1999 Ferrari 355 F1 Spider

This is a very fine car with an almost preposterously diligent and attentive service and maintenance history.

Consider, if you will, the following.

This 1999 Argento Silver/Bordeaux Ferrari 355 F1 Spider has covered a paltry 23,419 miles over the course of its 23 years of life, 5 of which it spent with its feet up courtesy of being SORNed from 2010-2015.

And yet it comes with a service book bearing the imprint of 17 (count ’em) service stamps, all but one of which emanates from a Ferrari main dealer.

Even more extraordinarily, 6 of these services involved a cam belt change.

This car has been serviced, maintained, pampered and checked to within an inch of its life.

And it shows.

It’s in fabulous condition and it starts, goes and stops as you would want and hope from one of the best handling, performing and balanced Maranello thoroughbreds ever to gallop out of the Ferrari stable.

The vendor, a classic dealer who we know well at The Market, took the car in part exchange for an E Type roadster. He’s selling it now because the Ferrari doesn’t really fit naturally with his core business, which is more in the way of Lotus Elites and the like.

The vendor told us that the car doesn’t have even a stone chip to show for its time on the tarmac.

We like a challenge here at The Market and promptly set our best sleuths the task of hunting one down.

Eventually, after an hour or so, we found a small stone chip near the front of the bonnet.

We were, of course, ecstatic.

But the vendor’s general point, namely that the car is in exceptional condition, remains totally valid and entirely fair.

The bodywork and paintwork are excellent and the panels and shut lines are as straight and even as you could wish for.

The wheels are untroubled by scuffs or marks and the P-Zeros (which are recently new at the rear) have plenty of life left in them as far as we can see.

The hood is in equally impressive condition, fits tightly and goes about its main business of raising and lowering with a minimum of fuss or complaint.

The tonneau cover is also beyond reproach.

Aside from the aforementioned stone chip, we can report that the car has a couple of small scratches on the o/s headlamp cover and another on top of the n/s wing mirror.

There are one or two scuffs and a crack in the paint on the o/s/r sill just ahead of the wheel.

That’s it – everything else looks very good to us, including the badging, the ‘Challenge’ rear grille and all other external fixtures and fittings.

The good news continues pretty much unabated on the inside, where the Bordeaux hide is in top order, both on the seats and the trim, and has little more than a barely discernible patina of light creasing to show for its years of faithful service.

The seats are supportive, comfortable and fully functional.

The carpets and mats have held up remarkably well.

The door cards are good, as is the roof lining.

To the best of our knowledge, all buttons, knobs, dials, levers, switches, toggles and stalks do precisely what they’re supposed to do.

Thankfully, none of them exhibits any of the ‘sticky button’ syndrome that can blight buttons and switches on Maranello cars of around this vintage.

The row of buttons at the rear of the centre console is loose at one edge and would thank the car’s next owner for the judicious application of an appropriate adhesive.

It’s really all very impressive.

The undersides of the car look straight and true to us and everything seems to have a good deal of structural integrity.

It’s the same story in the engine bay, where all appears to be clean, dry, present and correct.

The car’s most recent full service was carried out in Nov 2022.

It comes with a fully stamped-up service book, plenty of bills, invoices and receipts covering general maintenance and parts, and an exhaustive account by HR Owen of everything they’ve done to the car, observed about its condition and/or suggested to the then owners. It’s really quite a document.

The car’s history is comprehensive, complete and contains no nasty surprises whatsoever.

The car has been fully HPI checked and cleared. It comes with a full set of manuals and handbooks, spare keys and a Ferrari leather tool case and tools.

The car has an MoT certificate valid until 30/10/23.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been maintained to a very good standard.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.

We think this is a fine example of a justifiably revered model from a legendary marque at the then peak of its considerable powers.

It goes, handles and stops like it should.

It has an exemplary service history.

It’s had the right amounts of money spent on it as and when necessary.

It’s in great condition and it looks fabulous.

It comes with the ’355’ number plate you see in the pictures.

What’s not to like?

We’re happy to offer this superb vehicle for auction with an estimate in the range of £70,000 - £75,000.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; we are open weekdays 9am-5pm, to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.