F355B - little suspicious.

I'll venture to say that they are all like that. My car has an excessive amount of road rash on the bumper when compared against my other cars, but being low to the ground seems to exponentially increase the appearance of marks. I had a 100,000 mile Lexus with nary a spec on it, so its probably unfair to compare it against too many other cars.

The floormats can be fussy; perhaps the former owner had little patience. I mean, they are fragile cars. Finally, the sticky center console is uniform for the models and not very dependent on use, but more on care and humidity. My center is in perfect condition and my car is a 1995 from Houston, so its repair is either missing from the history, or I am extremely lucky.

As long as the mechanicals are sound, I'd feel pretty confident in the car.

 

No you should be concerned about the car condition. Even though the car has low miles it is 9 years old. The low bumper is subject to road rash alot! In Las Vegas between poor streets and high speed bumps I am thankful I bought a set of front skid plates to minimize the scraping.

If you are interested in the car, take all your points into consideration when negotiating the price. That is what I did when I bought mine. Determine what you would pay for it if the car was in excellent condition and deduct from there (grommet, clip, sticky console and road rash).

 

Road rash is a function of episodes moreso than mileage. Just ask Brav.
I wouldn't buy it unless they fix the clip!

 

Different dealers seem to have different approaches. My 348 had 3 owners, all sold through the same dealership. Every resale time was a bumper respray on the records, and wheel repair and.... (all charged to the previous owner, of course).

Be aware of what it costs to clean up the things that bother you (and they're all valid), and negotiate it in. Try and get an independent PPI with compression/leakdown though.

I don't trust any odometer in this industry. 9 years with 12k miles is just wrong - it's a car, not a statue.

 

Typical 355 problems---don't be concerned...

 

I agree. Regarding the bumper? Just try leaving 1 car length for each 10mph on a sunny day with 140 more hp than your Honda.

And, as svelte and gym-trim as you may be, hopping in and out of a 355 is an exercise in awkwardness. Think giraffes at the waterhole.

I would worry more about broken carpet clips on the passenger side. That means fat chicks, and thats what burns out the headers and valve guides.

JM

 

I looked at many things when I was on the hunt for my 355 and believe me there are many with questionable millage. The one thing I got really good at in the 355 was being able to guess withing 2000 miles the odometer reading by looking at the wear in different areas on the drivers seat. Unless the drivers seat has been rebuilt or replaced with a newer one, it is easy (for me anyway) to guesstimate the millage. Take some hi quality pictures of both seats and pm them to me and I will give you my quess on the millage. Like I said on another thread a while back, Its amazing how many low millage Ferraris seem to come out of the same dealers over and over and over.

 

so TJ, I take it you'd be suspicious about a 16yr old 348 with 4.5K miles...how wrong you'd be.

 

Just a thought, but could it have been a rental car? Exotic car rental businesses also do offload their cars that the dealership when comes time right?

 

yeap - especially if your bumper needed a respray, torn carpet clip, etc...

but jeez - 450km/year is barely a single visit to the petrol station each year. I'd do more miles getting emissions checked and driving to the mechanic for oil changes/etc.

 

DGP

is the car yellow ?

 

dgp, if you do not have that gut feeling that you really are comfortable with the car, and I do not think you do regarding this one, then do not buy it. Look for another one. Keep looking until you find one where that gut feeling falls in love with it with no doubts. That will be the one you should buy.

Dean

 

+1----when I was looking and found my car---I had that gut feeling. I called the dealer and had a deposit placed right then. I still had not sold my 328 and could not have bought the car w/o selling it first--But had that gut feeling and didn't want to lose it..All worked out and she is sitting in the garage...

 

If in doubt, don't buy it. End of problem.

 

Motorcars has a vey nice silver 99 355B F1. Saw it a couple of weeks ago when I picked up my Fiorano. The car is in pristine conditon. This color on the car is fabulous and the interior/exterior combination works very nicely.

http://www.motorcars-intl.com/veh_detail.aspx?stockno=M-4030&title=1999%20Ferrari%20355%20F1%20Berlinetta&stocknoid=445

Steve

 

Check this thread http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=146490 about possible repaint of entire car??

 

You're paranoid; DON'T BUY IT!!

If you do buy it, you will be more paranoid and not able to sleep.

For your own well-being, stay far far away from that car!

 

Yes, your suspicions are well founded. I drove that car down into Hollywood to pick up a hooker. When I was done, she didn't want to get out of the car, so I had to forcefully eject her. She grabbed the floor mat. It was either rip it out or keep the hooker. She wasn't that fine, and it would have been hard to get the wife in the car with the hooker still there. She (the hooker) can still be seen on Sunset with the floormat in her teeth. If you see her, please try to recover the mat for me. I wouldn't buy that car unless you want to be stalked by her, as she has stated that she wants the matching mat. She keeps saying something about the mats matching the drapes.

 

Not many of these around. I love the combination, so I recall a very recent one for sale in Texas that was much discussed here.

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=111339&highlight=bordeaux