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The car was billed as the headline act among a collection of available exotics, but failed to find a buyer.
A rare 1990 Ferrari F40 in a sought-after collector specification has failed to sell at a recent Australian exotic car auction.
The F40, one of only a handful converted to right-hand drive of the 1311 cars produced in total, was billed by auction house Retro Rides as the “standout lot” of its February auction.
The car itself was built in what's known as “non-cat, non-adjust” specification, making it the lightest and ‘purest’ configuration for an F40, with no catalytic converter and no adjustable suspension.
The F40 was the last Ferrari model to be sign off by company founder Enzo Ferrari before his death in 1988, at age 90.
The car was designed to celebrate Ferrari SpA’s 40th anniversary, and features a twin-turbo 2.9-litre V8 engine, five-speed manual transmission, and weight-saving Kevlar, carbon-fibre, and alimunium construction.
The auction car is described as a ‘matching numbers’ vehicle has covered 37,063km, with around 4000 of those completed in Australia, after first being delivered in Switzerland.
The right-hand drive conversion was completed in Australia by its new owner, described by Retro Rides as a highly-skilled engineer.
The conversion reportedly involves no structural changes, allowing the vehicle to be converted back to its original left-hand drive configuration.
The Rosso Corsa F40 is believed to be one of six F40s in Australia.
Other changes made by the owner include the fitment of power windows and central locking, along with a suede steering wheel and conventional setbelts, but the original steering wheel and seat harnesses were to be provided.
A single-vehicle accident in 2020 saw the vehicle recieve cosmetic damage, which was repaired keeping all original parts from the car.
Bidding started at $10,000 for the F40, immediately jumping to $250,000 by the second bid. A $575,000 bid was the fourth place, with the F40’s 15th bid taking it to the $1 million mark.
In all 53 bids were placed, with bidding topping out at $3,410,000 however, the vehicle failed to sell.
It's unclear why the F40 did not sell. Usually, this is an indication that the price did not meet the reserve, but Retro Rides auctions has not stated this is the case.
Kez Casey migrated from behind spare parts counters to writing about cars over ten years ago. Raised by a family of automotive workers, Kez grew up in workshops and panel shops before making the switch to reviews and road tests for The Motor Report, Drive and CarAdvice.
