VIDEO: Revisiting One Of The Analog Supercar Greats, The Ferrari F40, With An Equally Great Owner...

I respect Ferrari owners who drive their cars and enjoy them because they are cars. Those who buy them and put them away for investments are douchebags. Driving an "analog" (Holy misuse of the term, Batman) car is much more satisfying for me because the car is alive. Sure a Tesla in Asinine Mode is fast, but it's not in the least satisfying.

Haha, Asinine Mode.

Well played.

I've only ever seen two of these out on the road and I can remember where and when....this is a special car. To hear and see it in motion is magical!

I've seen a handful or so in the flesh but, like you said, seeing it on the road for the first time was jaw dropping.

It just looks so alien compared to everything else when you spot it coming up behind you.

A customer car was crashed (hard) doing a left turn in Toronto during the summer a few years back. A mechanic was giving it a test run of some sort. No idea how that worked out in the end for the dealer or the customer.

If one of our mechanics is out jack butting around, it is immediate grounds for firing. The dealers owners' group shares such information. If we damage a customer's car, it's usually 100% out of our pocket because we would not increase our insurance exposure. If someone else was at fault for the damage, we go after their insurance big time.

@MD is there such a thing as repairing an F40? Would it need to be sent back to the factory? Guy was making the left and got hit by in oncoming car. Front end damage.

I would say that yes an F40 can be repaired depending on the damage but you'd probably want Ferrari to do it. They've resurrected some rather hopeless cases. The insurance company may not be willing to foot that bill so the owner--assuming he was not at fault--would have to pursue litigation against the offending driver if a restoration was the desired outcome..

@MD Here is the link. Guy who hit him was running a red light. I can only imagine what his insurance company said. "You hit what???"


https://driving.ca/ferrari/auto-news/news/rare-ferrari-f40-mangled-by-red-light-runner-in-toronto

That could be fixable depending on whether or not the central structure of the car was tweaked. It looks like a relatively clean sheer. Nevertheless, you're looking at an astronomical amount if it is fixable.

Gas Monkey Garage had an episode where they bought a black crashed F40 for a couple hundred grand, rebuilt it and sold it for a large profit.

I love a great profit, but such a project is 17 miles out of my league on so many levels.

I'm still smarting over my Iso Grifo debacle that was a money pit. I know. Hardly in the same league.

I prefer "sure things" that we have the capacity to do.

We flip a fair number of 60s and 70s pickups and muscle cars because doing so is C-H-E-A-P and the profit H-I-G-H and the turn around is F-A-S-T. It's especially good when you can do 2-3 of the same vehicle at the same time.

Haul them to Orange County or San Diego and you command a better price. Ditto the Palm Springs strand where my dad lives.

The last Jensen Interceptor we did took four-five months and the Healey took 10-11.

When I can find a Porsche 914 that isn't a total disaster, I buy it and turn it into a 914-6 replica.

But those take time.

The best steal I ever got was a 68 Shelby GT500 that a 19 year old got from his grandfather. The car ran--barely--and it was ratty as hell. He knew that "Shelby" was something so he asked the princely sum of $3K so he could put a down payment on a used Civic. I said yes without dickering.

Thankfully the CobraJet was salvageable.

The F40 is amazing but it's nowhere near being one of Ferrari's best looking cars. In fact, the opposite is more like it for me. It absolutely lacks the impact of a Daytona or a 512BB or a Testarossa.

I agree with you there.

It's not like other Ferraris but it is brutal looking, which there's something to be said for that approach.

I love the 512BBi. Also love the 360 Challenge Stradale.

F40 was a purpose built race car put on the streets and is a big reason for its appeal and shape. These other models mentioned were designed as street cars from the get go and have their own appeal as well.