After the Testarossa of the 1980s, the Prancing Horse launched a fundamentally different flagship in the form of the 550 Maranello. Five years of production later, Ferrari morphed it into the 575M Maranello, a grand tourer that spawned a special edition christened the Superamerica.
This is one of those cars. A total of 559 examples were ever built, following the philosophy of Enzo Ferrari according to which there should be one fewer unit available than what the market demanded. The 575M Superamerica we’ll be talking about on this occasion is one of 43 examples equipped with a stick shift.
These days, Ferrari doesn’t do manual transmissions anymore because shifting gears by yourself is not as quick as letting some fancy software do it for you as quickly as possible. Because the dual-clutch automatic with flappy paddles is the norm for the time being, prices of manual-equipped Ferrari cars have ballooned to mind-boggling figures. Bonhams estimates that this 575M Superamerica is worth $700,000 to $900,000, which is a lot of hard cash if you ask me.
Allow me to explain. In 2009, chassis ZFFGT610000144840 sold for $132,105. Two years later, chassis ZFFGT61A750142550 upped the ante to $330,000. The most expensive 575M Superamerica sold in 2016 racked up $682,000. Can you see the trend here? Manual-equipped Ferrari models, especially those produced in limited numbers, are highly sought after by collectors prepared to pay an arm and a leg.
This 2005 Ferrari 575M Superamerica isn’t as overestimated as I've initially thought, though. One owner has been caring for it since new and the odometer shows only 11,800 miles. These two details are enough for bidding to get out of control later today at the Greenwich Concours d’Elegance auction.
When it was new, the 575M Superamerica was the fastest convertible in the world thanks to a top speed of 199 mph (320 km/h). Bugatti would one-up Ferrari at the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the venue where the automaker presented the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport.
Editor's note: Dear Ferrari, gated shifters are cool. Signed, everyone.
These days, Ferrari doesn’t do manual transmissions anymore because shifting gears by yourself is not as quick as letting some fancy software do it for you as quickly as possible. Because the dual-clutch automatic with flappy paddles is the norm for the time being, prices of manual-equipped Ferrari cars have ballooned to mind-boggling figures. Bonhams estimates that this 575M Superamerica is worth $700,000 to $900,000, which is a lot of hard cash if you ask me.
Allow me to explain. In 2009, chassis ZFFGT610000144840 sold for $132,105. Two years later, chassis ZFFGT61A750142550 upped the ante to $330,000. The most expensive 575M Superamerica sold in 2016 racked up $682,000. Can you see the trend here? Manual-equipped Ferrari models, especially those produced in limited numbers, are highly sought after by collectors prepared to pay an arm and a leg.
This 2005 Ferrari 575M Superamerica isn’t as overestimated as I've initially thought, though. One owner has been caring for it since new and the odometer shows only 11,800 miles. These two details are enough for bidding to get out of control later today at the Greenwich Concours d’Elegance auction.
When it was new, the 575M Superamerica was the fastest convertible in the world thanks to a top speed of 199 mph (320 km/h). Bugatti would one-up Ferrari at the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the venue where the automaker presented the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport.
Editor's note: Dear Ferrari, gated shifters are cool. Signed, everyone.