F355 Market

I bought my 355 from Wisconsin & Drove it back to Michigan.
Amazingly enough the Planned route was exactly 355 miles!
Shipping made me nervous as my 430 came in & the guy was crawling all over the Car to unstrap it...
Another advantage is you gain a sense of security about you 355s ability to make a long trip if it happens trouble free as mine was. Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Were these pics taken recently? Thats Classic Coach!

 

John,

Yes, I took those photos ten years ago at Classic Coach. When they took the cars in, I took this photo of the old and new Californias side by side...


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Barry

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1998-Ferrari-355-GTB/174560474272?hash=item28a49d74a0:g:5EkAAOSw5ulf2QxY

My old car is at Cats Exotics.

 

You know when there are tourists on the road as they drive without the roof and residents know better.

 

But that’s a 458...

 

71k mi. Nice!

 

It still ran fantastic. Might be because it may have had a rebuild. The engine was immaculate...previous owner built and raced those crazy dragsters that run 5-6 second quarter miles.

Only reason I sold it was because I wanted a lower mile example to hold on to forever. No such luck in almost 3 years now trying to find one!

 

So it is, John.

I meant to post these...


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Sea of silver and yellow.

 

Ah you passed right by me.

 

Starting to think I will never find a blue or black berlinetta.

 

There's been a few black ones that have come up over the past year.

Blue however...not much. There was a really nicely spec'd blue GTS with red interior and F1. Had the carbon seats and all...kinda regretting not just buying that one but I prefer the hardtop.

 

https://www.pcarmarket.com/auction/1996-ferrari-f355-berlinetta/

No Reserve
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carfax says this car has been listed for sale since November. Anyone know where out of curiosity? I haven't seen it listed anywhere. 8 owner car. 23,000mi. Looks clean, but missing a lot of info. belt service date, tire age, why the owner thinks the hood was painted, etc.

 

I'd never heard of that auction site before. Is it legit?

 

pcarmarket is legit. I plan to bid. I'm so glad all of you guys care about things like service history and whatnot. Couldnt care less. Its an F355 and it has a hard top. Didnt want red but sick of waiting.

 

LOL!

 

Cant tell if you're laughing at me or with me lol.

When I buy a car, the first thing I do is a fluid service and a visual inspection of the big stuff that could go wrong. Dont care if it was serviced a few miles ago, its just what i do for peace of mind. I want a car to own and drive. Couldnt care less about silly things like paint depth or how many times the seats have been farted in

 

I totally get your perspective. It also helps explain why some mediocre cars have gone for big money with good pictures. I'm not saying this is a bad car at all. I'm just saying that you can't determine condition based on what has been presented. But if you are a guy that doesn't care about paint, if a belt service is due, or other details that impact condition or future expense, yeah, you'll out bid me.

I'm with you though. I didn't want red. But there have been very few 3 pedal cars on the market in a while...

Good luck bidding! depending on details, I may as well.

 

The F355 isn’t a Honda. Service history can be a pretty big deal.

Belts 8 years old? Original headers ready to crack? Failed compression test? No big deal!

Any one of the aforementioned issues not being taken care of can lead to $20-30k of work should things go wrong.

 

I dont think those are a big deal.

A major service on this car is $1600 in parts. You're making a mistake not putting an exhaust system on it, so the headers dont matter since you should put an aftermarket 4-2-1 setup on them anyway. Valve guide service isnt hard and parts are $750.

I'd inspect and/or do those as soon as I got the car. I'd love for a car to come along that needs $40k worth of servicing, just because I'd get it done for the parts cost while everyone else is worrying about the bill from a ferrari dealership.

These cars arent hard to work on as long as you have a lift. Its just a car. There is this belief that you must be blessed by Enzo himself to work on a Ferrari, but its just not the case. A ferrari is no different from a Honda or any other car when it comes to doing the work. Only difference is cost of parts, and especially cost of labor if you have to take it to a dealership.

"But then you lose on resale because you wont have service records". I'd argue that if you DIY this car and keep a detailed log of everything you do, you'll come out very far ahead compared to dealer servicing it.

 

I totally respect your methodology ! Clears your mind and you can really enjoy the car.

However, when I was 14 years old, and into dirt bikes. I read a very prudent buyer’s advice on buying any bike, car, boat, etc.

You see, he said look at the guys garage when you get there. If his car has a coat hanger for an antenna, then what ever else he is selling has probably been “ ridden hard and put away wet.”

43 years and 20 plus cars, boats, bikes later: those are words I lived by and and has done me well.

OCD, anal owners are the best to buy from IMO. Anything wrong bugs them to the core and will bug them so badly, so they fix it.

Buying houses, I don’t care to degree what deferred maintenance has been neglected.

Cars, boats, bikes, etc. For me is a different story. It’s kind of like French Kissing your sister. You just don’t do it. LOL.

 

I do agree many parts are just nuts and bolts like any other car. Well until you shake your head when you try and swap out something as simple as an alternator and belt tensioner . Not difficult but tight as f in there. And I am am decent wrench
( 1980 UT trade school grad and ASE Certified Master Tech ). Only wrenched professionally to pay through my Bachelor Degree. Saved myself tens thousands over the years doing a ton of DYI.

Anyway, I worry way less about guys that get in there and involved with their 355!than the could care less check book owners.

 

I looked this cars photos over. I suspect it was hit in the rear. Towards the driver side possibly. The VIN tag is missing on the driver side door jam also...repainted or blended all the way that forward?

Front windshield has been replaced...chrome trim for some reason used after replacement? Looks kinda dumb. Also, the windshield that's on there right now also had a pretty big chip on it that will lead to a crack eventually I'm sure.

There's some overspray where there shouldn't be as well. The air filter houses look kinda mangled especially for just 22k miles...might be related to a possible rear hit. All in all...a good driver maybe for the right price. I wouldn't buy it expecting a mint car.