The money is on the manuals
Hand-stirred Ferraris are looking like good bets – but the market is still half-asleep
On the telly, back in 2015, I tipped nice Ferrari 456s at around thirty grand as undiscovered bargains. Soon prices started to tickle upwards and didn’t stop rising until they hit over £100k.
Six years on and the wheel may have turned full circle because I’m back saying that the 456 – in manual guise – is worth looking out for. In July, Bonhams at Bicester sold a fine ’95 right-hand- drive example with 28,500 miles for £38,250 including premium. The desirable six-speeder, with good history, lots of paperwork, all books and tools, in Grigio Titanio silver with tan Connelly interior – I thought this wasn’t expensive at all. With prices of last-of-the-line three-pedal Ferraris warming up, this seemed very well bought. Being originally sold new in Hong Kong may have spooked some buyers but the history file contained ‘30 to 40 invoices’ from HK Ferrari dealers charting diligent maintenance in its early years.
Only around 25% of 456 production was ordered with manual gearboxes so they’re a rare find, especially with low mileage. As I write there are just two early 456 manuals for sale: one in Oxford – a ’95 with 31,000 miles at £74,000 – and the other in Holland where a rather optimistic dealer is pitching a ’97 with a hefty 93,000 miles racked up at a strong £59,000. So the Bonhams car feel incredibly reasonable.
Automatic 456s are easy to find and not showing any significant price movement but over the last few months I’ve been watching an uplift in all gated six-speed analogue Ferraris. In August, Gooding at Pebble Beach drew a staggering $307,000 for an 8000-mile manual F430 Spider while RM Sotheby’s at Monterey sold another manual F430 Spider for $368,000 along with a six-speed 612 Scaglietti for $324,000. Mind you these were perfect, micro-mileage cars, but nevertheless solid premiums are clearly being paid for the last generation of three-pedal prancing horses. Another brace of 456 manuals – this time the later Modificato versions – sold for over £100k at Monterey in August. I imagine whoever snaffled the Bonham’s manual 456 isn’t going to suffer buyer’s remorse any time soon.
- VALUE 2014 £33k
- VALUE NOW £47.5k
Too late – this horse bolted, via a manual gate, at a modest £38,250