At the beginning of the 90´s, the “il cavallino rampante” company was going through a bad economic situation, which should have a restructuration to put at the height of brands like Lamborghini and Honda. With Luca di Montezemolo to the front as the new president of the Italian house, he is the one in charge of developing the future models of the factory.
In 1994 debut the Ferrari F355. It was an improvement of its antecessor the F348 in all aspects, as an example was the first model of the brand with central engine designed after the death of founder Enzo Ferrari (1987). The first model launched was the F355 Berlinetta (hard roof) and in 1995 the f355 spider (convertible) arrives. The primacy in this convertible is that it is the first semi automatic ceiling Ferrari that is electronically acquired.
The F355 Spider is a beauty and engineering achievement, thanks to the hands of the famous designer Pininfarina, who molded and perfected its beautiful lines working with the help of the wind tunnel for more than 1,800 hours-man, to demonstrate the reliability of the canvas ceiling which would be equal to resistant like the roof of the gts (Targa) at high speeds.
Under the hood, a new 3.5 litre v8 engine is supported with titanium bars 5 valves per cylinder giving a range of strength in all revolutions thanks to its 180 degree crankshaft and Bosch monotronic system. it has 375 hp @ 8,250 rpm., with a declared weight of 3,183 lbs. (1,444 kg), the F355 spider runs from 0 to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds, the quarter mile does it in 13 seconds and has a maximum speed of 180 mph.
Their performances were very impressive at that time and even today. All this strength is transmitted through a manual gearbox of 6 speeds. in 1997 as optional, the F355 spider offers a six-speed semi-automatic gearbox with pallet changes in the wheel, this was a novelty since this technology was derived from the single-seater of the formula 1 and applied for the first time in a vehicle for the streets. The seats of the F355 spider are placed symmetrically, with the driver more toward the center of the vehicle than the passenger’s.
Today the Ferrari F355 spider is considered the greatest sports automobile of the 20th century. Also considered by many passionate and fanatic as one of the most beautiful and popular modern Ferrari. It is a car that calls the attention and steals where they go, where there were 3,717 units were manufactured, being the second model popular of the range F355.
As a curious fact, last year (2018), Maluma, the reggaeton singer drawn a videoclip called “Mala mía” where the artist sees handling a gray F355 spider by the streets of Miami. Also has been numerous appearances in films of the great screen as for example in “007 Golden Eye” (1995), “The rock” (1996), “Fast and Furious” (2001), “2 Fast 2 Furious” (2003), among others.
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