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I wonder if this particular thread, seeking a buyer for the F40 located in France, shouldn't be relocated to the Ferrari for Sale Forum. Including this within Market Analysis is a distraction. And, good luck with finding that buyer!
Sorry but I am not seeking a buyer and I ´ve never sold one of my cars on a forum because there are not buyers on a forum. You are making here a market analysis and I am just telling that I know this car.
Hi Sturm, thanks for the lead on an F40 for sale and for sharing the photos. The market report is my creation. I do incorporate cars listed for sale in my analysis, but as mentioned in my report, this is only when the price and/or VIN is available. Otherwise there isn't really anything I can add to my report. Asking prices go into my charts and VIN's let me distinguish unique vs. redundant offerings. If you don't want to - or cannot - release either piece of information, I won't hold it against you for wanting to do things discreetly, but I think the F40 Photos thread or a For Sale thread is the better place to post.
I’ve given infos and VIN through private message. But no problem, please forget this car. Anyway, I don’t think that an american collector could be interested in an european car, american and european markets are different ;-)
Euro spec F40s are rapidly gaining in numbers in the states now they are over 25 years old, best place for info on this car is the thread I started a while back in this section though
Au contraire, mon frère! Euro-spec examples trade quite often here these days. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Two points to consider: the USA version F40 was built in smaller numbers and typically presents lower mileage than Euro cars. Two details that make USA cars more expensive; especially in a market where low mileage and originality is King.
Low mileage is an important point, you're right, but in my eyes clear history and perfect maintenance is even more important, especially for this type of supercar. The "funny" thing is that cars with US Specs (included canadian cars) are less sought after here in Europe and they are often less priced than original Euro Specs cars. This is valid for all makes and models even for american manufactured cars.
Correct, on average. This is something I've noticed as well, and I'm not sure the reasoning behind it. Here is the same chart as above, but with higher mileage represented by larger bubble size. Notice all the high-mileage (relatively) Euro-spec examples hitting the auction circuit with no equivalent US-spec peers. Comparing the specs at equivalent mileage, there still is a pretty substantial delta in realized prices but it's not quite as gigantic as a raw, mileage-agnostic comparison would suggest. I just checked my data and the median mileage of a Euro-spec car at North American auction is 19,700 km. For Euro-spec cars at European auction, it's 19,200 km - nearly identical. So Americans aren't getting particularly sloppy seconds or anything with the Euro cars that come over. There is instead something interesting going on with how many US-spec cars have been kept and offered at low mileages.
One point to consider was price. By that I mean that Ferrari artificially kept North America prices higher than in Europe by blocking the importation of cheap European version Ferrari models. European models didn't meet specific USA government requirements for safety and emission rules. Ferrari was happy to play along because it served their goal of controlling where their cars ended up. There were certain specific parts that Ferrari would not sell into the 'other' market which turned off Ferrari customers on the idea of importing from a different market to their own residential area. Both the GTO and F40 could not be registered anywhere in Canada for street use when new.
How much demand for a USA car is there outside the USA? Typically this holds true for most Marques. They are not the same as a European car at all and many enthusiasts over here have waited long and hard to import them legally. Kinda like a Carb vs Injected Countach, specific for USA application. Many of those cars come here for that reason, and continue to. It’s worth mentioning not all Euro cars are the same and anyone looking at F40s can’t blanket 1100 cars as just a Euro car. I wonder how many Americans have heard non-cat factory straight piped F40s start up next to a USA car. Quite different actually. Some people see the F40 needing 3/4 point fixed instead of retractable belts, one piece bucket seats, and 200lbs shaved off to get the experience.
I 100% agree with you. To be honest, I think noone in Europe wants to buy an F40 with US Spec, simply because all the adaptations made for the US market don't appeal to europeans drivers at all.
US spec F40s have always been kept artificially higher in cost, as demand outstripped supply there for the first 25 years of their life. They are a less pure spec due to the appendages required for dot safety requirements, hence why outside of the US they are less desirable than a normal ROW spec example and would probably trade for a lesser sum, however very few have left the US so it's hard to confirm such. Now that ROW examples are flooding into the country it will be interesting to see if the gap in cost narrows over time.
Now that Euro spec F40s can be imported without problems in the USA, I think the trend will be reversed in the next few years since, as you say, they are much more desirable: no large pieces of rubber on the bumpers, no lights added to the sides, an engine that breathes better, real bucket seats with harnesses...etc. That's just my opinion but I don't think I'm too wrong. On the other hand, the opposite is unthinkable: a European will always prefer a purer Euro spec car.
The dollar bought you less pounds/euro initially when the F40 hit 25 years old, but in more recent times you got a lot more for your buck, so a euro based F40 became a relative bargain in comparison to a US version for US based buyers, their perception also seemed to mellow in time regarding ROW examples.
I've heard more than one US buyer of a Euro F40 use this same line of thinking when considering exit ops... Not that they were going in with a plan to sell, but if the situation arises, it's good knowing that a EU car has broad, world-wide marketability (not to mention varying arbitrage opportunities) vs. the US models.
100% right, a EURO Spec is salable worldwide if we only consider the commercial aspect. Concerning the aesthetic aspect and the weight, don't blame me american friends, but I prefer it by far to the US Spec F40. But as we say in France, everyone defends their beefsteak.
There are actually lots of qualified buyers on forums. USA F40s were not kept artificially higher in cost for the first 25 years, it's implausible to maintain any market artificially for a quarter of a century, the market is the market at any point in time, Americans pay what they pay for a USA car mostly because in the first 20 years they needed a USA car to be able to road register an F40 in many states, and latterly because some considered it a separate rarer variant, which is true. As regards demand outstripping supply for the first 25 years of their lives, that's not entirely correct, in 1992 and 1993 more than a handful of USA F40s sat in showrooms for at least a year unsold with no takers, in 1996 I paid the princely sum of $265k for 86640 which had also sat around for a year unsold, the pervious owner having paid double what I paid.
