1989 Ferrari 408

Just finished reading an old Road&Track article on this car, so far ahead of its time, 4 litre V8, part alluminium construction and 4 wheel drive. What amazing about this car is I really did tell the feature, consider the 360 arrived 10 years later with concepts derived from the 408 and and it was only with the 430 that Ferrari built a V8 of over 4 litre's in capacity.

Sure the styling was rather strange. Anyone have any idea if these cars were ever sold or did Ferrari hang onto them?

Must be honest prior to seeing this article I didnt even know a 408 existed....

 

There's the yellow one in the Galleria in Maranello. Don't know where the red one went.

 

Great, was wondering what happened to this car...it really was in some ways a look into the future.

 

I've never even heard of it...

 

I actually had a press kit on the 408. I wish I had kept that one. No doubt this car is where the Acura NSX got it's lines.

 

a picture would be nice.

 

Google search comes up with several pictures, including this one.
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I think that these were just interesting research/prototype cars. If any of these are or were privately owned, I could not find any information. While the technology developed with these cars did appear in later Ferrari production vehicles, I'm personally glad that this model, in its form shown here, never made it to widespread distribution. While the lines suggest the inspiration for Acura's NSX, the NSX in its consumer version is far prettier.
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Maybe something a little more like this:
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I had never heard of this before. I understand why they never took it to production, it sure isn't the best looking car.

 

That car is ugly IMO.

 

Yes, it is - but it has some potential.

The front end isn't bad at all. Now, if they'd just extended the line of the rear window glass all the way to the rear of the car (or added a pillar a la 308), extended the side vent and rounded it off, like that of the 308/328/288, and softened the lines of the vent behind the front wheel, it wouldn't be a bad looking car.

That's what I was trying to show in my hastily-rendered sketch: A bit of softening of the lines, a little more influence from the classic lines of the Dino 246 and 308 GTB, and it could have been okay - maybe even beautiful.

Keep in mind that this was a developmental prototype for exploring technical innovations which did appear in later Ferraris. It was never to be a commercially available vehicle.

If it had ever been released for public sale, I imagine that Ferrari would have had Pinninfarina clean up the lines, at the very least.

 

I totally see the NSX in this.

 

This is really cool, I would have never heard about this otherwise, thanks!

Also, I agree this is definitely some strong inspiration for the NSX especially if you combine it with Honda HP-X concept by Pininfarina

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_UO_gPwFvSGE/R4qTtv0UEdI/AAAAAAAAAmo/_hidtmEsB8s/s400/84pininfarina_honda_hp-x.jpg

Matthew

 

Hmmm, not a fan...

 

Maybe add an F40 style rear spoiler?

 

Was the final design for the NSX made by Pininfarina?

I´ve read that their proposal was rejected and Honda made their own design.

 

Interesting but not Ferrari-esque, so perhaps it was intended to have been strictly an engineering test platform.

 

I was going to say that looks eerily similar to the NSX - so is it fair to say that is where Acura got the design from for their NSX? I would never believe it is a coincidence.

 

From my understanding you are correct. The HP-X (which I believe stood for Honda Pininfarina-Experiment) was designed by Pininfarina in 1984 and ultimately rejected by Honda, while the NSX was "styled" by Honda themselves

Matthew

 

I read a magazine article at the time and when Ferrari engineers were asked about the similarity to the Subaru XT, they simply answered: "We don't know such a car."
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+1..it is much more XT than NSX.

 

twins lol

 

I remember reading an interview with someone of Pininfarina saying: "we had new ideas but Honda wanted a Ferrari".

The 408 is probably what the guys at Honda wanted. But I doubt that the 408 was styled by Pinifarina. I don´t see any logos on it.

 

A quick Google-search indicates that only two 408s ever saw the road. (Someone please correct me if you have better info.)

As far as I'm concerned, the styling is brutal - not even close to the beauty of any of Ferrari's production cars. But, as this video points out, it was a "rolling la - BORE - atry,"
never intended as a consumer vehicle.

I can only trust that, had the 408 ever gone into production, Pininfarina's designers would have extended the rear window or added buttresses, softened the lines to create a less boxy shape, tightened up the body, and generally made it a more attractive car.

Interesting video here:

http://www.streetfire.net/video/ferrari-408-the-first-awd-ferrari_85426.htm