Acceleration Of Mods & Color Changes

Is this actually true? Many F40s were modified in the 1990s/2000s and tracked. And repaints were perhaps just not plastered all over Instagram. There are plenty of old photos of black/blue/yellow F40s and 288s circulated on these forums.

 

I think these cars are now being broadly separated into two categories: cars that are too nice or low miles (not necessarily the same) to be driven/messed with, and cars that have been driven enough that a simple mod like paint won't really affect value significantly. So I think the owners who want to should have fun with the cars. Paint is relatively easy to bring back to standard....

 

Agreed.

Especially as time goes on, many of these cars have had paintwork in the past for minor cosmetic issues such as stone chips or scratches. Once it's not original, does it really matter if it's Rosso Corsa, or say, yellow?

There are enough F40s to suit all tastes, from all original low mileage examples, to performance modded cars and others that make sense for a color change... None of it really bothers me (within reason - until Liberty Walk enters the chat), as long as the right tool is used for the right job.. For example, I'd probably be opposed to someone taking a one-owner car with low kms and all original paint and using it as a blue LM conversion... Plenty of more suitable cars if that's the owner's intention.

 

Agree with about 99% of what you are saying....


But let's say you had two f40s. Identical history and miles... Say 5k miles... One is red and the other has been repainted to say yellow... Or black. Which one is worth more? Which one is more desirable?

 

At this point, I'd say the all original red car is worth slightly more, if only because I still feel it has a broader appeal. While nearly anyone will buy a red F40 (all else being equal), the buyer pool is much smaller for a color-change car, even if the other factors of the underlying car are the same, so a relative discount may be needed to move it.

 

Yup so therefore the repaint is a nock. Definitely a larger pool or buyers for an original car.

But if it were a 30k km car and it was repainted and had a slightly checkered history paint it grey white green purple whatever. The collector isn't looking at a car with that many miles anyways.

 

Desirable to who?

If I desire a Yellow F40 then the yellow one is more desirable....

 

I don't think it's that easy. Even if you do desire a yellow F40, it might be easier to find a suitable candidate and do the respray yourself.

When looking at a color-changed car, all of the normal factors of provenance are considered, with the added complication of what color was it changed to, who did the paint work, when was it done, etc. If any of those factors don't match the criteria of the buyer, then the buyer is more likely to find another car that hasn't been painted that otherwise matches the criteria they seek.

A paint job on an F40 isn't really that big of a deal... Certainly easier to paint a car than to un-do accident history, or missing services, or any other number of 'negatives' an F40 might have.

This is why I think a standard red car is generally more desirable... For a color-changed car to be more desirable, not only do all of the underlying criteria need to match up with the expectations of a potential buyer, but then you must also match the chosen color.