► 2017 will be the 70th anniversary of Ferrari, so to celebrate…
► 70 iconic liveries will be replicated across modern Ferrari line-up
► Five of each design, limited to one per model of the current range
In 2017 Ferrari will be celebrating its 70th anniversary, and naturally it’s got a few party plans. Leading the conga is a car you’ve already heard about: the open top LaFerrari, which has been officially unveiled at the 2016 Paris Motor Show as the LaFerrari Aperta. But this will not be the only celebratory Prancing Horse that gets to wear the special new 70 years badge just ahead of the rear wheelarch, as Ferrari has also announced 350 bespoke Tailor Made editions to buck up the rest of the range.
To make these cars truly distinctive, Ferrari has chosen 70 liveries from its historic back catalogue to be represented on these new models – with one example of each livery available on each of the five cars in the current mainstream Ferrari range. This makes every individual car unique, as no matter the livery there will only be one 488 GTB, one F12, one California T, and so on…
Cool or cringy? This sounds like it could go either way…
Judging by the samples on the stand in Paris, Ferrari’s pretty much bullseyed cool in this instance.
Take ‘The Green Jewel,’ above (ok, so maybe the names could do with some work) for example. Displayed here as a 488 Spider, this has the bright metallic green paintwork of the David Piper Racing 365 P2, which won at the nine hours of Kyalami in 1965 and 1966, and the open roof is all the better for showing off the bright red driver’s seat. It looks spectacular.
Elsewhere ‘The Stirling’ is represented by an F12berlinetta – inspired by the 250 GT Berlinetta SWB that Moss drove to victory in the 1961 Tourist Trophy, this features Blu Scuro paint with horizontal white stripe and number roundel.
Meanwhile ‘The Steve McQueen’, influenced by the 1963 250 GT Berlinetta given to the American actor by his wife Neile Adams, is here as a California T and resplendent in brown paint with a camel leather interior.
Perhaps most poignant, however, is ‘The Schumacher’ 488 GTB, below, which is in homage to the 2003 World Championship-winning F2003-GA Formula One car. This features white over red exterior detailing and an interior complete with yellow paddleshifters. Instead of the usual wing-mounted badges, the Ferrari crests on the front wings are painted on.
Ferrari hasn’t released the complete list, but we’re personally hoping that Graham Hill’s 1963 Tourist Trophy-winning Rosso Corsa 250 GTO with Oxford Blue nose is amongst the icons represented…
Presumably this historic livery idea has gone down quite well with Ferrari’s clients and collectors?
You could say that. Ferrari isn’t saying what the premium is over the equivalent standard model, but it doesn’t really matter because all 350 of the special editions have already been sold.
The Tailor Made atelier division that’s responsible for finishing all these ‘celebrant’ cars is going to be pretty busy, because even though there is five of each livery, they are only being applied once to a particular type of car, so all of the detailing is different. Every single time. We can only imagine the resulting cost.
According to Ferrari, this hasn’t stopped ‘one or two’ owners wanting to buy all five examples of a particular livery – mostly in instances where they own the original car. But apparently these requests have been denied on the grounds that ‘it wasn’t fair’ to other buyers. As usual in such situations, Ferrari has applied its own rules to decide who has qualified to own one of these extra special editions. In the years to come it will be interesting to see which of the liveries becomes worth the most to collectors.
None of this explains why the LaFerrari Aperta on the stand (above) is finished in black with red pinstriping like the George Barris Batmobile. Nor is there any news of a Nigel Mansell special edition complete with moustache graphic and droning engine note…
Click here for more news and features from Paris 2016