Numbers first, because with the Ferrari F40 they are the story: 2936 cc twin-turbocharged Tipo F120A/F120D 90° V8, 478 PS. Ferrari built from 1987 to 1996, in the age of turbocharging and the first electronic engine management. under the supervision of Aldo Brovarone at Pininfarina drew it. The total made was 1,337.
Where it came from
The Ferrari F40 (Type F120) is a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car engineered by Nicola Materazzi with styling by Pininfarina. It was built from 1987 until 1993, with the LM, Competizione, and GTE race car versions continuing production from 1994 to 1996 respectively. As the successor to the 288 GTO (also engineered by Materazzi), it was designed to celebrate Ferrari's 40th anniversary and was the last Ferrari automobile personally approved by Enzo Ferrari.
At the time it was Ferrari's fastest, most powerful, and most expensive car for sale. The car debuted with a planned production total of four hundred units and a factory suggested retail price of approximately US$400,000 (fivefold the price of its predecessor, the 288 GTO) in 1987 ($1,130,000 today). One of those that belonged to the Formula One driver Nigel Mansell was sold for the then record of £1 million in 1990, a record that stood into the 2010s. A total of 1,311 to 1,315 cars were manufactured with 213 units destined for the United States.
Under the skin
Power comes from 2936 cc twin-turbocharged Tipo F120A/F120D 90° V8; 478 PS is the published figure. It weighs 1254 kg. Work it out per tonne and you get about 381 horsepower — genuine supercar pace. It shifts through a 5-speed manual. The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. The wheelbase is 2450 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Ferrari 288 GTO; its successor was the Ferrari F50; assembly was at Maranello, Italy. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Mazda 767, the Porsche 989, the Porsche 959 — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Ferrari catalogue sit the 250 GTE and the 328 GTS.
What it costs now
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Ferrari F40 has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.