Hello All, First time poster here but been watching and diving into the vast of this forum with great intent on eventually owning an F car. As a real estate agent in the bay area i ran across an opportunity that seems like good timing for all parties. My clients were writing on a property that happened to have two really cool cars on the inside of the garage. 1) 2000 360 Modena w/ sun roof and 38k miles 2) Lotus 1996 race car (certainly tracked). The owner had let the agent know that they would be willing to sell both cars with the home. I later found out the owner was done with CA and moving to the wildnerness in NV and neither car can go with him. Hes buying a truck with his proceeds and getting away from the "city life" as he called it. My buyers loved the home and ended up writing a great offer that included the Lotus. The seller agreed. I am owed a commission on this property slightly south of $40,000. The opportunity came up during the walk through when he saw me drive up in my Porsche 25' Cayenne S Coupe and asked me if i was interested in the Ferrari. I asked him a little about it but let him know i was intrigued. I took it to a local shop here in San Jose, CA that does a lot of old ferraris - Roselli's, and they completed a PPI for me. All came back pretty good, some of the items that stood out were: - Ball joints replacement x 4 - Engine mounts (which owner has already purchased just need installing) - Bushings Outside of these items there is a cracked front bumper , rock chips in various places on the paint I need to have original seat replaced in the front along with original steering wheel as current one doesnt have a air bag (he has both of these) He mentioned there were engine issues after he bought it in 2005 and he had Ferrari rebuilt the engine for him. This is what he told me. I wanted confirmation from the PPI so i didnt mention that to them and they brought up when inspecting that the engine block looked much newer than the rest of the car. And then i discussed what he mentioned and they confirmed that it does look new from that time and less worn that the rest of the car. With the car fax and history of service i was able to see that the car was driven about 12,000 miles on the new engine. He drove it mostly as a weekend sunday car or for drives in the hills. The clutch is newer with 85% left and the brakes have 80% life left I have driven and sat in 360s in the past but most of them did not have the sun roof. The problem the sun roof provides which is minimal is that i am 6'6. Im thin but able to get in and out and just concerned that ceiling may be slightly too low. but doable. I own a 997 manual and this one is F1 transmission so i have driven and drive regularly smaller cars like my 911. This car would only be used for enjoyment. The seller is on board with waiving commission for the car. There will be a small check written to him for the bill of sale. Overall it feels like a deal to good to pass up and all of the shops in the bay area agree. Wondering if anyone here has any additional insight i should keep my eye on. Thanks a bunch this forum has already been incredible helpful. Regards, AM
Is the title clean? Will it pass cali smog right now? passing cali smog is a big deal and speaks to the tune and health of the motor. It is the 1st basic and only costs you under $100 to get the smog check to see. Take it to a "star" test only station and make sure the smog guys look for the oem cats and oem headers, and oem smog equipment which they are required to do but some smog guys are lax. You can also go to smog website plug in vin or plate and see smog history. A dodgy history is a difficult expensive car. Seeing history of consistent pass every 2 years is an important basic.
Title good question and point - yes it does have a clean title but no it does not currently pass smog. Reason behind this he gave was that the kill switch was used as the car wasn’t driven much and the battery continued to be drawn down. As a result the car needs to be driven in a very specific pattern to reset it which is driven at something like 2-2500 rpm for a duration and then increased to 3-3500 rpm for a duration without turning off or coming to a stop. I’m somewhat familiar with this as I had to do it with my 911 997 when it sat for too long and the battery died and was replaced. This required a reset which I was able to complete on the 911. I spoke with the PPI people on this issue and they seemed to understand the need for driving in this manner to reset and pass. But ??? Maybe not I guess right
If everything is stock which it sounds like it is, it should pass smog once you check off all the ecu checks. Of course that’s a risk but probably not a big one and I’m sure Roselli’s could get it passed for you. Certainly the guys at ISSIMI as they did my 355. Sounds like a good deal and I’d go for it. Sunroof 360 coupes are rare though I’m not sure if that option makes it more or less desirable as like you said it does reduce headroom and it’s a bit cumbersome to remove and replace.
Sunroof cars are very rare although they typically don't bring much of a premium. It's good the PPI checked out however most PPIs aren't going to catch everything. While you are getting it at a good price, be aware that costs can add up fast on a Ferrari that hasn't been maintained the best. Especially if you can't do the work yourself.
That's even more basic than passing smog. It's called setting monitors prior to being allowed to take the smog test. If that can't be done you got a 40k brick! I diy guy like me might find value there but a not mechanical person will only find pain emotionally and in the wallet. Owning a Ferrari is not porsche ownership. You will only understand what that really means when your Italian mistress screws you. You need to get new battery in car no jumping! Have 2/3rds tank gas min. Drive car and reset drive cycle monitors. Used obd2 testor to see if ALL monitors set. This is California. If you can't easily set monitors this car will not easily pass smog. Then stay away unless you know what you are doing. A pos 360 is $40k. It can easily cost you 30k of pain just to get past smog then you could of bought one for $70 and it would have passed without all your invested pain.
Buy it. I'd buy almost any Ferrari 360 I could for only $40,000. If you don't buy it, send me their information. Seriously. I'll even give you a small commission if I go through with the sale. Mike
Tariffs are going to make bringing a car like this up to snuff a real money pit-- and any Ferrari doesn't need any help on that front let alone a "bargain" Ferrari. Food for thought... You have to think of this like a home. A bargain basement priced house that needs work is usually not a bargain. It's very easy to gloss over a lot of necessities to make things right and in the end you have the same amount invested and all your time and aggravation dealing with all the repairs and "finger pointing". Trust me I've learned the hard way.
You need to have the car pass smog before the sale is able to be completed. That means you won’t get your title until this is done. If it truly is a monitor ready status that is the issue, you can see that with a code reader. I would never take the word from an owner about why a car doesn’t pass smog. Either request a failed smog report or get it yourself. I would do this is as bare minimum since chasing gremlins can easily evaporate any good deal, especially if you’re not working on it yourself. Although at $40, you have a lot of wiggle room as 360’s are getting over $70k for the bottom end of the market these days. However, if you need to drop another $20k and that’s hard to come by, then it’s just going to sit in your garage slowly getting worse. Depending on your situation, it might make more sense to take the $40k cash and put that on a down payment for one that could be better sorted or have more of the options you’re after. Since the owner is original, he should also have a stack of paperwork or be able to provide all of the service records at the least. If you’re a DIY type, I’d say go for it. if you’re going to rely on shops to get the work done, I would take some more caution on the deal.
My $.02: That's why I kinda cringed when I read @Meuni011 OP Andy's post. When I got to "I took it to a local shop here in San Jose, CA that does a lot of old Ferraris - Roselli's, and they completed a PPI for me. All came back pretty good, some of the items that stood out were.............." Well. 'pretty good' and 'Some' when it comes to Ferrari's is Mechanic language translates to 'The work your car needs will fund my two week vacation in Hawaii'. In short, Andy has the bug. It's a good bug. Hell, I've quenched five of them so far! I think he should pass on the car, take his commission money (and maybe a few bucks of his own), call Woodside and finance a well sorted 360. If he's pulling commissions in the Bay Area close to $40K, a $500 ~ $600 monthly car payment going in to secure his immediate dream and every home he sells from here out, he can throw 10~20% of his commission at the loan and in a couple of years, he'll have a title in his wallet and not a stack of receipts for repair bill.
Turning off the battery and erasing the monitors and errors is a very common ploy on cars with a CEL problem. Proceed carefully. Make deal contingent on SMOG cert in hand before deal is consummated.
I can't believe people have concerns over a $40k 360. Buy it, figure it out later. If it starts costing too much, sell it for an easy 10-15k profit.
Exactly. That's why i told him to give me the Seller's contact information if he doesn't buy it. Will pay a commission. After my CS issues over 3 years, I'm not afraid of much. Mike
Going to pursue getting this thing smogged before closing on it. Will keep the thread updated on progress of that. Thanks to all!
Image Unavailable, Please Login Also seeing this regular passing emissions in the history section of the car fax.
This is good news but might not paint the entire picture since the car wasn't driven much. The hassle here is that if you buy the car and can't get it to pass smog, you won't be issued a new title. The state will literally hold it hostage until your car passes smog because you're not supposed to be able to sell a vehicle without a passed smog cert. So, even if you could flip it easily somewhere else, you won't have a title to give to the next owner unless you hang onto it unsigned as a passthrough title, which is also illegal although happens frequently. I went through this recently with a vintage vehicle and did not enjoy the experience.
Yes, excellent point. I shared this with the owner and he is on board with getting it smogged before transfer can take place as its a requirement. Thanks
Curious what the process is when a California resident sells a car to someone out of state? Is the whole smog thing moot?
