Looked at two F355's this week. What you think?

Hi,

I am from Ireland. There are only 4 F355's for sale in the entire country.

I am looking to buy one soon.

I have looked at 2 so far:

1) I looked at below 1997 GTB which has 63K miles. (Private sale)
I noticed a few things:
-There are small cracks starting to appear on the side back wings (very slight).Is it a big/expensive job to fix?
-When I drove the car the brake light came on a few times. Anyone know why this would happen? Is it a big/expensive job to fix?
-I also noticed that the brake pedal had to be pushed a little hard. Is this normal?
-The chassis number on the log book matched what was on the engine and on the tag on the drivers door. Yet, when I checked a website that shows the history, it says that the chassis number was changed. I asked the owner and he has no idea why it says this as the documentation he has proves otherwise.

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=200934194986026

2) I also looked the the 1997 GTS below (Garage sale)

I did'nt drive it. It looks like new. And has only 16K miles.

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=200929194644794

The GTS could probably be bought for €60K and my guess is that the black GTB could be bought for around €35-€38K from talking to the owner.

The red GTS is the better car. I like the black one as it is within my budget. I am just scared that if I buy the black GTB I could be facing big bills with mileage getting high.
And the money I spend on the black GTB I could end up maybe spending in total close to the price of the red GTS.

Any advice appreciated?

 

The cracks your referring to are likely the buttress cracks that are very common. Search on here for buttress crack and you'll see. Not tough to get rid of them, but when the chassis flexes they can reappear.

Brake light and sponginess could be many things: brake bleed needed, brake line leak, master reservoir problem etc.. When you get a PPI, which you HAVE TO GET on a Ferrari, have them take a look at the brake system specifically.

Good luck!
KK

 

you will spend the money either way... whether paying for a sorted one, or paying to get one sorted...

ps, that black one looks damn good for a more driven car.

 

Looks like the steering wheel is on the wrong side!!!!! LOL.

 

Don't quit your day job....

 

Definitely get a PPI. 63,000 miles sounds high to me, but that is just my opinion.

 

You need to read good 355 buyers guide as the shoulder cracks should be covered - they are fairly normal - if you are lucky the brake light is just the fluid level or a bad earth or possibly even the wear indicator light

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34059

www.the355.com

Might your budget perhaps allow importation of a UK car plus taxes ?

 

I could get one in UK. Just the hassle of going there and importing that puts me off.

 

You must know red car is easier to resell, not the case for the black one

 

That black 355 looks awesome!

 

Let him buy one first before he worries about selling it (assuming he ever will) Okay, realistically now would be the time to take that into consideration but still, I think he should get the color that strikes his fancy with little or no regard to a future sale.

 

Obviously I am biased, but I think that red GTS is stunning.

You could actually get into big money with either. Just make sure compression is good, I would actually feel more comfortable about valve guides and headers on the higher mileage car.

But the advice is always the same: buy the best car you can afford (which in this case is that red GTS).