Adventure buying a Euro f355

Hi everyone! I'm long time reader making my first post.

After years of flirting with the idea of owning an f355 I finally pulled the trigger. Watching the f355 market going up... and up... and up, late one night I had the same idea as so many of us have had... why not import one? Well, it's been an adventure, but I'm happy to say that the car that arrived was worth the effort. With that said, as you can see below, it was a lot of effort and a lot of risk.

Buying an f355 takes a lot of research -- between discussions with sellers, who thankfully often had some proficiency in English, I was usually able to generate some form of vehicle records. Carfax Europe, CarVertical, and other vehicle history sites are useless for older cars since there are often no records at all, so the vehicle condition is really a mystery that needs to be solved by the vehicle records and pre-purchase inspection. After my first 2 months looking I was getting very disenchanted with the Euro market, as I had only turned up "good deals" that had either odometer issues, very poor recordkeeping (which PPIs taught me were generally a sign the car had problems that were being hidden), or had histories of blown motors, frequent electrical issues, or worse... and all of this discovered from teaching myself enough French, Italian, German and Dutch to quickly skim service records.

Then I found a car that I thought was a diamond in the rough. A red/cuoio 6mt GTS. There was just one thing that kept irking me about the car... it was a no-airbag car but the glove box looked exactly like the airbag cars with the f355 embossment under the lid instead of on it. The detail was driving me crazy so I tried to figure out if it was an airbag car that was converted to no-airbag config. For this I started by decoding the VIN... which said it was a genuine no-airbag car, so the mystery deepened. I then got Ferrari to pull the original build sheet which confirmed it was a no-airbag car but listed the colors as red/tan. "How odd", I thought. I continued to dig deeper until I chatted with the owner of a blue/cuoio f355 in Oslo who thankfully knew the car and informed me it was on fire in 2011.... and there it was. The answer to my airbag discrepancy. So, once again I walked away.

The car I found next ,and ultimately purchased, had higher miles but also had a full dossier. I got a pre-purchase inspection and had a compression/leak test done, as well as cam belts and tensioners done pre-sale as well. There has been some re-spray on the RHS door and quarter panel, but inner surfaces such as the quarter panel surface which wraps up into the wheel well as well as inside the door-jambs mic out at the correct paint thickness... the inner sub structure mics out at the correct thickness as well, which tells me there was no crash or structural damage and the panels are all original. Panel gaps look great, seat bolsters look great, dash leather looks great, and the motor number matches the original warranty card. So I paid up and had the car shipped. End of the adventure? Nope!

The shippers I used were recommended by a Friend who runs an awesome vintage car sales gallery. They did a great job, but their policy was that they wanted the title sent separately from the car for logistics reasons. The dealership said "no problem -- I will send it in the post". The car was exported using the bill of sale and once the car left the selling dealership (a one-man show) the guy ghosted me. Weeks later the car arrived looking amazing but I still had no title. I will spare the details here, but after being ghosted for 42 days, I was able to force the dealer to send the title and it is now in my possession. The resolution included getting the French military police involved it came out that the selling dealer had not told the prior owner about the sale and instead used my money as a loan to buy other inventory. It took working through multiple French government agencies before I turned the right screws to force the selling dealer to send the title.

Luckily I now have the title and I am in the process of getting a Florida title in my name which I will have in the next few weeks. The car has been to my local exotic car mechanic who only found 2 issues with the car: he recommended replacement of the intake filters and found a slow seep from the transmission input shaft seal. Having those items taken care of, I am soon to be on the road in my Euro import f355 GTS and I couldn't be happier.

So, I wanted to share this tale in response to all the comments that I have seen about how cheap Euro f355s are. After thinking that myself I can tell you this: I bought a great one, but it wasn't easy and there is so much risk involved that it isn't for the faint of heart.


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@radback Reims

 

@Tarek307 I think the whole world (or at least all gear heads) know about your story of nearly being BBQ'd in France. Glad you escaped unscathed!

I agree that buying and Ferrari (no matter where it is located!) benefits from seeing the car in person to confirm condition, but I have a 4 year old and a 6 month old... with my wife and I have demanding careers time is precious. What gave me the confidence to move ahead on this adventure is that I am in aerospace and do a lot of work with Airbus, so I have colleagues throughout France and Germany (as well as much of Europe), so I was able to have friends see many of the cars I seriously considered and provide feedback. Its not the same, but it really helped in selecting the right one.

As for the red/cuoio car, agreed. The owner knew for sure and hid it. The mechanic, Feike, has taken care of the car since the early 2000s and would definitely be aware of the 2011 fire. Feike and I corresponded and he hid the fire as well -- basically gave the car a clean bill of health even when asked specifically to note any evidence of prior damage on the repainted RHS. I was told that the re-spray and non-original RHS corner glass were likely part of an effort to clean up the common buttress cracking. Had it not been for the owner from Oslo and my insistence on figuring out the odd glove box, I may have had that car in the garage and taken a huge loss when ultimately selling the car. Which all supports the old saying "if it was easy everyone would do it".

 

@radback I wanted to make one additional note. As pissed off as I am with the dealership, they bought the car well and sold it for a good deal. The lesson learned here is that if I do this again I will hire the car shipper to also pick up the title and have the shipper post the title to me. That would have avoided this issue altogether.

I wanted to add this note because many other dealerships were selling awful cars and not disclosing it, so I do need to give the guy some credit. Its unfortunate that he did not complete the transaction in a timely manner and caused me a lot of anxiety, but in the end I would rather a late title than a crap car, so I wanted to give the fair and balanced assessment of the situation.

 

@gregklanderman post pics! I hope your car exceeds your expectations!

 

Yep. Nailed it.

 

Thanks! IMHO Tarek still wins the French purchasing story of the year, though

 

@fatbillybob Those requirements are only applicable to cars under 25 years old. Part of customs import of non-grey market cars is EPA and customs declaration forms. In general you either need to fill out compliance data or simply check the box that says the car is over 25 years old.

Ref: US DOT/NHTSA form HS-7 box1, and EPA form 3520-1 code E

 

@fatbillybob I believe the cats are the same PN for USA and Euro versions. My car has been maintained by guys who seem to value originality, so the exhaust system is 100% stock, including the cats (I was happy to learn I had no evidence of exhaust leaks upon USA inspection!). As far as condition goes, the French Histovec report shows emissions performance as "favorable" as recently as February of this year, so the tail emissions seem to be in good shape (or at least as good as they can be for a 355).

I believe federalization had more to do with components such as bumpers, turn signals, meter unit and other items like those. I dont believe the exhasut required any mods for federalization.

Anyone else want to pitch in? @Targatime, I believe you fielded this same question just this week on BaT comments.

 

Greg, the TR looks great!

 

Wow! is that blow over maroon? Awesome color combo