**A Novelty on Wheels: The Ferrari 360 Spika**

As we sit down to discuss one of the most iconic and unique cars ever made, the Ferrari 360 Spika, it's hard not to be struck by its sheer audacity. With a sound that screams like a straight-up racing car, even at moderate speeds, this Italian stallion is an experience unlike any other. The owner's initial impressions were one of utter bewilderment, with a smile plastered on his face the entire time, courtesy of the Spika's ear-piercing noise.

"I don't know how you take this serious," he quipped, "it's so loud it just screams like either I have a big penis or basically I have a small penis." This reaction is not surprising, given that the Spika's sound profile defies all logic. At first glance, one might assume that this car is a joke, a mere novelty with no real practicality. But as we delve deeper into its characteristics, it becomes clear that there's more to this car than meets the eye.

For example, despite its retro aesthetic and relatively low power output of 400 horsepower, the Spika is surprisingly fast. Its weighty frame and relatively skinny tires make for a chassis that's both stable and responsive, allowing it to carve through corners with ease. The rear differential also plays a crucial role in maintaining mechanical grip, particularly when cornering at high speeds.

Moreover, the gated manual shifter, complete with its distinctive click-clack sound effect, adds an extra layer of excitement to driving experience. The Spika's steering is surprisingly communicative, with the front end subtly responding to input from the driver. However, this is offset by some notable drawbacks, including a lackluster braking system and some rather awkward ergonomics.

"The brakes in this car are unbelievably weak," our host noted. "The gated shifter does not want to be rushed scared out of that guy." Moreover, the driving position is somewhat awkward, with the driver's feet positioned in an entirely different way than on more modern cars.

Despite these drawbacks, however, the Spika remains a deeply captivating car, one that's impossible to take seriously. Its sheer presence on the road is enough to draw attention, even if it's not always for the right reasons. For those who can appreciate its quirky charm, there's no denying that this car is a true showstopper.

In fact, our host confessed that he had always been drawn to this car since his youth, and its unique sound profile had become synonymous with his own automotive aesthetic. "It feels like a P-Car," he observed, noting the Spika's impressive cowl shake and limited tire size compared to modern cars. This sense of authenticity is undoubtedly part of the Spika's enduring appeal.

For our host, the real question was whether the novelty would wear off with age. At $155,000, the Spika's price tag has become more than a little concerning. "The novelty when this car is $155,000 kind of disappears," he admitted. Indeed, it seems that some of the initial excitement and allure have been lost in the transition to its current market value.

And so, as we conclude our discussion of the Ferrari 360 Spika, one can't help but feel a sense of admiration for this truly unique car. While it may not be the most practical or sensible purchase choice, there's no denying that it has become an integral part of automotive history and culture. As such, if you're the kind of enthusiast who values sheer excitement and showmanship above all else, the Spika is sure to remain a beloved icon for years to come.

**Final Thoughts**

In conclusion, the Ferrari 360 Spika is a car that exists on its own unique terms, defying conventional wisdom and logic in pursuit of an unbridled driving experience. For those willing to indulge its quirks and eccentricities, this car offers something truly special – a sense of visceral excitement and sheer thrill that's impossible to replicate elsewhere.

As we look back on our discussion, it's clear that the Spika has become more than just a novelty; it's an object of reverence for those who appreciate its unique charms. For our host, the experience of driving this car was nothing short of transformative, evoking memories of his youth and cementing his place in automotive history.

Whether you'll want to join him on this wild ride is up to individual interpretation. But one thing is certain: the Ferrari 360 Spika will forever hold a special place in the hearts of car enthusiasts everywhere – a testament to the power of innovation, design, and sheer, unadulterated fun.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enFerrari 360 Spider that's right what do you expect here you expect the best the Pinnacle of Motorsports inspired exotic cars and that's exactly what you get in this 2000's era car from one of our loyal patreon followers he dropped this car off and he said you know what this is my night and shining armor so let's talk about the interior space before we get into the technical stuff just have a gander at this Masterpiece it is absolutely the embodiment of what was being designed in the '90s that's what it feels like through and through everything is simple everything has mechanical controls manual parking brake listen to the shifter oh it clicks it clicks for once it doesn't feel like you're moving around a a coaxial cable trying to hook up your old TV from the 1900s so what's the pros and cons well the pros and cons this is an enormous space it really is it's huge you can be a big person and fit in here and that's pretty much where it ends because I've given the C5 Corvette and that irar is a hard time and I have to continue here because other than the snickety mechanical of it oh my God is there some crap in here like the toggle switches on the left for like the ASR feel like something out of a Chrysler Cirrus the Plastics warped it hasn't held up to any type of UV and then you don't want to touch any of the vent work in here because the plastic is just going to crack in half so much like I said about the C5 where it feels like you're sitting in a giant garbage bag in some cases that's what that's like in here too and it's just indicative of the era let's get back to the good analog gauges traditional Ferrari stuff with the the bright works or the aluminum trim pieces the seats are good these are really good seats even for the era they're just perfectly bolstered to hold you in they look special they feel comfortable you could be in here and I could be 90 years old and 550 lbs and still figure out a way to enjoy this driving past the beach or my local high school so let's get into the shop and let's talk about the mechanical stuff Ferrari yes Mark we're underneath a 21-year-old Ferrari which happens to be the average age of a Ferrari owner's girlfriend or boyfriend for that matter yeah you got to be politically correct oh wait actually that that's not even politically correct what is Mark what if people are are no longer dating uh humans uh the 2001 Ferrari Modina 360 Spider 360 Spider Modina this is a car that came out in an era where people were like excited for naturally aspirated engines this is in an era of peak naturally aspirated engines where manufacturers be like look how much horsepower per liter that we can get this was Peak era of Honda as well in Formula 1 where the NSX came out in the s200 where it's like 120 horsepower per liter and you know you can't put that in perspective today as much because everybody thought this was going to grow and get better and faster and then it didn't it just went to turbocharge engines and we have that today everything's faster but we've lost a lot of the character of what they were trying to do here so that's kind of why now in retrospect people are going back and like I got to get a car like this so tell me a little bit about it so this car was made between 1999 and 2004 they built about 16,000 total 360s and I'm excluding the challenge they three cars they had the challenge which is the Hardcore track variant the coupe and the convertible this car is significant for a lot of reasons this is the first really all aluminum or largely aluminum bodied mid-engine V8 Ferrari they went to Alcoa which is an American manufacturer and using some of their Formula 1 casting techniques they actually cast a lot of the aluminum Extrusions in their Marinello Factory on the Formula 1 line where they did all this stuff to make this car far more rigid than the vehicle replaced it's about 40% more rigid it weighs 29% less than the 355 it replaces and it is a bigger car it has a wider track front and rear which leads to far larger occupant space compared to the 355 and just a bigger more imposing vehicle this car also is the first vehicle they spent a lot of time doing aerodynamic work I'm going to say they claim and this is in Italian hours 4500 hours in the wintime I think it was more than that you know the the aerodynamic purpose of this this is the kind of again the turning point when cars started to think about this it's largely a very slippery car and there is some downforce but downforce numbers they claim I you have to laugh at is marketing BS because it's at 180 miles an hour it makes what 300 PB downforce okay so I mean when you look at it underneath you can clearly tell that they did aerodynamic work comp this like USS 2000 which are vastly NX really of that year I mean those cars look just like scaffolding underneath compared to this so they did spend time here what else Jack well so you have the two giant air openings in the front for the radiators and then you have the re diffuser which acts as like a ground effect for this car so when it comes to the vehicle itself it's a double Wishbone car and much like the body most of the suspension components are aluminum and they went as far as Machining the top hats for the shot or I guess the strut mounting points for this vehicle this is also one of the first Ferraris that were mainstream with their adaptive dampers basically you can put this car in sport or normal sport will slightly stiffen up the vehicle this is from the era of cars where because the tire technology wasn't really all that advanced you didn't have these really really sticky tires out there the suspension had to actually roll and have some compliance because the car is rolling it can maximize the mechanical grip available to the tires the tires in this car are puny by modern standards they're 215 front 275 rear and in terms of the shocks they want to sacks to do aluminum body shocks they are threaded bodies as well so you can Corner weight or Corner balance the scar out and the suspension had some changes to it to in terms of geometry to prevent anti- and anti Squat and along with the Adaptive dampers that essentially work two ways the all of that was working together to make sure that the car maintained compliancy and a a even or levelness to it in the corners so even though it's rolling it doesn't particularly feel that way because the suspension's trying to counteract those forces and the ASR system the stability control system had three adjustments to it you had off Sport and normal and they claim that it doesn't quite interfere with your driving experience but when it's on it's basically like like you say a boat anchor out the back it will not let you go sideways the owner of this who's obviously watches our videos he made a I think he made a smart choice to focus on the mechanical maintenance of this cuz I literally it feels great to drive there's nothing to worry about driving this car uh he spent more time on that and which I really appreciate and he just enjoys the drive so let's get under the the ass end of this and take a look at the engine Jack Mark we've made it to the rear of the Ferrari 360 what you see here is the to f131 3.6 L V8 oh so 3.6 yes wow okay it's relatively small displacement and it made well over 100 horsepower per liter because this car makes about 400 horsepower at 8500 RPM and that was the highest highest horsepower per liter of any V8 at the time which was busted by the Honda with the S2000 when it came out at 12 120 horsepower but still this is it doesn't nothing sounds like this TR transaxle cars Walmart which means the gearbox which you can either get as what this car comes with a gated six-speed manual or a Graziano second gen F1 single plate clutch like automated manual which no thank you yes do not get that gearbox I'm sure it's horrendous yeah in a car like this man you got to you got to drive it with your your arm and shotgun blast that shifter the other thing is race technology Jack it's got a dry sump and The Collector is in between the transaxle and that open space for extra enjoyment there's so many things here that have trickled down over the years as you've told me from the early 1900s of racing technology and they've evolved this out and it sounds and it feels very like low speed race carish in terms of experience so this 3.6 liter is the last of basically the last motor built in this engine family which is like the dino V8 it was later replaced by the Maserati Ferrari C developed 4.3 L found in the 430 the cool thing about this car other than the fact that it's 5 vals per cylinder a dry sump high revving and you know the with the 5 Val per cylinder three of them are exhaust two of them are intake no three three intake two exhaust the with the five cylinders three are intake two are exhaust obviously has variable valve timing and this is one of the first Ferraris that are relatively serviceable I'm going to say relatively in the past with the 355 and the cars that predated that you had to drop the motor to do the Bel you can actually do the belts from inside the cabin of this vehicle which is a big deal because these cars well used to be Rel accessible to for somebody that's actually going to own it now like a hundred years later from when it came out I mean you know if you're going to buy a car like this that's you know that's not new car prices you want to be able to do some of the things and actually enjoy it like the owner does I said underneath he purely bought this at a decent price where he could drive the hell out of it and does the maintenance to make sure cuz every car dates itself after a while of this era and you know you might not be wed by the handling or the chassis technology or some of electronics but this engine does not date itself in terms of experience he has a client exhaust on this car but when you keep the valve shut yes the induction noise the mechanical induction noise that comes from this motor is spectacular but with that Mark I think it's time for us to go for a quick drive Ferrari 360 Mark going show you what this car is all about a little bit of body roll but always oh yeah little bit of dirt every time we come out here in Ferraris I fly in from Italy you check out your local Olive Gardens yeah you know I cleared out the Olive Garden breadstick stock today and now I got you got me out on Farm roads what the hell are we doing here so Mark I'm trying to demonstrate to the audience why you buy this car really OB than the way it looks it's two reasons the way this car sounds and this shifter that goes click clack this gated manual shifter makes this car pretty special it's more of a novelty than anything else but tell me what you think I mean you drove this thing out here what are your initial Impressions I don't how can you take this serious it's so loud it just screams like either I have a big penis or basically I have a small penis in my case I feel like my penis has shrunk down to one in this car makes so much noise it's it's like a straight up race car that's going the speed of like a modern four cylinder Mustang I mean it's it's hilarious I I mean literally I've had a smile on my face the entire time because it's so stupid this car has an inverse relation to to speed and noise it sounds like you're doing 200 M an hour at Lama where in reality you're doing 80 90 M hour no it is it's it's amazing in one one breath like how cool it is and that that visceral experience and then you realize man how much faster cars are now um you don't buy this for that no you you buy it because you love the sound of it maybe you're a product of this generation this was the first like exotic car that I remember that I thought was cool as a younger man and then you had the light you know the first Cars movie where Michael Schumacher was a 360 at the end getting his tire change so I think generationally it affects people like that wow the one thing I will say about this car Mark is that to be honest yes it's I mean 400 horsepower and how much is given that this car weighs like a low 3,000 lb range still makes this very very fast it has that '90s car early 2000s car float to it where it's using the body motion the body roll to actually help maintain mechanical grip it's not this overs sprung nightmare the front end communicates fairly well like I power slit it back there but you know exactly what the front and rear doing in this car due to the fact that it's got really skinny tires in the front all that does is the front end wants to wash out and the brakes in this car are unbelievably weak and the Gated shifter does not want to be rushed scare the out of that guy this car is I I just can't get over how loud it is but I can't get over how much of it it feels like a P can there's so much cowl Shake in this car it's just like the whole body is moving and I think that's part of the experience the fact that you know they had no there's no Tire on this car compared to Modern cars like you said the front there's no front tire in it like a Camry has a bigger front tire than this so it's just it's funny the fact that the limits are really low and the the sound is like so it doesn't match up nothing matches up in here and and that's why it's so much fun and has so much character I I I can see why people fall in love with this car that's all I'm going to say dude I mean it's really hard to take this seriously no Mark I think I'm going to do one last pull and it's time for us to get into the final thoughts all right final thoughts on the Ferrari 360 Spiker with a six-speed manual this car is about three things the way it looks in my eyes it's still gorgeous the sound it makes even without the Klein exhaust this V8 sounds incredible has tremendous induction noise and lastly the shifter this gated manual goes click clack that's exactly what you want in a car like this the cons are well it's a Ferrari that's 21 years old the interior is kind of chintzy the driving position's real awkward your feet are positioned somewhere entirely different and everyone around you thinks you're some sort of God at least out here in the Midwest if you do not like attention this is not going to be the car for you that's one of the Cons with this car the next thing to talk about is price this car a couple years ago was let's say $60 to $90,000 for a clean manual Coupe now the prices are in the mid $100,000 range about 155 grand and I'm going to be honest the novelty when this car is $155,000 kind of disappears this car should not cost that much this car exists happily in the $60 to $100,000 range but that's just me anyhow thanks for watching and huge thanks to the owner for providing us this car\n"