Spectacular Ferrari F50 for sale
Like your Ferrari specials with a manual gearbox? Look no further
You may have seen a few reviews coming out this week for the new SF90XX Stradale. And, well, perhaps they're not quite as glowing as might be expected for a new, limited-edition Ferrari. We’re used to saying nine and 10 out of 10, not eight. According to some, Maranello's ambitious attempt to make a road-legal XX seems to have compromised the SF90 on track; and what are you meant to do with a 1,000hp Ferrari circuit car on the road? But such is progress - Ferrari’s staple mid-engined berlinetta is the 830hp 296 GTB, so the super duper special ones have to raise the bar even further. But not step on the toes of the track-only XXs. It all feels a bit much.
There’s never been much excuse required for harking back to the glory days, but never more so than this week. And when presented with an F50 this sublime. Today it has basically the same power as an M3, less torque than an AMG A45, and next to nothing when it comes to talent-enhancing tech. Once upon a time, many weren’t so sure of the F50’s credentials. Today it looks like pretty much peak Ferrari supercar.
Typically with these sorts of stories, we add to what’s known already with a bit of extra research and some ad details. But with the F50 it’s hard not to be completely consumed by it, to learn everything possible about it and spend the whole day deep diving a Ferrari icon. Rarer (much rarer) than an F40, cooler than an Enzo, one of the best-sounding supercars ever and cruelly misunderstood at launch. The videos, articles and threads are so tempting to spend a whole day getting lost in them. There are notable supercars - then there’s the F50.
We’ll avoid that this time around, though this PH forum discussion from 2008 is interesting, questioning why the F50 wasn’t really being discussed anymore. That was always the issue, wasn’t it? Surrounded by the seemingly cardinal sin of being slower than an F40, the F50’s carbon construction, stripped-out nature and V12 derived from an F1 car (!) was overlooked. Crazy, really - though it did mean that, according to PH 15 years ago, they were available for £320,000…
Not any longer. As the world moved towards turbocharging, automatic gearboxes and electrification (and more power than could ever really be used), so the F50 has become appreciated as one of the all-time greats - a 9,000rpm, 520hp V12, six-speed manual and not a driver-aid in sight. It was raw, pure, exhilarating Ferrari at its very best.
So it’s four million pounds. And you thought an F40 was a lot. But such is the reverence that now (rightly) surrounds the ‘50 as the only manual V12 F-car. This one is utterly glorious, too, Classiche-certified and still with fewer than 2,500 miles recorded despite now being more than 25 years old. It comes with all the original paperwork, hardtop and factory luggage - even the shoe bag and flight case. The weave is visible even in the pictures, the engine bay pristine, the interior perfect - it’s astonishing. Currently UK registered, too, so just the thing for a Euromillions splurge. What a car.
incredible. An early countach is purposeful and perfect but not conventionally beautiful. The F50 looks half way between a road car and special and not aggressive enough for a special and not beautiful enough for a road car. That grille looks like something from a Festa. Better than an Enzo though.
That said, Rod Stewart’s old car sold last week for just under £3million, and that had done a whole 10k miles.
So at £125/mile in depreciation alone you’d have to have cavernous pockets to match your petrolhead mindset, otherwise it’s just a very expensive museum piece.
What a thing it is though.
Any cock womble that wants to come along and say I’m not a car enthusiast because I’m not debasing myself at the alter of expensive Ferraris is welcome.
And also I don’t get the super rich. You can’t take the money with you, you cannot buy more time. Use the bloody things……
If I were a billionaire, I would, and if I still had the same mindset as I do now, I’d drive it as it was built to do. . . What’s a million pounds depreciation to a billionaire?
If it was driven and a few thousand miles put on it, would it really depreciate?
Whoever buys it, live life and enjoy your time with it. . Think about the enjoyment Nick Mason has had from his GTO! Which with the miles on it still appreciates!
Any cock womble that wants to come along and say I’m not a car enthusiast because I’m not debasing myself at the alter of expensive Ferraris is welcome.
And also I don’t get the super rich. You can’t take the money with you, you cannot buy more time. Use the bloody things……
There’s a guy called Nick Leventis who does or did daily his F50 taking it to Tesco and the dog out.
https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/style/vid...
That said, Rod Stewart’s old car sold last week for just under £3million, and that had done a whole 10k miles.
So at £125/mile in depreciation alone you’d have to have cavernous pockets to match your petrolhead mindset, otherwise it’s just a very expensive museum piece.
What a thing it is though.
I can still remember the sound of it as it started up, and it is a majestic thing to look at. What a car. Would have one in a heartbeat if I had the means.
Old piece but by Christ it don’t half suit that Argento finish.
Old piece but by Christ it don’t half suit that Argento finish.
Yes its bloody beautiful.
How many owners? Service history?
Speaking of the owners: what sort of weird fecker averages only 100 miles a year??!!
Minging non-dished front wheels and fugly bulbous nose aside, what a wonderful car
It took me ages to realise that it actually looks awesome...
...from the back.
It also has one of the greatest side-profiles of any road car.
But some marketing twonk at Ferrari decided it needed to wear its F1 associations on its sleeve (or rather nose) and lumbered it with that carbuncle of a front end that ruins the whole thing. I wish I had the illustrator skills to mock up a version of the front end with a smooth nose and a couple of NACA ducts like the F40, then it might look as good as it deserves.
I remember reading Jeremy Clarkson's review of it at the time, where he criticised the controversial looks. He also criticised the lack of torque compared to the F40, and even then I thought that was a daft thing to say.
It's still awesome though.
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