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Four onlookers (… two on their phones) couldn’t stop the multi-million dollar Ferrari from hitting the post.
What is the most useful new-car feature? Undoubtedly a few people will nominate things like active cruise control or heated seats. Maybe it’s the plethora of airbags, or the presence of a touchscreen.
The feature I always miss when I step into anything older is often the lack of a reverse camera. Being able to see precise distances in real time is a priceless bonus, especially if you’re driving a car with unfamiliar dimensions.
Or, if you’re reversing an enormously valuable classic car – like a Ferrari F40, for example.
Video of an F40 being backed into a pole while being moved around a museum has gone viral on TikTok; the 34-second video ending with a teeth-gnashing crunch.
The cringe-inducing incident took place at the Marconi Automotive Museum in California, the F40 getting backed into the post despite no less than four people watching on (two of them watching on from their phones, admittedly).
The F40 is one of the most sought after and collectible prancing horses ever produced. Often considered one of the most famous ‘poster car’ supercars of the 1980s and early 1990s, the F40 also has particular status because it is widely considered to be Enzo Ferrari’s final project before he died in 1988.
Under its enormous rear clamshell the F40 is powered by a 2.9-litre twin-turbo V8, sending 352kW to its rear wheels via a 5-speed manual transmission. At the time of its launch, this was Ferrari’s most powerful and fastest car.
What will make the damage particularly costly is the F40’s unique composite bodywork, which is made out of a combination of kevlar, aluminium, and carbon fibre.
New, the F40 was priced at around US$400,000 (north of US$1m today with inflation). And they’ve only become more expensive in the 30-something years since. These days, an F40 in pristine condition will set you back between US$3m and $4m.
These prices are often impacted by a car’s ownership history, and perhaps inevitably F40s are often owned by pretty interesting people. In May, we covered an F40 formerly owned by Formula 1 world champion Alain Prost that had emerged for sale. Mercedes F1 team boss Toto Wolff put his F40 up for sale at the start of this year.
Apart from its unfortunate new rear-bumper damage, Marconi Museum’s F40 appears to be in faultless condition. And, thanks to a video recently uploaded by the museum, we also know that it has a healthy engine.
In a recent video shared to its YouTube channel, Marconi Museum showed an F40 – believed to be the same one from the TikTok clip – being tested on a dyno. The group was “beyond pleased” to see the F40’s 2.9-litre TT V8 producing 508hp (379kW) and 16.1 lbs of boost.
Founded by Dick Marconi, the Marconi Automotive Museum collection includes more than 100 cars, with a claimed combined value of more than US$60m.
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