No SUVs, electric cars or four-door sedans will abrasion the Ferrari cast -- ever. That was above Ferrari administrator Luca di Montezemolo’s promise, and his almsman Sergio Marchionne doesn’t assume to be agog on agitation that accurate baiter (for now).
But that wasn’t consistently case; this four-door Ferrari Pinin abstraction is proof. Styled by the masterminds at Carozzeria Pininfarina, the angular Pinin auto reportedly got the nod of approval from none added than old Enzo himself, and Sergio Pininfarina referred to it as the “ideal car.” In our advantage from the attic of the 1980 Turin Auto Show, we appear that the Pinin -- which we accounted the hit of the accident -- “could actual able-bodied go into assembly some day” (read the abounding address in the PDF below).
It didn’t go into production, of course. Abandoned two non-running prototypes were built, and one of those was reportedly crushed.
But the exercise was conspicuously plausible. Strip out the conceptual, Aston Martin Lagonda-like computerized displays, and you’re larboard with a front-engine, rear-wheel drive Ferrari 400 continued aloof abundant to board two rear doors. It retained the advanced (and in our opinion, criminally underappreciated) administration of its auto counterpart, but its 108.7-in wheelbase fabricated it about the aforementioned admeasurement as a Mercedes-Benz 280 auto of the era. Rear-seat cartage would accept enjoyed GT-levels of abundance all while actuality propelled advanced by a agreeable 5.0-liter flat-12 (the 400 and 412, we’ll note, got V12s).
Whaaaaaa Photo by RM Sotheby's
If it had been able with one, that is. As we mentioned, the ancestor apparent in Turin was non-running. The agent was a dummy; the manual was aloof a shell.
The Pinin adventure doesn’t end on the appearance floor, however. By some miracle, one of the concepts able the altercation and fabricated it into clandestine hands. It alike for bargain in 2008, aback it awash for about $250,000. It came up to the block afresh in 2011, but ultimately didn’t sell. The absolutely absorbing allotment is that, at some point afterwards 2008, the rolling administration exercise acquired a abounding set of active accessory -- afterwards decades, the Pinin had fabricated the absurd Pinocchio-like transformation into a absolute car!
Which brings us to the present day, with the one-of-a-kind, V12-powered, five-speed transaxle-equipped Ferrari Pinin is listed for auction at Hemmings for a bald $795,000. That’s a lot of money for a continued 400 with a flat-12 awash beneath the hood, but maybe not a lot for a absolutely different Ferrari. Looking at the seller’s pictures, the Pinin appears to be a actual real, actual complete agent -- article that could accept existed in an alternate, but abundantly parallel, universe. Which is not article we can say about the majority of concepts.
Imagine adequate this array of admirable touring luxury...in the aback seat! Photo by RM Sotheby's
This raises the catechism of why it never hit the bazaar in the aboriginal place. Opinions vary, but the car’s broadly varying, visible-from-space console gaps are one clue -- it may accept been that buyers wouldn’t accept been accommodating to abdomen that handcrafted Italian character, so alluring in sports cars, in a high-dollar affluence sedan. Or conceivably Enzo, in his absolute acumen and/or crankiness, accomplished this would accept opened the floodgates for a alternation of adequate four-doors -- ultimately diluting the Prancing Horse brand.
Either way, the Pinin stands abandoned as a atypical allotment of Ferrari history, and it’s up for grabs. Somebody buy it afore Marchionne gets any funny ideas.
Many adaptable doors and panels Italian body affection = worse fit and accomplishment than a Bristol. Not that we care. Photo by RM Sotheby's
From the attic of the 1980 Turin auto show, Autoweek's address on the four-door Ferrari Pinin concept
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