512TR Prices & MY Distribution Questions

The following is just MY opinion, and nothing else.

The prices are pretty much the same for the years, because, I think the 512 is struggling to keep it's price up there.......as they move downward. Remember, these are 10-12 years old!!

I have read how most people think the 512 is a MUCH better car than the TR.........so be it. However, to MOST people these are STILL the same cars.

While good TRs are going for the low to mid $60s, why should the 512s be so much higher in price? I know that it has 48 more HP, but, is it worth $48K more........I don't think so.

When I bought my 88 TR, the 512s where going for double what I paid. Sure, I would rather have a 512, but "double" the price?.........NO way.

The difference in price between the TRs and the 512s is getting less, and less, with time..........just as I thought it would 6 years ago, when I bought my TR.

When the 512s will be in the high $60s, I would then consider one........but NOT before.

 

Funny, you need to be careful about 512 owners. Don't you dare call their car a TR...

Doody, you may want to go back and check the original MSRPs on these cars. I think that Ferrari crossed the 100s big time during the late 80s and early 90s. In other words, the 512s are starting from a much higher base than, say, a 87 TR.

As far as the spread on 512s goes, I'll ask the President of our local FCA club his opinion. He has a beautiful blue TR, whoops, I meant 512.

We also have a guy with a 512M. These cars still trade above $125k.

Take care, DrTax

 

I have the original window sticker of my US version, 1988.5 TR. It reads $135,050.00. Add the luxury tax, at the time, and the sales tax, and the new owner bought the car for about $150K, out the door.

 

Quote: "Funny, you need to be careful about 512 owners. Don't you dare call their car a TR..."

Then what does the TR, in the factory label "512 TR" on the back of the car, stand for to these people?

 

The numbers made decreased every year notably. Thus they (92s) are the most common, and 94s the least.

Prices coming down or not, most lower milage still trade in the 85-100 range for 92, 90-105 for 93 and 95-110 for 94s. More desirable colors command the highest values.

I love how some claim they are still depreciating. I have been following the 512 prices for a while, and they are by far the slowest (second only to the 512M) in rate of depreciation of modern Ferraris (1985+ supercars not included). Simply put, they are the last real mid engined 12 monster...

 

I think he ment calling a 512 TR a 'testarossa' in a poor or demeaning way of mislabeling it. Kindof like ZR1 or better Z06 a 'meer' std. corvette. (the ZR1 would be more like calling a F512M a normal testarossa)

 

can somebody explain why in the usa that you call a testarossa a tr as over here in england a testarossa is a testarossa a 512tr is a 512tr and a f512m is a f512m also over here everybody has heard of a testarossa but if you say 512tr f512m they say what model are they ????????

 

if you dont want abs you just turn it off as there is a switch

 

I will ask Edvar to chime in, he will know for the numbers.

 

Thanks for the PM, Omar! I hadn't seen this thread yet ...

Anyway, regarding the difference in price between the Testarossa and 512 TR: if you simply look at the design, there might indeed be no reason to justify the difference in price. However, the 512 TR is a completely different car. About 90% of all parts are new, which results in a far more modern interior and a seriously better performance and handling. Besides that, the 512 TR has been produced in far lower numbers (7177 Testarossas vs 2280 512 TRs). So, there are plenty of reasons why people will prefer the 512 TR and why the price will be higher .....

A difference in price between the model years is harder to explain, as there weren't so many changes during the production. I would understand that the ones with ABS would be more expensive, but for the rest it would probably related to the age and mileage of the cars.

Regarding the production distribution over the years, I unfortunately don't have exact numbers for the whole world wide production. I have however very reliable information regarding the US cars. First of all, please understand that the Model Year (MY) is NOT related to the actual production date of the car. Ferrari started slowly with the production of the 512 TR in April 1991, more than six months before the official introduction. Most of these cars where US versions (note that the official introduction was in the US!) and all of them were MY 1992. So, lots of early 512 TRs with MY 1992 were made in 1991!

I once found a source, which mentioned that 408 cars went to the US. My own database lists 378 cars: 234 cars with MY 1992, 90 cars with MY 1993 and 54 cars with MY 1994. So, it's true that there is a huge difference between the model years.

Besides the reason mentioned above, the introduction of several new models would also be related to the production of the 512 TR: the new 456 which came in 1992; the 348 Spider which was a big hit in the US; the new F355 in 1994, also a big hit; and finally they started with the F512 M in mid 1994. All these things might explain the difference in numbers.

I hope this helps a little bit ...

Greetings,

Edvar
www.red-headed.com

 

Ferrari of Long Island just recently sold a 1994 with 1,600 miles. I think it sold for $116,000 but I may be wrong. Either way, I would say that car is the absolute ceiling on 512TRs, so if you are interested, you can call them for confirmation on the sale price.
I, too, think these cars are hovering at a price that is a bit higher than they should be. I'm sure a lot of people still like the styling and still want a mid-engine 12, which they can't get in a later car. BUT, this car will, at least in the short- to mid-term, always be less expensive than the 550. Think what you want about the styling (I love the TR styling) and what you want about the engine mounting configuration (I prefer it over my shoulder), the 550 is still in many ways a step above the 512TR, and so it's price curve IMO will have to follow the 550s.
Same goes for 355s. As the 360 prices fall, you will see those 100-teens and 100-twenties (are there still any?) 355s fall accordingly to stay below the 360 prices.

 

Hi Doody. The problem with that source (that 408 cars went to the US) is, that I wasn't able to find it again! I once saw it somewhere, and wrote it down, but I forgot to write down WHERE I found that number. However, I think that 408 can be correct, or that the actual number is very close to that. I'm quite convinced about that ...

When I look at other information I have about the number of Ferraris in the US, the percentage of the production going to the US really depends on the model. Although my numbers are certainly NOT OFFICIAL, it seems that more than 50% of the 308 GTSi, Mondial 3.2 Cab and 348 Spider went to the US. Of cars like the Mondial Coupes, 308 GTB QV and 328 GTB, less than 10% came to the US. Again, my numbers are very "rough", but probably good enough for an indication ....

 

That FoLI 512TR might have gone for 126K not 116K...I really don't remember

 

Yeah, I definitely agree with you there.

 

I dunno if the market for collector cars is as simple as relative scarcity. Don't forget that one of the underlying driving forces (sic) is old guys who now have enough money to buy what they wanted, but couldn't afford, when they were younger. To illustrate, there are those who say that the bloom is off the rose for the pre-WWII cars because, speaking frankly, most of these collectors have already got one foot on the old banana peel. In a similar vein, why do you think muscle cars have gotten so hot?

Thus, when you compare a 275 GTB/4 to a Daytona, I think that part of the the price difference is due to the fact that the 275 represents an end of an era, i.e., the 60s or the pre-Fiat days. It is no coincidence that the main stream buyers for these cars are in their 60s and 70s because guess how old they were during the decade of the 60s?

The 70s began the wedge era. (I know that the Daytonas actually started in the late 60s, but I'm using an Italian calender here.) Everybody went to the door stop look because it worked from an aerodynamic sense. (Ask anybody who has driven say a 275 or a Porsche Carerra at very high speeds, and they will tell you that things get very interesting.) But what worked on the track, didn't necessarily please the eye.

Regretably, except for the Daytona, Dinos, 911s, and the Datsun Z car, nothing much worth keeping came out of the early 70s. (Anybody remember TR7s?) During the last part of the 70s, Ferrari started getting it's groove back with the 308 cars. However, it wasn't until Ferrari brought out the Testarossa that it hit a groove (style wise) with the 12 clyinder cars. Not only were the Boxers grey market cars, they just didn't have any bling.

So, if my theory holds true (and you do agree with me don't you?), Testarossas will become hot cars in, say, 10 to 20 years, as those guys who watched Miami Vice during the 80s reach that prime collector car buying age of 50 to 60.

It is at this point that you will see a big price difference between Testarossas and 512TRs, much like the current price difference between a short nose 275 and a 275 GTB/4. Similarly, the price difference between a 512TR and a 512M will continue to grow. (Only 75 512Ms)

What about the collector value of Maranellos and Modenas? Way too early to tell. Currently, these cars represent perhaps the best sports cars in the world. If you are buying a car to drive, a Maranello will beat a 512TR hands down in the real world. But if you are buying a what you hope to be a family heirloom, you will have to wait for a long time before a Maranello becomes a collector car.

Dr "Through a looking glass darkly" Tax