OK, I did some research : The body (of the barchetta) was made by Gillet in Belgium. The pictures that show the clay used to make the engine cover were made in their workshop. My italian friend is still trying to contact the guys from Coloni. But I have doubts about the plaque that shows the F4 - 001 number. It is no longer on the car. I wonder where it was located, if you look a the picture, the "red thing" on the left side, appears to be a seatbelt. But according to the pictures that I've found on the internet. The blue bracket that holds the seatbelt is / was not installed on the F-40 Barchetta. Can anyone confirm that the picture of the plaque was taken inside the F-40 Barchetta ? The original serial number of the yellow F-40 that was used for the Barchetta is still a mistery, but I'm shure that one day we'll find it Greetings Pascal
Wouldn't be so cool if a road Convertible F40 like this existed in real life ? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Peter, 85690 is the ex Popoff F40 GT and has nothing to do with this Blaton Barchetta F40 look-a-like Tom
Here are some of the pictures that I took while I visited the shop that services the F-40 Beurlys. They show the complex rear suspension and the Hewland gearbox : Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
so this has a all new carbon-fiber tub as well....interesting! there really isn't much of the original F40 left in there...steel chassis is gone, f+r suspensions gone, transaxle gone, interior re-done, body panels re-done... ...since the s/n stays more-or-less attached to the original chassis, and it is gone, could be why this particular car may be without it/one?? possibly?
just read the article again, so might be the central portion of original steel chassis remains?....still, isn't much left.....i'd be inclined to think that the car is essentially entirely fabricated, with only F40 parts sourced from other, i.e. engine.....would explain uncertainty debate over s/n
Sofar I've taken some 400 photos of the Barchetta Beurlys. I've searched the car trying to find the serial number, but even the plaque with F4-001 is no longer there. Since the chassis is so different from a standard F-40 chassis, I have to conclude that the chassis was made "from scratch", specially build for this car. But a real F-40 body was used to build the Barchetta. So the question is what was the serial number of the body ? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Forget the F4 - 001 plaque. What you want to find is the VIN. Check the steering column, just behind the steering wheel; there should be a VIN plate there. If not, check for the square metal data plate on the driver's side door jamb; that plate will have the VIN (and the date of production if it's a US car). If there's nothing there, then check the engine bay, standing on the right side of the car; look for the assembly number. The assembly number is a five-digit number on a small black and silver rectangular plate.
A real Ferrari ? No. A real ferrari is either build by Ferrari itself or by a company (like Michelotto) that has permission to alter an existing Ferrari. As for the F-40 Barchetta "Beurlys", Ferrari demanded that all the Ferrari logo's were removed (even the F-40 logo on the sidewall of the rear wing), so that makes this car not a "real Ferrari". As far as I'm concerned, I consider the F-40 Barchetta as an interesting development of the Ferrari F-40. It is a privately build concept car. According to the owner of the garage that does the maintenance on this car, it is very VERY fast, and is fun to drive. As for its value, I think it will never be worth as much as a real Ferrari F-40. The name "Beurlys" or Jean Blaton is nowhere near as valuable as the Ferrari name. But it shows us what could have been. If this prototype had been futher developed and produced in limited numbers by Ferrari, it certainly would be valuable. PS : it would be great if someone could make a clip of the startup of the engine, looking at the altered exhaust, I think it produces a mighty but wonderful sound. Any volunteers ? Yours sincerely Pascal
I somewhat don't like it. It doesn't flow right such as the F50 Barchetta does. Maybe it just needs to grow on me.
Maybe then it is the SEGA one from OutRun, looks a hell of a lot like an F40, but no VIN or similar plates. Hope you guys find some useful info on this car - always interesting to see pictures of it. Would also be interesting to see if the plates have been used to multiply the original F40 into two.
I took some photo's today. 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
I've tried to find some info about Jean Blaton/Beurlys, but I couldn't find any. Is there any other info known about him here? (date of birth, number of races won, etc.)