Agreed on any average car and even any average private property. But a F50 is a part of the world automotive heritage, 349 have been made, just because the dude is temporarily the administrative owner doesn't mean He has the right to ruin it. The car will probably live looong years after the current owner's death If I follow you logic I can buy Picasso and Monet paintings and burn them in backyard because that's my property. If i do so the Art World will probably stomp my intimate parts and they will be right. Same for the F50 For me people doing this are not interested in cars but in themselves. They modify the car to stand out of the crowd, to make people look at them Paint you bmw in matte pink if you want , don't touch a Halo Ferrari car.
Nobody's disputing that it's his car and his money. He can do what he likes with his car. But, this a forum for expression. Hopefully it will be in the care of a thoughtful owner someday who will restore it back to its proper specification.
+1. I'm not a fan of the look of this car but it's quite easily fixed. Put stock grille on and redo that aftermarket diffuser in carbon and it'll look great. I believe this one has a J wolff exhaust, which sounds absolutely fantastic (far better than stock). This car can literally be fixed in a weekend. Bit over-dramatic. He paid the money for his car, so he can do what he likes (to a certain extend). The car is easily fixed to look good, or even put back original.
It would require hardly any more work than most pre-emptive restorations performed on any other F50 to put back to stock. So it would be more like buying a limited edition print of a Picasso and putting it in an ugly frame. Part of the history of these special cars is special owners doing special things with them, I don't really like this, but I like it for being done
Almost all the garishly-modified and color-changed Ferrari Supercars end up being returned to their original production status over the years, it's simply a question of time, at some point it'll fall into the hands of a sympathetic & thoughtful owner who has some respect and understanding for the original Ferrari artisans who created the car, and is somehow able to allow that to take priority over his ego. We've seen this with GTOs, F40s and this F50 will be no different IMO. On an enthusiast's site and in an appreciation thread for F50s, people can and will forever continue to express their disappointment for a few people's poor taste and lack of respect for the original heritage of these unique and special cars. As time goes on and the cars fall into the hands of more meticulous owners, their preservation is becoming better understood and valued, so I don't see any breaks for automotive vandalism bestowed upon Ferrari Supercars coming anytime soon. Unless you have actually owned a Ferrari Supercar which you have had to restore from from someone else's poor taste in modifications, the time & expense involved is not well understood. Ask me how I know. This particular F50 has a few more more modifications than meet the eye, as is often the case people who modify cars often struggle to draw the line somewhere and get carried way, it's not just a matter of putting back on the stock wheels which have been removed and replaced by a set of Enkei Sports. The standard F50 brake system has been discarded and substituted with a different Brembo calipers and two-piece slotted discs. This is where it gets tricky as the owner got rid of the stock Bilstein adaptive dampers and substituted them with Quantum components featuring harder springs, in the process lowering the car further, as such, the electronic adaptive damping has been lost. The original factory exhaust system has been discarded in favor of an aftermarket sports exhaust, and headers which have been wrapped by heat-dissipating fabric, as you'd see on a typical hot-rod. The rear body-colored diffuser has been added will have undoubtedly been attached by rivets or screws into the car's original bodywork. Ditto the replacement rear mesh grille. The steering wheel has been replaced with a typical aftermarket suede steering wheel. The upholsetery has been modified, for example the original F50 seat inserts have been discarded in favor of an aftermarket non-oroginal quilted design. Doo-dads and supplementary aftermarket appliances are everywhere in the interior. The car is said to have been repainted from Rosso Corsa to white. All told, it will take more than a weekend to make it the car which left Maranello, I'd say if this F50 were sent to Ferrari Classiche in Maranello or an authorized Ferrari concessionaire (as opposed to somebody's back yard), taking it back in time would be a painstaking 3 months process at a minimum, and the bill would be a healthy five figures, six figures if the guy sold the original components. As an aside, something which speaks to this F50's current fate: the owner is documented to have "rebuilt it's engine after a mis-shift during a test drive sent the bottom end to stratospheric RPM, self-destructing in the process".
You're looking at it from a purist perspective IMO. Some people care less about the car being completely factory original. Of course to bring it back to fully original, it'll be more work. But to look good? It's quite literally have the diffuser done in carbon and fit factory grille. Did the current owner keep the original shocks and exhaust?
Not really. I'm looking at it from the perspective of a Ferrari Supercar owner who's actually been in involved with the time & expense of the restorative process of putting cars back to standard specification multiple times. I'm looking at it from the perspective of a professional who trades in the market for these cars and has a database from which to draw conclusions about what people care about. The vast majority of people who actually own these cars actually do care about the car being completely factory original, their views are the ones that matter, as they shape & influence the market. I'm not here guessing & speculating, I have been through this process, and I know of this car. You said, "it's quite easily fixed", "his car can literally be fixed in a weekend", "the car is easily fixed to look good, or even put back original", those statements are incorrect, if the work is to be done professionally by a Ferrari authorized entity to the standard an F50 exists in. You also have now said "it's quite literally have the diffuser done in carbon and fit factory grille" which is again incorrect, read the full details of the mods this car which require reversal, including a repaint, all of which I am aware of as posted above. AFAIK the owner sold those components to fund the modifications or engine rebuild.
To get it to look good, not to put it back to factory state. This F50 is ideal candidate for an owner who is looking to drive it and have the car in his own spec, so to say. One that doesn't really care too much about resale. My ideal F50 would be blue scozia, black or yellow. One colour is unattainable, the other two carry a significant premium. I love the wheels it sits on and wouldn't change them (in fact if I bought a stock F50 I'd source a set of these wheels...). Similarly, the exhaust is excellent. Of course, I am in the minority, especially considering with clients you deal with often (that's not meant in a bad way, at all). But I also know I'm not alone.
To "look good" is entirely subjective and often misguided, back to factory state is definitive. All-too-often the refrain "it can easily be put back to standard" is completely untrue, and unsurprisingly, is almost always uttered by those who have never actually owned the car in question and certainly have never been faced with restoring one, so they have no experience of what they speak. It's important for the sake of reality and for the sake of potential owners to let it be known that this notion is mostly false, I deal with this all the time in my business. The fact is, truly returning this F50 to standard will be a time-consuming and costly exercise, but well-worth it IMO.
The F50 I saw today, it's being restored, it will be gorgeous Rosso Barchetta. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
F50 and the Mclaren F1 road car are worlds apart for many reasons, but from the same era. Will the F1 luggage set fit an F50 ? Image Unavailable, Please Login
