Hi all, I am looking at a 355 Challenge car for sale in my country. Its RHD and supposedly ordered through the official Ferrari dealer in Singapore. My question is how can I know its a true 355 challenge as it has "regular" production seats and what seems like regular brakes (instead of the F40 Brembos). It used to have roll bars but have been removed. But according to the owner it has air conditioning (??). It has a red cut off switch in front of the gear lever. Oh and it has 2 toggle switches in place of the stereo unit I presume. Its Vin # is ZFFPR41C000104894. Thats the plaque on top of steering column. The owner said that he ordered it through the dealership in around 1995 and raced it once in our country against some other 355 Challenge drivers from abroad. Can anybody tell me a little bit of history of this car? Or how can I know which kind of 355 Challenge car it is? I've read some of the threads here and it seems like there are a few kinds of Challenge cars (i.e. factory installed, dealer installed kits, etc). Thanks in advance. Regards, HS
Can you post some photos of the seats, brakes, engine compartment, and roll bar mounting points, exhaust? What year is the car - 1995 right? That would mean a dealer installed kit was installed. There were no factory-built challenge cars in 1995. We will try to help. Interesting time for you. Robb
104854 (not sure if your serial number has been double checked) was run in the Pacific Challenge in 1997 by K. Soon Yue out of Malaysia. 104895 (one digit away from the serial you noted) was run in the Pacific Challenge in 1997 by A. Toppping out of Hong Kong I see only three cars from Singapore in the 1997 series - all different serial numbers. Will keep looking. Who was the reported original driver? Robb
#104894 Race one Finished in 6th place, June 1-2 1996, Shah Alam, Malaysia, driver Robert D Suhardiman. Race two Also finished in 6th place M
Hi, Yes yes thats the driver. The owner of the car is Robert's elder brother. So I guess the car is a true Challenge car albeit not with a factory installed kit? It ran one more time in Sentul, Indonesia before being retired in his house garage. Actually while reading the threads, I found out that there was a red 355 challenge for sale out of Netherlands (I think) with a similar spec. So I was kind of relieved because I was a bit confused with the car I saw. Now I am convinced and so I will buy it. Will try to restore it to original condition. Perhaps follow Robb's footsteps. Will keep you guys posted. Thanks again. regards, HS
Hi Robb, Yes its an interesting project that I will undertake. Looked through your restoration project and was very impressed with the results. Looking forward to going through this journey myself. Thanks. Regards, HS
Regardless of how the car was ordered, they all ended up in the same spec to be eligible to race in the Challenge series. If the car was ordered as a Berlinetta and then had the Challenge kit fitted by the importer, the benefit was that you also had all the road car pieces that could be re-fitted at the end of its racing career. ( ie seats, A/C, carpets ) and the race car bit's sold off. M
Hi, These are all that I have. Tx. HS Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi all, BTW can anyone tell me what the 2 toggle switches are for in the space area for the stereo unit? Regards, HS
Congratulations on your F355 Challenge. The two toggle switches are for manual operation of the left and right cooling fans. Challenge rules required the fans to be on while the car was on the track. I have the same switches in mine... . Image Unavailable, Please Login
I just want to know if the 888 km on he odometer is true?! So no carpets and stock seats. Stock leather steering wheel. What wheels / brakes / suspension? And what is the color? Metallic black or muddy something else? Looking forward to the restoration. Robb
You will struggle to find the original brakes. They are very expensive if you can find any. Somebody had a set advertised at EUR 30K recently...Finding one original seat will also be complicated, a few guys have been looking for a long time. Hopefully you still have the speedline wheels. May be you can track the missing bits as it seems it was kept in the family ? From value perspective, a challenge car without the key challenge bits shouldnt be worth a premium over normal one. Finding all the bits is very difficult and expensive (if possible at all). Try to confirm what they have done to the suspension. The challenge springs are very hard and given my experience of Indonesian roads (in Bali, perhaps not representative) I really think it should be turned back to the fiorano spec or even standard.
Hi According to my friend the odometer is true and I have no doubt he is saying the truth. No carpets and stock seats but a "racing" steering wheel with no airbag. And it doesn't looks like the one in a 348. It comes with the Speedline wheels. The brakes look stock to me. The front ones have no drilled holes. Don't know what the suspension is. Its black but with oxidisation I cannot make out if its metallic or not. The body is in good condition except for the paint. Looks like a good polishing will be enough except for the extensive stone chipped area which probably needs a good repaint. Yes i am looking forward to restore it. Although I have a feeling that it will be an arduous journey. Hehehehe Regards, HS
Hi, I cannot imagine how hard it will be to locate the missing parts. Including the roll bar that he said he lost when he moved houses. Will try my best to make it as period original as possible and with a feasible cost (if that is even possible). Thanks for the heads up though. I agree with you on the value of the car. But there are only 2 known examples in Indonesia and so beggars cannot choose. There are perhaps about 20 regular 355s in my country and they cost about USD 225K. Crazy prices as cars are very expensive here. With the road conditions here and hot weather, I predict the car will mostly sit in the garage as part of my collection. Cheers HS
