A weekend toy for the wife
Discussion
A few years ago I inherited some money. I spent ages looking at 246 Dinos, Ford GTs, other exotica, and my accountant wife persuaded me to get a flat to rent out.
2 years ago we had some more spare cash. Dinos had gone up. I looked at 308, 328, Gallardos, and Testarossas. My sensible wife said I needed something practical, so I got a Gransport.
2 weeks ago we're at the Silverstone Classic. I leave her alone and find her nattering to people in the Ferrari enclosure and discussing merits of the various cars I looked at, runnings costs, driving experience, reliability, (and how much they'd appreciated in the last few years compared to the bloody flat
). So NOW she wants a Ferrari. Ho hum, well, if she insists 
She likes Aircon, wants something more angular than the modern stuff, and it must be manual, and it must be red. Or Yellow.
However, she has a shoulder injury from a motorcycling incident, so she wants power steering, which as far as I can tell limits us to the F355 and the Mondial 3.4T (I understand the Mondial has power steering, but not the 2 seater 348?).
Is there anything else I should be looking at?
2 years ago we had some more spare cash. Dinos had gone up. I looked at 308, 328, Gallardos, and Testarossas. My sensible wife said I needed something practical, so I got a Gransport.
2 weeks ago we're at the Silverstone Classic. I leave her alone and find her nattering to people in the Ferrari enclosure and discussing merits of the various cars I looked at, runnings costs, driving experience, reliability, (and how much they'd appreciated in the last few years compared to the bloody flat
). So NOW she wants a Ferrari. Ho hum, well, if she insists She likes Aircon, wants something more angular than the modern stuff, and it must be manual, and it must be red. Or Yellow.
However, she has a shoulder injury from a motorcycling incident, so she wants power steering, which as far as I can tell limits us to the F355 and the Mondial 3.4T (I understand the Mondial has power steering, but not the 2 seater 348?).
Is there anything else I should be looking at?
Davo456gt said:
456GT ?
its quite practical, got power steering, and my wife prefers it to our other car too :-)
I did look at the 456 (and the 612) when I got the Maser, but was a little concerned about the running costs of a V12 Ferrari. Oddly enough when I bought it, I was told they weren't too dissimilar to run. I took this to mean the 456 was cheaper to run than I thought.its quite practical, got power steering, and my wife prefers it to our other car too :-)
Oh how naive.
Also looked at the 612, but apparantly the front looks a bit like a retarded cartoon character.
DevonPaul said:
?...
However, she has a shoulder injury from a motorcycling incident, so she wants power steering, which as far as I can tell limits us to the F355 and the Mondial 3.4T (I understand the Mondial has power steering, but not the 2 seater 348?).
Is there anything else I should be looking at?
It's possible to get electrical power steering conversion kits added to classicsHowever, she has a shoulder injury from a motorcycling incident, so she wants power steering, which as far as I can tell limits us to the F355 and the Mondial 3.4T (I understand the Mondial has power steering, but not the 2 seater 348?).
Is there anything else I should be looking at?
Article about Harry of Evo fame having it done to his Countach
http://www.classicandperformancecar.com/features/o...
DevonPaul said:
However, she has a shoulder injury from a motorcycling incident, so she wants power steering, which as far as I can tell limits us to the F355 and the Mondial 3.4T
When I had a 328, I was surprised at how very light the unassisted steering was, so maybe don't discount them.That said, you will be hard pressed to find a decent 328 at the moment. And the prices seem to be absurdly inflated these days.
But maybe I'm just bitter that I sold my 7000 miler for £33,000 a few years back.....
I know that they are hardly angular, but 360s seem very good value compared to the 308/328 and I am told that they are cheaper and easier to service than the 348/355.
456mgt said:
Pat H said:
I know that they are hardly angular, but 360s seem very good value compared to the 308/328 and I am told that they are cheaper and easier to service than the 348/355.
This is where I would go too; 430s are more angular, but 360s are light touch to drive. I would want to spend about £50k.
I loved the raw classic feel of my old 328 GTS, but the classifieds suggest that they are now almost twice the price of a 360 in comparable condition.
I have given some thought to a 308 GT4. But they are old. And they are not galvanised. And, realistically, a good one will be restored and not original. And you don't get the wind in your hair.
So I keep coming back to the 360 as being the best value for a £50k budget.
I just worry that the 360 will be too modern, too civilized and might fail to deliver the tactile pleasures of the older cars.
Maybe a 360 with a manual box and the right exhaust would do the trick.
Pat H said:
So I keep coming back to the 360 as being the best value for a £50k budget.
I just worry that the 360 will be too modern, too civilized and might fail to deliver the tactile pleasures of the older cars.
Maybe a 360 with a manual box and the right exhaust would do the trick.
Yes - get a 360 spider and fit a Stradale race exhaust. Hardly too civilised I just worry that the 360 will be too modern, too civilized and might fail to deliver the tactile pleasures of the older cars.
Maybe a 360 with a manual box and the right exhaust would do the trick.
Pat H said:
DevonPaul said:
However, she has a shoulder injury from a motorcycling incident, so she wants power steering, which as far as I can tell limits us to the F355 and the Mondial 3.4T
When I had a 328, I was surprised at how very light the unassisted steering was, so maybe don't discount them.That said, you will be hard pressed to find a decent 328 at the moment. And the prices seem to be absurdly inflated these days.
But maybe I'm just bitter that I sold my 7000 miler for £33,000 a few years back.....
I know that they are hardly angular, but 360s seem very good value compared to the 308/328 and I am told that they are cheaper and easier to service than the 348/355.
Pat H said:
I just worry that the 360 will be too modern, too civilized and might fail to deliver the tactile pleasures of the older cars.
I haven't driven one but did plenty of reading about them before buying an F430 Spider; from what I gather the 360 is far less civilized than the F430, and I wouldn't exactly call the 430 civilized comapred to a 'regular' car anyway. It's far from it. I'll be in Bournemouth between Sunday 14th to Wednesday 17th and you're welcome to a passenger ride if you happen to anywhere close on those dates.
Thanks for the feedback and offers.
FWIW she's paying, so I can't really trade her in........yet
We had another look at a few things the last week or so, and really we want something more 'old school' with less electronics and an analogue driving experience. A Testarossa or 308/328 is probably what we want (she like the idea of a TR, I think she'll hate the reality of using it on Devon lanes). We have a few days on a road trip coming up so I've chatted to the very helpful Steve up at Supercar rooms and providing he has something suitable left in stock in a fortnight then she can try things and see if they're manoeuverable for her, and also call in Amari on the way up and Nick Cartwright on the way back.
There is another place near Keighley, seem to have changed their name recently, which makes me inclined to avoid them
FWIW she's paying, so I can't really trade her in........yet
We had another look at a few things the last week or so, and really we want something more 'old school' with less electronics and an analogue driving experience. A Testarossa or 308/328 is probably what we want (she like the idea of a TR, I think she'll hate the reality of using it on Devon lanes). We have a few days on a road trip coming up so I've chatted to the very helpful Steve up at Supercar rooms and providing he has something suitable left in stock in a fortnight then she can try things and see if they're manoeuverable for her, and also call in Amari on the way up and Nick Cartwright on the way back.
There is another place near Keighley, seem to have changed their name recently, which makes me inclined to avoid them
mwstewart said:
I haven't driven one but did plenty of reading about them before buying an F430 Spider; from what I gather the 360 is far less civilized than the F430, and I wouldn't exactly call the 430 civilized comapred to a 'regular' car anyway. It's far from it.
I'll be in Bournemouth between Sunday 14th to Wednesday 17th and you're welcome to a passenger ride if you happen to anywhere close on those dates.
Thank you for the kind offer.I'll be in Bournemouth between Sunday 14th to Wednesday 17th and you're welcome to a passenger ride if you happen to anywhere close on those dates.
Regrettably, I will be on the other side of the country.
Enjoy Bournmouth!
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