2003 Ferrari 575M F1
Discussion
Firstly i had no intention of buying this car. A recurring theme in my life, and that of many car nutters one imagines. Back in April deep during lockdown i had rather too much white followed by pink followed by red sauce one lazy Sunday and ended up bidding on and winning a low miles/long term owner white 1988 Mercedes 190E. A car i have no real need or use for, but have rather bonded with over the summer. So i have previous recent form at doing the ‘wrong thing’.
The plan was to thin out the number of cars i had on site and at various other locations, to try and relocate all at home once my garage build project is completed (soon i am told by my builders, maybe, honest, perhaps, depends, oh you know it’s covid and all that...). So out went the ridiculously self indulgent mid-life crisis, financial deadweight, modern V12 supercar Ferrari (lesson learnt, experience rich, cash much poorer). Sold to a nice Ferrari main agent and no longer my concern.
Then some curious and downright dangerous Sunday evening web surfing and i chanced upon a rather splendid early 2000’s front engine V12 super-GT in a fetching shade dark metallic green. And i can’t resist a green Ferrari, especially not one in Verde Zeltweg with a tan Daytona leather interior. Low owners, low miles (ish), good history, looked after by the right people, probably done all its depreciating, suddenly this seemed to make sense, ooopps.
Following week socially distant test drive taken, research done, cheeky offer made and after waiting a few days, sensible counter offer in reply, done. All i had to do now was try and explain to SWMBO how i had done the sensible thing selling one Ferrari to find a matter of weeks later done the stupid thing and bought another.
The deal struck with the previous owner involved the specialists who look after the car doing a major service, belts and sundry other bits. So i then had to wait a little while for Barkaways (great outfit) to finish with the cars currently on their ramps (couple of F40’s, 288 GTO, 60’s Lusso, random old rubbish that they specialise in basically) to fit in my new (to me) green mean machine.
Picked it up on Saturday, sadly didn’t really have the time over the weekend to drive it much, just up to the local Shell garage, couple of quick demo runs to drag the teenagers away from social media and a blat over to a mates. Looking forward to learning all its foibles, being an old Ferrari there may be a few, but a sticky handbrake lever aside (god that is annoying, sticky black crap on your hand every time you forget not to touch the handbrake) it all works and is as described.
Of course i would have preferred one with an open gated six speed manual box, but they are few and far between, much more expensive and in this colour combo, probably non-existent. I suspect i’ll learn to enjoy the F1 box, a small lift on up-changes and it’s smooth enough not to have your heads nodding. Reminds me of the SMG box i had in an BMW M5 many moons ago, that i actually really liked. It’s a lot more engaging that the DCT/PDK type boxes in everything fast nowadays, it actually requires an input from the driver to make smooth changes. And that engine, oh my. So smooth, sounds glorious, not too shouty (god my Superfast was shouty) and still more than enough performance than you ever need. It’s still a very fast car, with nice long legs - geared so at a ton it’s turning over 3,500 rpm (that might become a bit of a problem officer, sorry).
So for now, i’m a very happy camper.
The plan was to thin out the number of cars i had on site and at various other locations, to try and relocate all at home once my garage build project is completed (soon i am told by my builders, maybe, honest, perhaps, depends, oh you know it’s covid and all that...). So out went the ridiculously self indulgent mid-life crisis, financial deadweight, modern V12 supercar Ferrari (lesson learnt, experience rich, cash much poorer). Sold to a nice Ferrari main agent and no longer my concern.
Then some curious and downright dangerous Sunday evening web surfing and i chanced upon a rather splendid early 2000’s front engine V12 super-GT in a fetching shade dark metallic green. And i can’t resist a green Ferrari, especially not one in Verde Zeltweg with a tan Daytona leather interior. Low owners, low miles (ish), good history, looked after by the right people, probably done all its depreciating, suddenly this seemed to make sense, ooopps.
Following week socially distant test drive taken, research done, cheeky offer made and after waiting a few days, sensible counter offer in reply, done. All i had to do now was try and explain to SWMBO how i had done the sensible thing selling one Ferrari to find a matter of weeks later done the stupid thing and bought another.
The deal struck with the previous owner involved the specialists who look after the car doing a major service, belts and sundry other bits. So i then had to wait a little while for Barkaways (great outfit) to finish with the cars currently on their ramps (couple of F40’s, 288 GTO, 60’s Lusso, random old rubbish that they specialise in basically) to fit in my new (to me) green mean machine.
Picked it up on Saturday, sadly didn’t really have the time over the weekend to drive it much, just up to the local Shell garage, couple of quick demo runs to drag the teenagers away from social media and a blat over to a mates. Looking forward to learning all its foibles, being an old Ferrari there may be a few, but a sticky handbrake lever aside (god that is annoying, sticky black crap on your hand every time you forget not to touch the handbrake) it all works and is as described.
Of course i would have preferred one with an open gated six speed manual box, but they are few and far between, much more expensive and in this colour combo, probably non-existent. I suspect i’ll learn to enjoy the F1 box, a small lift on up-changes and it’s smooth enough not to have your heads nodding. Reminds me of the SMG box i had in an BMW M5 many moons ago, that i actually really liked. It’s a lot more engaging that the DCT/PDK type boxes in everything fast nowadays, it actually requires an input from the driver to make smooth changes. And that engine, oh my. So smooth, sounds glorious, not too shouty (god my Superfast was shouty) and still more than enough performance than you ever need. It’s still a very fast car, with nice long legs - geared so at a ton it’s turning over 3,500 rpm (that might become a bit of a problem officer, sorry).
So for now, i’m a very happy camper.
Thread resurrection....
I've noticed this 575M is up for sale back where you bought it. I also have a thing for Green F Cars which is why I stumbled across it, I'm also not far from Barkaways so I browse their stock every now and again.
Everything I'd read suggested you loved this car so I was surprised to see it available again.
Not using it enough or too many cars already...having a clearout?
I've noticed this 575M is up for sale back where you bought it. I also have a thing for Green F Cars which is why I stumbled across it, I'm also not far from Barkaways so I browse their stock every now and again.
Everything I'd read suggested you loved this car so I was surprised to see it available again.
Not using it enough or too many cars already...having a clearout?
One of the last truly elegant Ferraris (the 612 perhaps), before design became a bit bulbous. Congrats on your purchase! As an E60 M5 SMG owner I see what you mean, these types of early flappy paddle gearboxes are surprisingly engaging. I remember Clarkson and Damon Hill road testing one and the gearbox in the 575 seemed a lot better-engineered:
Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbC8Sqi3vrU
Part 2 (with the 575) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irpfIdcDyiQ
Is the 575 F1 box a robotised manual?
Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbC8Sqi3vrU
Part 2 (with the 575) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irpfIdcDyiQ
Is the 575 F1 box a robotised manual?
21ATS said:
Thread resurrection....
I've noticed this 575M is up for sale back where you bought it. I also have a thing for Green F Cars which is why I stumbled across it, I'm also not far from Barkaways so I browse their stock every now and again.
Everything I'd read suggested you loved this car so I was surprised to see it available again.
Not using it enough or too many cars already...having a clearout?
Yes, owned it for almost 2 years but only covered 1,500 miles. However they were very enjoyable miles, including taking only a short honeymoon trip for my second wedding. I've noticed this 575M is up for sale back where you bought it. I also have a thing for Green F Cars which is why I stumbled across it, I'm also not far from Barkaways so I browse their stock every now and again.
Everything I'd read suggested you loved this car so I was surprised to see it available again.
Not using it enough or too many cars already...having a clearout?
As you say, having a bit of a clearout. So asked Ian to find a new custodian. Sold yesterday, going to Oz it seems. New owner should be happy with it, a fabulous example if i may say so.
Yes, robotised manual.
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