Cars We Drive!

[HRoi]

That is a great location for cool photoshoot composition...

 

[Dino944]

This car went for what sounds like a crazy low price for a <10k mile classic Ferrari with a gated manual....what gives? I know 550 Maranellos are awesome so it’s not the car.

9k-Mile 1999 Ferrari 550 Maranello

Bid for the chance to own a 9k-Mile 1999 Ferrari 550 Maranello at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #21,548.

bringatrailer.com

Some buyers get out of these cars just as big maintenance bills and repairs need to be done. In addition, the big service bills for their 12s have often been a deterrent for some would be buyers. For years first generation Testarossas, which originally had MSRPs of nearly twice that of 308/328s, and which also often sold well over sticker when new, were selling for 50-60K a few years back. So some very nice TRs were actually selling for less than top condition 308/328s. The idea of a major service being in the $12-15,000 range turns some people off. Also, the numbers of TRs, 550s, 575s etc produced are large enough that they aren't especially rare relative to cars like the Boxer, Daytona, Dino or earlier cars...so they aren't cars that big time collectors feel compelled to have in their collection.

Edit. -Also, after last years important auctions - it seems like it has been a soft market for a lot of cars.

read this as. . fluff flufff fluff, "Timing belt service at 14,000 kilometers".

Usually, on these cars they get changed out due to age, not the mileage. Its cheap insurance compared to an engine rebuild.

 

[jbarwick]

I loved the 550 when I was younger. I think it was due to one of the early Need For Speed games. I've never seen one in real life though.

 

[Dino944]

A few photos from this past weekend. Met up with a few friends to drive to Tutto Italiano at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum.

Fueling up a thirsty car for the drive.

A few friends I met up with for the drive.

Alfa GTV6

DeTomaso Pantera

An L series Dino .

A 550 for @jbarwick

Friends noticed my car made it into a few videos on YouTube

 

[patrickBOOTH]

The more I read this thread the more I come to realize what POSs exotic cars are.

 

[jbarwick]

Those 3-piece 550 wheels scream 90s to me.

 

[HRoi]

That’s still a freaking nice Ferrari, Dino. Even more attention getting than the Pista, IMO.

 

[Dino944]

Those 3-piece 550 wheels scream 90s to me.

I've never cared for those wheels. I believe they started out as standard on the limited production 550 Barchetta, and they became an option on the the 550 Maranellos and the 360s.

 

[brokencycle]

It is really interesting to me how tire/wheel design has changed over the last 30+ years. Today all cars seem to have much thinner tires relative to the wheel, and most wheels tend to be simple, open designs vs all the cars dino posted with open designs showing off the brake rotors. Look at the Maserati vs dino's.

 

[Dino944]

It is really interesting to me how tire/wheel design has changed over the last 30+ years. Today all cars seem to have much thinner tires relative to the wheel, and most wheels tend to be simple, open designs vs all the cars dino posted with open designs showing off the brake rotors. Look at the Maserati vs dino's.

Yes, tires on sports cars today are all lower profile with much larger and wider wheels. Obviously, the wheels and tires of today reflect both the buyers taste (or sometimes lack thereof ) and greater performance capabilities of today's vehicles. Cars like that 246GT Dino I posted are sitting on 14"alloys, while my 328 is on 16" alloys and today most sports cars are on at least 19" if not 20" alloys. 16" alloys look small by today's standards, but that was the largest diameter OEM alloy one could get when buying a Porsche or Ferrari. The 1989 Lotus Esprits used 15s in front and 16s in back and even the incredibly wide wheels and tires on Lamborghini's Countach were only 15s. I actually think some of the wheel designs of the past, look better than today's wheels.

Maybe in my old age, I've become more practical when it comes to wheels ...but I want designs that look good and don't take a lot of effort to clean. Some designs are so intricate that they take forever to clean. I had one set wheels on a Porsche years ago which had so many spokes and crevices, that it would take me much longer to clean the wheels than to clean the exterior of the entire car. The only thing that gave me some solace was that the guy who works on my 328 used to have a Ferrari 330GTC on Boranni wire wheels, which have 72 spokes per wheel. He said he would take the wheels off after every third drive to clean them or they looked terrible, and it would take him several hours to clean all four.

 

[OtterMeanGreen]

I've never cared for those wheels. I believe they started out as standard on the limited production 550 Barchetta, and they became an option on the the 550 Maranellos and the 360s.

I happen to like the modular wheels of that generation. The stock 360’s were hot garbage to me. The 430 did it right though, and are among my favorites.

Speaking of YouTube what did you think about this video I posted earlier. It’s pretty rare to see F1 cars on the street giving it some stick. The FXX, F40LM and 599XX were the superhero’s though

 

[jbarwick]

I always liked the Getaway Paris video from the 70s. If I'm not mistaken, they still don't know who the driver was in the video.

 

[Dino944]

I happen to like the modular wheels of that generation. The stock 360’s were hot garbage to me. The 430 did it right though, and are among my favorites.

Speaking of YouTube what did you think about this video I posted earlier. It’s pretty rare to see F1 cars on the street giving it some stick. The FXX, F40LM and 599XX were the superhero’s though

I just found those modular wheels too overdone. The stock 430 wheels were fine, but my favorites on that car were the Scud wheels.

The best part of that video for me was the F40LM. The FXX/Enzo and 599 were never dream cars for me. Great performers, but I never thought they were particularly attractive.

My favorite video of F1 cars on the street, is the old Shell Commercial. Its probably been posted here before, but here it is in case someone hasn't seen it.

 

[otc]

It is really interesting to me how tire/wheel design has changed over the last 30+ years. Today all cars seem to have much thinner tires relative to the wheel, and most wheels tend to be simple, open designs vs all the cars dino posted with open designs showing off the brake rotors. Look at the Maserati vs dino's.

The thin tire thing has certainly been going more and more mainstream, although I would say it does generally look better on most cars. Of course it often makes things worse for day to day handling and driving characteristics. Turns out tire sidewalls are actually kind of useful, especially on less than stellar roads.

What I really don't like the trend of black rims with a machined face in some funky design on every single car.

 

[Dino944]

The thin tire thing has certainly been going more and more mainstream, although I would say it does generally look better on most cars. Of course it often makes things worse for day to day handling and driving characteristics. Turns out tire sidewalls are actually kind of useful, especially on less than stellar roads.

What I really don't like the trend of black rims with a machined face in some funky design on every single car.
View attachment 1219515

Bigger wheels and thin sidewalls look good on modern cars, and do improve handling on some cars, but are unfortunately a great recipe for bent rims and blow outs unless you live in an area that never has potholes.