Not at all. I'm one of the F1 advocates and I fully appreciate and respect M.Brandon Motor Cars' professional opinion and experience. I think, as I stated in previous posts, that this may very well be true when talking about north american market. Over here in Europe I can show you endless examples of cars on sale and dealers' perspectives clearly and openly stating that Spiders are the ones carrying a premium, regardless of year and transmission. One fact doesn't suit all markets. But I fully accept that manuals carry a premium in the US if that's the case. I'd also like to highlight that a dealer's perspective is a seller's perspective, which may brings us to one point: who really does dictate the market, if anyone? The seller or the buyer? Kindest regards, Nuno.
Both, that's what makes markets. In any event I don't have a dog in this fight as my car has 41,000 miles and is therefore worthless. No matter that it runs like a scalded dog
I wouldn't go that far and say your 355 is worthless. I think it's good to bear in mind the difference between a collector and an owner. Collectors imho ruin the whole Ferrari ownership experience, putting cars in a bubble and not driving them at all, so they can sell them with 40 years and 1k on the clock, as if a sitting engine doesn't have issues. I'm guessing what you had to spend to make it roadworthy would be a lot more than a car which was actually driven. If I wanted to buy something to decorate my garage, I would have bought a painting or a vase. Those guys completely distort the market. From an owners' perspective, someone who actually drives the car (insane concept, isn't it?!), your properly maintained 355 that runs like a scalded dog to use your own words, is everything BUT worthless. Very attractive to a potential buyer/owner who plans to drive the car like a Ferrari deserves to be driven and as God (or Enzo, same thing) intented us to do. Not very attractive for someone with glasses behind a desk making powerpoint charts. Call me naive or inocent, but I still believe Ferrari is an owners' brand, not a purely collectors' brand. Best regards, Nuno.
I personally think valuation is a wash.....what is the likelihood of same colour, same body style, different transmission, for sale at the same time in the same country? That's the only way to make a direct comparison. Going off-topic, I was looking for a stick and ended up impressed with the F1 that I bought. It was nowhere as unrefined and primitive as I was led to expect. Once learned, it can be driven surprisingly smoothly when desired. Sport mode, however, is brutal! Overall, much better than the roughed-up F1 box in a 360 I drove a few years ago. I ended up with my 355 F1 because Rosso Corsa and Berlinetta were my priorities, and the F1 was surprisingly good.
I'm 41000 and running strong. One thing I can say is because my car will never be a collector car I can modify or change anything I want. I put a challenge grill on it and I can sell the old one I dont need to keep stuff on the shelf. I can drive it as much as I want and unless the engine explodes it wont go down much more in value. Thats a big plus for me..going to take a spin in about an hour and the roads are wet and its cloudy out...I just love driving my 355 and another thing I like shifting the car myself...for me its part of the experience
Sellers dictate the market when the supply is low or rare, demand is high. Buyers dictate the market when the supply is high or common, and demand is low. Hopefully at some point an agreed upon price will be met.
No doubt the F1 is cool just because how advanced it was for a street car at the time. When the E46 M3 with SMG came out I couldn't wait to get one. Great car but with that said on the M3 forum there was always talk about how to convert a SMG to manual. But none ever about converting a manual to a SMG
That's true I don't really care its definately a personal choice. As a matter of fact I took two friends for rides today a dad and his son. Son is 25 he said love the car but wish it was a stick, and the dad said love the car glad it's not a stick that f1 is awesome. Therefore my personal poll today said as high as 50 percent like the f1. Ha
A good friend of mine who has owned several 911s and three different model M3s bought an E46 M3 convertible with the SMG when it first came out. He hated it so much he sold it less than six months later and it has clouded his opinion ever since. However, he has been out in my car a few times now and says the Ferrari F1 is so much better than his old SMG it's not funny, and although he would still probably buy a manual if he was buying a 355 it is nowhere near as clear cut as he expected it to be. Through the twisty hills roads we have near here it is, in his words, "brilliant fun".
Just think how advanced people thought it was back in the 1950's when it was technology actually invented by citroen , a transmission shifted and conventional clutch operated by a hydraulic system.citroen called it citromatic , probably because f1 racing didnt exist then . Lol
