Thinking about buying a 355 Spider $64K. What do you think??

Be VERY, VERY, VERY careful - that car needs its valve guides done, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it needs its major service immediately. The place selling it knew nothing about exhaust manifolds or anything else, when I called them about that car a month ago. With a major service, you're looking at a $72k '95, which would be okay, I guess, if the car was cosmetically gorgeous and checks out OK via a PPI. Personally, I think you can do better.

If you haven't yet done your homework on typical F355 issues are, you seriously need to, before making what could be a very expensive mistake: http://www.the355.com is a good start.

Feel free to PM me with basic questions, but the Search Button and hanging around the 348/355 area for a while should get you most of the answers you need. I'm no expert, but 6 months of F355 shopping will give you *some* knowledge!

Orrie

 

If the mechanicals check out ok on the car (leakdown test is a must!), keep an eye on the cosmetics:

Dashboard leather shrinkage, especially on the passenger airbag cover.
Stickiness on the center console, black door parts, and vents.
Wear on the seat bolsters, especially on the driver side.
Scrapes on the underside of the front happen a lot, so see if it's scuffed badly.

Also, seat position potentiometers can go bad, which will turn a power soft top into a manual soft top until it's fixed. Exhaust manifolds *will* eventually crack, unless you go aftermarket. I almost guarantee valve guides on that car are due to be done.

I hope I'm wrong and it's a steal, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Better to spend a little more for a car that won't give you headaches, especially for the "honeymoon" period.

Orrie

 

In my opinion, this car APPEARS in the pictures to be above average. Not far above average, but lots of the little F355 headache crap doesnt show on this car.


Valve guides? Pay for a leakdown at the shop at Sears Point. If you buy the car great, if not, advertise and offer to sell the results of the leakdown at a discount to prospective buyers, with a non-disclosure statement.
I've always wanted to do that. (smiley face here0

LMK if I can help, we are off to drink wine at Z's in EDH, and it is too hot to drive an F355 Spider. How ironic is THAT.

Jay

 

Regarding valve guides: When Ferrari started making F355s, they used bronze guides, which fail prematurely. They were eventually replaced with steel ones, and NO '99s need to worry about the guides.

However, the transition wasn't done "at a certain chassis number". Some '96s don't have the problem, and some '98s DO. It's somewhat luck of the draw, and while you should be able to contact Ferrari and find out if your car needs to have them replaced, some of the 355 guys feel that they're not completely forthright with accurate information. In the case of this '95, you can be sure that if the previous owner didn't do the guides, you'll want to.

Search "valve guides" in the 355 section, and you'll have PLENTY of reading material for a couple weeks.

 

Brings back memories:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95181

 

That model is one of the best looking spyders around.

To reiterate the above, the entrance price is not the only thing to consider.
These cars are known for exhaust header, valve guide and clutch repairs which can really add up fast.

If possible find a 1999 version, those had all the upgrades and are superior to the earlier cars.

 

$64K for 355 Spyder, 17k miles w/Tubi? hmm...price of an 348 Spyder. What're you waiting for? go for it, if not I will

Tony

 

the valve guide issue is huge and potentially slightly under $20K fix as some members have found out. Do a full PPI on the car is my suggestion and do your due deligence. Rushing into a purchase is not recommended.

 

Den,

welcome to fchat. IMO and when I was shopping for my CS, it's the low mileage examples that you need to worry about. I've seen very low mileage 360's that require a lot of servicing with broken seals, etc. I would focus on cars that are taken care of service wise. Mileage should only be a secondary consideration.

 

There's got to be something SERIOUSLY wrong with that car for them to drop the price that low, that quickly. Caveat emptor, big time!

 

According to a friend of mine it needs VALVE GUIDES. Stay away!!

 

Well I drove the now $59.5K 355 today. I had another car lined up yesterday but it was sold out from under me 1 hr before I was to see it. This happened to me once before when the seller couldn't wait 3 days for me to return from an overseas trip. Just business I guess......so this morning after breakfast I decided to drive 2 hrs to see this 355 for myself.

Since this is my first post I'll give you a little history: I've been looking for a nice example of a 328 for some time. Why a 328? Because I just like the lines of the car. It has nothing to do with affordability, reliability or availability, it's simply the car that I think of when I think F-Car; the one I grew up with in the magazines (well actually my passion started in 1980 with a Sports Car Mag review of a 308 when I was 15. I wore out those pages by the way).

Hopefully I didn't loose to many of you, but before you go I have to say thanks for all of the information and the candor. This board is a vast library of information if you know where to look & can sift through and find the threads with the supporting data.

Back to the 355: First, I was given copies of all of the records (including the original sticker) most of which are computer history downloads from F-BH & F-SF, and second I have no bias one way or another when presenting this data since I'm not trying to sell it and am not one to draw conclusions based on emotions. I do not claim to be anything more than a passionate enthusiast like many of you so be easy on me.

Based on my research there were three areas specific to the 355 to pay special attention to in addition to the std PPI items such as records, service, cosmetics, tools, etc. These areas being 1) valves/leakdown, 2) cats, and 3) headers. These are my observations:

This car has had two owners both of which reside in Northern CA. The car is on consignment, and I was told that the current owner just needs the space and would be available to talk. Upon walk up the exterior of the car is above average. The 355 spider is a beautiful car. No indication of any body or paint work. There are a few items to note such as minor wheel scrub, two small touchups on the the bonnet bead, and what I would call very light "shrub scraping" on the lower passenger side door (as if you brushed up against a plant). The under carriage is relatively clean and shows some signs of bottoming out. The interior is not as good. It has definitely seen some sun. The driver side bolster is worn, the airbag leather has shrunk, and the black plastic interior parts show more signs of wear than I would have expected for a car with under 20K miles (sticky, bubbles, etc). The orig carpets did look good as did the inside of the bonnet and engine compartment. Considering the price of the car these things didn't keep me from driving it.

I then looked at the records looking for service and the three items above. Highlights: the 30K service was done on 4/01 and 14.4K miles. At the same time both left & right manifolds, and cats were repaired/replaced under warranty, as well as having a used car PPI & a few other misc items done. The car was then sold to the current owner by F-BH. In Mar 04 the car was brought in for a faulty thermal couple at 19.4K miles. With 19.7K miles on the clock now, this car has only been driven 300 miles in the last 3 yrs. There is no indication that the heads have been off, only compression results from 5/01 which ranged from 190 to 200. I'd definitely have a leakdown done before moving forward since compression only tells half the story.

The drive: I saw no smoke upon start. It did seem to idle high, just over 1000 RPM, and was louder than I expected (as if the low speed exh valve was non-existent or wired open), great sound though. The top looked like it had been down for some time, and the AC worked about as well as my old 84 P-Cab. Since I'm use to 328's the 355 felt more refined, almost to much for me but that's another story. I felt no problems with the clutch or brakes, and it shifted easily, but since this was my first 355 drive I'll leave it at that. Wow, is the steering always this light? Except for that gate shifter (which is a must in my book), the car felt to smooth for me. Considering that my daily driver is an SL 600 I'm somewhat tired of smooth. So I'll pass.

That's about it. Nice car, it's just the possibility of having to do the values, and anything else that may come out of a PPI that would worry me. I've noticed a few posts stating that the car does need valves. Was a leakdown performed? Thanks again for all of the info...!

Larry

 

I appoligize ahead for not fully reading this thread, but I am a little short on time and I wanted to let you know a little I found out about this car. I know from speaking with the owner of the shop and also the head service tech. that the valvue guide update was not completed. The car has had a 15k service done but has not yet had its 30K, and the top to the car is only partially functional. The car has been confirmed not to have tubi exhaust unless it was recently added, and it appears as though it maybe have been a repaint. There is only one F-badge on the left as a side marker and the shop owner stated that he believed that the owner of the vehicle probably only purchased one becaues the badges sell for $700 a pop. With that said just beware and do your research. I found this car quite a while ago and passed it up becaues of the above stated items. This wasn't the car for me but it doesn't mean it isn't the car for you. Good luck with your decision and hopefully all works out for the best.

 

I still have the service record copies and will keep them for the next few days in case someone is interested. PM me with your fax # and I will fax them anywhere with in the US.

 

Its also strange that its registered to a 53 year old woman living in a Apartment in Healdsburg.

A friend of mine was looking at this car as well and the seller seemed to be all over the place with his stories. Why would someone only buy one fender shield??

This deal smells funny IMO.

 

funny... buy a f-car and skimp on $700 for shields...

 

LOL...The seller "said" that the owner only bought one shield because they were $700 , first off its a sticker on the driver side fender and they are not $700.

And if it was true and they skimped on $700 then what else did they skimp on?

The car is somewhat suspect......sh*t at least take the one lame sticker off the fender!

 

Isn't that the CS for sale on
Roy's website?
http://www.catsexotics.com/used_inventory.htm?reset=InventoryListing

 

I owned a `95 355 and did a lot of research before buying the car. It did have a cracked header, but it was less than 8 years old at the time and the dealer made good on it. The description of the valve guide issue is accurate, but in reality, very few cars actually suffered from it. The build date on my car was November 1994 - A very early car. I bought the car with 16k mi and sold it with 36k on the clock and never had any blow by issues what so ever.

There were a run of cars with "Early valve guide failure" The key word is EARLY, meaning withing the 1st 2000 miles or so. It got so bad at one point that customers picking up new cars were insisting on valve guide replacement before acceptiong delivery. Fast forward to today. If any 355 has not had their valve guides replaced and has a normal amount of miles for a 12 year old Ferrari (15 - 30k), I think that you are WAY beyond the valve guide thing. Get a leak down test performed and if it passes, forget about it.

IMHO I think you'll be happier in the F355 than the TR. The 355 looks better and with all the required maintenance notwithstanding, it will be way cheaper to maintain than a mid - late 80s TR.

 

The car sold for $59 k while in Nor cal and here it is for sale in Illinois for $79.5?????? It still only has one shield!!!!

http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/car/403073619.html