1997 Ferrari F355 GTS 6-speed manual, targa
A gated manual GTS with the belt service done and the valve guide question answered on paper
Overview
Compiled by Kept from the seller's intake answers, the documents supplied and published records for the model. The seller does not write or edit this section, and nobody from Kept has inspected the car.
This 1997 Ferrari F355 GTS is finished in Giallo Modena over black and is offered from Hyde Park by , its third owner and the keeper of the car for eight years. It is the targa bodied car with the six speed gated manual, carries the 3.5 litre flat plane V8, and shows 64,700km.
The engine came out in April for the belt service and was photographed on the stand, and those frames are published with the lot. The invoice from that service and from the 2022 service both record compression and leak down figures across all eight cylinders, which is the only evidence anybody can offer on valve guide wear without pulling the heads. The figures are on the invoices and the invoices are in the gallery.
Both exhaust manifolds cracked and were replaced in 2018. The parts fitted are aftermarket rather than Ferrari, which the seller states plainly and which a bidder may or may not care about. The interior soft touch coating had gone sticky and was stripped and refinished in 2021, and the seller notes the result is slightly flatter than the factory finish.
The remaining flaws stated are a slow passenger headlight motor from cold, original targa seals with wind noise above 120km/h, a noisy air conditioning fan at the top setting, and a nose resprayed by the previous owner in 2015 that now sits under clear film. The seller has not pulled the film to photograph the paint beneath it and says so.
Model background
The F355 is the car that made the small Ferrari credible again after the 348, with five valves per cylinder, 380 horsepower from 3.5 litres and a chassis that flattered the driver rather than catching them out. The GTS is the targa, with the removable panel that stows behind the seats, and it sits between the Berlinetta and the Spider both in numbers and in the way the market reads it.
Two things define the model's service history. The cam belt service requires the engine to come out, which is why the invoices and not the odometer tell you what a car has had. And the early cars wore their valve guides, a problem Ferrari addressed during production, which is why compression and leak down figures recorded at a belt service are the single most useful page in any F355 file.
The manual is the other half of the value. The F1 paddle cars were the future in 1997 and the gated six speed is what the room wants in 2026, and the gap between the two has widened every year. A manual GTS with an engine out service documented twice is a specific thing rather than a generic one.
Essentials
- Lot
- KPT-111
- Year
- 1997
- Model
- F355 GTS 6-speed manual, targa
- Mileage
- 64,700 km
- Transmission
- 6-speed manual
- VIN
- ZFFXR42C000108417
- Location
- Hyde Park, Johannesburg
- Seller
- hydepark_355
- Seller is
- Private, third owner, 8 years
- Watchers
- 520
Seller interview
Before the car went live, the seller answered a standard set of questions plus a set our tools generated for this model from its documented failure modes. The full transcript is public, including anything they declined.
10 of 10 answered. A high score means the seller told you more, not that the car is better.
Inferred from the seller's answers and this model's known failure points. Nobody from Kept has inspected this car.
Known flaws
The seller's own list of what this car needs money spent on.
- 01Both exhaust manifolds were replaced in 2018 after cracking, which is the documented failure on this engine, and the replacements are aftermarket units rather than Ferrari parts
- 02Dashboard, console and switchgear were refinished in 2021 because the original coating had gone sticky, and the finish is slightly flatter than factory
- 03Passenger side headlight motor is slow to rise from cold and has not been replaced
- 04Targa roof panel seals are the originals and there is wind noise at the top of the windscreen above 120km/h
- 05Air conditioning cools but the fan is noisy at the top setting
- 06Nose has a full clear film over paint that was resprayed by the second owner in 2015, and the respray is disclosed rather than photographed under the film
Service record
Documents & what's included
What physically comes with the car.
- 01NATIS registration certificate, in hydepark_355's name
- 02Invoices for both engine out belt services, 2022 and 2025, with the compression and leak down figures recorded
- 03Photographs of the engine out on the stand during the 2025 service, published
- 04Invoice for the 2018 manifold replacement, naming the aftermarket parts fitted
- 05Invoice for the 2021 interior refinishing
- 06Original book pack, tool roll and both keys
- 07Roadworthy certificate issued within the last six months
Note from the seller
The seller's own words, published as written. The only copy on this page they control.
I bought the car in 2017 from the second owner, who had it for nine years and resprayed the nose in 2015 after stone damage. I have never taken the film off to look at that paint, so I cannot describe it and I am not going to guess at it.
Everything in my eight years is invoiced. Two engine out belt services, in 2022 and this April, both with the compression and leak down figures written on the invoice rather than a line saying all good. The manifolds cracked in 2018 and the replacements are aftermarket, which I would want to know if I were buying.
The flaws are the dash refinishing, which is not quite the factory look, a headlight motor that is slow from cold, the original roof seals which whistle above 120, and an air conditioning fan that is loud on full. The clutch was measured at sixty percent in April and the figure is on the invoice.
Comments & offers
6 comments · 2 offers
Forty minutes left, gated manual, two engine out services on paper and a seller who will not pull his own film to make a nicer photograph. The number this makes is going to be quoted at every other 355 in the country for a year.
Engine out photographs published at the service is the part I would pay for. You can see the belt covers off, the tensioners, the state of the loom and the back of the block, which is more of this car than most owners ever see.
A gauge will not read reliably through film so lifting it is the only honest option, and the installer says a partial lift will need the whole nose panel redone afterwards. I am not doing that before the auction. I would rather it stays on the flaws list as an unphotographed respray than have me describe paint I have not seen.
The respray under the film is the one soft spot in an otherwise hard file. Any chance of lifting a corner of the film on the nose before Thursday, or a paint depth reading through it?
Aftermarket manifolds will bother some bidders and should not bother many. The original parts crack, the replacements generally do not, and he has named the parts on the invoice instead of saying manifolds replaced.
Compression and leak down figures written on the invoice at both belt services is exactly what an F355 file should look like and almost never does. That is the valve guide question answered as well as it can be answered without pulling heads.
Comments & bids
6 comments · 2 offersThe crowd checks the report. Offers post inline, and the seller answers directly. Most recent first.
Forty minutes left, gated manual, two engine out services on paper and a seller who will not pull his own film to make a nicer photograph. The number this makes is going to be quoted at every other 355 in the country for a year.
Engine out photographs published at the service is the part I would pay for. You can see the belt covers off, the tensioners, the state of the loom and the back of the block, which is more of this car than most owners ever see.
A gauge will not read reliably through film so lifting it is the only honest option, and the installer says a partial lift will need the whole nose panel redone afterwards. I am not doing that before the auction. I would rather it stays on the flaws list as an unphotographed respray than have me describe paint I have not seen.
The respray under the film is the one soft spot in an otherwise hard file. Any chance of lifting a corner of the film on the nose before Thursday, or a paint depth reading through it?
Aftermarket manifolds will bother some bidders and should not bother many. The original parts crack, the replacements generally do not, and he has named the parts on the invoice instead of saying manifolds replaced.
Compression and leak down figures written on the invoice at both belt services is exactly what an F355 file should look like and almost never does. That is the valve guide question answered as well as it can be answered without pulling heads.