Ferrari Enzo | Showpiece of the Week
Why make do with a plain old red Enzo, when you could have special order Giallo Modena?
For an indication of progress in the automotive world, look no further than Ferrari. Always at the forefront of technology and making giant leaps forward with each model generation, studying its history is a fascinating insight into how quickly car technology moves.
Look at the Enzo. 15 years ago, it was the very pinnacle of what Ferrari could achieve, drawing on its purple patch of F1 success to create its ultimate 21st century hypercar. A decade and a half later and we're on the brink of the SF90 entering series production (Ferrari made just 400 Enzos, don't forget), with 50 per cent more power again, electric drive and the sort of performance that would have sounded like science fiction back then.
Indeed the Enzo and a lot of its contemporaries come from that slightly awkward stage in supercar history of the early 2000s, where new technology was frequently being introduced and the genre was making its transition from the recalcitrant, demanding old stagers that had preceded it to the super capable, incredibly approachable 200mph machines of today. It meant things like a wider adoption of ceramic brakes, still in their infancy in road car applications and far trickier than today's set ups, automated manual gearboxes for race car cred and driver modes. The Enzo boasted all three, the leaps and bounds made in the tech (and F1-style gearboxes being abandoned together) dating it more than anything else. Certainly those vehicles that eschewed the tech onslaught arguably look more desirable to drivers - Carrera GT, Zonda, cars like that - but nothing was ever going to stand in the way of the Enzo's success as a collectible asset.
Think about it. Despite some less than flattering angles, a power output superseded by a 488 and the gearbox that was out of fashion almost as soon as it was in, the Enzo is part of a stunning automotive lineage. With 288, F40 and F50 running before it, then LaFerrari after, it's part of perhaps the most revered supercar family. It's also the final non-hybrid Ferrari flagship, using the then-new F140 V12 in its original, 6.0-litre, 660hp format back in 2002; it's an engine that still sees service in the 812 Superfast, in fact, although now at 6.5-litres and with another 140hp...
Bring that together with the rarity, the fact that Maranello only does its mid-engined, mad power flagships once a decade and that the car is a dedication to Enzo flippin Ferrari, and its significance is easier to understand. Even if it still looks a bit gawky.
This one is particularly interesting. A one owner car with just 12,000 kilometres from new, it's a special order Giallo Modena Enzo, also fitted out with fitted luggage and black/yellow leather. It has spent its life in Monaco in fact, maintained by Scuderia Monte Carlo from new - imagine the clientele there.
This one is for sale with POA; going from the other listings £2m is where most Enzos sit, this potentially more desirable than most because of the colour and history. Because why have a rare Ferrari, when one could instead purchase an extraordinarily rare Ferrari? Every collection needs one...
On talking to the sales team, it's a very odd business model. Most of the cars were basically brand new and people had bought them and chucked them in the showroom on sale or return as pre-reg cars so that Ferrari would sell them the car they actually want.
I was told by the salesman that if you actually use them they very rapidly become largely worthless. Not a surprise given the marks where the hoods rub on <1000 mile cars and bits of rubber seal flapping about. Go to Porsche down the road and there's 12 month old cars with more miles than the whole Ferrari showroom for sale. Tells you all you need to know and highlights the differences between the owners.
I'll be in the minority and hand in my PH card on my way out, but my take is that they are pretty cars, but probably the only car sports car brand that makes absolutely nothing I would consider buying.
On talking to the sales team, it's a very odd business model. Most of the cars were basically brand new and people had bought them and chucked them in the showroom on sale or return as pre-reg cars so that Ferrari would sell them the car they actually want.
I was told by the salesman that if you actually use them they very rapidly become largely worthless. Not a surprise given the marks where the hoods rub on <1000 mile cars and bits of rubber seal flapping about. Go to Porsche down the road and there's 12 month old cars with more miles than the whole Ferrari showroom for sale. Tells you all you need to know and highlights the differences between the owners.
I'll be in the minority and hand in my PH card on my way out, but my take is that they are pretty cars, but probably the only car sports car brand that makes absolutely nothing I would consider buying.
As for people buying cars just to sell them on to get on the list for the specials, that does happen a little bit but not all that much. You never here about all the owners who genuinely love the cars and buy them to drive them. There are loads of owners who go all over Europe then. Just go in the supercar section of this very site and you will find guys who track there cars and all sorts.
The investment crowd are just one small part of the owner demographic. Unfortunately Ferrari just have the brand to do what a lot of the other brands would love to do. If Aston could twist the arm of there customers to buy a bunch of cars before being allowed to have a Zagato they wouldn’t?
On talking to the sales team, it's a very odd business model. Most of the cars were basically brand new and people had bought them and chucked them in the showroom on sale or return as pre-reg cars so that Ferrari would sell them the car they actually want.
I was told by the salesman that if you actually use them they very rapidly become largely worthless. Not a surprise given the marks where the hoods rub on <1000 mile cars and bits of rubber seal flapping about. Go to Porsche down the road and there's 12 month old cars with more miles than the whole Ferrari showroom for sale. Tells you all you need to know and highlights the differences between the owners.
I'll be in the minority and hand in my PH card on my way out, but my take is that they are pretty cars, but probably the only car sports car brand that makes absolutely nothing I would consider buying.
Normally I like fly yellow fezzas but black special order was the way to go on these - c'ant be that many though!
I have loved Porsche's too, but Ferrari is just something else.
Hope you join us one day. Never say never.
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