USA FERRARI F40

It impossible to say how many USA F40s remain in the country as that is a fluid situation that is subect to constant change. BUT, there was a defined number of USA F40 prototypes. How many were there Harry? As an F40 owner perhaps you should know. If you get the answer right, you have my permission to drive your F40, but the proviso is that it has to be on a public road

"The Pantera outdid Lamborghini in design". Yah sure. From this statement alone, I know that you have lost it.

On a positive note, I wish to sincerely apologize to you on chaos' behalf for him telling you to "get a life". It is not neccessary to tell someone to "get a life" unless things have gotten completely out of hand and one is at wit's end. The phrase "get a life" is tantamount to telling someone to piss off and quite frankly I have only used the "get a life" expression once before. I only plan on using it twice in my life so I am reserving the next and final "get a life" for a meaningful delivery, and I felt it would be wasted here.

As Graham has already advised:

"You cant" come on a thread and try to Hijack it without consequences.
"You cant" used thinly-veiled fits of jealousy to cloud your judgment.
"You cant" use incorrect spelling and improper grammer consistently without being called out.
"You cant" proceed to..... oh never mind, there's been enough "you cant"s to last a while

Now here is one for you about USA F40s that you should know immediately: how many NACA ducts does your car have?

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

This thread is like a drug and some addicts cant get enough

I must take this opportunity to aplogize profusely from my assumption that the Beverly Hills Ferrari plate was placed upon a Kentucky-based car for reasons of pretending that the car resided in oh-so-glamorous Beverly Hills. My mistake indeed.

I should also take the opportunity to apologize on Graham's behalf for his repeated assertion that I have inferred that you "piss off" from this thread as any and all such notions would not characterize my feelings entirely accurately.

Think happy thoughts.

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

Thank you Tony.

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

Finally got to the bottom of this one to the benefit of all those who want original equipment. There were 4 original choices:

- Pirelli P-Zeros (word has it this was the favored tire at least as far as the engineers were concerned)
- Goodyear Eagle GS-A
- Michelin MXX
- Bridgestone RE-71s

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

See you tomorrow. I will have USA vs Euro gear ratios up by then (from my own direct Ferrari source). If you didnt know they were different youll find out not only that they are, but by how much. Oh, youll be back, Im sure. As I said before, think happy thoughts.

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

Ruf MD, I will let Tony's words sit with you as perhaps he speaks for many...

Hopefully by the time you come back on this thread to see the images and read the information & specs (oh you will, as sure as night follows day), youll have driven your F40 again and therefore will be a happier and more light-hearted man for it

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

Yes Ive seen a lot of Pirellis, but Im also noticing Michelins and Goodyears too. My first F40 10 years ago (back when I was an F40 guru...) had Goodyears. The current car has Pirellis which I love.

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

First gear - 1:10.707 (USA), 1:10.069 (Euro)
Second gear - 1:6.628 (USA), 1:6.262 (Euro)
Third gear - 1:4.745 (USA), 1:4.463 (Euro)
Fourth gear - 1:3.724 (USA), 1:3.501 (Euro)
Fifth gear - 1:2.965 (USA), 1:2.787 (Euro)

Of course final drive has been discussed already on this thread and it is 11/29 (USA) versus 11/30 (Euro).

I have it on good authority from my source that some European cars were ordered with a 'sports' gearbox sans syncromesh. Walter Wolf told me personally that his car was built like that :-0.
Graham, could yours possibly have a sports box and do your freinds at DK know if any English cars do? I am told all the USA cars had standard 'boxes.

Joe
www.joesackey.com

* All information collated by Joe Sackey from Ferrari SpA, dedicated to Ruf MD and Carsinx.

 

We are back to F40s, with tire options, gearbox ratios etc! Hopefully the interloper tag-team will settle down one day but meanwhile excuse the banter in order to get to the juicy stuff.

Speaking of F40s:
The factory lists the first car as chassis number 76204, and the last car as chassis number 95317. It will be interesting to identify the last car and if it is indeed a USA F40 - Im on the case....

USA F40 ENGINE...
By the way, the engine type F120A (T/2, 2936cc, dry-sumped) is the SAME basic unit for both USA and Euro cars, with the USA cars featuring an air-injection system to the exhaust manifolds, an evaporative emission control exhaust system to prevent gasoline vapor from from escaping the intake systems, a seperate charcoal canister and a vapor seperating manifold with electronic control valve for each bank of cylinders. The story that the USA cars had a different official type engine (ie not F120A) is not correct. The units hold 10 litres of engine oil and 5 litres of gearbox oil, just like the European cars. Youll notice that the BEHR intercoolers on the F40 are angled slightly relative to those of the 288 GTO and this is to improve airflow through them. Of course the IHI turbos (Ishikawajima Heavy Industries RHB 53LW units, no less) are water-cooled as everyone probably knows, this to prolong bearing longevity.

Joe
www.joesackey.com
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The tire options noted are the complete range of tires as supplied on BOTH USA and Euro cars.

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

For 25 years I have been an amateur photographer of sorts photographing interesting Italian cars everywhere I go. 10 years ago I started purchasing old archives of images from the likes of Zagari, Coltrin, Ludvigsen et al that depicted our favorite cars in the period being built at their respective factories and being tested on the road. This applies mostly to Lamborghini's iconic Miura and early Periscopa Countach and you can see a (small) portion of my archives at www.joesackey.com then go to the "Galleria" section. Enjoy!
The F40 is no exception and I am currently editing several files of my private archived images that will be gong into the Galleria. The man who runs my website, Albert Fattal (the great) will have it all together in short order. This very thread will doubt be the main beneficiary of my image files.
Meanwhile this thread has grown in leaps and bounds, almost 600 posts later and almost 10,000 views. Of course I maintain it whilst I work my phones all day running the classic car side of things so whilst it takes effort to keep it going (with new meaningful information, fresh images and witty repartee...), its all a pleasure. However, until my own F40 archives are up I have posted lots of images that have been sent to me by owners requesting that I post their cars, in addition to images I have taken myself and others that have been sitting on my PDA. However I also have posted images from the 'public domain' which are fair game for anybody to use (we all know this by now). All of this creates an assembled album of imagery of our beloved cars, which has in fact not been put together before on this particular series. This compliments the technical information on the USA F40 which has clearly never been collated in one place and shared before. In short, this thread is a first as far as any type of publication exclusively for the USA F40 variant.
However, recently we have had commentary from some to the effect that the (tastefully selected IMHO) images are a cut-and-paste effort that speaks of plagiarizing. I say BS. Its public domain material, and furthermore, just look at post number 406 of this thread. What have we
there? Hypocrisy is what we have. The very person who attempts (unsuccesfully) to derail this thread with pathetic remarks that the images are 'lifted' from other sites, posts an image of his own car 'lifted' from another site. What can I say? The expression "full of ****" has appropriate designation in some rare cases. This is one of them. Your honor, I rest my case.
So folks, sit back and enjoy this thread for what it is. I am here to be helpful with info on this great car which deserves no less. Excuse the banter with my English freind - at least he has a sense of humor AND owns an F40 :-0 And I promise, the images will get better and become exclusive to this thread (many already are). And the historical & technical information will be stuff that you just cant find assembled in one place anywhere else. Thanks for being a part of the thread, and thanks for your support Chaos, Godsky, of2worlds, etc etc I do not mean to leave anyone out, but anybody who has helped or contibuted anything USEFUL, you know who you are. To you I say thank you.

Joe
www.joesackey.com
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Youll notice in the past where other's images have been posted they have been asked and also credited (which is more than some notorious ohers have done!). BTW, I am advised differently about public domain images, but lets not make a big deal about this: this is a chat-site not a national news organization and Im not making a career out of posting other's images I assure you, so no need to be worried on my behalf. My own images will dominate in future (read my post above) and I will also happily post images sent to me directly by F40 owners as I have done many times on this thread.

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

Thanks Rodsky. BTW, consider this: If the tag-team comedy duo would keep their disdain within PMs to me, I wouldnt have to respond to their posts by posting would I? Food for thought.

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

Someone PM'd an interesting question about the USA cars and Plexiglas door windows. It turns out that NONE of the USA cars were originally built with these (in accordance with the type-approval issued by the DOT to certify the USA variant of F40 as a road car), but in pursuing the subject Ive gleaned that the first 50 European cars were actually delivered with the Plexiglas door windows - although some have been retro-fitted with glass and some later Euro cars were in fact ordered with Plexiglas. The Plexiglas door windows are the ones with the parallelogram-shaped sliding panel for access. The same units appear to have been used for the F40 LM.

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

At Silicon Valley Auto Group in California. 1992 Chassis number 93211. One owner from new documented. All services and recall. 405 miles documented. Schedoni luggage. Kept from new in a climate controlled envoironment and described as "new". They are asking $735,000. Sounds expensive, but it indicates values are increasing. Im sure F40 owners will be upset...

Joe
www.joesackey.com