Ferrari 355 spider convertible cars for sale in California

Ferrari : 355 Spider 355 ferrari spider best all around upgraded brakes wheels tires seats service

$89,700

Beverly Hills, California

This Ferrari spectacular southern California Ferrari is for someone who wants the best all around 355 Ferrari Spider…. and now is the time to get it as these soon to be classic Ferraris are already rising in value. (See Richard Hammond’s commentary below.) The 355 is the what Jeremey Clarkson, the world’s most famous auto journalist called, “the best car I’ve ever driven.” He then went out and bought one for himself! The legendary Phil Hill and only American born racer to be a Formula 1 world champion, said the 355 was one of the top ten Ferraris of all time. This is truly the most stunning looking and driving all around Ferrari 355s thanks to the tasteful upgrades. When I bring this 355 to the shows, Cars and Coffee or Ferrari of Beverly Hills, etc., everyone comments this is the nicest 355 they have ever seen and how the seats, brakes, wheels and tires “transform the car” making it look so much better. Not only is this car stunning looking outside with paint that looks nearly new and a matching interior, but its performance is night and day when compared to a standard 355. New Timing Belt service to be performed upon the sale is included in the price. PAINT The paint has a deep and shiny luster. The car is always garaged and covered. When its driven and parked its parked indoors. If I park it outdoors for more than a few minutes I would cover it. HEATED SEATS ($7800) The OEM seats are not very comfortable and offer little support and they are not heated. They also weigh about 60 pounds each. These seats are super comfy and supportive. They are also heated, which is very nice on those chilly drives with the top down. They weigh about 30 pounds each. That’s a huge weight savings which helps improve the Ferrari’s performance. The seats are from an OEM manufacturer so they are fully DOT and TUV compliant. BRAKES ($11,000) The OEM brakes are tiny by today's standards and this Ferrari features upgraded brakes: Massive 355 millimeter / 14” cross drilled rotors in the front mounted to aluminum hats are clamped down on by far larger brake calipers. In the rear there are 332 mm brake discs also mounted to an aluminum hat and with larger brake calipers. To put this in perspective, the stock 355 has much smaller calipers and rotors, in fact the front rotors are just 300 mm / 12” and they use solid iron hubs. The bigger the disc, the less brake fade and the better stopping. The first time I drove the car with the new brakes it was like night and day. The G forces the car could generate with the new brakes were truly impressive. This 355 will outbreak a 360 or standard 430. WHEELS AND TIRES $9700 The next area of improvement was the wheels and tires. The factory rear tire is a very small 265 mm tire. When test driving the 355, Mario Andretti complained about the rear tires being the weak link in handling. Front tires also do much of the braking. Hence, the bigger the tire, the greater the contact patch the better the turn in and shorter braking distances, and as they say, you can only go as fast as you can stop. It literally took a year to engineer these wheels. The manufacturer sent people to my home to measure, test fit and retest fit these wheels over and over again until the spacing was literally millimeter perfect. The results were worth the weight and expense. They are the largest and relatively speaking lightest wheels ever produced for the 355 and I believe the best looking. They feature titanium hardware and weigh just 24-26.4 pounds and the rears are a whopping 20 x 12.5" yet weight just 26.4 pounds! (For comparison, the much smaller Ferrari 430 wheel is 19”x 10” weighs about 30 pounds.) The front tire has more rubber than the original equipment rear. This Ferrari features the tires up front from the SLR Mercedes super car. It's a specially designed Michelin 255 mm 19" tire that actually has more rubber contact area than a 275 mm tire! In the rear are fitted the largest tires ever known to be fitted to 355. They are 20" 335 mm Michelin steamrollers! A whopping 70 mm increase per tire over stock! To put these specs in perspective, Ferrari's new supercar, the F12, uses 255mm tires up front and 315mm tires in the rear. This 355 has bigger tires than the F12! Not only are they bigger but they are super light wheels and the low profile tires are lighter in weight due to their lower profiles. That said, the car rides as comfortably as stock because there is no increase in unsprung weight. Practically speaking in the real world this means this 355 turns and grips like it's on rails. It stops with unbelievable power and instills tremendous confidence. Experienced Ferrari techs who have driven this 355 state it is like night and day compared to a regular 355. With standard tires you have to be careful on throttle entering turns or highway onramps because the tires are so small you cannot put the all the power down. But with these wheels and tires the grip is immense and you can explore the full potential of the 355, which is breathtaking. Of course, with just 3,000 pounds sitting on all that rubber the tires not only grip like mad but last a long time because they are carrying a relatively light load. In fact, this Ferrari Spider weighs about 500 pounds LESS than the new F12 super car. This car will keep up with a 458 in a real world driving environment at speeds well into the triple digits thanks to its handling, braking and improved power to weight ratio. (First-hand experiences confirm this.) EXHAUST ($4,700) Hi flow metal substrate catalytic converters and a light weight yet great sounding Tubi Exhaust make his car sound like a Formula 1 race car at full throttle. BATTERY Light weight battery further reduces weight and improves performance. NEW CLUTCH AND HILL ENGINEERING THROW OUT BEARING ($2400) A new clutch was recently installed as was an upgraded Hill Engineering throw out bearing. The throw out bearings on these cars eventually fail which is why you they should be upgraded to the Hill Engineering bearing. STEREO The stereo and speakers were upgraded. However, I rarely if ever turn it on. BOOT / COVER FOR THE TOP Features a brand new boot (the leather cover for the top). I'm a perfectionist and wanted a perfect looking cover with super subble leather. CLASSIC AND COLLECTIBLE The 355 is the last / best true Ferrari. It is the last Ferrari spider that has a true throttle cable connecting your gas peddle directly to the engine. (360 or newer cars use drive by wire). It is the last Ferrari spider to have both an accelerator cable and a stick shift that actually has a rod connecting the stick directly to the gearbox. (The 430 uses a far less satisfying cable while the 458 has no stick option at all.) The 355's chassis and engine trace their origins back to Enzo era cars. The 355 is classically styled. It is about a foot shorter than a 458, narrower and far more nimble in traffic. The 355 is the last of the traditional Ferraris. It traces its roots to the Enzo era Ferraris. Unlike the newer Ferrari spiders the 355 is a pure sports car. It is the last mid-engine Ferrari to feature mechanical linkage controlling its throttles and transmission so you have that classic Ferrari shift gate fee. When you press the gas pedal you are actually mechanically moving all eight throttle bodies whereas the new cars are all drive by wire, which is less direct feeling because in the new cars you are no longer actually connected to the drivetrain. It also has something the new Ferraris do not—five valves per cylinder and the sound of an F1 race car. That intimate sports car feeling is gone on the newer Ferraris but its still there on the 355. Sadly Ferrari no longer makes a manual gearbox so these cars will continue to rise. If you want to experience the snick-snick of manual shifting and heel and toe driving while actually being at one with the sports car and an 8500 RPM redline then the F355 Spider is the last traditional Ferrari. It also sounds better than any V8 Ferrari ever made (in my opinion). The 355 is more compact and manageable than later generation Ferraris, sharper looking and drives like a Ferrari race car with the direct feel of a go kart. Hammond drives the icons: The Ferrari 355 The car that saved Ferrari is all set to be a future classic, says Richard Hammond All the legend, the myth, the history and mystery in the world cannot distract from one single fact when it comes to Ferraris: they have to be pretty. Stat sheets can go on about power-to-weight ratios, structural stiffness, torsional rigidity and exotic materials all day long, but if the car looks like a moose, then it's a moose - an offence made all the worse if it's supposed to be a prancing horse. The 348 that preceded the 355 was not an especially ugly car, but it also wasn't especially pretty. The slats down the side echoed the Testarossa - not a good thing - so it looked dated even when it was brand new. And it certainly wasn't a hit, performance-wise. In fact, much was made of the news that Honda launched the NSX at the same time, and it appeared to be, in every single way, better than the Ferrari. The 355 was Ferrari's answer. Beauty and power came together and are still very much in evidence today. I'm not one for getting all gooey about Ferraris in general, but there is undeniably something that happens deep inside when you see that yellow badge on a V8 or a steering-wheel boss. Ferrari: the name carries so much weight, even to those who, like me, have never had - nor wanted - a hat with the brand on it. And, my God, the 355 is pretty. It shared almost every dimension with the 348, but the body was all-new and its sculpting had involved a rumoured 1,800 hours of wind-tunnel testing. But there's little sense of form following function here; it's too pretty for that. If anything, the 355 has somehow got more attractive in the 19 years since it arrived. Inside, I get a reminder that all Ferraris go through a phase when they are not classic - they're just old Fezzers. I'd say that the 355 is coming through that and entering the classic stage of its life. In true Ferrari form, the interior has dated well. The layout, the design and the feel of it all scream of their own time and, while not fooling anyone that they were drawn yesterday, still have something to say about their period in car design... almost the definition of a classic, in fact. The mid-mounted 380bhp V8 revs to 8,250rpm and sounds satisfyingly guttural and raucous when it does so. It's a Ferrari, so while it has to be pretty, it can't afford to be slow either. And it's quick, it really is. The headlines, 0-62mph in 4.7 seconds and a top speed of 183mph, are both perfectly acceptable, thank you. The way it delivers those is what it's all about. The bark and fizz of the V8, the click-clack through that iconic, shiny H-gate - it's all there. It's a Ferrari and feels it. The engine and suspension all received major updates to produce the 355, and the gearbox too, with a six-speed manual operated, of course, through that sculptural gear selector. It feels all those things a Ferrari needs to feel; it's a taut thoroughbred, and you get the sense too that, once you've overcome the inevitable nerves that can flutter at any encounter with any Ferrari, the thing is biddable and usable, with perhaps just a touch of fragility to keep things special. There's a huge amount of love for the F355, with some claiming it pretty much saved the company from the doldrums in the early Nineties, others that it was the car that finally shifted the old-fashioned and faintly stuffy conviction amongst the Ferraristi that the only ‘proper' Ferraris were the V12s. Some, including F1 champion Phil Hill, named it as one of the 10 best Ferraris ever. A landmark car, then, in the story of a legendary carmaker. Not bad for around £55k now. ANOTHER JOURNALIST NOTES: CAN THE F355 TAKE OVER THE MANTLE OF THE DINO AS THE JUNIOR FERRARI OF CHOICE? Time for a shoot-out in the South African sunshine It used to be that a gentleman driver would only consider a Ferrari with a large and powerful V12 engine mounted up front. Porsche manufactured small, rear-engined sporting cars for the arriviste. ?All that changed when Ferrari launched the Dino, with a mid-mounted V6, and followed it with a succession ?of V8-engined sports cars. Ever since, Ferrari has offered two tiers of performance and style – but the Dino has moved out of the new-money realm into ?the collector-car stratosphere. Could the 1990s F355 be about to follow suit? In 1994 Ferrari focused anew and came up with the F355. The best mid-engined, smaller-displacement Ferrari since the original Dino, the F355 was met with enthusiasm by both the press and Ferrari owners, who once again had a compact and wieldy sports car to enjoy thrashing along their favourite roads. Both designed by Pininfarina, these are two of the best-looking Ferraris ever created. The F355 has obviously moved on from the 246 and its specs are very impressive. It is the first Ferrari to feature five valves per cylinder (three intake and two exhaust valves) and its 3.5-litre V8 engine thumps out 380 stallions at 8250rpm. This translates to 109bhp per litre, an even higher specific output than the legendary McLaren F1’s 103bhp per litre. Performance? Little-league no longer, thanks to 0-60mph in 4.5sec and a top speed of 178mph. That’s properly fast, even today. The fabulous 90-degree V8 is complemented by ?one of the most sophisticated exhaust systems of the ?time, which has a wastegate that opens at high revs ?to reduce back-pressure and, unfettered, allow an extra 20bhp. How exuberant and typically Ferrari – yet it is balanced by a cool and efficient Bosch Motronic engine management system, a six-speed gearbox ?with tightly stacked ratios, underbody aerodynamics with twin diffusers at the rear, electronically adjustable dampers, and proper racing car-style double wishbones at each corner. The upshot is that Ferrari not only moved its F355 emphatically ahead of the 911 and Honda NSX opposition, it pushed the car straight into the jaws of the senior class dominated by the V12 Ferrari 512TR and the thunderous Lamborghini Diablo VT. Road ?tests of the time attested to the F355 being faster to 100mph than both, with the same time to the one kilometre post and a top speed almost identical to the 512’s. Bravissimo! Manke no mistake, the F355 ?is most certainly a supercar even if, today, a good, ?pre-owned example can be had for the relatively affordable (against a Dino) sum of £55,000 – prices that, having moved north over the last year or two, already prove that interest in the F355 is increasing. The best thing? Even at that money, it’s still an absolute bargain for what’s on offer. The Ferrari is a pure supercar but it is useable every day. And every time I drive it, I am reminded how special it is, even when sitting in traffic with the air conditioning on. You can drive the 355 fast and comfortably, revving it to about five thou, with the radio playing and the ?air-con cooling. But, as advised by owner Blow, things only really start to happen above that. So turn the tunes and chills off, drop two gears via the riflebolt gearshifter and hold on. The 355 gets serious. You want the driving seat mounted forward so you can grasp the fat power-assisted steering wheel, then reprogramme your brain to keep up with the speed with which the 355 lunges into the corners. The gears are worth swapping just for the crack and the powerful vented disc brakes slough off speed with disdain. The car crushes the distance between corners with complete authority, and then it takes those corners with insane levels of grip and speed. Simply point and squirt. The superb suspension does the rest as the 355 hunkers down and launches itself through the bends. The first run along the costal road is a blur. So do it again. Concentrate, balance the throttle, gearchanges and braking. Still too much infused information to process, so do it again. More at one with the 355, you delve more deeply into its performance abilities. The fat 225- and 275-section 40-profile tyres mounted on 18-inch rims are not even close to the limit on this road and the 355 could do with a long, closed racetrack ?to get anywhere near its properly exciting edge. Amazingly, the electronic damping control that varies the suspension’s stiffness confers an extremely comfortable ride amid all the high-speed action. The Dino is charming and so much better than I imagined it might be. The 355 is a true supercar, yet as capable of being a daily commuter as it is pushing the envelope of serious performance. The 355 was never a ‘little’ nor a ‘cheap’ Ferrari, being launched at £83,000, whereas the Dino was perceived as being the ‘small’ Ferrari when first seen in 1969. Sure, the 246GT commands a price three times that of a good 355, and that’s no surprise: but don’t be surprised either if the F355 starts edging closer to it. I will help Buyer arrange shipping. Sold AS IS.

Trim SPIDER CONVERTIBLE