550 purchase report: The Dark Horse
Discussion
Inspired by the information I got from this Forum and also other forums, I decided to share my story and journey picking up this 550 maranello with some pictures.
This Friday, it was finally time. After having had paid for the car almost 6 weeks before, I managed to squeeze enough free time to go pick up her up in a small town near Munich, Germany.
The search for this car had taken me a good 3 months and as it just turned out I was just in time. After having bought an Aston Martin V8 Vantage from 2006, I wanted to go a bit more old school. A V12 was in order I decided, manual obviously and preferably Italian. Initially I started looking for Diablos and Murcielagos. As lovely as they are, they are just not useful to have for me as I live in Amsterdam, which is probably one of the worst places to have a larger sized car let alone a supercar.
Another factor was the fact that prices on Diablos have risen sharply and was now not in my reach anymore and Murcies weren’t completely my cup of tea and too many e-gears and not enough manuals for sale.
Back to the drawing board and soon I was finding myself looking at 550s. I remember from the time of my Aston purchase, I was looking at them as well. Decided it wasn’t the time to buy those yet as I was daunted by buying a big heavy car with a V12.
But now the time was right, unfortunately I noticed prices were also up on 550s but they were still within budget. So I now had my mind made up, especially after watching a few reviews and my childhood movie Bad Boys 2 with Will Smith and his silver 550 Maranello tearing up the streets of Miami.
After watching many hours of reviews, reading ins and outs of the car, I felt I knew this car already without ever having sat in one.
So it was official. The hunt was on!
Holland is a terribly small country when it comes to available offerings on cars and due to extra government duties and taxes, cars are also more expensive. There were a few 550s 3-4 months ago available on the Dutch Market, but nothing that was good enough. Bad history, very high mileage, no extras and high prices forced me to go look in Germany via Mobile.de.
I had learnt from past experience, and not just related to cars, to buy the best you can afford as later down the line you might get disappointed otherwise.
Having called a few dealers, the process was frustrating. Just asking simple questions like if stamps were in the service book or if there were any receipts, would lead to dealers not knowing and not returning my calls. As if they had no interest in selling the bloody car….
Until I found a black on black 550 with 52,000 kms.
Owned by an independent Ferrari shop near Munich, the car was modified.
Blackened wheels, GTO style stripe down the middle and beautiful carbon race seats. Wasn’t sure about the black wheels, but decided that all the alterations were easily reversible.
After a quick call, the sales person came across as competent and friendly, which believe it or not is not as common as it should be!
He knew to answer most of the questions and responded to the ones he didn’t know promptly. The car had a gearbox overhaul and many upgrades installed such a braided break hoses, tubi’s installed, clutch changed 4000 kms ago. What really convinced me, was the fact that it had protective film applied. As small as that may seem, to me that is a big indicator the car was loved. Only people who really care and intend of keeping their cars for a longer period of time invest the time and/or money in applying protective film on their cars. At least, that’s my theory.
I made an offer the same day, contingent that it would pass a PPI by an official Ferrari dealer and that there would be no outstanding maintenance identified.
As agreed the car was dropped to the Ferrari dealer called Saggio in Munich. Great service and I was able to call and go through the found minor issues in peace with the head mechanic.
Managed to get the price reduced down further with the cost of the outstanding work.
Just goes to show, never ever buy a car without a PPI. In this case the PPI cost paid itself back 10-fold.
The paperwork was wrapped up and on 18th February, I signed the paperwork. Coincidentally, 18th Feb was also my 30th Birthday, talk about being such a cliché!
Down payment was wired the next day and I felt good that everything went so smooth.
Now just to plan the trip.
The trip itself would involve a one way ticket to Munich from my hometown of Amsterdam, which meant I had to fly out early.
Finally I managed to take some time off and flew out last Friday on a 7am flight. It happened to be with a Lufthansa flight, which made me realize more than ever how lucky I am to be able to pick up this car and my mind was with the poor families of the victims of the Lufthansa/Germanswings flight that lost their lives a few days earlier.
After the landing, I exited the airplane and headed towards the exit, when on my way out the gate I was stopped by 2 scruffy looking guys. Turns out they were undercover cops and asked to see my passport. They stared at me and back at my passport, back at me again and mumbled some words to each other. “what are you going to do here?” one of the cops asked.
And boy o boy, how I always dreamt of saying this as a kid! “Picking up my Ferrari”.
Now both cops are looking at my slightly bewildered. “Why in Munich?” he asked.
I liked where this was going and it almost felt like this was too good to be true, as if someone knew that I wanted to be asked and play out a scene of a movie that I played in my head. “Because it’s old school and not so common Ferrari with a V12 engine and a 6-speed manual gearbox”.
Both men nodded simultaneously, I just don’t know if they were nodding because they understood my excitement or for the fact that I was clearly not the criminal they were looking for.
Either way, I was a free man and on my way to pick up the car.
An hour later, I arrived at the dealership.
The weather was terrible, raining like crazy, streets wet and I wasn’t feeling that comfortable about the fact I had a 820 km trip back to Amsterdam.
But as some kind of omen, just when I arrived, the sun came out briefly. I think for about 5 mins. I didn’t hesitate a second, I took my camera out and made sure to take some picture as I was sure I wouldn’t get a second chance to make a half decent shot today with the rain and all.
It seemed the automotive gods were on my side today.
After taking care of all the paperwork and arranging insurance and export plates, I was on my way back.
Quick check to see all was working and I jumped in and headed out.
First thing I did was to fill up the gas tank.
100 Octane gas was available and the gas attendant quickly came to help. I just didn’t realize if 550 has a knock sensor and if the 100
Octane makes any difference at all or not compared to 95 octane fuel.
All gassed up and ready to go.
So what are the impressions driving the car:
It’s a big car, I noticed due to the fact that there were a lot of road works going on and the lanes were squeezed together. This meant driving with white knuckles on the steering wheel at times when people were passing me at 2 inches distance. Or so at least it felt.
The car also is heavy, but not noticeable until you need heavy braking where I find the brakes not its biggest strength.
But what a great overall car. The torque is great, just makes driving it a breeze. But the best of all is that gated shifter. What a sensation each time you change gears and the great click-clack sound it makes. Just a thing of beauty in my humble opinion. Then and there I knew this is a car im gonna keep for a very very long time.
The weather was so bad that I didn’t get any real chance to push the car a bit, but I could tell that it had the ability of achieving great speeds with ease.
The next best thing after the gated shifter: the race seats.
Things of beauty. I like how the top of the seats arch out quite a lot compared to a lot of other race seats and I like the look of the old-school carbon which has more yellow colored element in it.
The seating position is just great and after 8 hours of driving I felt pretty good. The butt was a little bit sore, it could usea a bit more cushion, but nothing a 10 min walk didn’t cure.
Just before leaving Germany I managed to give it a few good runs and clocked 290 km/h.
The ease in which it achieved this level of speed was just phenomenal, especially knowing its already 17 years old and a pretty big lady to boot as well.
Crossing the border into the Netherlands, where you had to drive 70 km/h again, I had a chance to reflect todays trip.
It struck me I was doing the very thing this car was designed to do. Covering large distances at high speeds with a great level of comfort and sophistication. Enzo Ferrari, which by the way shares my birthday as well, would have approved.
Below some pictures I made when I first saw the Dark Horse as I affectionately call her.
Plans for the future:
- Exhaust mod. Currently it has a very throaty sound on low rpms, but it wont sing like I want her to at higher rpms. Will remove the resonator and install straight pipes.
- Remove striping, but ill wait until after I go to the 24 of Le Mans with her. It seems Le Mans has a tradition of stickering up your car.
- Im not sure about the wheels, however it seems a waste to redo a perfectly fine set of rims with no damage at all…….ahh first world problems….
- Give it a small service with fresh oil just for ease of mind.
Thanks all for the advice so far on this Forum and I hope that for all you who are looking for the “right one”, you get to find her soon and enjoy her as much as I have.a
This Friday, it was finally time. After having had paid for the car almost 6 weeks before, I managed to squeeze enough free time to go pick up her up in a small town near Munich, Germany.
The search for this car had taken me a good 3 months and as it just turned out I was just in time. After having bought an Aston Martin V8 Vantage from 2006, I wanted to go a bit more old school. A V12 was in order I decided, manual obviously and preferably Italian. Initially I started looking for Diablos and Murcielagos. As lovely as they are, they are just not useful to have for me as I live in Amsterdam, which is probably one of the worst places to have a larger sized car let alone a supercar.
Another factor was the fact that prices on Diablos have risen sharply and was now not in my reach anymore and Murcies weren’t completely my cup of tea and too many e-gears and not enough manuals for sale.
Back to the drawing board and soon I was finding myself looking at 550s. I remember from the time of my Aston purchase, I was looking at them as well. Decided it wasn’t the time to buy those yet as I was daunted by buying a big heavy car with a V12.
But now the time was right, unfortunately I noticed prices were also up on 550s but they were still within budget. So I now had my mind made up, especially after watching a few reviews and my childhood movie Bad Boys 2 with Will Smith and his silver 550 Maranello tearing up the streets of Miami.
After watching many hours of reviews, reading ins and outs of the car, I felt I knew this car already without ever having sat in one.
So it was official. The hunt was on!
Holland is a terribly small country when it comes to available offerings on cars and due to extra government duties and taxes, cars are also more expensive. There were a few 550s 3-4 months ago available on the Dutch Market, but nothing that was good enough. Bad history, very high mileage, no extras and high prices forced me to go look in Germany via Mobile.de.
I had learnt from past experience, and not just related to cars, to buy the best you can afford as later down the line you might get disappointed otherwise.
Having called a few dealers, the process was frustrating. Just asking simple questions like if stamps were in the service book or if there were any receipts, would lead to dealers not knowing and not returning my calls. As if they had no interest in selling the bloody car….
Until I found a black on black 550 with 52,000 kms.
Owned by an independent Ferrari shop near Munich, the car was modified.
Blackened wheels, GTO style stripe down the middle and beautiful carbon race seats. Wasn’t sure about the black wheels, but decided that all the alterations were easily reversible.
After a quick call, the sales person came across as competent and friendly, which believe it or not is not as common as it should be!
He knew to answer most of the questions and responded to the ones he didn’t know promptly. The car had a gearbox overhaul and many upgrades installed such a braided break hoses, tubi’s installed, clutch changed 4000 kms ago. What really convinced me, was the fact that it had protective film applied. As small as that may seem, to me that is a big indicator the car was loved. Only people who really care and intend of keeping their cars for a longer period of time invest the time and/or money in applying protective film on their cars. At least, that’s my theory.
I made an offer the same day, contingent that it would pass a PPI by an official Ferrari dealer and that there would be no outstanding maintenance identified.
As agreed the car was dropped to the Ferrari dealer called Saggio in Munich. Great service and I was able to call and go through the found minor issues in peace with the head mechanic.
Managed to get the price reduced down further with the cost of the outstanding work.
Just goes to show, never ever buy a car without a PPI. In this case the PPI cost paid itself back 10-fold.
The paperwork was wrapped up and on 18th February, I signed the paperwork. Coincidentally, 18th Feb was also my 30th Birthday, talk about being such a cliché!
Down payment was wired the next day and I felt good that everything went so smooth.
Now just to plan the trip.
The trip itself would involve a one way ticket to Munich from my hometown of Amsterdam, which meant I had to fly out early.
Finally I managed to take some time off and flew out last Friday on a 7am flight. It happened to be with a Lufthansa flight, which made me realize more than ever how lucky I am to be able to pick up this car and my mind was with the poor families of the victims of the Lufthansa/Germanswings flight that lost their lives a few days earlier.
After the landing, I exited the airplane and headed towards the exit, when on my way out the gate I was stopped by 2 scruffy looking guys. Turns out they were undercover cops and asked to see my passport. They stared at me and back at my passport, back at me again and mumbled some words to each other. “what are you going to do here?” one of the cops asked.
And boy o boy, how I always dreamt of saying this as a kid! “Picking up my Ferrari”.
Now both cops are looking at my slightly bewildered. “Why in Munich?” he asked.
I liked where this was going and it almost felt like this was too good to be true, as if someone knew that I wanted to be asked and play out a scene of a movie that I played in my head. “Because it’s old school and not so common Ferrari with a V12 engine and a 6-speed manual gearbox”.
Both men nodded simultaneously, I just don’t know if they were nodding because they understood my excitement or for the fact that I was clearly not the criminal they were looking for.
Either way, I was a free man and on my way to pick up the car.
An hour later, I arrived at the dealership.
The weather was terrible, raining like crazy, streets wet and I wasn’t feeling that comfortable about the fact I had a 820 km trip back to Amsterdam.
But as some kind of omen, just when I arrived, the sun came out briefly. I think for about 5 mins. I didn’t hesitate a second, I took my camera out and made sure to take some picture as I was sure I wouldn’t get a second chance to make a half decent shot today with the rain and all.
It seemed the automotive gods were on my side today.
After taking care of all the paperwork and arranging insurance and export plates, I was on my way back.
Quick check to see all was working and I jumped in and headed out.
First thing I did was to fill up the gas tank.
100 Octane gas was available and the gas attendant quickly came to help. I just didn’t realize if 550 has a knock sensor and if the 100
Octane makes any difference at all or not compared to 95 octane fuel.
All gassed up and ready to go.
So what are the impressions driving the car:
It’s a big car, I noticed due to the fact that there were a lot of road works going on and the lanes were squeezed together. This meant driving with white knuckles on the steering wheel at times when people were passing me at 2 inches distance. Or so at least it felt.
The car also is heavy, but not noticeable until you need heavy braking where I find the brakes not its biggest strength.
But what a great overall car. The torque is great, just makes driving it a breeze. But the best of all is that gated shifter. What a sensation each time you change gears and the great click-clack sound it makes. Just a thing of beauty in my humble opinion. Then and there I knew this is a car im gonna keep for a very very long time.
The weather was so bad that I didn’t get any real chance to push the car a bit, but I could tell that it had the ability of achieving great speeds with ease.
The next best thing after the gated shifter: the race seats.
Things of beauty. I like how the top of the seats arch out quite a lot compared to a lot of other race seats and I like the look of the old-school carbon which has more yellow colored element in it.
The seating position is just great and after 8 hours of driving I felt pretty good. The butt was a little bit sore, it could usea a bit more cushion, but nothing a 10 min walk didn’t cure.
Just before leaving Germany I managed to give it a few good runs and clocked 290 km/h.
The ease in which it achieved this level of speed was just phenomenal, especially knowing its already 17 years old and a pretty big lady to boot as well.
Crossing the border into the Netherlands, where you had to drive 70 km/h again, I had a chance to reflect todays trip.
It struck me I was doing the very thing this car was designed to do. Covering large distances at high speeds with a great level of comfort and sophistication. Enzo Ferrari, which by the way shares my birthday as well, would have approved.
Below some pictures I made when I first saw the Dark Horse as I affectionately call her.
Plans for the future:
- Exhaust mod. Currently it has a very throaty sound on low rpms, but it wont sing like I want her to at higher rpms. Will remove the resonator and install straight pipes.
- Remove striping, but ill wait until after I go to the 24 of Le Mans with her. It seems Le Mans has a tradition of stickering up your car.
- Im not sure about the wheels, however it seems a waste to redo a perfectly fine set of rims with no damage at all…….ahh first world problems….
- Give it a small service with fresh oil just for ease of mind.
Thanks all for the advice so far on this Forum and I hope that for all you who are looking for the “right one”, you get to find her soon and enjoy her as much as I have.a
Edited by Brakke on Sunday 29th March 23:31
Thanks for your well written and enjoyable post. And congratulations on your new 550 Maranello!
My first Ferrari was a one year old 550 Maranello (in Argento with FHP put on by its first owner Eric Fellner). That was in late 1999. Fast forward to 2015 and she's still with me, she's in rude health and has been joined by a few of her siblings. All are harder, faster and more exotic but the 550 has mellowed into a true beauty. She minds her own business providing a combination of wonderful elegance, handling, click clack stick shift and that sublime torquey V12.
Not entirely convinced by the GTO stripe and black wheels but that's because I like the elegance of the 550 as it is. I'm also older than you so clearly boring too lol.
One small item it's difficult to see but I think you're missing the pininfarina badges which sit just above the two side vents, one either side. They're readily available online if you are and you want to put them on.
Enjoy many safe miles
My first Ferrari was a one year old 550 Maranello (in Argento with FHP put on by its first owner Eric Fellner). That was in late 1999. Fast forward to 2015 and she's still with me, she's in rude health and has been joined by a few of her siblings. All are harder, faster and more exotic but the 550 has mellowed into a true beauty. She minds her own business providing a combination of wonderful elegance, handling, click clack stick shift and that sublime torquey V12.
Not entirely convinced by the GTO stripe and black wheels but that's because I like the elegance of the 550 as it is. I'm also older than you so clearly boring too lol.
One small item it's difficult to see but I think you're missing the pininfarina badges which sit just above the two side vents, one either side. They're readily available online if you are and you want to put them on.
Enjoy many safe miles
Camlet said:
Thanks for your well written and enjoyable post. And congratulations on your new 550 Maranello!
My first Ferrari was a one year old 550 Maranello (in Argento with FHP put on by its first owner Eric Fellner). That was in late 1999. Fast forward to 2015 and she's still with me, she's in rude health and has been joined by a few of her siblings. All are harder, faster and more exotic but the 550 has mellowed into a true beauty. She minds her own business providing a combination of wonderful elegance, handling, click clack stick shift and that sublime torquey V12.
Not entirely convinced by the GTO stripe and black wheels but that's because I like the elegance of the 550 as it is. I'm also older than you so clearly boring too lol.
One small item it's difficult to see but I think you're missing the pininfarina badges which sit just above the two side vents, one either side. They're readily available online if you are and you want to put them on.
Enjoy many safe miles
Thanks for the kind words.My first Ferrari was a one year old 550 Maranello (in Argento with FHP put on by its first owner Eric Fellner). That was in late 1999. Fast forward to 2015 and she's still with me, she's in rude health and has been joined by a few of her siblings. All are harder, faster and more exotic but the 550 has mellowed into a true beauty. She minds her own business providing a combination of wonderful elegance, handling, click clack stick shift and that sublime torquey V12.
Not entirely convinced by the GTO stripe and black wheels but that's because I like the elegance of the 550 as it is. I'm also older than you so clearly boring too lol.
One small item it's difficult to see but I think you're missing the pininfarina badges which sit just above the two side vents, one either side. They're readily available online if you are and you want to put them on.
Enjoy many safe miles
Perhaps in a few years, I might be able to have this same conversation again, but then from your position congratulating someone else on their first Ferrari purchase and telling them how I remember the day picking up the 550
Im not too convinced about the stripe and black wheels either, however im attending the 24h of le mans this year and it seems to be a tradition of some sort to get your car all stickered up. So will leave it like that for now unless I take the Vantage.
You are right about the pininfarina badging, did get them with the car will put them on there shortly.
A great first 1000 kms have been achieved today. Im convinced its a great car, had there been any real issues they would have surfaced by now.
Will get some interior shots as well as the seats are just amazing, but the weather has been a deal-breaker all weekend here...
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