The Ferrari 550 is the Ferrari that answered a simple question — how much car can this badge carry? — with 485 PS from 5.5 . It was built from 1996 to 2002, when airbags, anti-lock brakes and Japanese build quality became the world standard. Pininfarina: / Lorenzo Ramaciotti / Elvio D'Aprile / Goran Popović (interior) drew it.
How it came about
The Ferrari 550 Maranello (tipo F133) is a front-engine V12 2-seat grand tourer built by Ferrari from 1996 to 2002. The 550 Maranello marked Ferrari's return to a front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout for its 2-seater 12-cylinder model, 23 years after the 365 GTB/4 Daytona had been replaced by the mid-engined Berlinetta Boxer.
In 2000, Ferrari introduced the 550 Barchetta Pininfarina, a limited production roadster version of the 550 which was limited to just 448 examples. The 550 was replaced by the upgraded 575M Maranello in 2002.
The hardware
Power comes from 5.5 485 PS is the published figure. It weighs 3912 lb. Work it out per tonne and you get about 124 horsepower — brisk everyday performance. It shifts through a 6-speed manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 2500 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Ferrari F512 M / Ferrari 365 GTB/4 "Daytona" (Spiritually); its successor was the Ferrari 575M Maranello; assembly was at Maranello, Italy. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Porsche 911 GT1, the Ford GT90, the Bugatti 18/3 Chiron — show what else the money bought that year. Its Ferrari stablemates include the 250 GTE and the 328 GTS.