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 amazing thrilling exhilarating cars in the entire history of the automobile or so I've been told I've never driven one before today that's gonna change this car is listed for sale for 1.3 million dollars by my friends at LBI limited a local exotic car dealership here in Philadelphia that always has the coolest stuff in their inventory in the past LBI has loaned me a lamborghini ALPA which I filmed a review with last year a pristine low mileage original Acura NSX and my personal favorite a Ferrari Challenge race car which I proceeded to drive on the street their website with their amazing inventory is linked in the description below lb I always has the coolest cars but this might just be the coolest car this is a Ferrari f40 one of Ferraris five great supercars and it is currently listed for sale for one point three million dollars let me repeat that one point three million dollars and today I'm gonna show you why it is worth every penny I'm gonna take you on an in-depth tour and show you all of its quirks and weird features and then I'm gonna get it out on the road and I'm going to drive the Ferrari f40 and at the end as usual I'm gonna give it a dug score but first a quick look at what makes this car so significant like I said the f40 is one of the five Ferrari supercars the five ultra special Ferrari models that are even rarer and more collectible and more special than Ferraris regular models the other four are the 288 GTO the f50 the Enzo and the laferrari and of that group Ferrari built the most f40 s roughly 1300 total for the world but many people consider it the best the most raw and visceral the meanest it was built to commemorate Ferraris 40th anniversary hence the name and it's generally considered to be the last car Enzo Ferrari had much of a hand in a lot of people think Ferrari started to go softer and more luxury focused after the f40 despite a lot of conjecture and claims otherwise every f40 was painted red from the factory and they all came with a 2.9 liter twin-turbo v8 that made somewhere around 500 horsepower more on that somewhere around in a minute right now on to the Cork's and features we'll start on the outside and specifically this huge spoiler an icon if you want to talk about cars with wings you just start with this one one interesting thing you may not have known about the spoiler is that the f40 logo is only on one side the passenger side so that it can be going forward in the same direction as the car another one of this cars most iconic details its headlights now when you look at the car when it's just sitting here you'll notice one set of headlights we think that's all the headlights it is not twist the headlight knob and the pop-up headlights come right up yes that's right there's two sets of headlights in this car and here's the cool thing when the popups are down and you go to flash the brights the bottom ones flashed when you put the popups up and you go to flash the brights the top ones flash that way if you want to flash your brights at someone you don't have your lights on you don't have to wait for the popups to flip up in order to flash your lights at them that's smart thinking next up I want to discuss the f40 s gas caps yes gas caps there are two one on the driver's side one on the passenger side I'll get to why that is in a second right now I want you to just focus on the appearance of the gas cap and notice also that the gas cap has a little lock on it there are many locks on the outside of this car there are for example locks in the front on the trunk one on the driver's side one on the passenger side there are locks and back on the hood also one on the driver's side or on the passenger side of course there are locks and the driver and passenger doors and then there the Afra mentioned locks on the fuel tank in all there are eight total locks on the outside of this car opened by three separate keys and we're not even to the wheel locks yet yeah that's right the wheel locks this car doesn't have normal lug nuts like a regular car instead it has center lock wheels it's kind of common on Porsches and stuff today but it was not common back then it was only on race cars the thing I've always liked about this car center lock wheels is the little pin in the middle you get the sense that's the only thing holding these wheels on of course it's not true but it is a characteristic f40 styling element another characteristic f40 design element is back here this back window which is not made out of glass or plastic but lexan which is this heat-resistant crack resistant material the most unique design element of this back window are these strakes that give you better visibility from the front seat and aid with the engines cooling something I bet you didn't know they're open if you want you can just walk up to an f40 and stick your hand in and feel the engine if it fits you had another unforgettable design element on the f40 or all these arrow shaped inlets on the sides on the top of the trunk on the top of the hood nobody makes these things anymore nobody makes arrow shaped inlets but the f40 had a zillion of them one two three four five six seven eight they're kind of strange when you really think about them and when you total them up but the truth is that without them it just wouldn't look like an f40 speaking of the air intakes we all knew about the arrow shaped ones but I found one today that I never even knew existed on this car behind the rear windows there's a little air intake on either side inside a little tunnel who knew here's another thing you may not have known about the f40 the paint in an f40 is incredibly thin notoriously thin in fact now supposedly Ferrari did this for a purpose more paint would have met more weight and so they put thin paint on in order to save weight now the interesting result of this is is that since most of this car is mounted as ultra lightweight carbon Kevlar mix you can see the weave through the paint anywhere you look you can see through the very thin paint this carbon Kevlar mix which is really cool and it has another benefit too you can always tell if an f40 has been repainted in the paint is too thick because you can no longer see the weave classic car experts use this as a way to define whether an f40 has been repainted or whether it still wears its original paint actually move on to the f4 TS engine cover if you ever want to know how to open an f4 TS engine cover well here you go first you open these little things once you've unlocked them with the key that I talked about before now that they're open you put your hands here and you be very very careful because I can only imagine what this piece costs it's actually heavier than you might expect in the end it's kind of a two-person job and I'll show you why in a second all right this is Adolfo he runs LBI limited he's going to demonstrate the two-person job of opening and propping the engine cover in the Ferrari f40 so it's unlatch right now and that means lift time he's gonna do the hard thing next up I have to take the prop out it's in two pieces then two distinct pieces I put them together done but then I have to get it into the little hole for the hood prop very carefully and okay and that's the Ferrari f40 engine cover now open and prompt now once you're under the hood there's no major surprise back here you have the engine the turbos etc except for one thing and that is just how much is exposed we open the hood or the trunk of any normal car usually there's a lot of some bodywork on the sides usually you can't see the tires and the f40 when you open the engine cover you're basically pulling off half the body of this car it's an incredible appearance when it's actually open now that the engine cover is open and we've seen what's underneath it is time to close it which is also a two-person job first you have to kind of grab the hood prop so doesn't fall in then you open a little bit and then you take this thing down turn it back in to two pieces which is a very confusing process there we go now it's back in two we slide it back down put it back in its place then comes the really hard part and then is how to close it which is with extreme care that's because to close it properly you have to lay down the hood ever so 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 into position or else you might damage it and then you close the latches the cool thing about the f40 s engine cover is that it's not designed for idiots there's no built-in stopper that prevents you from pushing it all the way up and over so that it lands on top of the f40 s roof that would have added unnecessary weight so you just don't do it now since you've seen what's in back you probably want to see what's under the front cover and so this is also a two-person job first you unlatch it just like on the other side and then since this thing flexes a little you kind of want to lift it up with two people the interesting part is once it's up it just keeps going and going and it's only held on by these two little wires it's actually kind of nerve-wracking when it's in this position now once the front trunk is open and supported by those little wires it is absolutely amazing how much of the front of the cars are moved that was true and back but it's really incredible in front allow me to illustrate really quick right now I am standing inside the front wheel of the f40 the front wheel is over there I am between the two wheels you pull off an enormous amount of car when you open the front trunk and you can see the parts that are left behind which remains structural it's actually really cool to see the car in this position it is amazing to take in another interesting thing about this particular car at the front trunk open inside you have the Ferrari factory toolkit the Ferrari factory tire kit and the original f40 owners manual inside the nice leather pouch now the cool thing about the f40 owner's manual is it's only about 50 pages long and in that 50 pages is the manual in four separate languages there's just not that many electronics there's not that much stuff you have to learn about you just kind of get in and drive and by the way this thing on eBay 500 bucks that in the leather pouch 800 bucks adding all that stuff probably like three grand these are the most expensive owner's manual toolkit situation you will ever see one other trunk detail it may not look like there's much room there but Ferrari made custom sets of f40 luggage designed to snugly fit right in place under here moving on to the interior this car has some very special characteristics on the inside my personal favorite thing in the entire Terry the car is the door panels there is no luxury here there's no niceties there's no leather line hand-stitching instead you get a little door pocket you get a winder for your window but my personal favorite feature on the door panel is the door handle there's no nice door handle integrated beautifully into the panel there's a cord I'm serious yeah pull it the door opens you know how modern Porsches have those little cloth hoops right next to their power windows so they can look like they're saving weight this thing doesn't look like anything this thing is actually saving weight next up 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 might not have known about the f40 is that it's a dogleg transmission first is down and to the left we'd expect second to be that way second in third can be in a line which are the gears you're probably gonna be using a lot if you're actually on most racetracks the problem with that is that reverse is up and to the left where you'd expect first to be 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 is just how basic and bare-bones it is inside this car there's no radio there's no air conditioning although there is a climate control system that doesn't really work all that well there's no power windows there's no power locks there's no power mirrors in this car there isn't even an interior dome light in order to save weight I'm serious so one benefit of the f40 in this car you don't have to worry about draining the battery by leaving the doors open all night as it's sitting in your garage interestingly despite all the stuff this car doesn't have it does have Sun visors and the one of the passenger-side even has a mirror on it because the Italians have their priorities straight other interesting interior features of this car on the left side there are two stocks coming out of the steering wheel one is for the headlights the other is for the turn signals when you're going to put on the turn signal you have to make sure you don't hit the headlight stock on the right side of the steering column is the windshield wiper stock and it has a nifty little feature to it if you twist it to turn it on the driver would no longer be able to see the little windshield wiper displays and so they printed them on the bottom too so that even when it's twisted on the windshield wiper stock is still clearly a windshield wiper stock that is smart another amazing thing about the interior of this car it is clearly not designed for comfort these racing seats are made out of carbon fiber and they really hug you and the carbon kevlar is everywhere in this thing there our little tiny floor mats but other than that it is just carbon everywhere a lot of modern cars have carbon fiber touches everywhere to look sporty and this thing it's all functional it takes away from the luxurious nests of this car they could have covered all that instead they were like man keep it it saves white it's functional people don't need any more than that and the interior this car is all basic and all about necessity it's so basic that the center isn't even taken up by a screen or even an attempt at luxury it's three gauges temperature oil pressure and fuel the gauge cluster is really simple the only notable items are to slow down lights on either side sort of like check engine lights for each bank of cylinders and yes that's a boost gauge over on the right as for storage there's no glovebox and the center storage is these two pockets they're not big and they don't close good luck to the left of the steering wheel there are just four buttons the hazard lights the front and rear fog lights and the windshield defogger also you ever want to know how to start an f40 turn the key and push that rubber button who knew and then we get to possibly this f40 s most hilarious quark the class EK certification for those of you who don't know what the class EK certification is here's the deal if you have a Ferrari and you want them to verify that its original as it left the factory you can take it into the dealer the technician goes under the car he verifies that all the serial numbers are originally takes a few pictures and then he sends all that off to Italy a couple months later a nice little book arrived saying that your car has been classique a certified the cost for the certification right now for the f40 seven thousand four hundred and forty dollars just to have some guy verify some serial numbers interestingly this has become really important in the world of older Ferrari models people have become obsessed with this classic a certification even though it really only means the car was factory original when it was certified for example this car has already been class EK certified after that I could have replaced everything you see you could be looking at a Pontiac Fiero with a Ferrari f40 body and yet this car would still have its class EK certification the really crazy thing about class EK certifications that ferrari even offers it on some of its newest models right now with you pay for a five thousand six hundred and forty dollars they will give you a classic a certificate for your four five eight speciali in other words you pay him almost six grand and they tell you that a car they made twenty four months ago is a that they made 24 months ago short of establishing a government or creating a highly detailed counterfeiting operation Ferrari classy Ches certification has to be about the closest thing in the entire world to literally printing money now before I move on to the driving experience one final quirk about this particular f40 this is a euro f40 compared to the USA f40 sold in the north american market there are some substantial differences between the two cars one of the biggest ones is the appearance on the front the lip of the USA cars is a lot more pronounced larger for USA crash safety regulations same with the bumper in the back in addition also for u.s. crash safety regulations the u.s. cars have a third brake light and they have automatic seatbelts that automatically were up every time you open the door just like an 80s Honda Accord the result is that the euro car has more of a cleaner look without those additional safety things for I didn't intend to put on and also it's lighter a euro f40 like this one is 160 pounds lighter than a USA car now that might make you think that a euro one is the one to get but the USA car had one distinct benefit in the USA cars to make up for the additional weight Ferrari added power u.s. cars supposedly make 500 to 515 horsepower whereas a euro f40 it makes 478 horsepower the other big difference between the Euro f40 and the USA f40 was the fuel situation now I mentioned those two fuel tanks on either side well they seem to fuel bladders located inside the car and on the Euro cars those fuel bladders had to be changed every 7 to 10 years at a cost of $13,000 this car just had its $13,000 bladders changed now the interesting thing is the u.s. cars by EPA regulations couldn't have the bladders instead they had aluminum fuel tanks there were some drawbacks to the aluminum fuel tanks for example they could be corrosive under the wrong circumstances they don't provide as much safety in a high-speed accident fire risk and they weighed a little bit more but the benefit of the aluminum fuel tanks of course is they don't need to be changed out every 7 to 10 years ok so that's a fairly comprehensive tour of the courts and features in the ins and outs of the Ferrari f40 now it's time to get this thing out on the road also while I'm reviewing the f40 in this video if you want to know more of my thoughts my fears my worries hopes and expectations about driving the f40 for the first time a 1.3 million dollar car click the link below to go to autotrader.com slash oversteer where I've written a story that goes into greater detail about all of that stuff [Music] Jesus my god okay we're driving the f40 in sort of a city setting here alright so the ride is a little bit rough as expected you're just so low in the car I am so low down to the to the ground the clutch situation is just crazy and the pedal box is also really narrow you have to be careful of every little bump throw the car is actually not that low the approach angle is very hard the front sticks out quite a bit it is it crazy to look back there and see the rear window that you've seen in pictures for 20 years basically it's just amazing how close you are to the front of the car and how low you are even more so than in every other exotic car I Drive 48 and all that stuff you're so much lower oh my god this ultimate looks like a monster truck it gets really hot inside this cab and it's actually really kind of impressive I've got the climate control going but the thing is it doesn't it doesn't do much because there's only three vents and they don't really we have it on the highest setting and they're not really doing a lot [Applause] going around a corner here it's a little bit of a bumpy one the ride quality is rough that's just a reality this car but the handling is so great it's just so incredible because it's really like a go-kart you can position it anywhere and do anything with it and it's amazing I run 95 south in an f40 this is about the craziest experience I've ever had oh my god I just looked in the mirror for the first time it's incredible to see all that stuff back there the wing and everything that's amazing [Applause] you're watching a childhood dream come true right now man the bumps yeah they kind of attack you on the highway here it feels very stable though surprisingly so it doesn't feel like it's about to get out of whack or do anything stupid feels like we're planted on the ground and it feels good this car has the factory exhaust on it and there's just not all that much noise with it unfortunately aftermarket exhausts really bring the noise out of this car a lot more the factory's an original exhaust it just wasn't that loud I'm surprised how planted it fields it actually feels like a modern sports car in that sense it feels very stable on the road I thought I'd be scared as hell driving this thing it'd be squirrely and weird and actually it doesn't it feels pretty good easy downshift honestly the transmission and stuff feels pretty slick it feels good it's um kind of nice to operate I actually think that the whole thing feels less rigid and the clutch is easier than in a Testarossa and it feels almost more like a car you can sort of play around with it have fun with I'm stunned by that now behind the century is breaking I have no idea why cuz I can't see around him oh that's a big truck that's about the scariest thing this car is worth more than every car I can see I have to say though I was thinking this whole time that I'd be so nervous about the value but it's actually such an easy car to drive at this speed I'm not really thinking about it that much it is easier though than I thought to drive the clutch isn't as hard the gas pedal is easier to push the ride quality is not so bad the visibility is excellent because there's no weird crash stuff all around you you can see it every direction I really wonder for the other people in this country driving one of these right now certainly the only people in this state [Applause] Wow Wow you can just it just is kind of like a bullet you can just point it it's so much more possible than modern cars so much more because the steering is just so direct and it feels little and precise and you can actually put it where you want to put it I'm just blown away by that there's a woody Ford Flex I don't know what's rarer but I hope that is it is so stable on the road it just I really feel like I could be doing this in a rainstorm if I want it it also is surprising there's very little rattling and stuff ultimate this cars 25 years old I would think that it'd be rattling and feeling like it's gonna break down not really this cars obviously been tremendously well kept and well maintained it's surprising how quickly it can move and how quickly it can change direction I'm really surprised this car actually still feels like an amazing car all this time later the thing I was most nervous about driving this car was that over the highway expansion joints it's at this old stirring racket and kind of send me in a weird way it doesn't it is planted it is stable I love hearing the turbos and a Ferrari it's amazing I love that turbo sound how cool I wish there was more climate control this isn't a car you want to drive in 95 degree temperatures another interesting thing the louvers in the back let you see at the back but there are no louvers directly down the middle so what's directly behind me was actually kind of obscured like a mini clubman with that thing in the middle oh my god it's so fast it really is and the turbo does come on in the old-school way you're going fast you're going fast and then you're going really fast I'm just amazed at how planted it feels on the road the car inspires a lot of confidence it doesn't feel like it's pulling it's not jiggling around it's not beating you up at the ride it doesn't feel like the steering is loose alright Tunnel time you just have to nothing nothing nothing being BAM the the turbo lag situation is exactly as everybody's ever described it really not much happens for a while and then a lot happens it really kind of blows up this car for an 80s car is the most planted capable stable ATS car I've ever driven it's great I just love that connected it is so many modern cars have just lost all that there's just so much less connection I wish it were a little more precise but that was just how it was back then I never thought I'd be like doing Lincoln with it f40 I thought I'd be like oh god what's gonna happen but I actually feel pretty confident in this car it's very confidence inspiring and so ladies and gentlemen that's the ferrari f40 one of the most iconic cars from possibly the most iconic brand in the entire history of the automobile expensive to buy yes expensive to own yes worth every penny absolutely and now it's time for the Doug score starting with the weekend categories and styling that one's easy the f40 gets a 10 no explanation needed next up is acceleration the f40 does 0 to 60 in a turbo lag III point 7 seconds it earns an 8 out of 10 next is handling which is impressive but there's a little slowness in the steering you don't get in the very best modern cars it hardly matters as it earns a 9 out of 10 next up is cool factor few cars in world history have ever been as cool and it gets an easy 10 out of 10 finally there's importance this car is significant to Ferrari is one of its five great supercars - the car industry as it's supposedly the first car to ever hit 200 miles an hour and to any child who ever had one is a poster on a bedroom wall which is many of us it gets an easy 10 out of 10 bringing its total weekend score to an amazing 47 out of 50 by far the best yet a full 5 points ahead of the Porsche 911 our future cars good luck beating the f40 things take a different turn when we move on to the daily score features and equipment it has none it has a cord for an interior door handle it doesn't have a dome light it gets and deserves the very first one out of ten in this category luxury measures comfort and this car isn't comfortable the seats are tight the climate control is non-existent in the right is harsh but not quite as harsh as I was expecting so it gets a 2 out of 10 rather than a 1 quality measures materials and reliability the f40 uses fine materials but they don't really measure up by modern standards more importantly reliability is rough these cars are notoriously expensive to maintain you ever had to fork over 13 grand to change the fuel bladder and your Acura it gets a 4 out of 10 practicality is next in the f40 has laughable cargo space passenger room and gas mileage it gets a 1 out of 10 and finally there's value which is almost impossibly hard how do you score a car that costs over a million dollars it's impossible to pick an objectively agreeable number here but here's what I know the f40 has always been valuable we'll always be valuable it may be expensive but it might look cheap in ten years when they're selling for two million that should earn at a high score but it's knocked down by the fact that one could argue we're in a bit of an exotic car bubble and prices could drop before they inevitably rise again so it gets a 7 out of 10 and that brings the final daily score to an almost laughable 15 out of 50 don't buy this thing to drive every day add those together and the final Doug score is 62 out of 100 which is in the middle of the pack that makes sense it's virtually impossible to drive this car every day but it's amazing to drive it occasionally and if you look more at the weekend and the daily scores separately which is what I do rather than the two combined you get a great idea of exactly what kind of car the f40 is

Channel: Doug DeMuro

Views: 7,329,360

Rating: 4.7999477 out of 5

Keywords: ferrari f40, f40, ferrari, ferrari supercar, ferrari f40 review, f40 review, f40 tour, ferrari f40 tour, exotic cars, million dollar cars, doug demuro, demuro

Id: 7mZdkfEeJH4

Length: 26min 43sec (1603 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 01 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/somedude456]

Automotive perfection! I feel honored to have only sat in one.

I was at a high end car show, and looking over a F40. Being my favorite car, I was looking over the small details. Dude comes up and says something like "Really enjoying the car huh?" I replied, "It's easily my favorite here, so yeah." He pulls out his keys, unlocks the door and says, "Hop in for a better view." I said no a couple times, but he kept insisting...so I had to. :) We talked cars for 2-3 minutes while I sat inside and then he says, "You know you're friends are not going to believe you, you better give me your camera so I can get a picture of you." Coolest exotic car owner ever!

edit, said picture: http://i.imgur.com/Gpsn5YK.jpg (this was in 2008, and with a basic p/s camera, thus not the best of quality)

[u/MotorboatingSofaB]

I havent watched the video yet but holy shit Doug, you've made it when someone gives you the keys to an F40

[u/PowerfulKitty]

Doug, I really liked that you had a camera car to give some more visuals during the drive. Not that I don't love staring at your handsome face, of course, but I hope it's something you do more.

[u/longbeagle]

Oil ok?

[u/blue_bomber697]

F40... You have made some mighty high up friends. Did you ever think your automotive journalism and reviews would get you this far and driving such exclusive cars?

[u/Obi-Wan_Kannabis]

26 minutes of F40. I'm sold.

[u/jamievisive]

Wow - what a once in a lifetime drive!

[u/whippet_1]

Awfully relieved to see it get 10's exactly where I believe it should have.

Scores are starting to make much more sense now that the list is growing.

[u/whoapower]

/u/doug-demuro - great review. Very happy to see the Euro and US differences. A few additions for you. Euros have non adjustable seats, which sit a little higher than the US models. The structure of the rear clamshell is a little different due to lack of bumpers. It's a bit lighter. I've heard more than 100 lbs, but uncertain.

The earlier models have thin paint, where you can see the weave, but later models have a thicker paint where the weave cannot be seen. You can get around the repainting/crash/repair detection by inspecting the infamous green glue. It's a specific color glue, which lets Ferrari know if it's been repaired.

We've had a few in our garage over the years and currently have one Euro and one US version under the roof. Here's a few pics from a post last week: http://imgur.com/a/rakHO

And lights up with instagram filters: https://www.instagram.com/p/BIamo4njbYQ/?taken-by=whoapower

Cheers!