How expensive can the Ferrari F40 get?
03/04/2022
We humans often have a poor memory. That's probably why many people can no longer remember that just 8 or 10 years ago, EUR 400,000 or so was easily enough to buy a well-preserved Ferrari F40. Since then, prices have risen steadily, and neither coronavirus nor a certain value correction in the classic car market after 2015/2016 has been able to change that.
Getting a good Ferrari F40 for six figures now seems to be an impossibility. The analysis of the Zwischengas auction database certainly paints a clear picture if you place the highest bids (in euros) at auctions on the timeline:
Incidentally, a good two thirds were actually sold, some consignors' bids were probably still too low.
But what happens next? Will EUR 1.5 to 2 million soon be the norm for an F40? A Ferrari F40 really isn't that rare, after all 1315 examples were produced. A Ferrari 365 GTC/4 , for example, which trades for around EUR 250,000, is much rarer, with just over 500 vehicles built.
So it is hardly due to its rarity that the F40 is so highly prized by collectors and enthusiasts. It is more likely due to the extremely attractive combination of racing car genes with still acceptable everyday usability, something that other super sports cars are less likely to achieve in such a convincing way.
At least Gooding & Co, who are looking to sell a US-spec F40 with just under 3,800 miles on the clock to a new owner for between USD 2.4 and 2.8 million this weekend, apparently expect prices for the super sports car, which is delivered almost exclusively in red, to continue to rise.
And if the trend continues, we will see prices with a "3" at the beginning in the next few years; after all, there are still examples with famous previous owners that will (re)enter the market at some point ...
And, as always, with the right instinct you could have generated a pretty good return if you had bought an F40 seven or ten years ago. However, there would also have been a lot of maintenance and upkeep costs, and these amounts alone would probably have been too much for some enthusiasts.
P.S. Gooding was actually able to sell the 1991 F40 in Amelia Islandfor USD 2.45 million (EUR 2.23 million, CHF 2.26 million). And that's probably not the end of the story ...
