Still want that Singer? Evoluto’s Ferrari 355 restomod is finally ready

Evoluto’s Ferrari 355 restomod is finally ready for production, after an extensive development period. Evoluto describes the project as ‘the antidote to the digital direction of modern supercars’. 

It’s been a labour of love, surely, with a year and a half passing since the car’s initial unveiling at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed. In that time, it’s undergone 5000 miles of on-track testing, 10,000 miles of engine testing and a 20,000-mile final durability sign-off. All of this so that a 20,000-mile two-year warranty can be offered. Final approval will happen in April, at which point the first of the 55 customer cars will have undergone stripdown. It’s a six-month-plus process from donor disassembly to finished delivered car, the first targeted to be with its owner by the end of this year.

Evoluto Ferrari 355 – engine and technical highlights

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How do you attempt to make Ferrari’s prettiest supercar prettier? Hiring Ian Callum is a good start. The new design exaggerates the F355’s design iconography but stops short of caricature. It’s also slipperier and lighter, being produced in carbonfibre. The work goes more than skin deep too, with the car’s engorged exterior clothing a re-engineered, more powerful, more reliable and more dynamically refined version of Ferrari’s analogue icon.

Evoluto’s creation is based on customer-supplied F355s, stripped to a bare shell before new components are applied. The chassis is strengthened with carbon bracing, increasing torsional stiffness by 23 per cent, to complement the overhauled front- and rear-end assemblies.

In addition to being wider (by 77mm front, 66mm rear), the overhauled 355 features all-new upper and lower arms, uprights, wheel bearings and anti-roll bar drop links, and overhauled geometry. This has allowed a more planted, composed feel for a 355 that’s much wider, riding on much bigger 19-inch wheels. It also receives bespoke R53 ST46 three-way external-reservoir dampers. The new wheels cover six-piston Brembo brakes and 380mm discs at the front.

The car also features faster steering, with a two-turn lock-to-lock rack (down from 3.25) and new electrohydraulic power steering assistance that’s been carefully calibrated for weight, feel and feedback.

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The meat of the Ferrari F355 is its engine, and that doesn’t change here. On its reveal at Goodwood we were promised a 414bhp version of the F355’s 3.5-litre V8, up from 375bhp in its original spec. That still stands, the engine producing its power at 8000rpm but able to sing on to an 8500rpm red line. 

It features over 200 redesigned parts, including reworked internals, a CNC ported head, solid cam lifters and a bespoke inlet cam. The mechanical upgrades are maximised via a new engine management system, and a titanium exhaust liberates a few extra decibels and more power.

What will now be offered alongside this is a 3.7-litre option, offering 473bhp at 9000rpm. This is thanks to extreme high-lift cams, optimised fuelling and valvetrain and ‘strengthened internal components’, though specifics aren’t given. Tying it all together is a dedicated powertrain ECU. It’s claimed 90 per cent of the finished car’s wiring harness is all new. Both the 3.5-litre and 3.7-litre cars will retain a six-speed manual transmission.

Evoluto’s target weight figure stands confirmed at 1250kg (dry), which is 100kg lighter than the standard F355 without fluids. This is partly thanks to the Callum-penned carbonfibre bodywork, which has been adapted for the new wide-track suspension and to improve aerodynamics. The pop-up lights are now LED units.

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The interior has been refreshed with new materials, leather finishes and modern tech, but the centrepiece is the open-gate manual shifter for the six-speed ’box, which has been revised for a more precise, satisfying action. The cabin has changed slightly for production (the vents have been revised and there’s now a place to mount your phone), but it’s still recognisably an enhancement of an F355’s cabin, with new dials, sumptuous trim, and a near-infinite choice for colours and material customisation across numerous surfaces. 

The seats that were suspiciously like those of the McLaren Artura now look a bit more appropriate for the ’90s vibe, as does the red-over-tan colourway of the production prototype we see here. If you remember, the original reveal car had a blue and orange theme…

There’s no ‘basic price’ given yet for the 355 by Evoluto, as you might expect given no two of the 55 to be made will be the same. Don’t be surprised given its rarity if the outlay required is in the same realm as Ferrari’s own brand-new supercars and beyond.

355 by Evoluto specs