Why does the one in the first picture have black on the bottom all around the car. And the one in the second picture painted all the way to the bottom? Is it a difference in years? Models?
Ferrari started painting the bottom section on the tb &ts cars in 92 or 93, I might be off but omeone here will know. The second picture shows a Serie Speciale. There are no black louvres over the tail lights. It came with racing seats and slightly more horsepower. It was a limited production car that was made available near the end of the 348 coup production.
They started painting the lower panels with the Special in '93. Many people retroactively paint their pre '93 348 lowers to match the body color, so it is not always a good indication of MY. Specials were made in a run of 100, TS and TB models. More of a marketing ploy than an actual upgraded model, imho. Increase in rear track and a slightky freer flowing exhuast were the preformence upgrades, and most people opted for the "frau" (normal) seat option, given that the F40 racing seats were somewhat uncomfortable. Still, a great car.
Cool thanks. So basically just a broad generalization: Pre 93's had black bottom sections. 93' & after had body matched painted bottom sections.
Yes, but I would venture to say that over 50% of the pre 93' cars do not have the black bottoms anymore. My basis for saying this is the amount of cars that I see go on sale. Out of the 5 348's that I have driven (all pre 93'), none of them had black bottoms...
Ya i would think that is probably true. Because that is the FIRST one i have ever seen, thats why i was wondering, i thought it was a bit odd, and i didnt recognize it.
And actually even the early cars are painted body color under the black finish. Some people wet sand the black finish off to reveal the body color lower panels. I went with repainting the lower panels. BT
I own a late '93 model 348 which is painted body colour down below - but the panel between the engine bay and rear window is painted satin black. Was this the case with post 93 models? I've seen this panel painted body colour as well.
In US models '93 and up, the "Speciale" paint included body color lower panels and rear deck lid. That was carried over to '94,'95 spyders. With non US it was a different model (GTS/GTB). Maybe the rear deck lid was still black? Maybe a previous owner painted or replaced rear deck lid?
Thanks for the advice - but the lid looks original to me (satin black). Any UK or Euro owners to chime in on this one?