A Unique Collection of Ferrari’s “Greatest Hits” Coming up for Auction

The Cavallino Rampante, Ferrari’s famous prancing horse badge, is one of the most alluring logo’s in the automotive industry. You don’t even have to ask what it means as it is perhaps the most iconic badge in the business. The brand has a history riddled with motorsports success on a global scale, and a portfolio consisting of some of the most drop-dead gorgeous cars ever created. And even today, Ferrari always pushes forward in developing new technology aimed at improving its cars and sharpening the performance on and off track. For those looking for a way in and start collecting Ferrari’s Greatest Hits, or those simply looking to expand their existing collection, the upcoming Artcurial Rétromobile 2022 auction is surely one not to miss!

The Arcturial Rétromobile 2022 auction will be held on the 18th and 19th of March during the Salon Rétromobile in Paris, France. The cars will be on display from March 16th to March 19th, with the auction set for the 18th and 19th. It will see over 250 of the rarest and unique historic road and race cars and bikes come across the block and, hopefully, sold to the highest bidder.

It’s an interesting mix of cars and bikes both old and new, representing manufacturers from all over the world. Among the cars up for auction are beauties like the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sport Zagato Coda Tronca, AC Ace Roadster, Porsche 356 Pre-A 1100 and Aston Martin DB5 by Carrozzeria Touring. Next to that, there are some more obscure lots being sold as well. I mean, have you heard of a Reyonnah 175 Prototype or a Guyot Spéciale GS25 2L before? Anyway, we’re here talking about Ferrari’s, so let’s dive in.

The Arcturial Rétromobile 2022 auction lists a collection of cars owned by the Maitre Etienne Leandri estate, which includes some of the greatest hits from Ferrari. A total of 8 cars from the same estate are up for sale, but I’ll ignore the Ferrari 458 Italia, Fiat 500 Abarth Ferrari Dealers Edition and the Lamborghini Murciélago for now. The cars I do want to mention though, is almost like a Supercar Greatest Hits collection in itself, possibly only missing the Ferrari 288 GTO as a start, and the SF90 Stradale as a final encore (so far).

Ferrari F40

The F40 is a legendary car, and the last one to get the seal of approval by Il Commendatore himself, Mr Enzo Ferrari. It was built for the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Ferrari as a car manufacturer and presented in the summer of 1987. It was based on the underpinnings of the Ferrari 288 GTO Evoluzione, which was in development for Group B rallying before FIA pulled the plug on the Championship.

Stuck with five developmental prototypes, it was converted into the F40 over just 11 months. Ferrari engineer Nicola Materazzi proposed to turn them into road-worthy sports cars instead, and with the boss’s green light, he moved forward. The styling was done by Pininfarina, a long-standing partner for Ferrari in designing their cars. It looked like nothing Ferrari had ever made before, with an aggressive style and a huge, fixed rear wing. Performance was blistering, thanks to the car’s low weight and the powerful twin-turbo 2.9 litres V8 engine planted in the back.

The car’s biggest claim to fame was the fact the F40 was the very first production car to hit 200mph. Initially, only 399 were to be produced as Enzo Ferrari always claimed he would build one car less than he could sell. Demand was so strong though, that Ferrari made the decision to bump that number to 1,315 in total. Later in life, the F40 would go racing as well, with the F40 LM and F40 GTE cars running well into the early 1990s.

The F40 coming up for auction in the Artcurial Rétromobile 2022 auction is a 1989 one-owner car, with only 13,284km on it. It looks to be in perfect running condition. The estimation for it is 1.300.000 to 1.600.000 euros. More details on the Ferrari F40 are to be found here.

Ferrari F50

Next on the chronological line of Greatest Hits is the Ferrari F50, introduced in 1995. This was another anniversary car, built to celebrate the brand’s 50th year of building the world’s most desirable sports- and racing cars. It might not get the attention as the F40 does, but it is still a very significant car. It was built around the same principle as the F40 in fact, with a hugely powerful engine in the back, a weight as low as possible and built on racing car technology.

The engine was based on the 3.5-litre V12 powerplant used in the 1990 Ferrari 641 Formula 1 racing car but reworked into a 4.7 litre V12 with improved reliability. Back in those days, when a racing engine blew up it was tossed aside and replaced with a new one. You don’t want that in a road car, do you? This engine was also used in the Ferrari 333SP prototype race car, which means that could run under the World Sportscar Rules as the engine was a “stock” unit.

Where the F40 was all “wedge” and styled very aggressively, the F50 has a softer profile. All F50s are a two-seater Targa top supercar, with again a massive fixed rear wing. Even though the car was more powerful, the performance wasn’t that much higher than the F40, which is maybe why it never reached the same status as its hardcore 1980s brother. Only 349 were built, so it is at least a lot rarer. Ferrari also built the F50 GT and wanted to take it racing, which it would never do sadly.

The estimate for the Ferrari F50 coming up for auction soon is set between 2.700.000 and 3.500.000 euros. It is a 1996 one-owner car, with an incredibly low 1,318km on it. More details on this lot can be found here.

Ferrari Enzo

We’re moving up about a decade again, as we get to the Ferrari Enzo, the one car in Ferrari’s archives directly named after the company’s founder’s first name. It was introduced in 2002 and once more built upon racing technology, stemming from Formula 1. It had a full carbon fibre body, f1-style paddle-shift transmission and a massive 6.0-litre normally-aspirated V12 engine pumping out 660bhp.

Although it looked a bit weird to most people at first, it has since become a very well-respected car. Famous owners included one Michael Schumacher (#keepfightingmichael), who later “revealed” himself to be Top Gear’s The Stig as he piloted his track-focused FXX version of the Enzo.

The Enzo also meant a big leap in aerodynamic performance, as it used all the latest tricks. It lacked the dramatic rear wing of the F40 and F50, but it generated more downforce through all sorts of clever tech, including an integrated adjustable spoiler. It would also serve as the basis for Maserati’s MC12 supercar which was, weirdly, a tad faster. The car’s party trick was the fan-favourite butterfly doors, something that massively ups the drama in any supercar. Ferrari built only 400 of these very special Enzo’s, although some have been binned sadly (one by a mechanic in the Netherlands recently).

The Enzo auctioned during the Artcurial Rétromobile 2022 was built in 2003, has less than 5,000km on the odometer, and is estimated between 2.200.000 and 2.800.000 euros. More details are here.

Ferrari 599 GTO

Technically, this is not a car that falls in line with the four others, as it doesn’t have the engine in the back and it wasn’t really built as the ultimate flagship. It was a very, very fast car though and honed for performance from bumper to bumper. And it brought back the famous “GTO” badging, which has graced only two of Ferrari’s finest cars before this one, including the Ferrari 250 GTO, one of the most famous (and valuable) cars ever made.

The Ferrari 599 GTO was the road-legal counterpart to the 599XX track car, which was, in turn, a bonkers racing version of the Ferrari 599 GTB. Still with me on this one? The 599 GTO, with GTO indicating Grand Turismo Omologato (so basically a homologation special), had 670 horsepower coming from its 6.0-litre V12 engine. Ferrari built 599 of these cars, alongside other variants of the 599 platform as well.

Performance-wise, it really is no slouch. Its top speed is 335kph, and it can hit 100kph from a standstill in under 3.3 seconds. At Ferrari’s Fiorano test circuit, it was 1 second quicker than the Enzo. With the styling done by Pininfarina, from dead-on, the car looks quite a happy chap! But it’ll bite your head off if you’re not careful.

Out of the five cars listed coming up at the Artcurial Rétromobile 2022 auction, this one’s the “bargain”. The estimate is set at 500.000 to 800.000 euros but I’m confident it will go for something towards the top end, or perhaps even more. All the details on the listing are here.

Ferrari LaFerrari

Que in James May’s “The Ferrari TheFerrari” jokes, as the last car I will address is the LaFerrari. It might have a silly-sounding name but it is every bit a thoroughbred car as it could be when presented in 2013. It marked a significant moment in Ferrari’s history as it was the first-ever full hybrid-powered car coming from the Maranello factories. It was also a direct rival to the McLaren P1 and the Porsche 918, both hybrid-powered hypercars themselves.

The LaFerrari has a 6.3-litre V12 engine coupled to an electric motor and a KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovering System). This set-up resulted in the most powerful Ferrari to date, with a combined power output of 950bhp. About 800 of those came from the engine and the rest from the hybrid system. A 7-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox and advanced aerodynamic technology meant it was blisteringly quick on any track. Its top speed was stated at 352kph with a zero-to-100 time of 2.6 seconds. What’s even more impressive perhaps, is the claim it could hit 300kph in under 22 seconds. There are cars that need half that time to even hit 100kph.

In terms of styling, it also was a significant car as it used no input from Pininfarina for the first time in 40 years. It was by no means an end to the partnership though, as in 2014 Ferrari presented the California, penned by Pininfarina. The LaFerrari would revive the butterfly doors of the Enzo and had an almost F1-like front bumper and nose design (in appearance at least).

Just as the other cars auctioned by Artcurial, the LaFerrari has done only very few kilometres, 952 to be precise. With only 500 cars built, it is once more quite the rarity, with an auction estimate of 2.200.000 to 2.800.000 euros. All details on the Ferrari LaFerrari can be found here.

All in all these five cars represent the very best of Ferrari in a thirty-year lifespan. To be a true, complete greatest hits collection, perhaps the aforementioned 288 GTO and SF90 Stradale need to be added. Nevertheless, it is a formidable selection of cars. Snatching them all up at once would need very, very deep pockets as combined, the cars would cost at least 11.500.000 euros based on the top end of the estimate alone. And considering some are extremely desirable in the car-collecting world, it could well be much more than that.

For more information, please visit the Arcturial Rétromobile 2022 dedicated website. All images portrayed are copyrighted by Arcturial Rétromobile 2022 and photographer Kevin van Campenhout, and used with full permission.