Ferrari 348ts Still Going Strong with Nearly 100,000 Miles
YouTuber Tyler Hoover finally purchases 1990 Ferrari 348TS three years after first trying to buy it.
By his admission, Tyler Hoover of the YouTube channel Hoovie’s Garage has a checkered past when it comes to Ferraris. His first Ferrari, an F355, burned to the ground due to an engine fire. He replaced that with a 1988 Ferrari Testarossa. And while that car didn’t catch on fire, he ended up having to return it to the seller due to a title issue. Enter his latest Ferrari acquisition, this time a black 1990 Ferrari 348TS.
With a whopping 98,000 miles on the odometer, Hoover seems fairly confident that he bought the cheapest running and driving 348 in the country. And rather than being worried about the high mileage, he’s actually super stoked that he bought an Italian legend that he’s not afraid to drive. “I’ve been looking for a Ferrari that I could drive without fear for awhile now. It is absolutely perfect for me,” he says. “It’s far from a perfect car, but its definitely perfect for me. Having nearly 100,00 miles on it is nearly unheard of in the Ferrari world. 30,000 miles is usually considered high miles.” He also notes that though the transmission had been rebuilt, the motor is completely original. Who said Ferraris weren’t reliable?
In the video, Hoover travels from his home state of Kansas to Florida to pick up the Ferrari that he paid around $35,000 for. Granted, the car is far from perfect. The interior featured a few questionable touches, including a hand made wooden piece in the center console that houses the relocated power window switches. Portions of the carpeting has been replaced with what Hoover is pretty certain are actually the same carpet used in your house. Most importantly though, the car comes with an extensive service history, so he’s fairly confident that the Ferrari can make the long journey home.
Along the way, he stops by fellow YouTuber Tavarish’s garage, so the Ferrari can be put on a lift and inspected. After inspecting the car and giving it a clean bill of health, the only recommendation Tavarish is that Hoover stop at the nearest store and buy a fire extinguisher to have on hand for the remainder of the trip. That’s always a good idea, and even more so given Hoovie’s history with burning Ferraris.
After his visit with Tavarish, Hoover continues on his journey with a brief stop at another fellow YouTuber Ed Bollian‘s place. Bollian runs the VINwiki YouTube channel. The rest of the trip details Hoover’s realization that the Ferrari’s targa top leaks, a problem he discovers when he has to drive through a heavy rainstorm. And the 348’s thermostat sticks open, which leads to pretty funny incident where he has stops at a fast food restaurant to borrow a piece of cardboard that is cleverly used to reduce air flow going to the radiator. “This old mutt of a Ferrari made it home,” Hoover says triumphantly with the Ferrari parked in his garage. “I’ve had much newer, nicer cars that haven’t made it to the finish line. But this 1990 Ferrari, almost 30 years old, gave me no worry that it was going to break down on this 1500 mile journey.”
