PH Carpool: Ferrari 550 Barchetta - Pistonheads.com
I did eventually own one, but then the chance to buy the Barchetta arrived. Long story short, I got the chance to have it and, perhaps foolishly, bought it. Having the Maranello made its impracticality less of an issue and the chance to hear the V12 "roof down" (or missing in this case) was too much to resist. I hadn't had the Maranello all that long (a year. Ferraris are seriously expensive to run, let alone buy. Given that in the early years the Barchetta perhaps did 1,500 miles in a year, it still cost a lot just to sit in the garage. "I also wished I'd know how crap the Ferrari supplied roof was. I have a Ferrari UK designed tonneau cover which looks good but you can't drive with it on. The Ferrari roof is utterly useless and ugly, requires two people to put it on, and it flies off at 70 mph and crashes into the boot causing damage (I... There was the option of an aftermarket hard top but it was also ugly, expensive and couldn't be carried in the car. In the end, I got an aftermarket soft top like an original Elise which works really well (German engineering. My advice would be never buy a Barchetta without the Michalak roof as you will hardly ever be able to drive it without getting wet. Source: www.pistonheads.com
