Another F40 being totally restored in Italy, this is becoming a more frequent occurence as the cars are 30 years plus old. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Went to Nick Mason's (Pink Floyd) open day at his home yesterday/today and took a few photos of his F40 (along with his other cars) Other pics here: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/posts/149164708/ Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
78122, very early F40. Nick Mason picked it up directly at the factory, together with David Gilmour who got #78036. Both F40s had been completed 3 October 1988. Marcel Massini
I'm not 100% as it was something my wife read but apparently Nick Mason and Dave Gilmore had 2 of the 1st F40s and drove them back From Modena to the UK together - I bet that was an epic road trip! https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-4629384/David-Gilmour-s-Ferrari-Elton-John-s-Bentley-sale.html
Assuming they are both stood by their respective cars in the photo it looks like Nick Mason's car did have a sliding window originally, however, when I saw it yesterday neither side had a sliding window. Did owners ever convert them to ordinary windows after the novelty of a racing window had worn off...???? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Early production cars did have wind-up windows. Nick Mason's car is actually the one on the right of the image with the wind-up windows. Yes people have converted the windows from Lexan Sliding Windows to wind-ups and vice versa.
The first sixteen F40s had plexiglass sliding windows. Earliest known F40 with wind-up windows is #77089. Marcel Massini
Pity about how the ex Gilmour car ended up, it has been rebuilt from the ashes since though. Now I do recall an interview Gilmour did years ago where he stated that Ferrari took back their original cars and replaced them with newer ones, this never seemed to tally up though with the story that Masons is his original one. I have tried to find it again but no trace. My hazy memory is he said Mason decided to have a wind up window version instead when they were replaced? It was an interview with him at Silverstone and I saw it on you tube.
AFAIK both cars left the works with wind up windows. Per Bonhams auction report: Chassis number '78036' was purchased new by 'Pink Floyd' guitarist David Gilmour at the same time as fellow band member Nick Mason bought his, chassis number '78122'. The musicians were photographed with a pair of F40s at Ferrari's Fiorano test rack, confirming their order for the cars in the company of Maranello Concessionaires' MD Roger Maingot and Ron Stratton of Stratton Ferrari. The photograph was taken in July 1988, shortly after Pink Floyd's Modena concert during the 'Momentary Lapse of Reason' tour. Both Mason and Gilmour collected their cars personally from Maranello and drove them back to the UK on Italian export plates. The two F40s were then displayed at the International Motor Show in Birmingham from 19th to 30th October 1988; '78122' was on the Ferrari stand and '78036' on the Pininfarina stand, registered as 'F58 SBF'. During the mid-1990s the car was owned in the UK by Mr Stuart M Bowler and registered as 'F40 REH'. Here's 78036 on UK registration F40REH with wind up windows. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here's both cars ready to leave the factory on EE plates apparently with wind-up windows. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Gilmour's car on EE.661.AK plates definitely left Maranello with wind-up windows. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Mason's F40 on EE.662.AK plates ready to leave Maranello, so cool that he apparently still has this car today. Image Unavailable, Please Login
According to the plaque it had air conditioning too. Image Unavailable, Please Login I should have taken a proper photo but on the LHS the Ferrari shield has been replaced with something that looks like a racing club badge (still in the shape of the original shield). Image Unavailable, Please Login
My guess is that Gilmour was referring to the two cars they are pictured with, one being a sliding windows car but between then and when they actually collected their cars the factory changed the order to the two cars they ended up with. He was very clear about Mason starting out with a plexi example. Gilmours ex F40 ended up with Steve Strange of Douglas Valley Salvage, due to the extent of the fire it was given what is known as a CAT B insurance write off, which means it could never go back on the road in the UK, Steve sold it for something like £28k to someone he called a Mad Dutchman or Belgian, I forget which now, and it was rebuilt in Europe, not sure where it is these days. I have a pic of it in the salvage yard somewhere but it is also fchat on another thread. Steve also had another fire damaged F40 which went up in flames at a Spa trackday, I have the tubi from that example. Masons example still sports the unique rear plexi engine cover he had made, he sold them to a few other owners as well.
According to Mason, the Lexan Sliding Windows example imaged with another F40 at Fiorano was a Prototype, so I believe these track day cars were demonstrators and nothing to do with the actual cars being built for Messrs Mason & Gilmour. In his book Into The Red, Mason states: "We (Pink Floyd) were playing in Modena soon after the car was introduced .... we managed a visit the test track at Fiorano, enjoying an afternoon being driven in the Prototype .... David and I went back to pick up our cars later in the year"
Looks to be the UK a few years ago? Trawling my memory banks a bit more, I seem to recall Gilmour also saying that the two cars they were initially allocated were very early examples and Ferrari replaced them with later production versions, so I guess he thought the ones they tested initially were the ones they would be picking up, which ties in with him mentioning Mason was going to have a plexi version as per that pic. If I stumble across the interview again I will post a link. The latest iteration of Gilmours car has now ended up with plexi doors and a standard rear plexi screen, as his also had the Mason retro fit version at the rear when he owned it. One of the Mason versions sold on collecting cars not that long ago, and I know a guy who purchased one directly a few years back.
