1987 Ferrari F40 in 1:18 Scale by Amalgam
The 1987 Ferrari F40 in 1:18 Scale Fine Resin Model by Amalgam.
The F40 was built to celebrate Ferraris 40th anniversary. A very fast berlinetta designed by Pininfarina, it was built mainly from composites. Its sophisticated high-performance, turbo-charged running gear combined with a first class chassis gave it the kind of great dynamic prowess that was close to that of a racing car.
A finely detailed model at 1:18 scale.
The F40 continued the extreme machine philosophy cultivated by its predecessor the GTO, but took it to new levels. It was greeted with great enthusiasm by enthusiasts and the number of examples eventually built exceeded the companys wildest dreams. During the mid eighties there were various spy pictures in motoring magazines of a radical prototype(s) around the streets of Maranello, with all sorts of hypothesis as to its raison detre. It subsequently transpired that the car was what became known as the Evoluzione, a test bed for the upcoming F40.
A total of five Evoluzione models were built for evaluation purposes, four of which were eventually sold to private clients, and the fifth retained by the factory. When the F40 was eventually announced in the middle of 1987 its Pininfarina designed body took everybodys breath away, it was raw and mean, a car that looked like a racing model, but that was totally road legal and could be driven to the shops if desired. The F40 model title was derived from F for Ferrari and 40 represented the fortieth anniversary of Ferrari car production. It was also the last new car presentation attended by Enzo Ferrari before his death in August 1988.
The only trace elements of the 308 ancestry remained around the cabin profile and satin black painted side indent line, otherwise the radical body styling was all new, as were its construction materials. The low mean and wide front end flowed via an eclectic array of cooling slots and intake ducts through to the tail, with its panoramic rear screen under which lay the engine, and behind which projected the high mounted integral full width wing, that presented the ultimate eighties power statement. The public loved it, and queues of clients formed cheque book in hand, to join the waiting list, despite Ferrari refusing to say exactly how many would be built and over what period. This was to try and negate a repeat of the extraordinary clamour for the GTO, and thus left production open ended, but it did nothing to calm the storm. It was just so radical, so fast and so covetable, that people wanted it, and they wanted it now!
At the height of the supercar boom in 1989 they were changing hands at around a million pounds! Production continued through to 1992, during which time 1311 examples were produced in the chassis number range 76624 to 95317, nearly five times as many as the GTO. Racing versions with the suffixes LM and GT-E were developed by Michelotto of Padova, and enjoyed success over a number of years during the nineties in European GT racing with various private entrants