Apparently, it is impossible to improve on perfection.
A wrecked 1991 Ferrari F40 rebuilt by Gas Monkey Garage of the Discovery Channel show Fast ‘N’ Loud sold for $742,500 at the Barrett-Jackson collector-car auction in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The car was seemingly totaled after a service-center employee crashed it into a building, causing severe frame damage and destroying much of the original bodywork.
Always looking for a good deal, Gas Monkey’s Richard Rawlings and Aaron Kaufman snatched up the crumpled Ferrari, with a plan to restore it to better-than-new condition.
Now, it’s easy to point to a rusty Nash Rambler and think of ways to improve it, but a Ferrari F40? Really?
The F40, the 1980s technological predecessor of the LaFerrari, put all of the company’s car-building prowess onto the road. In addition to being incredibly rare, it’s still revered as one of the last truly analog high-performance cars.
Job One for Gas Monkey was simply repairing all of the damage, which was done with the help of Ferrari-certified technicians. It then got a black repaint and some sinister HRE three-piece wheels, making the rejuvenated F40 look a bit like the Batmobile.
The 2.9-liter twin-turbocharged V8 also got some attention, receiving a Tubi exhaust system, rebuilt turbos, an aluminum flywheels, and a new clutch. The result is 550 horsepower, a substantial increase over the stock F40’s 478 hp.
In the world of customization, nothing is sacred, even a limited-edition supercar. Some might say that messing with a masterpiece like the F40 isn’t a good idea, while others might appreciate the fact that one of these fantastic machines is back on the road and not in a scrap pile. That seems to be the attitude of the bidders at Barrett-Jackson.
