Road car buying: Ferrari F40
Buying a Ferrari F40: on the forecourt and in the workshop
Jayson Fong
On the forecourt
There are a handful of good Ferrari F40s on the market, but very few match the quality of this two-owner example
1991 Ferrari F40
An F40 is now more of an investment opportunity than an actual car to drive. Values continue to appreciate, usually regardless of whether they are driven or not.
But originality is key, and this 1991 F40 currently for sale with Tom Hartley Jnr will take some beating.
One of around 78 such cars supplied new to the UK, this F40 has had just two owners. Its first owner had the car from new until 2016, at which point Tom Hartley Jnr sold it on to its second owner, meaning the business knows this car inside out.
“It has only covered 1201 miles from new and has resided in two fantastic collections throughout its life,” says Hartley Jnr. “It is, without doubt, one of the finest examples we have ever handled, and retains all its original books, has unbroken provenance, and even retains the original factory literature.
“A Ferrari F40 is a car that appeals both to the old school collector and the new blood. It’s one of the most iconic cars of all time, and although they produced 1315 examples, only a fraction of that number are cars we consider really great or still original. Those examples, like the one we currently have, will perform best in the years ahead.”
The car is fitted with the adjustable suspension and retains all original factory markings. It comes supplied complete with its original handbook, leather wallet, spare key and even the optional and very rare three-piece Schedoni luggage set in brown leather. The price is £1,495,000.
Tom Hartley Jnr, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicester Tel: 01283 761119, tomhartleyjnr.com
Ferrari F40 in the workshop
Jayson Fong
In the workshop
Moto Technique has been servicing high-end supercars for 30 years, and has even turned an F40 racer into a superb road example
1992 Ferrari F40 LM
Considering the F40’s design was inspired by a racing car base, it was natural that Ferrari took it racing thanks to limited-edition LM versions. But what if you wanted to turn it into a daily drive? Moto Technique has done it twice, alongside servicing, repairing and maintaining many F40s from both the UK and abroad. This particular car, chassis 84326, is one of 27 customer F40 LMs and had been locked away for eight years before a full restoration by Moto Technique.
“The F40 is a joy to work on, purely because of its raw simplicity,” says company boss Kevin O’Rourke. “It was always pretty close to a race car anyway, so taking it back the other way wasn’t too challenging. We did a lot of engine upgrades for the owners also and fitted a three-way switch into the dash to control the power output – from 500bhp for shopping up to 728bhp for pure insanity on the track. It was a wonderful thing, and we took it back to the bare shell for a full restoration, from chassis and suspension to electrics.”
Moto Technique has even developed bodywork moulds to support customers wanting to use their F40s. “We can create any of the panels in the standard carbon/Kevlar, but we can also make them in fibreglass to avoid the costly replacements should things go wrong,” adds O’Rourke. “We’ve been working on F40s for years, and they don’t tend to have many issues. The brakes could fade, so many were upgraded, and second gear could wear, but modern tech enables us to cure all of those issues.”