Life is tough for some, but not for everyone. The owner of this Ferrari, though, are probably not going to worry about having a roof over their head or rice in their belly, though fortune can be fickle. Judging by what I found next to this handsome 456, though, it seems that the dough’s still rolling in.
It’s always nice to snoop around the ritzier parts of town – provided they don’t set the hounds on you, of course. That’s how one can catch some choice CCs, both foreign and domestic (Mitsuokas are popular in those parts too – there was a very nice one just around the corner). Visiting the projects can also result in some unusual and interesting finds, but Ferraris are less likely to be parked there.
And that’s fine – classic Toyotas or Mazdas in a state of disrepair make for some great CC posts. But one cannot survive on Corollas alone, and the desire for the odd exotic V12 supercar (or two) can be overwhelming. Not that one can necessarily scratch that itch at will, but in certain parts of Tokyo, the likelihood of finding a car you’ve only seen in magazines before is relatively high.
As alluded to previously and evidenced by the previous pic’s outrageous photobombing, our featured Ferrari had a noteworthy neighbour – perhaps its replacement? – in the shape of this Aston Martin DB11. It’s a bit too recent for my liking, so I’ll stick to the other millionairemobile for this post, thank you very much. Still, this little toy is available with either a Mercedes-sourced 500hp 4-litre twin turbo V8 or Aston’s own 600hp 5.2 litre V12.
By comparison, the 20-year-old Ferrari’s 5.5 litre V12 only churns out 436hp. Both the Aston and the Ferrari weigh about the same, so I assume that this, plus the GTA’s old-fashioned 4-speed automatic, must make the English newbie noticeably brisker. But the Ferrari 456 was always more of a comfortable GT than a speed demon anyway.
That’s probably why the Sultan of Brunei, who I’m sure is a family man, ordered so many 456GT specials. He had three saloons and six wagons made by PininFarina and also took a couple Spyders, with the bespoke rear end, for those times when Mr Sultan wants a suntan. Three cars were made into convertibles by a Californian outfit after the fact (bottom right), but those were not paid in petrodollars. The standard coupé, for its part, was made in just over 3000 units from 1992 to 2003 – the longest-lived Ferrari model ever.
One look inside this Connally-clad cabin confirms that this “family Ferrari” is no racer, if there was any doubt. The lack of an iPad-sized touchscreen embedded somewhere in the dash really dates this interior more than anything else. How last century.
PininFarina’s design must have looked excitingly modern when this car arrived on the scene back in 1992. Hidden headlamps were at the height of their moment and the overall shape was re-used by PF for other cars, especially the Peugeot 406C. Maybe that’s why the car hardly changed at all in over a decade in production. The only noticeable external change, when the “M” for modificata was added to the model number in 1998, was the slightly smaller grille with fog lamps.
Front-engined Ferraris are legendary beasts. As far as I’m concerned, they’re all works of art – the most recent ones (such as the 812 Superfast) are a bit too brusque, as are all performance cars nowadays, but from the 166 Inter of the late ‘40s up to the 612 Scaglietti and the 599, what a spectacular lineage. Owning one is sheer madness, so I’m glad there are some folks in this city who have much more money than sense – more yen than zen, if you will – and just leave V12 supercars lying about. Gives us CCers something to salivate over, if nothing else.
I just had to have this one in 1:18 scale from Maisto. This and the Porsche Carrera GT are the only two models I ever bought. I’d say the Porsche design has aged better.
Ferrari 456?
Looks like an “Eye-talian Thunderbird” to me. 😉
Hard to believe this car is 19 years old, it still looks so fresh. Gold wouldn’t be my choice, but the strength of the styling carries it, and with the dark wheels it looks bang up to date.
Somehow, I like this car in gold (or beige, whatever it actually is). I think that big Ferraris tend to look good in non-red colors; I recall seeing pictures of 1960s-era Ferraris such as 330GTs in a similar shade of gold, and thought that they looked outstanding.
And it is somewhat shocking that this car is 20 years old. For me, time has stood somewhat still when it comes to Ferraris, because not long after this car was made, I stopped paying much attention to them.
Have you truly made it when you can park your Ferrari outside and not worry about it or have you *not* truly made it if you *have to* park your Ferrari outside? Or does the mere act of owning a Ferrari make any of the above moot?
I very much like how the side scallop matches (in reverse) the window line above it. Actually I like most everything about this, it’s about as subtle as a Ferrari can get, including the color. The blue Aston will never be subtle though, and even though it more or less fills the same market segment the styling is far more on the outlandish side of things.
The 456 was actually my favorite Ferrari of the 90s, it was way ahead of its time, as I think it ironically kinda set the stage for Aston Martins of the 2000s like the DB9 with their clean classy but still brand identifiable styling. Sadly Aston styling has gone the boy racer route in the last couple years, giving Ferrari’s ugly gauche streak they’ve had since the 90s a run for the money. I don’t like expensive cars styled to impress 8 year olds
I love the 456, always have. Just gorgeous cars and yes as others have said, non-red is so refreshing on just about any Ferrari.
Lovely 456 GTA in what appears to be Ferrari’s “Grigio Ingrid” shade of greyish-gold (or goldish-grey). Grigio is Italian for grey and “Ingrid” refers to the custom one-off 1953 Ferrari 375MM “Ingrid Bergman” Coupe finished in this color for the actress back in the day. As a Ferrari paint color it’s fairly uncommon (at least in Ferrari terms), but it’s still available today on regular production Ferraris.
Perhaps the most underrated Ferrari of all. One of my favorites. I’ve never seen it in this color before. It’s the best color for it. Beautiful.
One of my favorite TV shows is “American Greed” Turns out a lot of Ferrari owners don’t have to worry about a roof over their head while serving 38 to life in Hotel Greybar.
Wow, great find. I see Kimu-taku lives in your neighborhood….:-)
Someone in Auckland has a very nice one in black I didnt realise how old they are though maybe the black one has been repainted it looks factory fresh and now I know what it was if I ever see it again.
You really wouldn’t trust Pinninfarina to style your megabarge, would you? I mean, fancy paying out quadrillions of rubles for your 456 only to have your maid arrive in her diesel Peugeot 406 Coupe and being not entirely convinced her version doesn’t possibly look the better of the two.
I do appreciate that these are good-looking cars, but they are also just a bit bland: a Supra done well, perhaps, not helped here by that oh-so-insipid color of the time, Posh Beige.
I’m not really envious of the other’s half, for once.
Still on the bucket list after nearly 30 (!) years