Ferrari Mailing List: General Ferrari/exotic market cycle

[Fellippe Galletta (fellippe.galletta]

Talking to a friend about the Ferrari market and he asked if there was any cheap ones left. "Cheap" defined I guess as under $50-60k, or

I replied that the Dino 308 GT/4, Mondial, and maybe the 348 are left....if that.

I recalled that the late '80s had $100k 308s, and everything else was equally expensive -- we're not even BACK to that price level, and inflation means $100k 308s in '88 were a lot more, still.

Back in our college days ('97-'01), I recall Daytonas were low $100s, Countach 400S was around $50k, Testarossa a bit more than that, Dinos were probably $70k. Boxers were hovering around low 100s. 

Maybe the best one was that F40s and 288 GTOs were around $250-300k. So if that stabilized for a long time, mere mortals could have one. Now? hmmm. 

Do you guys think in 5 or 10 years (or 20. 30), prices will re-stabilize to something normal? 

Another interesting thing to consider is the almost unanimous universal movement of markets and perhaps the changing perception of certain cars based on their price.

For instance, are Countachs that much cooler now that nobody can afford them? Are Testarossas really worth that much when you couldn't give them away 8 years ago?

Back when the 355 was still being made, I saw a black Daytona coupe pull up in front of a restaurant and got all excited. I made the crazy statement that I would take one over a 355. Now it seems like a "duh" sorta thing. But not back then. 

I've noticed that even the generic enthusiast is starting to get it regarding these newer exotics. You used to have to tell them why the older cars were special and they'd laugh at you. Now they're the ones spewing it like it's only a recent discovery. 

Were we ahead of our time? Haha.

:)

FG