Once every decade or so, Ferrari comes out with a world-beating, benchmark-setting supercar that demonstrates the Italian company’s latest technology and insatiable thirst for speed. The first real car to pull this off was the Ferrari F40. It was the last car Enzo himself signed off on, it was the first carbon fiber bodied car, it was the first production car to hit 200 mph, and it was built to celebrate the companies 40th birthday. After the F40 came the F50. A limited run model of only 349 cars, the F50 was again one of the quickest cars on the road; it could hit 60 mph in only 3.7 seconds, in 1995. The mid-engined monster that followed the F50 was supposed to be one of the greatest cars that Ferrari had ever created. It had an all-new engine and an array of Formula One technologies. The car was going to be so great, so rather than christen it the F60, Ferrari decided to name it after the company’s founder. This is the Ferrari Enzo.
The Enzo made huge waves through the industry when it debuted, and it remains one of Ferrari’s most loved and sought-after modern models. Only 400 of these incredible machines were ever produced, and each one is special. Keep reading to find out why.
Updated 08/18/2016: Our guy Jonathan Lopez is present at the 2016 Monterey Car Week and he took a series of shots for the Ferrari Enzo - aka one of the best supercars ever built by the Italian company. Check them out in the picture gallery.
Exterior
Designed by Ken Okuyama, Pininfarina’s chief designer at the time, the Enzo featured styling cues previously unseen on a Ferrari. Although the F50 was a design evolution of the F40, the Enzo had nothing in common with its predecessor. Okuyama designed an F1-inspired front fascia, which featured a pointy nose mounted ahead of a V-shaped front lid. The air vents in the bumper were also crafted to resemble an F1 car’s front wing. In all, the front end of the Enzo depicted how a F1 car would’ve looked like if the FIA had abandoned the open-wheel design. For the headlamps, Ferrari opted for a pair of elongated, almost trapezoidal units mounted on each side of the nose. Two additional vents flanked the V-shaped hood.
The cabin was again radical compared to past Ferraris, as its design was seemingly inspired by Le Mans prototype race cars. On the sides, the Enzo received beefy side skirts and flared rear fenders based on F1-style side pods. Around back, the Enzo kept the F50’s quad-taillight arrangements, but the units were moved upward into the fascia and outside of the grille, which was shortened and flattened on the new supercar. Down bellow, a massive diffuser with four exhaust pipes on each side occupied most of the apron.
Overall, the Enzo’s design was quite revolutionary for 2002, but well received by the general public and supercar enthusiasts alike.
Exterior Dimensions
| Wheelbase | 2,650 mm (104 in) |
|---|---|
| Length | 4,702 mm (185.1 in) |
| Width | 2,035 mm (80.1 in) |
| Height | 1,147 mm (45.2 in) |
| Curb weight | 1,255 kg (2,767 lb) |
It’s also for sale!
The Ferrari Testarossa is regarded as one of the most iconic cars of the 1980’s. But as popular as the two-door Berlinetta was, Ferrari actually made just one convertible version. That model was specially created as a gift by Ferrari for the late Gianni Agnelli, the head of Fiat at the time. There are a handful of other drop-top Testarossas in existence today, but all of them are custom-built, including this black beauty that was built specifically for Michael Jackson’s now iconic 1987 Pepsi commercial.
If you’re going to own a custom-built Ferrari Testarossa Convertible, I can’t think of another one that you should own more than this particular example. The provenance of this creation is unlike any other custom Testarossa Convertible. Jackson may not have owned it at any point in his life, but he did use it in the famous four-part Pepsi commercial that saw MJ try to escape a horde of screaming fans. The Testarossa Convertible doesn’t get a lot of screen time, but it did make an impression, especially when Jackson uses it to escape the mass hysteria that was chasing him.
Outside of its appearance in the Pepsi ads, the black Testarossa Convertible also has a unique history of its own. According to its lineage, it was built by a custom tuning company in California at a cost of $40,000. Remember, this was in the 1980’s, a time when $40,000 was almost half of what an actual Testarossa cost — it was priced from $94,000 — when it was introduced around the same time.
So the car itself wasn’t cheap to build, but if you have $799,900 lying around today, you can buy it and make it a part of your personal collection. For that amount, you get one of the most unique custom-built Ferrari Testarossa convertible units in history. It does have 17,000 miles on its odometer so it’s been used quite heavily in the course of its 31-year life. Still, when’s the next time you’ll get to see a Testarossa convertible that has Michael Jackson’s provenance attached to it.
