Question regarding Ferrari illuminating dealer signs:

ebay one just ended went for around $1700 log onto ebay try this number 300280560342 seller name is exoticdesign good luck
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The last time I seen on Ebay, the sign sold for $1300.

 

$1,300 for a piece of light-emitting, injection-molded plastic? There must be a sucker born every 10 seconds....those things cost $50 to produce - tops.

 

$50???

Sign me up for 100 of them.

A properly done, neon lighted sign costs WAY more than 1K to make.

 

Bought anything Ferrari related lately?

 

Neon isn't used as a backlighting system, that I'm aware of - ordinary flourescent tubes are most likely used. You can purchase all the materials to light pretty much ANY standard backlighting sign from your nearest Lowes or Home Depot for less than $50, out-the-door, including sufficient ballasts and tubes. Lets THINK about the materials used to make this sign - colored plastic and metal trim. Hardly 'exotic materials'. Ferrari SpA didn't make the sign - they're not in the 'sign-making' business - they make cars, remember? These items were out-sourced to another company and licensed by Ferrari Spa - that's it. You're paying huge $$$ for the license fee, and not much else. It might as well be a $300 Ferrari coffee mug that's made in China for 50 cents, but licensed by Ferrari Spa as an "official product" - still want to pay $300 for that coffee mug?

 

BTW, if you 'need' a backlit sign for your garage, here's what $300 gets you:




Visible from 75 yards away (so said my neighbors at the time).
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I have one on my shop wall and will put up some pictures tomorrow if I remember. I have seen the double sided ones like mine with all the parts and working lights for around 2 grand. Keep your eyes open. They pop up once in a while. The single sided ones like your picture is the same facia panel but in a different frame. Mine has 2 flourescent tubes inside, about 30 inches long as I recall.

They are all made by one particular contractor and sold by Ferrari to the dealers. To buy new they are very expensive. I might have the catalog at work and I will see what sizes they are offered in as well. Ferrari has an exclusive contract with them so you cannot buy direct...at least that is the idea and the dealers are only allowed to buy them for their official business use.

 

And you can buy a knock off Rolex for $100 that keeps better time and while we are at it lets get the Corvette that will blow the doors off the Ferrari.

The genuine Ferrari sign hanging on my wall is worth several times what I paid for it.

What have you been offered for yours?

 

I always wondered about the "official business use" rule. If you had a great relationship with a dealer and they bought a small lighted sign claiming it was to be used for the interior of their employee meeting room and you paid them, is the factory sales rep really going to micro manage on whether the dealership put that sign up or not in a employee meeting room? We're not talking about a gigantic outdoor sign here.

The Maserati dealer in Bedford Ohio closed down due to lack of sales couple years ago and they had a beautiful lighted sign in their dealership. I regret not asking them what they did with that sign as I'm more than willing to pay for it. For all I know its sitting in the back of their parts dept. of the now Smart dealership that took its place collecting dust.

 

When I was at the dealer I never tried to buy a sign so I can't say for sure but Ferrari does indeed micromanage much of that sort of stuff. Many things require advanced permission by one of your factory reps to order and I would not be surprised if that was one. In those cases they need to sign off on your genuine need and will physically check and keep an eye on things. People understandably have a hard time accepting or believing those kinds of stories but Ferrari is very controlling and dealing with them is not unlike having a spouse that wants to control everything in your life. There is often no logic involved. They keep inventory of many of the things the dealer owns just for the sake of keeping track of it. I don't know how many times I heard the phrase "We don't want it in the wrong hands". Often that effectively means it gets in no ones hands.

 

Point taken, but if you're going to spend that kind of cash, wouldn't you want something of quality that's actually made in Italy by the factory? I'm not convinced you're getting that with this product, and that's my only point. I had looked for one of the single-sided, 80's dealership signs several years ago (my area Mechanic has/had one) and after inspecting its construction/quality and comparing it to the prices being thrown around, I stopped looking altogether from my disappointment. If you want a lit sign on the wall, the Dealership hassle you describe doesn't seem to be worth the trouble - but perhaps that's part of the fun in obtaining an exclusive item?

Oh, and the signs I was offered back-then didn't come with backlighting systems of any kind (some of the signs I've seen are so rough, the electricals obvously didn't survive) - you just bought the plastic shell. If you wanted light, you're still going to Home Depot to buy ballasts....

 

Here is mine. It is about 28 or 29 x 48 or so inches. It is all Italian except for the lighting. That part was in serious disrepair so Home Depot helped me out there. They are either double sided like this or single sided. There was another smaller size about 8-10 inches shorter and a larger size too. I have seen this size on Ebay a few times and like I said they seem to go for $2k or so. I turned down a legit offer of $2500 for this several years ago.

The plastic panels are rather fragile and get cracked and broken so that should be looked out for. Also the brackets I used to attach it to the wall are a Home Depot item.
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You are right. If you are simply looking for a good looking decoration there are easier and cheaper alternatives. I have considered having a nice neon prancing horse made for the shop and even that would probably cost less than what I have. The factory signs really need to come under the heading of memorobilia or collectables.

 

Mine is single sided and is about 26"-28" x 48" My interior lighting was also damaged in shipping and I had to home depot the repair. I have been meaning to change the ac plug so i can cover the outlet but have not gotten to it yet. Mine turns on and off with the garage lights. Rifledriver, nice job on the mounting.
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Big difference between OEM and knock off is that the OE sign is embossed.

I used to have a tall blue/white and the short square red Fiat, one of IAI's (Bricklin) Pininfarina/Bertone slver signs and old, old Alfa dealer sign.

Man, that PF/Bertone sign was HUGE.

 

Michael, where did you find that one?