So I was in Paris last weekend and a deal was done. Next Wednesday a shiny red 355 Spider with Tan interior is being delivered to Foskers Ferrari in Brands Hatch with my name on it
To say I'm excited is a slight understatement although the wait while it's registered is taking the edge off it a bit, I've never been the most patient person so it's going to be agony.
The thinking behind it, as stated way back at the beginning of this thread was that I wanted a weekend car, something I could actually use but was also a "classic" or a classic in the making. I went through various thoughts, from SL Mercs, Alfa SZ, Maserati Ghiblis and much in between. The car needed to be able to deliver the goods in terms of making me smile as I opened the garage to an enjoyable drive - not necessarily with my pants on fire as the GTR does that, but something that would be fun. I came a gnats away from buying 993 Turbo from Paul Stephens but suddenly realised that much as I loved it, I'm not a Porsche man and have never craved one, I'm Ferrari and have always lusted after a 355, ever since they came out I've wanted one and my mind was made up in an instant adter literally months/a year of deliberating. So I pulled out of that (regretfully now as I was offered the car for £45k and he's got it advertised again for £72k so that was a massive fucking error!)
So thus hunt for a 355 began and after looking at cars in the UK I widened the search to Europe where there is much more choice and at first sight, bargains to be had. However, after viewing several it became apparent that there's no such thing as a cheap Ferrari with many cars having no history, or patchy history at least.
The LHD doesn't worry me for a number of reasons. First, there is an argument that cars built as LHD are better as LHD )silly things like brake masters etc all being in line with the brake pedal and other bits. I'm not sure but it makes sense. Secondly I intend to drive it in Europe and do some road trips to some of the famous alpine passes etc, also to visit friends in France, and thirdly because LHD cars are not uncommon in the UK. I did consider importing a 997 GT3 from Germany but basically there is no market for them here unless they're the super rare 4.0 or RS. 355s on the other hand have been common in LHD here since new due to the huge waiting list back then.
So the car I've settled on is actually originally a UK delivered car, to a guy in London by Maranello, yet is LHD. It was then sold to the guy I'm buying it from by Foskers who drove it to his place in Paris where it's been since ever since - he's owned it since 2003. He was a nice guy and a massive enthusiast (with an aston and exige in the garage too) and took me to the specialist who's done the cambelt services (all annual services by Pozzi Ferrari in Paris, cambelts by this indy) who put it up on the ramps and let me poke around it clearly not having a clue what I was looking at.
But all in all it "felt" like the right car and having viewed 10 (including a GTS at DK Engineering just before xmas) I took this as the right decision.
So, as a Spider I'm looking forward to hearing that V8 wailing through the stainless tubi exhaust and thought this the perfect combo for the cars purpose. The GTR does chassis stiffness and all out responsiveness, I was never looking for that in an old Fiat.
Very excited and will report back on the no doubt financially ruinous running costs if I can bring myself too.....
In the meantime, this is pretty much my car with a tubi, but US spec https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvAC6vaJHxU
(If not dig out Google for some old performance car articles) 
