Throughout Ferrari’s illustrious history, few — if any — models have encapsulated the mystique of the Prancing Horse quite as succinctly as the F40. Outrageous in appearance, uncompromising in philosophy and otherworldly in performance, the F40 was everything a Ferrari should be.
The tragic 1986 World Rally Championship season had led to the abandonment of the FIA’s Group B regulations, leaving Ferrari with several race-developed — yet newly redundant — 288 GTO Evoluzione chassis. Fortuitously, rather than closing the doors on the project, the decision was taken to use it as the basis of a new standard-setting road car; one which would also serve as a centerpiece for Ferrari’s impending 40th anniversary celebrations.
Both the 288 GTO’s twin-turbo V8 engine and chassis were retained for the new car, albeit with the former strengthened, and the latter enlarged to 2.9 liters. Dramatic Pininfarina-styled bodywork was fashioned entirely from composite materials — a first for Ferrari — while a spartan interior with only minimal concessions to comfort enabled the car’s weight to be kept to barely 1,200 kilograms (2,650 pounds).
Producing some 478 horsepower at 7,000 rpm, the F40’s enviable power-to-weight ratio permitted 60 mph to be reached in approximately four seconds, with a top speed of 201 mph. Configured in highly desirable early-series, European-market, “non-cat, non-adjust” specification, chassis 83052 departed Ferrari’s fabled Maranello factory on October 25, 1989, destined for Modenese Ferrari agents Motor S.p.A.
The fuel cells were renewed — in conjunction with a major service, including the renewal of the cam belts, air filters, spark plugs and battery, in addition to a full engine diagnostic check and setup — as recently as May 2024. The accompanying Red Book, awarded in December 2016, confirms that the F40 retains its matching-numbers chassis, engine and gearbox.
Blessed with only two owners this century, and a recorded odometer reading of just 20,921 kilometers at the time of cataloging, such examples of the F40 seldom appear on the open market, rendering this particular sales opportunity all the more noteworthy.
(Introductory description courtesy of RM Sotheby’s.)
