Highlights

The 78th of just 448 Ferrari 550 Barchetta Pininfarinas built

Right-hand drive, matching numbers and delivery mileage

Resplendent in Rosso Corsa over a Nero leather and Alcantara interior

A truly virginal example of the 550 Barchetta – a limited-edition, open-top, front-engined V12 Ferrari with a manual gearbox

Creating a worthy successor for the eye-wateringly pretty GTS/4 ‘Daytona’ Spider was no mean feat for Ferrari, which probably explains why it took the company 31 years to finally do it. Suffice to say, the 550 Barchetta Pininfarina was worth the wait.

It was also a fitting way of commemorating the 70th birthday of Pininfarina, the illustrious engineer of elegance from Turin previously responsible for the design of such fabled Ferraris as the 250 GT ‘Lusso’ and, of course, the ‘Daytona’.

Introduced at the Paris salon in 2000, the Ferrari 550 Barchetta was drop-dead gorgeous, differing from its closed-roof counterpart in a number of intricate ways. The windscreen, for example, was shorter and more aggressively raked, resulting in a more sleek overall profile. The boot was restyled and, bizarrely for a convertible, more specious as a result. And the fuel filler cap was hewn from aluminium.

The Barchetta also received as standard several features that were optional (and, being a Ferrari, alarmingly expensive) on the coupe – big racing bucket seats, for example, a smattering of carbon-fibre trim and 19-inch two-piece alloy wheels. The front-engined V12 was a Barchetta in the truest sense of the word. Ferrari half-heartedly provided a soft-top, although it was only deemed ‘safe’ below 70mph. Who wants to drive their drop-top V12 in the rain, anyway?

Ferrari intended to build 444 examples of the 550 Barchetta, but four is an unlucky number in Japan, which worried the bigwigs in Maranello sufficiently enough for them to add four more. Each of the 448 cars (which immediately sold out) boasts an individually numbered plaque on the dash bearing the signature of Sergio Pininfarina. We, for one, are sure he was proud of this rare and incredibly elegant V12 Gran Turismo.

This delivery-mileage Ferrari 550 Barchetta is number 78 of the 448 built. It was delivered new to Hong Kong via the official Ferrari concessionaire Italian Motors (Sales & Service) Ltd. on 3 July 2001. As a result of its sheltered life (the odometer reads just 134 miles), this Ferrari is in remarkably original condition, retaining its original Pirelli P Zero tyres, spare wheel and even the factory plastic protective film on the carpets.

Furthermore, number 72 is accompanied by its factory Certificate of Origin, Warranty and Service Book, Alarm System booklet, Owner’s Manual, Sales and Service booklet and Hi-Fi System Warranty Card.

A limited-edition drop-top Ferrari V12 with enough special features to distinguish it from its closed-roof counterpart, the 550 Barchetta is a veritable modern classic. And number 78 presents an extremely rare opportunity to acquire a virtually untouched example.

Price Upon Application