348 TS Folding Roof

Hi all.

When I went looking for my car after I narrowed it down to a 348 I looked at all variants, TB, TS(& GTS) and Spider. I loved the lines of the TB but wanted the fresh air option so that ruled it out for me. It all came down to an imaculate Spider or TS. Eventually I went for the TS as I just prefered the lines to the Spider, especially when the roof is up/on. I did go for a colour coded roof though as the lines of the TB are then there when the roof is on.

There is one minor snag with a TS for me though. Not being a small chap (6'1'' Rugby player) I can't comfortably drive my car with the roof behind the seats, in fact it's pretty much undoable. It means that I either have the roof on and loose the benefit of the open air, or leave it at home on the very rare occasion when it absolutely will not rain. Given that I live in the UK that really is rare and means I can't have the top down for any longer trips.

If this all sounds a tad familiar there is obviously a solution. In very limited numbers Ferrari made canvas foldable tops to be used in lieu of your hard top for taller drivers. The roof folds and fits on top of the parcel shelf meaning the seats can be fully to the rear. The minor snag is with the limited numbers bit. At least here in the UK they are just not so common that you can generally pick them up. In fact you never see them.

Well, I finally found one and after some serious negotiation with the current owner (involving a fair amount of pleading on my part till he took pitty on me) he agreed to part with it. I pick it up this Saturday but couldn't wait till then to post. For me it'll mean I can happily drive my car in comfort with the roof off, safe in the knowledge that my foldable top is with me should the heavens open. If it's poor weather I'm a TB with my colour coded hard top, good weather and I can take my foldable roof - perfect!

I'll post shots of mine when I pick it up but the current owner (who I know and trust implicity - just didn't know he had a foldable roof) says it's imaculate and as new or my money back. He's even had a canvas bag professionally made for it. For those who have never seen one though, this is what they look like.
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Thanks mate. To be honest they are pretty rare but given that many people drive their 348 TS with the seat pretty much all the way back when the roof's on, that's a shame. Does mean that I've got 2 looks now. Colour coded hard top looks like a TB, black soft top looks like the original black plastic roof of a TS. The fact it folds away without taking up space (other than the parcel shelf) does take away the only disadvantage the TS suffered under a Spider for me while keeping the TS lines which personally I prefer. All in all I'm chuffed to have found one and even more so for the fact that the current owner was willing to part with it.

Down side of all this is they're not cheap but I was willing to pay for the advantages so not really overly worried about that. I'll keep the cost to myself mind, for fear of people thinking I've lost my mind....

 

Thanks

Interesting thanks. I didn't pay the $4000 that your thread says the latched ones are worth. That said the pics aren't of mine so I'll wait and see what I get. Only ever knew about the pressure held ones (160 kph warning not 100 as per your thread) and for me it's definitely the 'oh crap get a roof on' scenario that I bought it for. Anything else and I'll use my hardtop anyway.

Regarding fit, if I'm not 100 percent happy on Saturday the deal's off so nothing to loose really!

 

The warning on the pressure held roofs....
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Daniel, last question if you're still about. Mine really is for the "I've got it wrong" scenario so not actually sure which I'd prefer. The latched ones look more solid but also pretty bulky in comparison, do they still fit on the parcel shelf behind the seats? If not I can't really see the point. In your thread a guy says about having it in the passenger seat which seems a tad pointless really.

 

Thanks Daniel. On the Euro cars like mine, probably not such a factor in a crash as the roof wouldn't get past the seat belts. Sort of difficult to describe but as the belt goes from the back of the car to the outside of the seat, the roof wouldn't be able to lift past this, the distance between the belts wouldn't allow it. Not familiar with your belts though.

I was only ever aware of the slightly more light weight ones and I must say, looking at your thread and FBB putting one in his car, they look pretty simple to rig. The more solid ones like yours look much more substantial, which is good, but not as easy or straight forward to rig or store which I guess isn't. All in all I'll probably manage to talk myself into whichever one I get but based on your price estimates thinking its the pressure one.

 

Yours is the legit Ferrari one like Daniel's was/is. Guessing the other was made because of how rare they are but not sure. The pressure held ones seem to pop up in Holland a lot in various posts and a company not long back there had 4 for sale so just a guess but think that's where they're from. In some ways they actually look more useable than the 'legit' ones though they don't look as solid. The pics above that I've posted aren't of the one I'll be buying but I expect it might be the non legit type that I'm getting - I certainly agreed on a price that isn't anything like the price Daniel has said the legit ones are worth. The guy I'm buying from is a top bloke though so I'll wait and see.

Which type is that? Does it have legit Ferrari roof clamps at the front identicle to your hard top?

Not too concerned about fit tbh. I'm buying from a guy who runs a company restoring classic cars. He employs a trimmer and they make their own soft tops. It's a bit of a trek but I'm driving my TS over to his so we can fit the roof properly to my TS which I think is the only way to do it. Thanks for the advice though, reinforces why I'm taking my car to them.

 

TBH I was only aware of the pressure held type at first too but having done some research I think Ferrari just made a few soft tops, the ones with roof clamps at the front, then the other ones were made by someone else. The roof clamping system was too expensive so they used a different method. What Daniel described in his thread as the OE ones should fit the same as a hard top if you get a professional to fit them - no difference in the fit to the hardtop. The ones without clamps obviously use a different theory to hold them in place but I'd be surprised if a professional soft top roof trimmer can't fit either pretty well.

I think the bottom line is the Ferrari ones with clamps are worth a lot more than the other ones. They look more substantial and don't have a speed restriction on them (100mph/160kph on the pressure held / non-clamp type).

 

Hi all. Still haven't been to see my soft top but just wanted to ask something. Following on from Daniel's thread I've refered to the roof with clamps as OE or original Ferrari and assumed the other is aftermarket. I've since been told that this isn't the case, both are from Ferrari which has me a bit confused.

Is it that the clamped one is indeed the only Ferrari one and that, given the price of the clamps etc someone came up with an alternative, or is it, as I have been told, and Daniel said to me, that the clamped ones were found to be a bit of a pain to put up and pretty bulky to store. Given this Ferrari came up with an alternative that was quick to put on and more storeable on the rear parcel shelf? Also heard from someone that their clamped roof leaks pretty badly and from someone with a pressure held one that it doesn't, possibly chance or maybe because it overlaps the roof edge a little.

Essentially did Ferrari re-engineer their roof or did someone else? No guesses if possible but if anyone knows (like they bought a pressure held one new or actually knows where they're from) that would be great.

 

Hardly definitive but interesting that with the speed restrictions on the pressure one (and 100mph in the wet sounds ok to me!) the languages are in the same order as in the European Ferrari manual. These roofs pop up in holland a bit, it would seem, so thought they might be from there. Pretty unlikely I'd say. Never seen anything where the place where an item is manufactured doesn't have it's language in the warning. With Italian first, would say this is from Italy. Any points?

 

So 100mph is no probs, will be over taking Bugattis left right and centre.

Those buttons look legit, same as the ones on my car that fasten the fuse box covers under the front bonnet. Also the font on the Warning is the same used elsewhere on my Eurospec car and in its manual. The speed limit may be because regulations required it when this roof came out rather than any other reason. And this roof does seem to address some issues that the 'earlier' roof seemed to have.

None of this is definitive but it does fit with the fact that when LdM (we all love him, I know ) took over, Ferrari looked at many point on the 348 that were problematic. Is it possible that they updated the folding roof at the same time to make it more user friendly?

This has just got me interested, I still don't actually know what the roof I'm going to see looks like.

 

Right all, got my roof, actually really pleased with it. As I expected it was the 'pressure held' type although that doesn't best describe how it's held in place - when opened it's locked open so is going nowhere. The previous owner had a bag made for it which it came with, pretty simple but I'd say essential so you can take the roof off your car and store it without getting your parcel shelf filthy. The roof itself, unlike what I've been told about the the bulkier ones by an owner, stores fine on the parcel shelf so glad I got this sort rather keeping searching for the other kind and for what I'm going to use it for (ie I've blown it weather wise) it's perfect. Personally like the look, possibly because I have a colour coded roof - had no option of that as the plastic of the roof that came with the car had large marks in it.

Anyway, this is my '2 look' TS.
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Very quick favour, if anyone can help. The one thing this type doesn't have is what looks like fluffy tubes down the sides that go along the inside top of the windows. Anyone able to post a pic of a clamped type soft top when folded showing the underneath so you can see what happens to these bits? Also, what are they made of? Kind of look like a velvet type texture and pretty soft. Sound about right?

 

No, the fit of the front and rear bars is basically perfect. To me your front bar looks like it's been bent in the middle a bit which obviously brings the two ends closer together so they don't make it round the corner of the windscreen. Maybe not what's wrong but kind of how it looks.

As luck would have it picked it up on a day when it was raining so saw it in action, though just in light rain. Front and rear it's better than my hard top at keeping the water out. My hard top leaks a bit from the join between the seal over the windscreen and the one on the side of the roof. As it overlaps the windscreen a bit, this roof doesn't. The only thing I want to look at with this is that it isn't perfect down the sides and without the soft fluffy tube bits that are on the clamped roof there's no way it could be. The side window is inside the line of the edge of the roof (on any 348 roof) so water could potentially go under the side lip of the roof and over the side window. The soft tubes on the clamped roof prevent this so I feel a mod coming. There's a place just down the road which specialises in costom soft tops (as well as interior trimming). Going for a chat next week but a pic of how the soft tubes go when the roof folds would be very handy.