[Barry]

Welcome to FL Reggie. Sounds like you have a cool dad! I like his style

Good luck in the 550 hunt. A wonderful Ferrari. Someday I'll add one to the stable.

Originally Posted by Ice350

No one has ever asked me for personal info on a forum, how refreshing!

I'm just a regular guy who has worked over 25 years as a social worker. But I'm about to go into business with a friend and if all goes well, it will change my life. It will also change the lives of others as we will make a huge dent in the economy for thousands of people. I can't say more about it yet but I will down the road.

I have always been a car nut. Every since my dad told me to buy a 911 for my first car (that I was paying for). He told me to continue living at home and don't worry about paying bills. Go get a Porsche. I didn't do it. Instead I got my own apartment.....but I started reading about cars and never stopped.

Last week my wife said, "you're gonna be able to be a true collector now, buy all the cars you want. Don't hold back." I intend to be a good steward of the money and refuse to go wild but I will indulge in a couple of cars.
One will be a 550/575. The other, a 911...the new model 991.

Currently, wifey and I drive his and hers Lexus GS350. Modded with wheels, drop and a few other things.

Well, you asked. It's a bit wordy but it's dangerous to ask questions of social workers. We love to talk.

I hope to learn a lot about Ferrari's on this site.

Reggie

[Ice350]

Thanks guys, for making me feel welcome. I frequent a few other forums and none are like this.

[Barry]

Originally Posted by Ice350

Thanks guys, for making me feel welcome. I frequent a few other forums and none are like this.

... and that's a good thing (I hope )

[tazandjan]

Reggie- Welcome to another Maranello lover. Cannot get enough of those on Ferrari Life. If you have not already heard of it, ferraridatabase.com has owners manuals for most Ferraris and the workshop manuals for the 550 that you can download for free. Andrew, the owner of this site, will eventually have about the same for Elite members who have subsrcibed.

Good luck in the hunt, and look for Henry's thread here where he talks about possibly selling his 575M. Henry is about as freaky about taking care of his car as anybody, and his car has a long list of factory upgrades and only 8000 miles.

[Ice350]

Originally Posted by tazandjan

Reggie- Welcome to another Maranello lover. Cannot get enough of those on Ferrari Life. If you have not already heard of it, ferraridatabase.com has owners manuals for most Ferraris and the workshop manuals for the 550 that you can download for free. Andrew, the owner of this site, will eventually have about the same for Elite members who have subsrcibed.

Good luck in the hunt, and look for Henry's thread here where he talks about possibly selling his 575M. Henry is about as freaky about taking care of his car as anybody, and his car has a long list of factory upgrades and only 8000 miles.

Thanks for the tip. I'll check out the manuals for sure.

[Boxer]

Reggie, Welcome to FLife. In terms of 550s/575s, buy well and they are pretty much bullet proof. Make sure all the factory recalls have been done (very important on early 550s) and that the car has been used regularily and maintained as per schedule. Suggest you download a copy of the buyers guide:

Ferrari Buyer's Guides - Ferrari Life


P.S. Taz has forgotten more about 550s/575s than the rest of us will ever know so he is a great source for any questions you might have.

[Ice350]

Thanks Boxer.
I sure hope you guys continue the warm reception after you see how my future Ferrari turns out. Just so you know, I believe in tastefully modding a car. Judging from what I've seen over the years, most diehard F-car lovers think it sacrilege to change such a wonderful car.

At the very least, the car will get a nice set of wheels and lowered slightly. I already know the wheels will be either Modulare, HRE or ADV1's.
Other possible mods could be a sound system upgrade (won't know until I hear the stock system), light window tint and update the interior. I'm undecided about bodykits. It would have to be something that blends in with the lines of the car to maintain that understated look. I think the 550/575 looks good without body enhancement. We'll see.

Don't worry, I believe in tasteful mods, where only enthusiasts spot the changes. With my current and past cars, non-enthusiasts usually ask why my car looks better than others but they don't know why until I explain.

In over 35 years of driving, I've never driven a car stock....and I see no reason to change now.

[Jimmy Chen Shiba DDS]

Originally Posted by Ice350

Thanks Boxer.
I sure hope you guys continue the warm reception after you see how my future Ferrari turns out. Just so you know, I believe in tastefully modding a car. Judging from what I've seen over the years, most diehard F-car lovers think it sacrilege to change such a wonderful car.

At the very least, the car will get a nice set of wheels and lowered slightly. I already know the wheels will be either Modulare, HRE or ADV1's.
Other possible mods could be a sound system upgrade (won't know until I hear the stock system), light window tint and update the interior. I'm undecided about bodykits. It would have to be something that blends in with the lines of the car to maintain that understated look. I think the 550/575 looks good without body enhancement. We'll see.

Don't worry, I believe in tasteful mods, where only enthusiasts spot the changes. With my current and past cars, non-enthusiasts usually ask why my car looks better than others but they don't know why until I explain.

In over 35 years of driving, I've never driven a car stock....and I see no reason to change now.

Gosh ! Sounds like you already have a clear vision of what the car would be !!! Would be interesting to actually see the outcome. w/ smiles Jimmy

[Boxer]

Originally Posted by Ice350

Thanks Boxer.
I sure hope you guys continue the warm reception after you see how my future Ferrari turns out. Just so you know, I believe in tastefully modding a car. Judging from what I've seen over the years, most diehard F-car lovers think it sacrilege to change such a wonderful car.

At the very least, the car will get a nice set of wheels and lowered slightly. I already know the wheels will be either Modulare, HRE or ADV1's.
Other possible mods could be a sound system upgrade (won't know until I hear the stock system), light window tint and update the interior. I'm undecided about bodykits. It would have to be something that blends in with the lines of the car to maintain that understated look. I think the 550/575 looks good without body enhancement. We'll see.

Don't worry, I believe in tasteful mods, where only enthusiasts spot the changes. With my current and past cars, non-enthusiasts usually ask why my car looks better than others but they don't know why until I explain.

In over 35 years of driving, I've never driven a car stock....and I see no reason to change now.

I think you will find a lot of the guys here have an open mind regarding modifications as long as they are tasteful. My old 308 GTB was had quite a few modifications which I though made it a much more focused car.

[Barry]

Originally Posted by Ice350

Thanks Boxer.
I sure hope you guys continue the warm reception after you see how my future Ferrari turns out. Just so you know, I believe in tastefully modding a car. Judging from what I've seen over the years, most diehard F-car lovers think it sacrilege to change such a wonderful car.

At the very least, the car will get a nice set of wheels and lowered slightly. I already know the wheels will be either Modulare, HRE or ADV1's.
Other possible mods could be a sound system upgrade (won't know until I hear the stock system), light window tint and update the interior. I'm undecided about bodykits. It would have to be something that blends in with the lines of the car to maintain that understated look. I think the 550/575 looks good without body enhancement. We'll see.

Don't worry, I believe in tasteful mods, where only enthusiasts spot the changes. With my current and past cars, non-enthusiasts usually ask why my car looks better than others but they don't know why until I explain.

In over 35 years of driving, I've never driven a car stock....and I see no reason to change now.

Reggie, I'm usually in the other camp, I like to keep things original or with only manufacturer upgrades. But I think you'll find a 'live and let live' culture here. Wouldn't life be boring if we were all the same?

I say, do whatever makes you happy. It's your car and no one else's. I look forward to seeing your plans materialise.

[tazandjan]

Reggie- My car has a Superamerica instrument panel. Carbonio shift paddles, Novitec wheels, and Mov'It brakes, so many of us do play with our cars.

[Ice350]

Originally Posted by tazandjan

Reggie- My car has a Superamerica instrument panel. Carbonio shift paddles, Novitec wheels, and Mov'It brakes, so many of us do play with our cars.

Taz, have you had any problems with your glass roof? I saw on another site that thing cost 30K to fix.

[tazandjan]

Reggie- I only have two Superamerica parts on my 575M, the instrument panel and the HGTC exhaust.

Most of the problems with the Superamerica tops come from wear on the pneumatic struts that help the motor raise and lower the top. These struts lose their gas charge and do not provide the motor sufficient lift assistance. This in turn overstresses the motor and can also result in the top coming down harder than it should. These need to be replaced on a regular basis that appears to be about every 4-5 years.

[Sir Paul]

Originally Posted by tazandjan

Reggie- I only have two Superamerica parts on my 575M, the instrument panel and the HGTC exhaust.

Most of the problems with the Superamerica tops come from wear on the pneumatic struts that help the motor raise and lower the top. These struts lose their gas charge and do not provide the motor sufficient lift assistance. This in turn overstresses the motor and can also result in the top coming down harder than it should. These need to be replaced on a regular basis that appears to be about every 4-5 years.

Hi Reggie,
To further add to what Terry has just mentioned, here is some experience from my end written as a response on another forum for folks who were quoting a lot of heresay about the Superamerica Roof.

Hope this also helps.
Regards
PAUL

See http://www.f*****chat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=354828

"Given all the previous posts and discussions, the comments here appear to be from a lot on non-SA owners with a lot of heresay. Let me try to address the points with a few more facts.

First, and from previous fellow SA owners discussions and from personal experience it is the two tiny supporting gas struts in the roof mechanism that go faulty and fail to support the roof properly going up or down. I held the boot open in those conditions with a golf umbrella OK and used my hald to help it open without dropping (from within the car). That worked fine until it was fixed.
Replacing the struts cost US$ 1140 including labour....at relatively high HK prices. I beleive some FChatters did the same in US for less.

Secondly, I have not seen a delaminating roof, but I would swear that because I only drive mine with the roof open it is in perfect condition. Because the car is prone to a bit of torsion (as most convertibles, even with addiitonal chassis support are), which I beleive twists the roof when driving on uneven surfaces, causing the delamination of the layers of glass and electrochromic layers. Hong Kong roads are very bumpy too.
So....if you find a good roof, keep it nice by driving with it down a lot.

Lastly, the whole roof replacement, when I last looked, is about US$25,000
Here it is currently in UK at http://www.eurospares.co.uk/searchRe...&TA=2&TB=37066 for GBP 15,653, which is about US$ 24,262
Ricambi or other US source may be cheaper.

I also think the SA has probably experienced the bulk of its depreciation now anyway.

In 10,000 Kms, in 5 year my SA has averaged US$ 2,000 per year in maintenance, including annual service, the roof fix above, Cam belt and associated stuff, New TPMS sensors and un-stickying the interior plastics. My MB280 saloon has cost me more (but over 40,000Km)

However, we dont have acorns in HK so no comment on that one!

PAUL "

[Ice350]

Thanks guys.

[tazandjan]

Paul- We should check with T Rutman, who have a company that is manufacturing much improved struts for them for Boxers, etc, as these became NLA. They might be able to produce struts that do not need to be replaced so often.

[Sir Paul]

Originally Posted by tazandjan

Paul- We should check with T Rutman, who have a company that is manufacturing much improved struts for them for Boxers, etc, as these became NLA. They might be able to produce struts that do not need to be replaced so often.

Terry
A splendid idea although I am probably not the best person to check it out from here. If I recall on FChat there were a couple of guys who originally "cracked" this problem, but I cant remember who they were without scouring the archives. They might have a sample of the old strut and could get it checked out by someone like T Rutman (never heard of them myself).
All I did was get the local Ferrari shop to change them.
Thanks
PAUL

[tazandjan]

Paul- Believe it was Steve, but will check.