RARE SPIDER SERIES FIORANO SPECIAL EDITION #21 OUT OF 100 NO RESERVE

1999 Ferrari 355 FIORANO LIMITED EDITION Description

For sale is an extremely rare and highly collectible 1999 Ferrari F355 Series Fiorano Special Edition, also known as the "Serie Fiorano" This Ferrari, VIN # ZFFXR48A1X0115937, is number21 out of just 100355 Fioranos ever produced. The current owner is a physician and this vehicle is from his personal collection.

With just 100 examples produced this is one of the rarest modern Ferraris of all time.

According to its prior owner of 10 years, this Ferrari won every event it entered. He states “It has been the top V8, winning both the Otro Cilindri Cup (top v-8 in the country) at Cavallino Concourse d' Elegance as well as 1st place-best in class the following year it has won the over all 1st place cup and best in show at the Ferrari's owners club, Florida region it has won top modern Ferrari at the Winter Park Concourse d' Elegance.”

This Ferrari just had a major service completed December 29, 2014.

Ferrari produces around 6,000 cars a year. But with just 100 F355 Series Fiorano produced, this is super rare car even by Ferrari standards. For example:

100—355 Fioranos

350-380—F50s

400-500—Enzos

1,311—F40

~2,000—430 Scuderia

~1,273—360 CS Challenge Stradale

500—430 16Ms

448—550 Barchetta

The Fiorano represents the final F355 produced by Ferrari and was a truly special car; it topped a line which will forever be installed with the pantheon of great cars. The F355 Serie Fiorano's production was limited to a run of 100 cars, all of which are spiders.

The Fiorano is easily identified by its lowered stance, the result of a revised suspension based on that of the Competizione racing variant. Further racing influences on this special model are the red brake calipers, racing brake pads, and cross-drilled rotors which compliment the drilled aluminum pedals found within the car. This F355 has the feel of a race car due to reprogrammed electronically-controlled shock absorbers, larger antiroll bars, stiffer springs, and quicker steering ratio.

Serie Fiorano is distinguished by interior Carbon Fiber accoutrements, suede-covered steering wheel and a silver plaque inscribed with the car's production number on the dashboard. To distinguish it's limited production the Fiorano's exterior is adorned with a black Challenge rear grill and factory-mandated enamel Scuderia Ferrari shields. These are not the typical glued on variety you see on so many other Ferraris. Instead, these are properly recessed into the fenders by Ferrari.

For 1999, Ferrari introduced a limited production of F355 Spider models designated, "Serie Fiorano" Launched in March, 1999, this limited production run of 100 planned units (104 actually produced) included a number of performance enhancements:

Here is a list of modifications that make the Fiorano not just a rare car but a more focused driver's car as well:

1. Red brake calipers
2. Suede steering wheel
3. Dedication number plaque
4. Rear challenge grill
5. Carbon fiber interior accents (Console/trim around radio and three gauges above)
6. Carbon fiber F1 paddles

7. Carbon Fiber center console
8. Scuderia shields recessed in front fenders
9. Competizione-derived Fiorano suspension package-(consists of stiffer front and rear springs, lowered ground height, dedicated set up for the steering device, providing less assistance at low speeds and racing type brake pads mounted on red calipers.)
10. Challenge rack
11. Front/rear challenge roll bar
12. Stiffer rate coil springs
13. Shock ECU specific to Fiorano setup

14. Drilled and ventilated brake discs

15. Carbon Fiber Door Sills
This is a rare example of an attractive model with the major belt serviced having recently been completed. The Fiorano edition gives the car tasteful additions and makes its extreme rarity particularly attractive to the collector. With the car comes the owner's manual pack and toolkit.

Now is the time to get this car as even the standard 355 is soon to be classic as these Ferraris values are already rising in value. (See Richard Hammond's commentary below.)

The 355 is the what Jeremey Clarkson, the world's most famous auto journalist called, “the best car I've ever driven.” He then went out and bought one for himself!

The legendary Phil Hill and only American born racer to be a Formula 1 world champion, said the 355 was one of the top ten Ferraris of all time.

The 355 is the last / best true Ferrari. It is the last Ferrari spider that has a true throttle cable connecting your gas peddle directly to the engine. (360 or newer cars use drive by wire).

The 355's chassis and engine trace their origins back to Enzo era cars which is perhaps why this car handles like a go kart!. The 355 is classically styled. It is about a foot shorter than a 458, narrower and far more nimble in traffic.

The 355 is the last of the traditional Ferraris. Unlike the newer Ferrari spiders, the 355 is a pure sports car. When you press the gas pedal you are actually mechanically moving all eight throttle bodies whereas the new cars are all drive by wire, which is less direct feeling because in the new cars you are no longer actually connected to the drivetrain. It also has something the new Ferraris do not—five valves per cylinder and the sound of an F1 race car!

That intimate sports car feeling is gone on the newer Ferraris but its still there on the 355.

Hammond drives the icons: The Ferrari 355

The car that saved Ferrari is all set to be a future classic, says Richard Hammond

All the legend, the myth, the history and mystery in the world cannot distract from one single fact when it comes to Ferraris: they have to be pretty. Stat sheets can go on about power-to-weight ratios, structural stiffness, torsional rigidity and exotic materials all day long, but if the car looks like a moose, then it's a moose - an offense made all the worse if it's supposed to be a prancing horse.

The 348 that preceded the 355 was not an especially ugly car, but it also wasn't especially pretty. The slats down the side echoed the Testarossa - not a good thing - so it looked dated even when it was brand new. And it certainly wasn't a hit, performance-wise. In fact, much was made of the news that Honda launched the NSX at the same time, and it appeared to be, in every single way, better than the Ferrari.

The 355 was Ferrari's answer. Beauty and power came together and are still very much in evidence today. I'm not one for getting all gooey about Ferraris in general, but there is undeniably something that happens deep inside when you see that yellow badge on a V8 or a steering-wheel boss.

Ferrari: the name carries so much weight, even to those who, like me, have never had - nor wanted - a hat with the brand on it. And, my God, the 355 is pretty. It shared almost every dimension with the 348, but the body was all-new and its sculpting had involved a rumoured 1,800 hours of wind-tunnel testing. But there's little sense of form following function here; it's too pretty for that. If anything, the 355 has somehow gotten more attractive in the 19 years since it arrived.

Inside, I get a reminder that all Ferraris go through a phase when they are not classic - they're just old Fezzers. I'd say that the 355 is coming through that and entering the classic stage of its life. In true Ferrari form, the interior has dated well. The layout, the design and the feel of it all scream of their own time and, while not fooling anyone that they were drawn yesterday, still have something to say about their period in car design... almost the definition of a classic, in fact.

The mid-mounted 380bhp V8 revs to 8,250rpm and sounds satisfyingly guttural and raucous when it does so. It's a Ferrari, so while it has to be pretty, it can't afford to be slow either. And it's quick, it really is. The headlines, 0-62mph in 4.7 seconds and a top speed of 183mph, are both perfectly acceptable, thank you. It's a Ferrari and feels it.

The engine and suspension all received major updates to produce the 355. It feels all those things a Ferrari needs to feel; it's a taut thoroughbred, and you get the sense too that, once you've overcome the inevitable nerves that can flutter at any encounter with any Ferrari, the thing is biddable and usable, with perhaps just a touch of fragility to keep things special.

There's a huge amount of love for the F355, with some claiming it pretty much saved the company from the doldrums in the early Nineties, others that it was the car that finally shifted the old-fashioned and faintly stuffy conviction amongst the Ferraristi that the only ‘proper' Ferraris were the V12s.

Some, including F1 champion Phil Hill, named it as one of the 10 best Ferraris ever. A landmark car, then, in the story of a legendary carmaker.

ANOTHER JOURNALIST NOTES:

CAN THE F355 TAKE OVER THE MANTLE OF THE DINO AS THE JUNIOR FERRARI OF CHOICE?

Time for a shoot-out in the South African sunshine

It used to be that a gentleman driver would only consider a Ferrari with a large and powerful V12 engine mounted up front. Porsche manufactured small, rear-engined sporting cars for the arriviste. ?All that changed when Ferrari launched the Dino, with a mid-mounted V6, and followed it with a succession ?of V8-engined sports cars. Ever since, Ferrari has offered two tiers of performance and style – but the Dino has moved out of the new-money realm into ?the collector-car stratosphere. Could the 1990s F355 be about to follow suit?

In 1994 Ferrari focused anew and came up with the F355. The best mid-engined, smaller-displacement Ferrari since the original Dino, the F355 was met with enthusiasm by both the press and Ferrari owners, who once again had a compact and wieldy sports car to enjoy thrashing along their favourite roads.

Both designed by Pininfarina, these are two of the best-looking Ferraris ever created.

The F355 has obviously moved on from the 246 and its specs are very impressive. It is the first Ferrari to feature five valves per cylinder (three intake and two exhaust valves) and its 3.5-litre V8 engine thumps out 380 stallions at 8250rpm. This translates to 109bhp per litre, an even higher specific output than the legendary McLaren F1's 103bhp per litre. Performance? Little-league no longer, thanks to 0-60mph in 4.5sec and a top speed of 178mph. That's properly fast, even today.

The fabulous 90-degree V8 is complemented by ?one of the most sophisticated exhaust systems of the ?time, which has a wastegate that opens at high revs ?to reduce back-pressure and, unfettered, allow an extra 20bhp. How exuberant and typically Ferrari – yet it is balanced by a cool and efficient Bosch Motronic engine management system, a six-speed gearbox ?with tightly stacked ratios, underbody aerodynamics with twin diffusers at the rear, electronically adjustable dampers, and proper racing car-style double wishbones at each corner.

The upshot is that Ferrari not only moved its F355 emphatically ahead of the 911 and Honda NSX opposition, it pushed the car straight into the jaws of the senior class dominated by the V12 Ferrari 512TR and the thunderous Lamborghini Diablo VT. Road ?tests of the time attested to the F355 being faster to 100mph than both, with the same time to the one kilometre post and a top speed almost identical to the 512's. Bravissimo!

Manke no mistake, the F355 ?is most certainly a supercar even if, today, a good, ?pre-owned example can be had for the relatively affordable (against a Dino) sum of £55,000 – prices that, having moved north over the last year or two, already prove that interest in the F355 is increasing. The best thing? Even at that money, it's still an absolute bargain for what's on offer.

The Ferrari is a pure supercar but it is useable every day. And every time I drive it, I am reminded how special it is, even when sitting in traffic with the air conditioning on.

You can drive the 355 fast and comfortably, revving it to about five thou, with the radio playing and the ?air-con cooling. But, as advised by owner Blow, things only really start to happen above that. So turn the tunes and chills off, drop two gears and hold on. The 355 gets serious.

You want the driving seat mounted forward so you can grasp the fat power-assisted steering wheel, then reprogramme your brain to keep up with the speed with which the 355 lunges into the corners. The gears are worth swapping just for the crack and the powerful vented disc brakes slough off speed with disdain. The car crushes the distance between corners with complete authority, and then it takes those corners with insane levels of grip and speed. Simply point and squirt. The superb suspension does the rest as the 355 hunkers down and launches itself through the bends.

The first run along the coastal road is a blur. So do it again. Concentrate, balance the throttle, gear-changes and braking. Still too much infused information to process, so do it again. More at one with the 355, you delve more deeply into its performance abilities. The fat 225- and 275-section 40-profile tyres mounted on 18-inch rims are not even close to the limit on this road and the 355 could do with a long, closed racetrack ?to get anywhere near its properly exciting edge. Amazingly, the electronic damping control that varies the suspension's stiffness confers an extremely comfortable ride amid all the high-speed action.

The Dino is charming and so much better than I imagined it might be. The 355 is a true supercar, yet as capable of being a daily commuter as it is pushing the envelope of serious performance. The 355 was never a ‘little' nor a ‘cheap' Ferrari, being launched at £83,000, whereas the Dino was perceived as being the ‘small' Ferrari when first seen in 1969.

Sure, the 246GT commands a price three times that of a good 355, and that's no surprise: but don't be surprised either if the F355 starts edging closer to it.

VIN (Vehicle Identification Number):

ZFFXR48A1X0115937

Year:1999

Interior Color:Tan

Make:Ferrari

Number of Cylinders:8

Model: 355

Transmission: F1 PADDLES

Trim: SPIDER

Body Type: Convertible

Engine:V8

Vehicle Title:Clear

Drive Type: MID ENGINE

Options: Leather Seats, Convertible

Mileage: 26,400

Safety Features:Anti-Lock Brakes, Driver Airbag, Passenger Airbag

Sub Model: FIORANO

Power Options: Air Conditioning, Power Locks, Power Windows, Power Seats

Exterior Color: Black

For Sale By: Private Seller

Price:$150,000 negotiable 9723909002 x 122