Ferrari F355 Berlinetta Manual

[A348W]

Depends what you want to do with the car. If you want to drive it; you are better of saving £50k plus and getting one with some miles on it…ferrari centre always have some and have a stunning black one in at the moment, or try cartwrights. Unfortunately the market adds a lot of value to the low mikes; rightly or wrongly so as soon as you drive it you kiss good by to that. low miles also can have its mechanical issues and i wouldn’t trust any garage as far as i could throw them to ensure they are all sorted on a sale car.

At that price Id want mint in every way, all paint, all interior, service history etc, and some concourse trophys to go with it; but thats me!

I suspect they are just trying it on given its spring; and probably hoping the nuts prices in the usa come this way.

 

[Nosevi]

Am I expecting to much for the 140k asking price, but for that money I imagined all the smaller details to be sorted,

At that price Id want mint in every way, all paint, all interior, service history etc,

I agree with Adrian, if you're paying top money you should get top condition. Sorting out what might be cosmetic things such as paint, interior leather and trim etc soon adds up and when you add items like getting the buttresses properly repaired it can really add up (been there, done that, albeit deliberately and with eyes open). It's fine if they don't want to spend it money getting it up to A1 condition but then you can't really expect to ask for the same amount as you would if you had.

Proviso to the above is I don't really know how much of a premium cars with the handling pack get (is this top money for a car with it?) and whether it actually makes a marked difference in the real world or was more of a marketing gimmick.

 

[Pipes1984]

Thank you both for your input very helpful.
I fully intend on using the car, it’s been a dream of mine for a long time and if it’s as good as I’ve dreamt it will be a keeper.
My thought was buy the newest and lowest mile car I could afford and it should last along time, I do around 2k a year so with 13k on the clock and a 99 it should last a while.
Being honest for that price I to was expecting it to be flawless, I looked at three other cars they had in with various millage and all seemed a lot tattier.
Does any one no how rare the handling pack is and does it command a much higher residual value?
I did spot that black 355 at the Ferrari centre but it’s a gts I really want a Berlinetta.

 

[A348W]

I think the handling pack is fairly rare; but if this was my firstf errari I wouldnt be swayed by it. By a "normal" 355 and if you realy like it, get a handling pack car when one comes along.

As to the cost of getting the car you've seen up to spec. from your description:
- leather dash re-trim. If you take it somewhere, budget a good £3k minimum. Common issue for the airbag leather to shrink. You might get lucky and the airbag leather can be re-used. If not, problem is you will never match the leather so dash needs completely re-doing; and if its a top standard car, you are into a complete retrim and the dash wont match the door cards, and if you do the dash and door cards, the seats and console wont match....etc etc. Then your into a very different figure.
- Stickies, if you send them off to be done £2k ish.
- buttresses...no idea as I've heard the only way to do them properly is to lead the joint, and few places can do that. They all go from time to time, but to respary and belnd in to the rear quarter panels your talking minimum £2-3k. But with bumper and hood needing doing another £3k ish, you are not far away from a full body respary...minimum £10k if and a big if there are no issues. And then if its a top spec car youre into a bare metal respary.

Overall if you are paying top dollar and want to keep or get it back to a top quality car, you would be into another £10-15k minimum and very easily north of £30k.

In all honesty it sounds like one to walk away from.

Go see as many as possible so you get an idea of condition. (Carrs has a 355F1 Berlinetta in at the moment which would act as a good comparison, its not tip top but ok)

Sywell national ferrari day 3rd June, great place to be nosie!!!

 

[Kyodo]

...Am I expecting to much for the 140k asking price, but for that money I imagined all the smaller details to be sorted, I understand the handling pack is rare but is it rare enough to warrant that cost.
Any advice would be very much appreciated I certainly don’t want to rush the wrong decision here it’s a lot of money.

Walk away. That is a LOT of money and you're right, for £140k it should be absolutely mint, the best you'll find. With 13k on the odometer expect some fair sized bills the moment you start to use it. The words 'over-priced' and 'money pit' spring to mind.

 

[355fiorano]

Thank you both for your input very helpful.
I fully intend on using the car, it’s been a dream of mine for a long time and if it’s as good as I’ve dreamt it will be a keeper.
My thought was buy the newest and lowest mile car I could afford and it should last along time, I do around 2k a year so with 13k on the clock and a 99 it should last a while.
Being honest for that price I to was expecting it to be flawless, I looked at three other cars they had in with various millage and all seemed a lot tattier.
Does any one no how rare the handling pack is and does it command a much higher residual value?
I did spot that black 355 at the Ferrari centre but it’s a gts I really want a Berlinetta.

From memory there were 18 fiorano speced cars from the factory. I also think there are only 3 or so manuals vs F1. I have the details somewhere and I will see if I can dig them out.
The pack does make a big difference to the car in my opinion. Having said that many cars were retro fitted with some or all of the pack although I think most would not have the right ECU as fiorano cars run the standard car's sport settings on normal and the challenge settings on sport.

I would not quite agree on the "low miles will last longer" theory. I've had mine from 2003. When I was using it regularly and doing 2k miles a year it ran like clockwork. As I used it less things keept cropping up. A car sitting there for ages will mean all bushes are going hard, suspension may not be up to scratch etc etc.

 

[355fiorano]

So to is only 16 in total ... and 3 manual
F355 Berlinetta - 1 in Rosso Corsa, 1 in Blu Tour de France
F355 Spider - 1 in Rosso Corsa
F355 F1 Berlinetta - 1 in Rosso Corsa, 1 in Blu Tour de France
F355 F1 GTS - 3 in Rosso Corsa, 1 in Yellow, 2 in Black
F355 F1 Spider - 4 in Rosso Corsa, 1 in Blu Tour de France

 

[Nosevi]

So to is only 16 in total ... and 3 manual
F355 Berlinetta - 1 in Rosso Corsa, 1 in Blu Tour de France
F355 Spider - 1 in Rosso Corsa
F355 F1 Berlinetta - 1 in Rosso Corsa, 1 in Blu Tour de France
F355 F1 GTS - 3 in Rosso Corsa, 1 in Yellow, 2 in Black
F355 F1 Spider - 4 in Rosso Corsa, 1 in Blu Tour de France

Take it we're talking RHD here? Must have been many more than that in LHD surely?

 

[PhiilipNZ]

Yes thats RHD. The FHP was not an option for USA but there could be some Euro LHD models I guess

The 355F1 in Rossa Corsa is mine and came to New Zealand in 2002 so it's out of the loop as well. It also has narrow carbon sports seats and factory roll bar.

 

[Nosevi]

Yes thats RHD. The FHP was not an option for USA but there could be some Euro LHD models I guess

I'm sure there are. On FChat there's talk of the 'Serie Fiorano' (please excuse the spelling if that's wrong) cars all of which had it according to one thread I read. Think these were all LHD but could well be wrong. Still probably pretty rare though.

 

[cgt]

I believe elements of the FHP could be independently spec'd on new cars from 1998 onwards when the Carozzeria Scaglietti programme was launched allowing you to choose specific options.

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[PhiilipNZ]

The "serie fiorano" were all spiders. 100 labeled went to the USA, 3 unlabled to Europe, 1 to South Africa. I believe only 10 were manual. The South African one may have been RHD

 

[Pipes1984]

So to is only 16 in total ... and 3 manual
F355 Berlinetta - 1 in Rosso Corsa, 1 in Blu Tour de France
F355 Spider - 1 in Rosso Corsa
F355 F1 Berlinetta - 1 in Rosso Corsa, 1 in Blu Tour de France
F355 F1 GTS - 3 in Rosso Corsa, 1 in Yellow, 2 in Black
F355 F1 Spider - 4 in Rosso Corsa, 1 in Blu Tour de France

So on this basis is the car 1 of 1 or could it have been added later?

 

[355fiorano]

So on this basis is the car 1 of 1 or could it have been added later?

As far as I know that is the full RHD factory production. Anything else is aftermarket.
Which one is the Bob Houton car from that list? I don't see it advertised.
Mine is the TdF Berlinetta manual. The only option it didn't have was that bucket seats (not and FHP option but a standard option) but I bought those separately.

 

[355fiorano]

I believe elements of the FHP could be independently spec'd on new cars from 1998 onwards when the Carozzeria Scaglietti programme was launched allowing you to choose specific options.

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I must say I have never heard that. I believe the option was to have a fiorano pack or not. I have the price list somewhere and I seem think it was priced at £8,000 ish option as the fiorano package.
I have also never come accross any standard cars that have been factory specced only with lower ride height or with just thicker anti roll bars or just with different ECUs, or just the quick rack etc.

 

[cgt]

I must say I have never heard that. I believe the option was to have a fiorano pack or not. I have the price list somewhere and I seem think it was priced at £8,000 ish option as the fiorano package.
I have also never come accross any standard cars that have been factory specced only with lower ride height or with just thicker anti roll bars or just with different ECUs, or just the quick rack etc.

I had the brochure in 1999 but as it was so long ago can't remember what was in it, it may just have been cosmetic elements and not technical.

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[Pipes1984]

As far as I know that is the full RHD factory production. Anything else is aftermarket.
Which one is the Bob Houton car from that list? I don't see it advertised.
Mine is the TdF Berlinetta manual. The only option it didn't have was that bucket seats (not and FHP option but a standard option) but I bought those separately.

This car is a 99 rosso with Nero black interior manual Berlinetta.
Defiantly got the red calipers, looks a tad lower and I’m told by bobs it has the fiorano pack from factory.
Also has the Challenge grill but standard seats.

 

[355fiorano]

This car is a 99 rosso with Nero black interior manual Berlinetta.
Defiantly got the red calipers, looks a tad lower and I’m told by bobs it has the fiorano pack from factory.
Also has the Challenge grill but standard seats.

Very interesting .... looks like its the only other Berlinetta manual Fiorano car! I am tempted to drive up there just to take a picture with the two of them together
Red calipers and cross-drilled discs are the easiest way to spot a potential one.
They quick rack is the next, it is 2.4 turns vs 3.6 (or it may be 2.6 vs 3.4) but is is a LOT quicker. Lower ride height is hard to tell unless you have something else to compare. Mind you it is a pain as 355's have a huge front overhang so it means that you scrape the tarmac with your front bumper when your rear wheels are just slightly raised .... and if you ever need to get towed, you need a flat bed. Its great on track though and when you put it on the "challenge/sport" mode somehow it hunkers down and gives you so much confidence

 

[Pipes1984]

Very interesting .... looks like its the only other Berlinetta manual Fiorano car! I am tempted to drive up there just to take a picture with the two of them together
Red calipers and cross-drilled discs are the easiest way to spot a potential one.
They quick rack is the next, it is 2.4 turns vs 3.6 (or it may be 2.6 vs 3.4) but is is a LOT quicker. Lower ride height is hard to tell unless you have something else to compare. Mind you it is a pain as 355's have a huge front overhang so it means that you scrape the tarmac with your front bumper when your rear wheels are just slightly raised .... and if you ever need to get towed, you need a flat bed. Its great on track though and when you put it on the "challenge/sport" mode somehow it hunkers down and gives you so much confidence

If this is the case and it’s genuine, is it worthy of the 140k price tag?

 

[jos]

Isn't the question more whether the handling pack is worth fifty grand to you ? If its a high days and holidays car (hundreds not thousands of miles a year) then surely that would be better spent on a separate track day car