The Only Way Was Always Up
From the moment the Ferrari F40 came out in 1987, it was pretty much guaranteed that its values would never go down. It also kicked off Ferrari’s tradition of rolling out an ultra-rare and ultra-exclusive hypercar at least once every decade. We’ve had four Ferrari hypercars since the F40, with the latest one being the F80.
When it was new, the F40 carried a price tag of about $400,000. Adjust that for inflation, and you’re looking at about $1,165,000 in today’s money. The thing is, F40s often sell for much more than that, as these typically fetch over $2,000,000. The rarer and not-exactly-road-legal F40 LM goes for much more, by the way.
A Potential Record-Breaker
Several F40s have been sold over the last couple of years, and a couple have come close to breaking the $4,000,000 mark. The most recent record was $3,886,250 and was sold during last year’s RM Sotheby’s Abu Dhabi auction. It was a 1990 model with a hair under 3,000 miles on the odometer.
But one of two(!) F40s that will be up for sale at the Mecum auction in Kissimmee 2026 include this low-mile example from 1992. It’s part of the Bachman Ferrari Collection, and it’s only done 458 miles in the last 34 years. That’s an average of less than 15 miles per year —assuming it’s even brought out in certain years.
It’s one of the 213 F40s built for the U.S market and one of 24 produced in 1992 and rolled out of Maranello in April of that year. If we’re talking specifics, that makes a rare car even more exclusive. By the way, the second F40 part of the collection has traveled a little bit more over the years, 865 miles on the clock.
A Legend, No Matter the Price
The backstory of the F40 is an interesting thing to hear. Yes, many books and documentaries have been done about it, but it’s always nice to revisit it from time to time. It started out as a proposal to enter Group B racing and a successor of sorts to the 288 GTO. However, the Group B category was canned at the end of the 1986 motorsport season. Ferrari had built five prototypes in the form of the 288 GTO Evoluzione, but no race series to enter it.
With that, the focus shifted to turning it into a road car. It also helped that Enzo Ferrari wanted a flagship model that would later become the last vehicle the company’s founder would sign off on personally. The result? It would be the antithesis of the Porsche 959 that came out in 1986.
The F40 was raw and visceral, essentially being a race car with license plates. The interior was composed of bare carbon fiber, and equipment was kept to a minimum. It was just a hair over 3,000 lbs for U.S versions and under that for Europe, which did wonders for handling and performance. It was then powered by a 2.9-liter twin-turbo V8 that packed 471 hp and 426 lb-ft of torque, which was more than enough to give it a top speed of 201 mph.
What a car, indeed.
Mecum Auctions
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