Silence Is Golden, but This Ferrari 355 Is a Musical Masterpiece

Life requires equilibrium. In a perfect world, we all would have an even trade-off of time spent working for someone else and time spent indulging our own personal interests and passions. The scale is rarely so neatly balanced though. So maybe shoot for quality over quantity and indulge yourself with five minutes of peaceful forest noise punctuated by the howl of a Ferrari V-8.

While the Modena Yellow Berlinetta stands out in a big way against the lush green backdrop, it’s the exhaust note that cuts through the serenity more than the bright exterior. The mid-mounted V-8 displaces just 3.5 liters, hence the 35 leading the model name. The final 5 is a reference to the number of valves per cylinder (cinquevalvole), which is uncommon for Ferrari but a perfect way to delineate the key difference between the previous 348 model and the evolved 355 that replaced it.

Looking at the car and hearing it are one thing, but the pièce de résistance is the gated six-speed manual transmission. The rise and and fall of the engine rpm, punctuated with the soft tink-tink of the shifter as the driver goes between second and third gear on a winding forest road, is the dream for many of us. Although we might be stuck at the desk for another couple of hours yet today, this is a perfect five-minute escape to the place we would rather be—even if we might likely never be there.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.