About a year out

Start searching vigoriously when you get back... any good deals that may be available now are sure to be gone between now and January. BTW, I think that is probably the best time for you to be looking. I bought mine during the winter a few years ago. Do a search on here if you haven't already for any questions you can think of. More than likely it's been covered. Oh and be sure to get a PPI no matter how good it looks.

 

Try Jonathan Peck here in Dallas. User name jonathanp

 

Just my $.02 - I didn't have a lot of luck talking to dealers 'early'. I told them I was a serious
buyer, and would be ready to buy in a few months (at the time I actually had most of the
cash in hand already - just needed to 'top it off'). I put my name with 3 different dealers
(F-of Seattle, and 2 other exotic places). NONE of them ever called me back! Seems
that unless I had the cash in my wallet and walked in with it showing, they couldn't be
bothered.

Needless to say none of the 3 got the sale!

Jedi

 

I think it is too early for you to start looking. All you can do now is start reading about what, how, when, where to buy the cars.

 

Have your ears open for some good deals out there. I know that many people on the board believes the prices of Ferrari are holding firm even in a recession. Those are the ones that don't have to sell a car. For the rest of us, the economy is real thing.

 

I admire your enthusiasm.... as previously stated unless you have cash in hand no one (especially dealers) are gonna be bothered. To them you're just window shopping.

It does sound though like you are trying to familairize yourself with the model line and that's great. Trying to glean as much info about the specific type of 308 or 328 you may want. (i.e. carbureted, 2V injected, 4V QV), (on 328s pre 1988.5 and ABS cars, convex vs. concave wheels). Buy the best car you can afford. I found some great resources in Exoticcar trader, Hemmings, Cars.com, and the main FCA classifieds. Heck I even called Tom Shaunessy about a 308 in Cali before I actually bought one. Ebay cars seem to have a stigma attached to them... usually the result of dishonest sellers. Ebay is a pretty good resource though for parts. I wouldn't get too hung up on establishing a dealer relationship. They want to sell cars.... Selling is the bottom line and most everything else is secondary. I would concentrate on a private party... someone from here perhaps. I know James in Denver's car is for sale by Forza up in Connecticut. Good car, reasonable price...

 

Same thoughts here. What I did during that last year before i was ready to buy was get on Ferrarichat a lot and read up on the cars/ problems that people were having/what prices people were paying/ect. and checking the want adds to see what cars were going for and whether prices were going up or down. As the saying goes "knowledge is power" the more you know about the car/model you are looking at the better purchase decision will be.