Is there such thing as a (reasonably) attainable Ferraris?

[MRM]

Like most grown up teenage boys, it's always been a fantasy of mine to own a Ferrari. Shaun's thread about "cheap" Ferraris on BAT reminded me of my unrequited love and how little I really know about the marque. If I were to buy one it would be a several year process of research and looking and would result in a car that I would pass down to my sons.

So, partly to fuel my Walter Mitty daydreams, and partly as a way to educate myself on what could be the start of a serious search, I was wondering if anyone can give advice on which Ferraris would make a good once-in-a-lifetime purchase. Is there any consensus on used models that can be had for a price that competes with newer 911s and doesn't cost so much to operate that it would be hard to justify driving? Indulge my inner 16 year old and guide my dream of driving into retirement on an Italian steed.

[plexiform]

F355 and 360 Modena both seem 'attainable' but then anytime I have considered them, I start factoring in the service costs and its starts sounding less attainable.

[pwd72s]

Attaining is relatively easy. Maintaining is another story. Some time back, a Ferrari chat post was posted here. A guy saying the cost averaged $1,100. Per month.

So, a Ferrari or a vacation home?

[gsxrken]

430s seem to be the sweet spot. I half-heartedly follow the market. With the chain driven cams (not belts) you’re not pulling the engine every 3-5years to replace them. The cats don’t seem to fail nor the valve guides fail at anywhere near the rate of the earlier ones. You can get into one for $125k if you look around. Not a number most people can hide from the wife, but they have bottomed out in terms of depreciation and are slowly climbing, so you could get out of it when you wanted (minus your maintenance $$).
If you buy an earlier model, the purchase price is just the ante at the big boy table.

[aschen]

360 or 430 seem to be the easiest to live with from my limited knowledge.

I am not die hard ferrari guy, but I thought Id like to drive one at least once. I paid my 600$ to rent a 360 for a few hot laps around a local small track I am mostly familiar with. The sound was amazing but I felt the car and driving experience were a bit of a let down overall. I know its an old car and not at the top of the desirability level, but my $40k usd exige feels faster, more exciting, and definitely better handling.

[rcooled]

A recent thread had a video from Heidi & Franny's Garage chronicling their purchase of an '84 308QV. They paid something like $34K for the car and wound up having to put another $26K into it right off the bat to make it right. The purchase price of older Ferraris just gets you in the door...it's the maintenance and upkeep costs that put a real drain on your wallet. That's unless you've got all the right tools, a well-equipped work area and can handle most of that stuff yourself.

[asphaltgambler]

Even if you are DYI skilled - the consumable parts are the problem, rather it's where you have to go purchase them. Other than spark plugs - not much aftermarket parts support.

[nvr2mny]

I think Ferrari ownership is akin to owning an airplane. The acquisition cost pales compared to the “real” cost of ownership. Ask me how I know. I probably have “more” in some of my P-cars than the cost of purchasing a used 430/360/355or Testarossa, but I think the cost per mile on a Ferrari, real or not, would ruin the enjoyment of it altogether. Not so with my P-cars. Just my .02

[stealthn]

Originally Posted by gsxrken

430s seem to be the sweet spot. I half-heartedly follow the market. With the chain driven cams (not belts) you’re not pulling the engine every 3-5years to replace them. The cats don’t seem to fail nor the valve guides fail at anywhere near the rate of the earlier ones. You can get into one for $125k if you look around. Not a number most people can hide from the wife, but they have bottomed out in terms of depreciation and are slowly climbing, so you could get out of it when you wanted (minus your maintenance $$).
If you buy an earlier model, the purchase price is just the ante at the big boy table.

This, been watching them for a while, and every tech I spoke to said they’re awesome. You can do most of the work yourself. 360’s are not nearly as reliable.

[RWebb]

see post #40 on
Cheap Ferraris on BaT


Yes, you can afford it.

You can look at it and work on it during winter, then drive it during pothole season.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

I'd love to own a Ferrari but not badly enough for it to be my only luxury, if I did it would have to be a 458

Was in production the whole time I worked for the F1 team, I walked past new cars every working day on my way to lunch, I never got tired of looking at what I think is one of the most beautiful modern Ferrari's built.

You could buy a Maserati Grand Turismo with the Ferrari engine

[Steve Carlton]

I can't decide between the 330 GTS and GTC, so I'll probably never get one...

[rcooled]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

I'd love to own a Ferrari...if I did it would have to be a 458...one of the most beautiful modern Ferrari's built.

I completely agree. What a stunning car...proportions are near-perfect.

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

I can't decide between the 330 GTS and GTC...

If I won the lottery, one of those would be my choice too. A 275 GTS would do quite nicely as well

[Jeff Higgins]

As many of you, I watch the market more as a fantasy than in any real hope of acquiring one. I've also noticed that the 430 seems to be the "sweet spot", and acknowledged as a relatively "reliable" and "affordable" compromise.

I do remember, however, one that caught my eye last summer. The price was very reasonable. Reading through the ad, however, what really struck me was "$40,000 in recent maintenance". I'm sure the seller saw that as a major selling point, indicating it needed nothing. To me, however, the mere thought that one could spend that much on "maintenance" was horribly depressing. Totally out of my league. Not just the cost, but the frequency with which one would be presented with the opportunity to spend that much on "maintenance". By all accounts, from what I gather, 20,000 miles is considered a "very high mileage" Ferrari. Hell, I put that on my 911 almost every year, and have for darn near 20 years at this point.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by rcooled

I completely agree. What a stunning car...proportions are near-perfect.

If I won the lottery, one of those would be my choice too. A 275 GTS would do quite nicely as well

Would love one too but this is the closest I'll ever come to a 275 GTS

[IROC]

A guy I work with (a PhD physicist, no less) bought a 308 years ago and promptly missed a shift and bent a bunch of valves, etc. So, what did he do? He dropped the engine and did all the repairs himself.

I'm sure it wasn't cheap, but he said that working on these things isn't nearly as bad as everyone says. This was probably 10 years ago (or more) and he still has the car and it still runs great.

[slow&rusty]

A 328 would be one that I would consider AND I absolutely love these with a third pedal:

[ficke]

I had a 5-speed 400I, bought it for 27K sold it for 25K and put over 25K into it over 7 years to drive it for about 22,000 miles.
I did all the work myself, as mentioned earlier parts and frequency of maintence are the issue. The engine on the 400 uses one long chain to drive all 4 cams, has really short valve guides. The water pump/oil pump unit is chain driving off the crank, so to remove it the engine comes out, the oil pan comes off and the front main bearing needs to be removed to reseal the water pump.
Ferrari recommends removing the engine and "servicing" ( which includes a valve job) it every 40,000 miles. I went 52K and when I did remove and disassemble the engine, I found the valve guides so bad I could drop a valve, the timing chain was wearing a grove in the housing, engine was beyond safe. Ferrari was right every 40,000 miles!

[nota]

well
SADLY THE OLD ONES ARE ART NOW

back in the 50 early 60's it was common for the blown motor RED cars
to get a chevy swap and keep racing rather then a very costly 12 replace/rebuild

[javadog]

Three things you have to worry about:

Maintenance
Spares availability
The Achilles heel

Maintenance isn't that big a deal, really. In the older cars, there's more of it compared to something like a Porsche. The big ticket items are valve adjustments and cam belt changes, for those engines that require them. If you do it at a dealer, it will be expensive. Independents can sometimes do it cheaper, a there are less time-intensive ways to do some things. It can be done by an experienced individual but you won't enjoy it. Cam belts can go longer than the 3-5 years people suggest. 7-9 is doable, or inspect them periodically and replace them when they show signs of age. Older chassis needed more suspension maintenance than a Porsche. Bushings and whatnot. Ferraris will do high mileage but you'll replace things that were thought of as "lifetime" in a Porsche. No idea about the newest stuff, maybe it's better in this respect.

Some spare parts are now just wishful thinking for some models. That would keep me out of anything older than the 1990's. Haven't been a Ferrari owner for a few years now, it could now be worse. Prices for some things are stupid. Not necessarily routine consumables, but things you might break once in a while. If you can even find them...

The Achilles's heel... Many of these had issues that were stupid expensive to fix (if you could even fix them and keep them fixed.) Take the 355. Depending on which one you bought, you might have bad valve guides (40, count 'em) or bad exhaust manifolds, or an irritating problem with a "sticky" throttle. If you bought a 412, you get to experience their window lifter issue. Many models had the soft tough interior trim paint that went to **** after a decade. Etc.

I'm no longer part of the Ferrari world for a bunch of different reasons and have sold off my cars and all my other Ferrari crap. So, I also don't follow the current market or pay attention to what's been rolling out of Maranello for the last 10 years. Might be a good one out there, might not. Don't know, don't care. Just do your homework and never by one that needs anything. You want one that needs nothing, because it will have been cared for by someone properly. The ones I've seen here recently from bring-a-trailer... you couldn't give them to me for free.