Photo: dkengineering/instagram
Even in the stratospheric realm of Ferrari F40s, some examples are more special than others. So welcome to the Gunmetal Grey unit that used to belong to the Sultan of Brunei, which has just been restored to its original shade.
With the ruler having reigned over the tiny state of Brunei for decades, his passion for cars is one of the aspects that made him famous in the western world. So, before anything else, let's take a bit of time to see how this twin-turbo Fezza came to be.
When Enzo Ferrari introduced the F40 back in the late 80s, his Majesty Hassanal Bolkiah naturally wanted one... or seven (actually, historians disagree on the number of cars he ordered, with this varying between seven and ten).
Brunei is one of the countries who drive on the left side of the road, so Pininfarrina was called in to move the steering wheel to the other side, since the Prancing Horse only said it would offer the 1,315 F40s in left-hand-drive.
And the Italian house only agreed to the contract after requesting a minimum number of six vehicles to be converted.
Of course, the Sultan upped the ante by also ordering the cozier leather interior of the Testarossa, with its more lavish seats.
Two decades later, one or two of these Maranello icons reached the UK, which, given the said conversion, wasn't a surprise.
And the one we have here was brought back to the factory cabin configuration (it even got red F40 LM seats) by DK Engineering.
While in Britain, this F40 traded hands multiple times via Ferrari specialist Talacrest - last time we heard about this, the supercar was offered at a price of GBP2 million (around $2.6 million), with this happening in January last year.
The current owner is certainly happy, the Brunei Royal family is happy (after all, this was the shade they originally requested from Pinifarina), which means we're in for a happy ending, folks - check out the machine in the posts below.
PS: Yes, the red pinstripe has also returned.
When Enzo Ferrari introduced the F40 back in the late 80s, his Majesty Hassanal Bolkiah naturally wanted one... or seven (actually, historians disagree on the number of cars he ordered, with this varying between seven and ten).
Brunei is one of the countries who drive on the left side of the road, so Pininfarrina was called in to move the steering wheel to the other side, since the Prancing Horse only said it would offer the 1,315 F40s in left-hand-drive.
And the Italian house only agreed to the contract after requesting a minimum number of six vehicles to be converted.
Of course, the Sultan upped the ante by also ordering the cozier leather interior of the Testarossa, with its more lavish seats.
Two decades later, one or two of these Maranello icons reached the UK, which, given the said conversion, wasn't a surprise.
And the one we have here was brought back to the factory cabin configuration (it even got red F40 LM seats) by DK Engineering.
While in Britain, this F40 traded hands multiple times via Ferrari specialist Talacrest - last time we heard about this, the supercar was offered at a price of GBP2 million (around $2.6 million), with this happening in January last year.
Back to the present
Well, DK Engineering has now turned to Instagram to let us know that the machine, which had been finished in Ferrari's traditional red by one of its former owners, has now been restored to its factory Gunmental Grey.The current owner is certainly happy, the Brunei Royal family is happy (after all, this was the shade they originally requested from Pinifarina), which means we're in for a happy ending, folks - check out the machine in the posts below.
PS: Yes, the red pinstripe has also returned.
Google News