RE: Happy 30th Ferrari F40!
Discussion
Good round up, very simliar to what i tell people, for me the F40 is the "heart" car and F50 the "head" car. F50 much rarer and more polished, last analogue Ferrari supercar etc and fantastic to drive, but the one that makes you feel more excited and nervous is the F40.
j90gta said:
Can't say I've ever seen a fake one; didn't even know there were any MR2 based kits available. I was doing the school run in an F40 and was once asked by "the lads" whether it was a kit; they soon found out it wasn't!
Having driven an F40 in rain and snow (not advisable!!) and through floods (niece's prom and couldn't let her down!!), I can say that they are an absolute beast to drive. Build quality was never it's forte (use of carbon fibre in its infancy; Fiat stalks; green glue inside; very drafty when headlights are up; headlights next to useless; heated front screen takes an age to clear) but incredibly rewarding when everything is warmed up properly. The lack of driver aids means it's not a car you can just get into and drive; it's a very physical experience. It has road presence unlike any other car. Everyone knows what it is. People would stop and stare and I never had any negativity from anyone, they were just pleased and amazed to see one on the road.
By comparison the F50 was much better built (not hard) and not as hardcore. For some reason it didn't feel as quick as the F40, but maybe that was because it was an easier car to drive. The normally aspirated V12 was a wonderful engine of its time and sounded so much better than the F40; you get more power in German 4-door saloons nowadays, but it could never be mistaken for a mini-cab! The looks were challenging to most and for some reason it got a bit of a negative reputation. People seem to think that it's much bigger than the F40 but that is not the case (neither would fit in an ordinary garage); but the F50 is only 122 mm longer and 16 mm wider. The proof however is in the driving and it's probably one of the most underrated supercars.
It would be very difficult to have to choose between the two. The F40 was the poster car of the late 80's, but the F50 is much rarer. You could buy one of each for the price of a 288 GTO, but that's a different animal altogether.
Having driven an F40 in rain and snow (not advisable!!) and through floods (niece's prom and couldn't let her down!!), I can say that they are an absolute beast to drive. Build quality was never it's forte (use of carbon fibre in its infancy; Fiat stalks; green glue inside; very drafty when headlights are up; headlights next to useless; heated front screen takes an age to clear) but incredibly rewarding when everything is warmed up properly. The lack of driver aids means it's not a car you can just get into and drive; it's a very physical experience. It has road presence unlike any other car. Everyone knows what it is. People would stop and stare and I never had any negativity from anyone, they were just pleased and amazed to see one on the road.
By comparison the F50 was much better built (not hard) and not as hardcore. For some reason it didn't feel as quick as the F40, but maybe that was because it was an easier car to drive. The normally aspirated V12 was a wonderful engine of its time and sounded so much better than the F40; you get more power in German 4-door saloons nowadays, but it could never be mistaken for a mini-cab! The looks were challenging to most and for some reason it got a bit of a negative reputation. People seem to think that it's much bigger than the F40 but that is not the case (neither would fit in an ordinary garage); but the F50 is only 122 mm longer and 16 mm wider. The proof however is in the driving and it's probably one of the most underrated supercars.
It would be very difficult to have to choose between the two. The F40 was the poster car of the late 80's, but the F50 is much rarer. You could buy one of each for the price of a 288 GTO, but that's a different animal altogether.
fatboy69 said:
Quite simply. The. Best.
Lucky enough to have driven an F40 for quite a few miles. Jaw droppingly stunning to drive.
Lots of power. Lots of fun. The one Ferrari, apart from a 288GTO, that would grace my driveway.
And wasn't there a PH'er who regularly updated on his daily use of his F40? Anyone remember his name?
Yep it was Jamie Beeston, that car is now tucked away in one of my customers barn, next to a few other choice Ferrari's.Lucky enough to have driven an F40 for quite a few miles. Jaw droppingly stunning to drive.
Lots of power. Lots of fun. The one Ferrari, apart from a 288GTO, that would grace my driveway.
And wasn't there a PH'er who regularly updated on his daily use of his F40? Anyone remember his name?
ecksjay said:
A few years back I was surveying a building and ended up in the basement level car park. Opened the door to the main area and stumbled across this masterpiece. Still to this day nothing has shocked me quite as much, well, failing that seagull carcass that fell on me ....
Majestic thing. Couldn't find it on any register but I believe it was previously white and belonged to someone else who's fairly famous (after googling the VIN)
The lucky guy also had a 355 F1 and an 8C, along with some funky bentley. Very jealous.
I believe this is the car that did used to be white, but was born red, (bought by Chris Evans) painted white, painted back red, then lastly painted blue. I drove it in it's original paint when it was red, it belonged to a good friend at the time. Majestic thing. Couldn't find it on any register but I believe it was previously white and belonged to someone else who's fairly famous (after googling the VIN)
The lucky guy also had a 355 F1 and an 8C, along with some funky bentley. Very jealous.
All these pictures have at one time or another been in the public domain.
Mate took it to Le Mans 2003/4 not sure.
Evans bought it and painted it white.
Painted it back red and sold it
Latest owner painted it blue.
[As we are sharing stories about the F40 here is mine on this thread from when I drove it.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
If I may, I too was lucky enough to drive a friends F40 a few years ago. His car was used when he first got it as a track and road car but as it and he got older it was used only as a road car when the circumstances allowed. One day he rang me to say he had commuted in it and did I want picking up for a drive out. I of course accepted and he came and picked me up. I asked him if he wouldn't mind taking my nephew out for a ride also so we went and picked him up and he took my nephew out. After he came back with the car he asked if I wanted to drive it. I was so nervous and declined his offer. That night I had a sleepless night thinking to myself as a petrolhead how could I possibly pass up such an opportunity to drive such an iconic car...
The following morning I rang him and asked him if he had gone into work in the car again and he confirmed he had so I asked him if his offer still stood, would he mind calling round for me again so that I could take up his offer? He said no problem and he came round for me. He drove to a petrol station as it needed fuel and I switched over into the drivers seat. After trying and failing to close the door (I was pulling the door pull) and fighting my nerves as it was the first left hand drive car I had ever driven. I started it up and was immediately intimidated by the weight of steering, gear shift, clutch weight, offset driving position, dogleg first. However after a few miles of driving it on the motorway I was able to relax into it a little more and started to feel much more comfortable. By this point of course I hadn't even hit boost, going up through the gears before the turbos were lit. We were exiting a roundabout and entering a slip road to join another motorway, my friend urged me to floor it and so I pushed the throttle down...my god! Everything is true what they say about it being a nutter when on boost, I held on to it and experienced the rush a few more times before my time as an F40 driver was over. The amount of attention the car got was crazy.
Not long after the car got sold (after 9 years of ownership) and ended up in the hands of a certain Chris Evans. You may have seen the car at Goodwood as part of his Famous Five run. Chris Evans had the car painted white and trimmed in blue before selling the car on. The new owner returning the car to it's correct colour of Red. I'm led to believe the car is now Blue. N796 FAK was the plate.
This is the car at Le Mans in 2004 when my friend took it over there. Interestingly the poster of this picture claims it as a fake car due to the plate being on an 'N'. My friend imported the car from Italy and it was the plate given to it by the DVLA as that was the year they registered it. It was I believe one of the last ones to be built on aluminium tanks. It certainly isn't a fake.
Edited by anniesdad on Saturday 22 July 16:43
Edited by anniesdad on Saturday 22 July 16:48
generationx said:
I remember when the Briish Motor Show used to alternate between the NEC and Earls Court. In 1988 (?) it was due in London and I distinctly remember sitting on the train with my mate and us both agreeing that the then-new F40 would be the absolute highlight of the day. And it was.
If you want to see it again that exact F40 is in HR Owen's showroom in London for sale at the moment. I can only echo what others have said. The F40 is the pinnacle for me. I am lucky enough to have been a passenger in three F40s, including one around Goodwood, and one day will drive one! At one stage it wasn't beyond the realms of possibilities to potentially own one, but enormous price increases have probably put paid to that now!
daveco said:
TameRacingDriver said:
J4CKO said:
I can take or leave Ferraris by and large, very nice but not something I particularly aspire to, but the F40 is a Ferrari shorn of a lot of the cheesiness that sometimes comes along for the ride, like overly "detailed" examples driven by blokes wearing a lot of merchandise, just in case you dont notice the shouty bright red car 
But the F40 seems to be pure essence of Ferrari, animalistic, uncompromising and and dangerous, you cant imagine playboys flying round Londons streets impressing the latter day train spotters in one, it isnt a car you buy unless you absolutely know what it is.
Spot on. Its a proper ferrari, not a posers car. Hard edged, uncompromising, vicious, raw and exciting.But the F40 seems to be pure essence of Ferrari, animalistic, uncompromising and and dangerous, you cant imagine playboys flying round Londons streets impressing the latter day train spotters in one, it isnt a car you buy unless you absolutely know what it is.
Ps...main pic, F40 man 8 back in middle.....TURN YOUR LIGHTS ON.
Edited by 7795 on Saturday 22 July 21:22
The F40 is my halo car, just for it's claim to the 1st. 200 mph road car. They are rather rare here in Australia so it took a while till I saw my first, in the Northern Territory Cannonball run, sadly it was involved in a tragic accident the following day.....
Eventually life found me a regular visitor to Germany, where I discovered that I could hire one! So I did. Some say you shouldn't meet your heros, but the F40 didn't disappoint.
I still hold it in fine regard, it's lack of weight, frippery, electronics and conventional manual gearbox hold it in good stead with me. No car needs to weigh over 1400kg!
In my 50's I have no regard for the bloated personal transport of this century.
Eventually life found me a regular visitor to Germany, where I discovered that I could hire one! So I did. Some say you shouldn't meet your heros, but the F40 didn't disappoint.
I still hold it in fine regard, it's lack of weight, frippery, electronics and conventional manual gearbox hold it in good stead with me. No car needs to weigh over 1400kg!
In my 50's I have no regard for the bloated personal transport of this century.
wtdoom said:
Happy birthday f40 but I couldn't disagree with mr Harris more . The f50 is on another planet of enjoyment to the f40 .
It's another league of awesome
Interesting. There must be precious few people who have experienced both. I never liked the look of the F50 but the only time Ive ever seen one was the day I bought my F40 and it just looks incredible in the flesh. It's another league of awesome
anniesdad said:
I believe this is the car that did used to be white, but was born red, (bought by Chris Evans) painted white, painted back red, then lastly painted blue. I drove it in it's original paint when it was red, it belonged to a good friend at the time.
All these pictures have at one time or another been in the public domain.
Mate took it to Le Mans 2003/4 not sure.
Evans bought it and painted it white.
Painted it back red and sold it
Latest owner painted it blue.
[
As we are sharing stories about the F40 here is mine on this thread from when I drove it.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
If I may, I too was lucky enough to drive a friends F40 a few years ago. His car was used when he first got it as a track and road car but as it and he got older it was used only as a road car when the circumstances allowed. One day he rang me to say he had commuted in it and did I want picking up for a drive out. I of course accepted and he came and picked me up. I asked him if he wouldn't mind taking my nephew out for a ride also so we went and picked him up and he took my nephew out. After he came back with the car he asked if I wanted to drive it. I was so nervous and declined his offer. That night I had a sleepless night thinking to myself as a petrolhead how could I possibly pass up such an opportunity to drive such an iconic car...
The following morning I rang him and asked him if he had gone into work in the car again and he confirmed he had so I asked him if his offer still stood, would he mind calling round for me again so that I could take up his offer? He said no problem and he came round for me. He drove to a petrol station as it needed fuel and I switched over into the drivers seat. After trying and failing to close the door (I was pulling the door pull) and fighting my nerves as it was the first left hand drive car I had ever driven. I started it up and was immediately intimidated by the weight of steering, gear shift, clutch weight, offset driving position, dogleg first. However after a few miles of driving it on the motorway I was able to relax into it a little more and started to feel much more comfortable. By this point of course I hadn't even hit boost, going up through the gears before the turbos were lit. We were exiting a roundabout and entering a slip road to join another motorway, my friend urged me to floor it and so I pushed the throttle down...my god! Everything is true what they say about it being a nutter when on boost, I held on to it and experienced the rush a few more times before my time as an F40 driver was over. The amount of attention the car got was crazy.
Not long after the car got sold (after 9 years of ownership) and ended up in the hands of a certain Chris Evans. You may have seen the car at Goodwood as part of his Famous Five run. Chris Evans had the car painted white and trimmed in blue before selling the car on. The new owner returning the car to it's correct colour of Red. I'm led to believe the car is now Blue. N796 FAK was the plate.
This is the car at Le Mans in 2004 when my friend took it over there. Interestingly the poster of this picture claims it as a fake car due to the plate being on an 'N'. My friend imported the car from Italy and it was the plate given to it by the DVLA as that was the year they registered it. It was I believe one of the last ones to be built on aluminium tanks. It certainly isn't a fake.
.All these pictures have at one time or another been in the public domain.
Mate took it to Le Mans 2003/4 not sure.
Evans bought it and painted it white.
Painted it back red and sold it
Latest owner painted it blue.
[As we are sharing stories about the F40 here is mine on this thread from when I drove it.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
If I may, I too was lucky enough to drive a friends F40 a few years ago. His car was used when he first got it as a track and road car but as it and he got older it was used only as a road car when the circumstances allowed. One day he rang me to say he had commuted in it and did I want picking up for a drive out. I of course accepted and he came and picked me up. I asked him if he wouldn't mind taking my nephew out for a ride also so we went and picked him up and he took my nephew out. After he came back with the car he asked if I wanted to drive it. I was so nervous and declined his offer. That night I had a sleepless night thinking to myself as a petrolhead how could I possibly pass up such an opportunity to drive such an iconic car...
The following morning I rang him and asked him if he had gone into work in the car again and he confirmed he had so I asked him if his offer still stood, would he mind calling round for me again so that I could take up his offer? He said no problem and he came round for me. He drove to a petrol station as it needed fuel and I switched over into the drivers seat. After trying and failing to close the door (I was pulling the door pull) and fighting my nerves as it was the first left hand drive car I had ever driven. I started it up and was immediately intimidated by the weight of steering, gear shift, clutch weight, offset driving position, dogleg first. However after a few miles of driving it on the motorway I was able to relax into it a little more and started to feel much more comfortable. By this point of course I hadn't even hit boost, going up through the gears before the turbos were lit. We were exiting a roundabout and entering a slip road to join another motorway, my friend urged me to floor it and so I pushed the throttle down...my god! Everything is true what they say about it being a nutter when on boost, I held on to it and experienced the rush a few more times before my time as an F40 driver was over. The amount of attention the car got was crazy.
Not long after the car got sold (after 9 years of ownership) and ended up in the hands of a certain Chris Evans. You may have seen the car at Goodwood as part of his Famous Five run. Chris Evans had the car painted white and trimmed in blue before selling the car on. The new owner returning the car to it's correct colour of Red. I'm led to believe the car is now Blue. N796 FAK was the plate.
This is the car at Le Mans in 2004 when my friend took it over there. Interestingly the poster of this picture claims it as a fake car due to the plate being on an 'N'. My friend imported the car from Italy and it was the plate given to it by the DVLA as that was the year they registered it. It was I believe one of the last ones to be built on aluminium tanks. It certainly isn't a fake.
Edited by anniesdad on Saturday 22 July 16:43
Edited by anniesdad on Saturday 22 July 16:48
I believe that's the car yes. I do have lots more photos of it. To be honest I thought it looked great in the tricolor paint scheme. Red is obviously what it should be, but it looked well how it is now. Didn't look a bad job either. It's definitely genuine anyway.
Strange that it's sat in a fairly normal part of central London in a ground floor level car park just off the street. I want to go and just look at it some more.
ecksjay said:
I believe that's the car yes. I do have lots more photos of it. To be honest I thought it looked great in the tricolor paint scheme. Red is obviously what it should be, but it looked well how it is now. Didn't look a bad job either. It's definitely genuine anyway.
Strange that it's sat in a fairly normal part of central London in a ground floor level car park just off the street. I want to go and just look at it some more.
Strange that it's sat in a fairly normal part of central London in a ground floor level car park just off the street. I want to go and just look at it some more.
When my mate had it if he commuted in it, it was parked in a public car park just down the road from his office in Farnworth town centre in Bolton! Not the most pleasant of places. It looked like an alien had landed, in and amongst all the mainstream cars knocking around!
I've only ever seen one and that was parked outside a classic car museum in Loheac, France. I believe it belonged to the museum and they would often use their stock to travel around.. There was nothing around it, I was very young and could go up and touch it.
Has anyone been to this place? Anyone know if it's still there?
Has anyone been to this place? Anyone know if it's still there?
I should really go and dig out the laptimes sheets....
Many years ago I raced in a Caterham Euro race, also on the bill was a Ferrari race. Sitting up in the grandstands watching the start - Two F40's had locked out the front row. Mid pack was an F50! Out of interest I went back to my 'garage' via race control to get a copy of their timesheets to see where I would have qualified. I was amazed to see I would have been next to the F50.
My only other encounter with an F40 came at a trackday at The 'Ring. Unfortunately it burst into flames, completely gutted - as I drove past it after waiting ages for the fire service to put it out, there was the sorry sight of the 4 rims and framework of the roof over a burned out mass in the middle.
I also still have the cassette of the cars at Donnington
Many years ago I raced in a Caterham Euro race, also on the bill was a Ferrari race. Sitting up in the grandstands watching the start - Two F40's had locked out the front row. Mid pack was an F50! Out of interest I went back to my 'garage' via race control to get a copy of their timesheets to see where I would have qualified. I was amazed to see I would have been next to the F50.
My only other encounter with an F40 came at a trackday at The 'Ring. Unfortunately it burst into flames, completely gutted - as I drove past it after waiting ages for the fire service to put it out, there was the sorry sight of the 4 rims and framework of the roof over a burned out mass in the middle.
I also still have the cassette of the cars at Donnington
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