Author: Michael Sheehan

Michael is a Ferrari historian and broker with over three decades in the business. He operated a 30-man Ferrari crash repair and restoration shop for over two decades. He has a passion for racing and has competed in the Mazda Pro Series, Trans-Am, IMSA GTO, and IMSA Camel Lite, and has three drives in the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring. His regular column, “Sheehan Speaks,” has been a part of SCM since 1993, and this month, on p. 38, he takes us to a Brunei prince’s compound that holds hundreds of decaying, melting exotic sports cars.

Cracking Ferrari’s Enigma Codes

In my October column, I wrote that the factory laptop used to diagnose electrical and mechanical systems of modern Ferraris does not give definitive answers to problems. Instead, the computer merely gives a list of as many as 1,500 options and possibilities. To understand how this situation came about, let’s […]

Finding a Ferrari for $100k or less

Mondial values are abysmally low and their deferred maintenance issues are long. To quote Monty Python: “Run away, run away” This month our esteemed editor wanted to move away from the high-end Ferraris to the bottom-end world of affordability for mere mortals—perhaps he is still suffering from million-dollar-Monterey shock. My […]

A snowball from hell

The morality tale of one Ferrari 360 Spider’s never-ending problems Readers of this column know I’m not a fan of online sales or dealer auctions because it’s usually impossible to have a detailed, professional pre-purchase inspection of the car. As for prior ownership and service records, they are usually non-existent. […]

High-End Ferrari Buyers Show up at Monterey

Auctions showed a strong market for the highest-quality cars. Prices were market-correct for cars with modest histories, collectibility and condition In the run-up to this year’s Monterey auctions, there was much concern in the dealer community because so many high-end Ferraris were about to go on the market. After the […]

Greece and the Ferrari Market

How quickly the tides do turn. Only six months ago, in my March SCM column, Dashing Euro Dreams, I wrote, “As the dollar had declined over the last eighteen months, the asking prices of American-based collector cars suddenly look like bargains” The lead time on my column is thirty to […]

Ann Landers on Ferraris

Thanks to well over 17 years of monthly columns for Sports Car Market, I’ve slowly become the Ann Landers or “Dear Abby” of the Ferrari world, and with an average of 200 emails a day, there is never a lack of questions. This month’s “reply” started with the following email, […]

An Inexact Science

While selling exotic cars is an inexact science, it is a tenet within the trade that buyers want to pay something “back” of the dealer’s cost, while sellers want to “net” some number based on the highest result at the most successful, recent auction. Buying from a classic car dealer […]

Classiche Lite

From the beginning of the Ferrari Classiche Program in 2003, there has been no lack of enthusiasts who dismissed it for its rigid limitations. The raison d’etre of the FCP has been to “certify the authenticity” or originality of Ferraris, but not necessarily to certify that a Ferrari is “genuine.” […]

250 GTO Sets Ferrari Record at $26m

After the doom-and-gloom of late 2008 and a painful 2009, dealers and collectors at events like the Scottsdale auctions, Cavallino, and Rétromobile in Paris are abuzz with the news of record-setting, top-level trades. There’s a lot of very specific info contained in this column, and you might wonder where it […]