Here's Why the Ferrari F40 Is Worth $1.3 Million

This is a 1991 Ferrari F40, it is one of the most iconic, unforgettable, special, incredible, exciting and exhilarating cars in all of automotive history, or so I have been told. I have never driven one before that will change this car. sale for $1.3

million

by my friends at LBI, a local exotic car dealership

here

in Philadelphia that always has the best stuff in their inventory in the past. LBI lent me a Lamborghini yelpa that I filmed a review with last year, a pristine low mileage original. Acura NSX and my favorite Ferrari race car, which I proceeded to drive on the street.

Their website with their amazing inventory is linked in the description below. LBI always has the coolest cars, but this might be the coolest car. This is a Ferrari F40. one of Ferrari's five great supercars and is currently on sale for 1.3

million

. Let me repeat that $1.3 million and today I'll show you why it's

worth

every penny. in-depth tour and I'll show you all of its quirks and strange features and then I'll take it out on the road and drive the Ferrari F40 and at the end, as always, I'll give it a Doug score, but first a quick look at what makes this car As significant as I said, the F40 is one of the five Ferrari supercars, the five special Ferrari models that are even rarer, more collectible and more special than the regular Ferrari models, the other four being the 288 GTO, the F50 , the Enzo and La Ferrari and of that group, Ferrari built the most F40s, about 1300 in total for the world, but many people consider it the best, the crudest and most visceral, the baddest.

It was built to commemorate Ferrari's 40th anniversary, hence the name. and is generally considered to be the last car that Enzo Ferrari had much involvement with. Many people think that Ferrari started to become softer and more luxury-focused after the F40, despite many speculations and claims to the contrary, all F40s were painted red from the factory and all came with a twin-turbo V8. 2.9 L that made about 500 more horsepower in about a minute. Now, as for the quirks and features, we will start with the exterior and specifically this huge spoiler, an icon if I want to talk about cars with wings, starts with this.

One interesting thing you might not have known about the spoiler is that the F40 logo is only on one side, the passenger side, so it can move in the same direction as the car on the other. One of the most iconic details of this car is the headlights now, when you look at the car when it is stopped

here

you will notice a couple of headlights, you think they are all the headlights, you don't turn the headlight knob and the pop up headlights come on correctly. Upstairs, yes, that's right, there are two sets of headlights on this car and here's the cool thing: when the pop-ups are down and you go to turn on the lights, the bottom ones flash when you raise the pop-ups and go to turn on the lights.

The ones above flash that way, if you want to show your lights to someone you don't have your lights on, you don't have to wait for the pop-ups to open to show them your lights, that's a smart thought next. I want to talk about the gas caps on the f40s, yes there are two, one on the driver's side and one on the Paster's side. I'll explain why that is in a second right now. I just want you to focus on the appearance of the gas cap and figure it out. Also, the gas cap has a small lock.

There are many locks on the outside of this car. For example, there are locks on the front of the trunk on the driver's side and one on the passenger side. There are also padlocks on the back of the hood. one on the driver's side, one on the passenger's side, of course, there are locks on the driver and passenger doors and then there are the attention locks on the fuel tank. In total, there are eight total locks on the exterior of this car that are opened with three separate keys. and we haven't even gotten to the wheel locks yet, yes that's right the wheel locks, this car doesn't have normal lug nuts like a normal car it has center locking wheels which is common on Porsches and those things nowadays, but it wasn't common.

Back then it was only in racing cars. What I've always liked about the center locking wheels on this car is the little pin in the middle, it feels like it's the only thing holding these wheels in place, of course that's not true, but it's a feature. F40 Styling Element Another signature design element of the F40 is this rear window that is not made of glass or plastic but Lexan, which is a heat-resistant and crack-resistant material. The most unique design element of this rear window is these closures that give you better visibility. from the front seat and helps with engine cooling.

I bet you didn't know they were open. If you want, you can walk up to an F40, put your hand in and feel the engine if it fits. Another unforgettable design element. on the F40 there are all these arrow shaped inlets on the sides on the top of the trunk, on the top of the hood, no one makes these things anymore, no one makes arrow shaped inlets, but the F40 had a bunch of them . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 are a little strange when you really think about them and when you add them up, but the truth is that without them it wouldn't look like an F40, talking about the air intakes that we all knew, the ones that are shaped of arrow, but I Today I found one that I didn't even know existed in this car behind the rear windows there is a small air intake on each side inside a small tunnel who knew here is another thing that maybe you didn't know about the F40 the Paint on an F40 is incredibly thin, in fact now Ferrari supposedly did this for a purpose, more paint would have meant more weight, so they put on thin paint to save weight.

Now the interesting result of this is that since most of this car is made of this ultralight. carbon and Kevlar mix, you can see the weave through the paint anywhere you look, you can see through the very thin paint, this carbon and Kevlar mix, which is really cool and also has another benefit, you can always Know if an F40 has been repainted and the paint is too thick because you can no longer see the fabric. Classic car experts use this as a way to define whether an F40 has been repainted or is still wearing its original paint.

Next we move on to the F40 engine cover if you ever wanted to know how. to open an f40s engine cover well here you go first you open these little things once you have unlocked them with the key that I told you about before now that they are open you put your hands here and be very very careful because I can Just imagine what this costs piece, it's actually heavier than you'd expect, in the end it's a two-man job and I'll show you why in a second, okay, this is AD Doo, he runs LBI Limited and he's going to demonstrate both.

One person's job is to open and prop up the engine cover on the Ferrari F40 so that it is unlocked right now and that means it's time to lift it up. He's going to do the hardest thing next. I have to take out the propeller. It is in two pieces. It is in two different pieces. They're together, but then I have to get it into the little hole for the hood support very carefully and it's fine, and that's the Ferrari F40 engine cover now open and supported. Once you're under the hood there's no big surprise here, you've got the engine, turbos etc. except for one thing and that's how much is exposed when you open the hood or trunk of any normal car, there's usually a lot of work on the body on the sides, you usually can't see the tires on the F40 when you open the engine cover, you're basically taking half the body off of this car, it looks amazing when it's actually open now that the engine cover It's open and we've seen what's underneath, it's time to close it, which is also a two person job first you have to grab the hood support so it doesn't fall, then you open the hood a little bit, then you lower this thing, you split it back into two pieces, which is a very confusing process, here we go. again in two, we slide it down, we put it back in its place and then comes the really difficult part and that is how to close it, which is very carefully, because to close it correctly you have to place the hood slightly on these. upward facing metal teeth mounted on the bumper along with another set of metal teeth next to the rear wheels, you have to get it perfectly in position or you might damage it and then you close the latches, another interesting thing about the f40s engine cover is which isn't designed for idiots, it doesn't have a built-in stop that would prevent you from pushing it all the way up so it lands on the roof of the F40, which would have added unnecessary weight, so just don't do it now.

Since you've seen what's behind it, you probably want to see what's under the front cover, so this is also a two person job, first you open it like on the other side and then like this thing it flexes a little bit , you want to lift it with two people, the interesting part is that once it's up, it goes on and on and it's just held on with these two little cables. It's actually a little stressful when you're in this position now that the front trunk is open and supported. because of those little cables it's absolutely amazing how much of the front of the car is removed, that was true in the rear but it's really incredible in the front, let me illustrate real quick, right now I'm standing inside the wheel front of the F40, the front wheel.

It's there, I'm between the two wheels, you get a huge amount of car out when you open the front trunk and you can see the parts that are left behind and that remain structural. It's actually cool to see the car in this position. Is incredible. To see another interesting thing about this particular car, in the front of the truck, open inside, it has the Ferrari factory tool kit, the Ferrari factory tire kit, and the original F40 owner's manual inside of the pretty leather bag. Now the good thing about the F40 owner's manual is that it's only about 50 pages long and in those 50 pages is the manual in four different languages, there's just not that much electronics, there's not a lot of stuff you have to learn, you just get in and drive, and By the way, this on eBay. $500 more on the leather bag $800 more on all of that, probably like three thousand dollars, this is the most expensive owner's manual tool kit I've ever seen.

Another thing about the trunk, it may not look like there's a lot of room in there, but Ferrari made custom sets of The F40 luggage is designed to fit comfortably into place here, moving on to the interior, this car has some very special features inside, which What I like most in the entire interior of the car are the door panels, there is no luxury here, there is nothing nice. easy, no leather lined hand stitching, instead you get a little pocket on the door, you get a roller for your window, but my personal favorite feature on the door panel is the door handle, no There is a nice door handle on the grille beautifully on the panel, there is a lanyard.

I'm serious, you pull it, the door opens, you know how modern Porsches have those little fabric rings right next to the power windows to make it look like they're saving weight, this thing looks nothing like it, this thing You are actually saving weight below. Up top, let's talk about the transmission. The Ferrari F40 is a 5-speed manual. That's right, your Ford Focus ST has more forward gears than a Ferrari F40. The other thing you may not have known about the F40 is that it is a dogleg transmission. First it's down. and on the left where you would expect second to be, second and third can be in a line, which are the gears you will probably use a lot if you are on most race tracks, the problem with that is that reverse gear it's up and to the left, where you'd expect it to be first.

You don't want to make that mistake in any car, but trust me, you really don't want to make that mistake in an F40. The next interesting thing about the F40. It's as basic and basic as the interior of this car is. There is no radio. There is no air conditioning. Although there is a climate control system that doesn't really work very well. There are no electric windows. There are no electric locks. There are no power mirrors on this car. There isn't even an interior light to save weight. I'm serious, so one of the benefits of the F40 and this car is that you don't have to worry about draining the battery by leaving the doors open all night while it's in your car.

Interestingly, despite all the things this car It doesn't have one, it has sun visors and the one on the passenger side even has a mirror because the Italians have their priorities clear. Other interesting interior features of this car on the left side are two stalks coming out of the steering wheel one is for the headlights the other is for the turn signals when you go to put on the turn signals you have to make sure you don't hit the headlight on the sideRight side of the steering column is the windshield wiper and has a nifty little feature.

If you turn it on, the driver will no longer be able to see the little wiper screens, so they printed them on the bottom as well. so even when it's bent on the wiper butt it's still clearly a wiper butt that's smart, another surprising thing about the interior of this car, it's clearly not designed for comfort, these racing seats are made of carbon fiber carbon and I really hug you and the carbon Kevlar is everywhere on this thing, there are small formats but other than that it's just carbon everywhere, many modern cars have touches of carbon fiber everywhere to look sporty and This thing is completely functional, it goes away from the luxury of this car, they could have covered all that, instead they said no, keep it, it saves weight, it's functional, people don't.

I don't need more than that and the interior of This car is completely basic and everything revolves around necessity. It's so basic that the center isn't even occupied by a screen or even an attempt at luxury. Its three gauges are temperature, oil pressure and fuel. The cluster is really simple, the only notable items are two deceleration lights on each side, like check engine lights for each bank of cylinders and yes, that's a boost gauge on the right, since for storage there is no glove box and central storage are these two. the pockets are not big and they don't close good luck to the left of the steering wheel there are only four buttons the hazard lights the front and rear fog lights and the windshield defogger also ever want to know how to start an F40 turn the key and press that button rubber, who knew, and then we'll get to possibly this funniest F40 Quirk.

The Classy K certification for those of you who don't know what the Classy K certification is, this is the deal if you have a Ferrari and I want you to verify that it is original as it left the factory. You can take it to the dealer. The technician goes under the car. He verifies that all serial numbers are original. He takes some pictures and then sends all of that to Italy. Months later a small book arrives saying that your car is Classy K certified. The cost of this certification right now for the F40 is $7.44. Just have someone check some serial numbers.

Interestingly, this has become really important in the world of older Ferraris. models, people have become obsessed with this classy K certification, although it really just means that the car was factory original when it was certified, for example, this car already received classy K certification after that, it could have replaced everything What you see, you could be looking at a Pontiac Fiero with a Ferrari F40 body and yet this car would still have its Classy K certification. The really crazy thing about Classy K certification is that Ferrari even offers it on some of its newer models at the moment.

If you pay Ferrari $564, they'll give you a fancy K certificate for their 458 Special; In other words, you pay them almost six thousand dollars and they tell you that a car they made 24 months ago is a car they made 24 months ago, without going so far as to set up a government or create a very detailed Ferrari counterfeiting operation. The fancy K certification has to be the closest thing in the world to literally printing money before moving on to the driving experience. One last quirk about this particular F40. This is a Euro F40 compared to the US F40 sold in the North American market.

There are some substantial differences between the two cars, one of the biggest being the appearance at the front, the lip on the US cars is much more pronounced, larger by US crash safety standards .USA, the same goes for the rear bumper, plus, also for USA accidents. Safety rules: American cars have a third brake light and have automatic seat belts that activate automatically every time you open the car. the door, like an '80s Honda Accord. The result is that the European car has a cleaner look without those extra safety things. Because I didn't mean to put it in and it's also lighter, a Euro F40 like this is 160 lbs lighter than an American car.

That might make you think a Euro is the one to get, but the American car had a distinct benefit. On US cars to compensate for the extra weight, Ferrari added power. American cars supposedly produce between 500 and 515 horsepower, while a Euro F40 makes 478 horsepower. The other big difference between the Euro F40 and the US F40 was the fuel situation. Now I mentioned those two. The fuel tanks on each side feed two fuel bladders located inside the car and in the Euro Cars those fuel bladders had to be changed every 7 to 10 years at a cost of $113,000. This car just had the bladders replaced from $113,000 now the interesting thing is According to EPA regulations, American cars could not have bladders, but instead had aluminum fuel tanks.

Aluminum fuel tanks had some drawbacks, for example they could be corrosive in the wrong circumstances, they don't provide as much safety at high speed. accident with a fire risk and they weigh a little more, but the benefit of aluminum fuel tanks, of course, is that you don't need to change them every 7 to 10 years, so it's a pretty complete tour of the peculiarities and characteristics of the Ins and outs of the Ferrari F40 Now it's time to take it out on the road as I review the F40 in this video if you want to know more about my thoughts, my fears, my worries, my hopes and expectations about driving the F40. for the first time a $1.3 million car, click the link below to go to autotrader.com oversteer, where I wrote a story that goes into greater detail about all that stuff.

Jesus, my goodness, okay, we're driving the F40 in a sort of city setting here okay, so the ride is a little rough as expected. You're so low in the car. I'm so close to the ground. The clutch situation is just crazy and the pedal box is also very narrow. You have to be careful with every little bump the road the car is actually not that low the approach angle is very difficult the front sticks out quite a bit it's crazy to look back and see the rear window that you've seen in photos for 20 years, Basically, it's amazing how close you are to the front of the car and how low you are, even more so than in any other exotic car.

I drive 488 and all that, you're so much lower, oh my god, this is Ultima. It looks like a monster truck. It's very hot inside this cabin. It's actually quite impressive. I have the climate control on but the thing is it doesn't do much because there are only three vents and they don't work. we really have it on the highest setting and they're not really doing much cornering here, it's a little bumpy, the ride quality is rough, that's just a reality of this car, but the handling is so good it's It's just so amazing because it's really like a kart, you can put it anywhere and do anything with it and it's amazing.

I run 95 South in an F40. This is the craziest experience I've ever had. Oh my god, I just looked. the mirror for the first time it's amazing to see all those things behind the wing and everything that's amazing you're seeing a childhood dream come true right now man the potholes yeah they attack you on the road here although it feels very stable Surprisingly it doesn't feel like it's about to go out of control or do anything stupid, it feels like we're planted on the ground and it feels good, this car has the factory exhaust and there just isn't as much noise.

Unfortunately, the aftermarket exhaust actually gets a lot more noise out of this car than the original factory exhaust, it just wasn't as loud. I'm surprised how planted it feels, it actually feels like a modern sports car in that sense, it feels very stable on the road I thought I would be very scared driving this thing and it would be twisty and weird and it actually isn't. . Feels pretty good, easy downshifts honestly the transmission and everything feels pretty slick, feels good, nice to operate. In fact, I think everything feels less stiff and the clutch is easier than on a test Roa.

It almost feels more like a car you can play with and have fun with. That surprises me and I'm behind it. an envoy, it's breaking down, I have no idea why because I can't see around it, oh there is a big truck that is the scariest thing, this car is

worth

more than all the cars I can see, I have to say though I was thinking all this time that I would be very nervous about the value, but it is actually a very easy car to drive at this speed. I'm not really thinking about it much, although it's easier than I thought.

Driving the clutch is not as hard as the accelerator pedals. easier to push the ride quality isn't too bad, the visibility is excellent because there are no weird accidents around you that you can see in all directions. I really wonder if for the only people in this country driving one of these right now, it's certainly the only one. people in this state wow wow you can just it's like a bullet you can just aim it it's much more throwable than modern cars much more because the steering is very direct and it feels small and precise and you can really put it where you want to put it.

I'm impressed by that like a woody Ford Flex. I don't know what's weirder, but I hope it's so stable on the road that I actually feel like I could be doing it. this in a storm if you wanted to, it's also surprising that there is very little noise and stuff, ultimately this car is 25 years old. You would think it would vibrate and feel like it was going to break down, but in reality, this car has obviously been tremendously good. Maintained and well maintained it is amazing how fast it can move and how quickly it can change direction.

I'm really surprised that this car still feels like an amazing car all this time later. The thing I was most nervous about driving this car was that it was on the highway. Expansion joints it has this old steering rack it would send me in a strange way isn't it it's planted it's stable I love hearing the turbos in a Ferrari it's amazing I love that turbo sound how cool I wish there was more climate control this isn't it a car you want to drive in 95° temperatures another interesting thing the louvers on the back allow you to see in the back but there are no louvers directly in the middle so what is directly behind you is actually a little obscured like a mini Clubman with the thing in the middle here says oh my god it's so fast it really is and the Turbo comes on in the old school way, you go fast, you go fast and then you go really fast.

I'm surprised at how planted it feels on the road, the car inspires a lot of confidence, it doesn't feel like it's pulling, it doesn't jiggle, it doesn't hit you when handling, it doesn't feel like the steering is loose. Alright, tunnel time, just do nothing, nothing, nothing, bam, the turbo lag situation is exactly as everyone has described it. Not much really happens for a while and then a lot happens. Really blows this car up for an '80s car. Most stable, capable, stable '80s car I've ever driven. I love the handling, it's just great. I love how connected he is.

Many modern cars have lost everything. There is much less connection. I wish it was a little more precise, but that's it. That's how things were back then. I never thought it would be like with an F40. I thought I'd say, "Oh God, what's going to happen," but I actually feel pretty confident that this car inspires a lot of confidence, so ladies and gentlemen, that's the Ferrari F40, one of possibly the most iconic cars in history. most iconic brand in all of automotive history, expensive to buy, yes, expensive to own, yes, absolutely worth every penny and now it's time for Doug's score, starting with the weekend categories and the styling of each one.

Easy, the F40 gets a 10, no explanation needed. Next up is acceleration, the F40 does 0-60 on a 3.7 second turbo lag, it gets an 8 out of 10. Next up is the handling which is impressive but there is a bit of sluggishness in the steering that is not understood. In the best modern cars, it hardly matters as it gets a 9 out of 10. The next step is great. Few cars in the history of the world have been this great and it gets an easy 10 out of 10. Finally, it's important that this car is important to Ferrari. as one of their five great supercars for the automobile industry, as it is supposedly the first car to reach 200 mph and for any child who has ever owned one it is a poster on a bedroom wall, from which many of us get easily a 10.10, bringing their overall score for the weekend to a staggering 47 out of 50, by far the best, but five points offahead of the Porsche 911r, future cars, good luck beating the F40.

Things take a different turn when we move on to the Daily Scoring features and equipment. does not have any has a cord for the interior door handle does not have does not have a dome light receives and deserves the first of 10 in this category luxury measures comfort and this car is not comfortable the seats are tight, the climate control is non-existent and the ride is harsh, but not as harsh as I expected, so it gets a two out of 10 instead of one. Quality measures materials and reliability. The F40 uses thin materials, but that's not really the case.

Measure by modern standards, most importantly reliability is tough, these cars are notoriously expensive to maintain, once had to spend over 13 grand to change the fuel bladder on your Acura, it gets a four out of 10, Practicality is next and the F40 has ridiculous cargo space. Passenger room and gas mileage, it gets one out of 10 and finally there's value, which is almost unbelievably difficult. How do you get a car that costs more than a million dollars? It's impossible to pick an objectively nice number here, but this is what I know the F40 has. has always been valuable, will always be valuable, it may be expensive but it may look cheap in 10 years when they sell for 2 million, that should give you a high score, but it is brought down by the fact that you could argue that we are in a bit . of an exotic car bubble and prices could go down before they inevitably go up again, so it gets a seven out of 10 and that brings the final daily score to an almost ridiculous 15 out of 50.

Don't buy this for everyday driving, add them up. and Doug's final score is 62 out of 100 which is in the middle of the pack which makes sense, it's practically impossible to drive this car every day but it's awesome to drive occasionally and if you look further at the weekend and the scores daily separately. Which is what I, rather than the two combined, gives you a great idea of ​​exactly what kind of car the F40 is.