Modified Ferrari F40: What’s It Worth?
Ferrari F40: Is the 90’s carbon wonder worthy of a million dollar bid?
When Ferrari was chasing the 200-mile-per-hour production car threshold in the late 1980s, they engineered a blunt instrument with just that goal in mind. The F40 is not a scalpel of an instrument, it is a combination hack saw and machete whose only purpose is to draw blood. The wacky Italians built a high-output peaky turbocharged engine with a massive-for-the-era, and frankly still impressive, 471 horsepower. Then , they shoehorned it into the engine compartment of an uncompromising lightweight carbon fiber shell. It’s hard to call an F40 beautiful, but it sure is striking in its rocket sled wedge with a wing shape. We would all love the opportunity to have one in our garage, but how many of us are willing to put down a million dollar bid to buy it? Your chance is coming up on the 24th of this month at RM/Sotheby’s new Santa Monica collector car auction.
This car is lot 229 in that Santa Monica auction listing, and the pre-auction estimate puts the cost of your Ferrari dream at $900,000 – 1,100,000. It’s among the more rare Ferrari models with just 1,311 built across the 5-year build run, this one being a late production car from the final year. This F40 was originally a US delivery car, so it has no power windows, power steering, assisted brakes, carpet, armrests, or adjustable seats. Yet, it was fitted from the factory with air conditioning for some reason. American Ferrari buyers are a strange bunch, apparently.
The perfect Ferrari then, but this particular one has a catch.
This particular car presents as completely original, barring a couple of modifications. Modifications are generally seen as a massive turn off in the exotic car collector world. However, this car might be right up some buyers alley. The owner at some point upgraded the car to larger turbochargers for a bit more power, because that’s what this car needs. Also, a Tubi stainless steel exhuast for more sound, because that’s what this car needs. The odometer has seen fewer than 16,000 clicks, and it has recently been given a major service. This is about as close to a brand new F40 as you can get. Some collectors might not appreciate the modifications, so it’ll be interesting to see whether this car fetches top dollar.
[Source: rmsothebys.com]