 550 “Michael Schumacher” options are listed by Ferrari as follows (This is a direct quote from Ferrari).

1. Road legal Roll-Bar (Except For USA, Canada, Australia) with racing seats wholly in leather.

2. Four Point Adjustable Harness (Except for USA, Canada, Australia).

3. Carbon Made Door pockets.

4. Main and Secondary Instrument panels in Carbon.

5. Underdoor mouldings in carbon with ferrari logo in Aluminium and hand brake cover in carbon.

6. Tunnel Moulding and gear knob in Carbon, with dedication plate in silver. (Michaels has his autograph on it - it does not say World Speed Record).

7. Modular week rims (available during 1998).

8. Brake callipers in red colour.

9. Handy Fire extinguisher fitted in the car (This was also leather covered).

So, the above is what Ferrari list however from various chats with people who remember the car - they were not sure that Michael had all of his own options (Strange but thats what they said).

I’ve been told he may not have had split rim wheels (perhaps he changed them later - perhaps he didn't).

The argument I often hear is - How many official options do you need from the above to call your car a “Michael Schumacher” 550. Thats an argument with no answer.

With the exception of Michaels ‘actual’ car I guess.

However more importantly - if you have all the options - how easy would it be to fake a WSR car ?

So look out for the following additions being made to the Ferrari 550 “Michael Schumacher”.

Firstly need to add wing badges (not stick on type).

The wing badges are the type fitted into an ‘indentation’ in the metal wing.

I have heard from Ferrari that people may simply order later type wings of this style or I have even heard of a US garage that have a machine that will press into your own wings and then add the badge.

Secondly, you’d also need to get a WSR badge made and as I have previously mentioned people are requesting these from Ferrari saying they have ‘lost their old one’.

To this day I cant understand why Ferrari apparently made 2 different types and put them in 2 different locations.

Lastly the WSR cars have

1. A suede steering wheel.

2. Carbon F50 gear knob with stallion.

3. On the metal gear change plate it has a diagram of the gear numbers - rather than the stallion.

There may be other differences - perhaps you may know.

All of this could be easily avoided if Ferrari release an official WSR Vin list.

However If you’re buying a WSR or a high specification 550 “Michael Schumacher” or being asked to pay more for any rarity, I’d check the Vin number (does the sequence and date look wrong) and get a Ferrari expert to double check things with you.

As I said with soaring prices of rare cars fakes are going to become a problem.

Here is 113162

The same as Michaels - called by Ferrari ....

Ferrari 550 “Michael Schumacher”

You’ll see the difference, it’s a race car.

This car won Gold at the FOC Concours.

Nobody knows how many Full Schumacher cars there are. Maybe 5-10 ?

See The Official Carrozzeria Scaglietti Ferrari 550 “Michael Schumacher” if you need clarification.


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Cheers Ralph



Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat

 

Ummm...I own 108979 now. Do not have any record of a Steve Young owning the car...

 

Congrats for owning a celebrity Ferrari
Excerpt from a Ferrari registry. Happy to adjust my data if proven wrong.
Martin

 

Who is / was Steve Young?

 

I have no idea. I am more into Ferraris than the VIP circus.

 

I’m the type of sports fan that “if it doesn’t have wheels, I’m not interested in it”, so I had to look it up: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Young

Ruben

 

I will photocopy the page from my owner's manual when I get home with the original purchaser's name. Not saying he could not have been a subsequent owner - but I traced the history fairly well.

Exterior color is right. Interior is Blu Scuro over Beige (Tan) w/Blu carpets

Engine – 46297 assembly 25869

Blu Sebring 503/C, Blu Scuro 3282 over Beige 4208, Blu carpet 168

 

Steve Young made the SF 49ers not miss Joe Montana so much.

 

Hey Michael, I currently have a 1997, RHD, Rosso corsa. (109665) Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Hello
I have 1998 112020 Nero and black LHD German "tubi" exhaust no spare
Now in California

 

Hi Michael.

Great initiative! Also good for people who seek a car to buy with specific colors and options.

I have 115743.

It is a 1999 550 Maranello LHD euro spec car.

Blu Pozzi with Crema interior and dark blue carpets. Factory fitted with Crema luggage, but the bags are still with the second owner who don’t Want to sell them. I bought the two shelf bags for weekend trips. They are great and also fit standing up right in the trunk along the fuel tank wall.

I bought the car in Modena in 2013, imported it to Sweden directly afterwards, and in 2018, I imported it from Sweden to my home country Norway. I have the following modifications made to it:
1) Quilted rear shelf (crema leather with dark blue stiching)
2) Quilted tunnel cover (replaced the carpet behind the mid console). It looks a bit like a 250 GTO and I really love it. The headliner is original and perfect. Not quilted (can be too much)
3) Quilted trunk cover with original 550maranello logo. On the underside of the trunk.
4) Dave’s cruise control. Works brilliant!
5) Aftermarket Pioneer stereo and new speakers. In-line amplifier. Small subwoofer soon to come.
6) HID light kit. I am quite happy with those actually. Have tried the same on other cars, and being disappointed, but on the 550 they have been good.
7) Hyperflow sport catalyzers, Quicksilver X-pipe and modified rear OEM mufflers for a more loud sound and still very quiet when closed.
8) Two red Ferrari umbrellas mounted at the entrance of the car. Between the seat and the door weather strip seal. Extremely handy when the rain is pouring down. Makes the cabin dry up 10x faster when you get into the car dry instead of wet. Fog on the windscreen is minimal. Before it was hopeless. When travelling, the hotel garage is sometimes quite a distance away, and I found out the hard way why I really needed an umbrella. There is one more for the passenger.
9) Rear mounted auxillary battery with parallell-switch inside the car for more power and to be able to start the car if it has been standing a long time with the alarm, and an extra power source if the alternator dies on long journeys. (I try to drive through Europe from Scandinavia to Italy / France as much as I can, and being stranded is a really really pain in the ass.
10) 20 mm. front spacers and 40 mm. rear bolt on spacers.
11) soon more improvements to come.

New paint in 2016.

Never major serviced outside Italy. I do regular service/maintainance myself at home. I have driven the car 50.000 kms. since 2013. Which is far too little! The car is all I can dream of. Userfriendly and beautiful from all angles. And super fast. I love it.

Erik
Oslo
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Hello Erik:

My 550 is a Euro model also. I am the post just above yours.
Please tell me about "Daves cruise control". I would love to have it. Can you send me contact info? Also, are you pleased with the spacers? Did you have to change any suspension specs when you added them?

Thanks
Lynn

 

Hi Lynn. The username «Ferraridriver» or Dave, have made a kit that I bought from him a few years ago. It is an aftermsrket cruise control kit that you can install yourself if you are a have some techical insight or let a workshop do it. I am not sure if he still makes it. Took me about an houre to install and it was not very difficult. It works brilliant and the car can be driven without having to worry about speeding. You just set the speed and tune up the stereo and use it as a normal car. Sometimes on long trips, your ego and eager to drive like an F1 driver can be exchanged with the ability to stress down and focus on completely other thoughts or be on the phone or think about and plan the rest of your trip.... I really love it, but I use it quite seldom to be honest. It somehow convert the car from an unuseful toy car to a real commutor car and travelcompanion which is there to do its job if you know what I mean. And no one can say that Ferrari owners drives like idiots if you drive a very stable speed in the neighbourhood of the speed limit.
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Hi Michael, consequetly I would like to post some of my 550‘s specifications...., it’s practically a sibilling to Erik‘s car....

Chassis No. 124558 has been delivered at the 09.05.2001 to it’s first owner at Castel Fiorentino, Italy. Specified in Blue Pozzi with a Crema interior it has practically the same color combination like Erik‘s car, as most european cars very view accessoires. Dark blue dashboard, crema carpets and black calipers. It’s been done just 27.800 km, original paint. Quiet original over all...

Jürgen
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Finally got around to taking a picture of my warranty card. Original owner was Steven Black - then CEO of JP Morgan. Mr. Black owned the car for about 9 months, and subsequently it went to the Scottsdale area - and lived it's life in the southwest until the last few years. I do not have the name of the 2nd owner - so perhaps that would have been when Steve Young could have owned it? Was he a resident of Scottsdale during the late 90s? 3rd owner was John Higholt of the Wrigley fortune - who split time between the Phoenix area and Palm Desert. It would be interesting to know the background behind what has been stated in the registry.


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And here comes another one. Great initiative!

VIN: 117128
Black interior
Black exterior

- Full Carbon interior: Doors, Dashboard, Center Console, etc.
- Carbon F50 gear knob with stallion.
- Metal gear change plate with gear numbers
- Racing seats
- 4 Point Harness
- Fire extinguisher
- Roll Bar
- Diamond pattern headliner
- Diamond pattern rear shelf
- Fiorano package
- Ferrari shields
- Luggage set
- Tubi

Based on the specs, I first thought its a WSR, but the WSR plate is missing so probably it isn`t one.
Its a LHD car located in Zürich Switzerland with 30`000km on the clock. First registered in October 1999

 

«FULLY loaded» Never seen a 550 with that many options. Congratulations.

 

Thanks so much Eric. I would like to follow up with Dave- can I try to contact him through ferrari Chat?
Sounds like you really enjoy your car. I forgot to mention that mine is a Euro car also.

Lynn

 

Yes for sure. Tel.: ‭00 1 (650) 968-1044‬.

 

The excerpt posted by me in post #32 is based on a database compiled by Hilary Raab. It contains nearly 100'000 VINs for most Ferraris produced until 2007, including additional information like color schemes, technical features, appearance in movies, former celebrity owners etc. Based upon the wealth of information, I am sure that this data is not 100% accurate (as the interior color for 108979 proved above, see your post #36). On the other hand both of my Ferraris are correctly mirrored in the database.

So, in your case, there are only two possibilities: either Steve Young was the 2nd owner of your Ferrari (maybe the football experts in this forum might chime in with more information) or the intel presented in post #32 is not entierly accurate in this regard.

Hope this helps.
Martin