550 Maranello article - they'll be £200k before you know it!

[roygarth]

phib said:

Great result !!!!

Off to find a tall building ,,,,,,,,,

Only joking, I am happy what I got for mine, more than doubled in 2 years ownership and I really didn't like LHD in the UK.

When I bought mine it was cheaper than the Granturismo I wanted, now looks like I got free use of a 550 and a free Granturismo !!!!

Phib

Yours was a great result too. We all love free motoring!

[ferrisbueller]

Mogul said:

The £87k / 27,464 'miles' LHD 550 in at Millennium Heroes right now is described as "Sold new by Cornes, Japan..."

Rightly or wrongly, that by itself would go some way to explaining the comparatively modest price however, I note that the car does not have the usual Japanese market specification rectangular side markers (see the below example)

|https://thumbsnap.com/vzPIDuCc[/url]

...so there could be an outside chance that it was a European specification LHD car that was supplied new to Japan but perhaps it is more likely that it has been fiddled with at some point.

It's also lacking an audio head unit which is curious. A Japanese-spec head unit would have looked the part (and played CD's) and could have been replaced with something else without going to the trouble of finding a suitable blanking plate.

The leather on the steering wheel needs attention (and that is rarely an issue in isolation) and they say that "the large majority of the of the plastic coating, prone to wear on Ferraris, is in good shape."

All in all, it would appear to be a nice car, and it appears to have FHP which is either good or bad, depending on your intended use, but perhaps it would be fair to call it a 'sub-minter' and it is certainly not as EU-friendly as other LHD cars on the market given its Japanese history.

Edited by Mogul on Tuesday 4th July 14:37

One assumes the VAT and duty has been paid if it isn't an original EU sold car.

Also,I don't think three belt changes in 17 years is something to shout about given that it should have had 5?

[rubystone]

ferrisbueller said:

One assumes the VAT and duty has been paid if it isn't an original EU sold car.

Also,I don't think three belt changes in 17 years is something to shout about given that it should have had 5?

Back in 2008 Ferrari changed the belt service interval to 5 years on the 575 with the introduction of the kevlar belts. I can't see why that wouldn't apply to the 550 too?

[mon the fish]

rubystone said:

Back in 2008 Ferrari changed the belt service interval to 5 years on the 575 with the introduction of the kevlar belts. I can't see why that wouldn't apply to the 550 too?

I could be wrong but I think this is one of those things that's only in America - they got 5 years through a technical bulletin, we're stuck with 3.

Obviously you can make a judgement call as to whether you go 3 or 5 years

[phib]

mon the fish said:

I could be wrong but I think this is one of those things that's only in America - they got 5 years through a technical bulletin, we're stuck with 3.

Obviously you can make a judgement call as to whether you go 3 or 5 years

Correct

Phib

[ferrisbueller]

rubystone said:

ferrisbueller said:

One assumes the VAT and duty has been paid if it isn't an original EU sold car.

Also,I don't think three belt changes in 17 years is something to shout about given that it should have had 5?

Back in 2008 Ferrari changed the belt service interval to 5 years on the 575 with the introduction of the kevlar belts. I can't see why that wouldn't apply to the 550 too?

550 is 3 years AFAIK.

[bertie]

ferrisbueller said:

rubystone said:

ferrisbueller said:

One assumes the VAT and duty has been paid if it isn't an original EU sold car.

Also,I don't think three belt changes in 17 years is something to shout about given that it should have had 5?

Back in 2008 Ferrari changed the belt service interval to 5 years on the 575 with the introduction of the kevlar belts. I can't see why that wouldn't apply to the 550 too?

550 is 3 years AFAIK.

Just had mine done on the 575, it goes off the VIN.

Before a certain VIN they're still officially on 3 years, after you can go to 5 years.

If there's a genuine reason I'm not sure.

[ferrisbueller]

bertie said:

ferrisbueller said:

rubystone said:

ferrisbueller said:

One assumes the VAT and duty has been paid if it isn't an original EU sold car.

Also,I don't think three belt changes in 17 years is something to shout about given that it should have had 5?

Back in 2008 Ferrari changed the belt service interval to 5 years on the 575 with the introduction of the kevlar belts. I can't see why that wouldn't apply to the 550 too?

550 is 3 years AFAIK.

Just had mine done on the 575, it goes off the VIN.

Before a certain VIN they're still officially on 3 years, after you can go to 5 years.

If there's a genuine reason I'm not sure.

It puts more money in the coffers at Maranello [/cynic]

IIRC The 612 is 5 years, too.

As mentioned above, I think the US consumer machine came into effect and chased them up a bit on the three years. However, it remains for others.

It's one of those things where you question whether someone would care whether the car had the second cambelt change at 6 years when here it is 17 years down the line. However, in this world of history is everything, artificial or not, the market does seem to look at such things.

[550M]

3 year cambelt changes are most unnecessary with the low mileages most of these old girls do. I changed my second set at three years and having covered around 5000 miles, the first set being changed at point of purchase. Laid out on the bench, it was impossible to tell the difference between the two sets!

I moved onto 5 years for the 3rd, that's about the limit I'm prepared to push my risk/cost saving, but even then, the damn things looked unused.

The parts guy at Stratstone once told me they had an F40 owner point blank refusing to change his even at 10 years old. Now that's balls....

At this age, the earliest ones being over 20 years, the biggest risk of failure is the crank pulley bearing. I understand more of those go than cambelts. I did a precautionary change last time around. I thought it a bit stiff at £550 - maybe the Ferrari parts guys were just having a laugh

[roygarth]

550M said:

I thought it a bit stiff at £550 - maybe the Ferrari parts guys were just having a laugh

[Mogul]

550M said:

an F40 owner point blank refusing to change his even at 10 years old.

No sweat. Replacing the [16] bent valves on one bank should only run to 2/3rds the cost of a V12!

[MarkM3Evoplus]

https://www.westsussexspecialistcars.co.uk/ferrari...

This looks like a very nice example. Maybe the 550 experts can comment?

Cheers,

Mark

[harrykul]

Doesn't seem to be particularly cheap to me. The mileage and spec should be about £120k imho.

[mon the fish]

Price is probably a bit steep, but looks in very good condition. No leather shrinkage issues that I could see (seats, steering wheel or passenger airbag).

Wheels aren't rare, and not my choice personally, but are desirable. Pininfarina side badges are too low - they've been replaced at some point. Quilted leather shelf and headlining nice. Still on original stereo.

If red is your thing, you might struggle to get a better looking example - not sure what it's like mechanically

[rubystone]

Those modular wheels are massively rare. I had to go to the US to acquire a set for my Superamerica. This car is overpriced and won't sell at that price.

[ferrisbueller]

Agree it's priced high, but not massively so. A few at 150-170 now. It's a nice spec. The rims, as above, are rare and sought after and expensive as a consequence. There's a similar, lesser spec car at Meridien for 150. https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

Edited by ferrisbueller on Wednesday 26th July 19:45

[harrykul]

By way of comparison, here's a tidy tdf example at £125k.

http://www.cotswoldcars.com/currentstock/2000-ferr...

[911Thrasher]

harrykul said:

By way of comparison, here's a tidy tdf example at £125k.

http://www.cotswoldcars.com/currentstock/2000-ferr...

I wouldn't call that tidy: the whole interior from rear shelf to airbags and A/C panel are bubbling...and that an easy cheap fix!

[harrykul]

I stand corrected: condition not clear enough from my phone pics. It's overpriced too!

[Jagmanv12]

There's this silver/black with 24k miles for £129k.

http://bellclassics.co.uk/sales/1999-ferrari-550-m...