There are two sides to the SEMA coin.
On the one side, we’ve got the meticulous builders pushing the envelope with latest processes, materials and concepts. The wide-body DeLorean DMC-12 and modified BMW M3 Touring we’ve featured previously couple of days spring to mind as perfect examples of those. On the opposite side of the coin, you’ve got people who haven’t necessarily gone to town with the welder, but rock as much as the Las Vegas Convention Center with something so special it makes your eyebrows raise up your brow as you rub your eyes to make sure you’re seeing things clearly.
You understand, the type of cars you’d expect to see behind an unscalable glass wall at the best of high-end collections, versus being parked next to a brand new Honda Civic Type R with neon lights and Japanese lady stickers splattered throughout it. Ask any automotive person what they’d place at the highest of the ‘special automotive’ pyramid and the reply will mainly at all times be the identical: Ferrari F40.
The holy grail of all things automotive, the F40 represents a moment in automotive history of perfect driving balance and tranquility. Some would say it’s much more significant than the splitting of the primary atom or the invention of fireplace. And, for probably the most part, those people can be correct. The F40 did what cars before it didn’t really get a superb likelihood to have a superb crack at. It gave you and I a fully unobtainable yet awkwardly believable goal to dream about.
A long time before the Bugatti Veyron or Koenigseggs were ever a glimmer of hope within the eyes of whatever lucky 12-year-old was holding the Xbox controller, the F40 put fire within the belly of everyone who crossed paths with it.
If there was a counter attached for the quantity of times a bloke walked past a automotive and said ‘phwoar, I’d like one among those,’ then the F40’s one can be broken from overuse.
Sure, some impressive cars got here before it, but nothing quite hit the spot just like the F40. I’m sure there’s a number of of you shouting ‘Porsche 959, Michal!’ at your screens without delay, and to those people I say grow up. What the 959 achieved technologically, the F40 doubled in emotion and spirit alone.
The 959 was, and still is to today, owned by automotive geeks who care about things like computers. A lot in order that today you possibly can go to an organization like Canepa and they’ll take your 959 and do a Singer-esque restomod re-imagination of your automotive. That’s wonderful, but are you able to imagine someone doing this with an F40? Santa Madonna! That’s more blasphemous than vegan bolognese.
But that’s the thing about being the custodian of something considered holy – you’re expected to follow the silent rite of passage with the best way you take care of it and use it. And this rite of passage specifically says, ‘don’t change the color and leave it alone.’ Hmm…
For something to be so spiritual and other-worldly, the rules are bit conservative about things which might be otherwise trivial, no? And because it seems, for those who look nearly anywhere on the web, so are the parents that live and breathe F40.
To an unbiased outsider like me (you is likely to be surprised to learn I don’t own either an F40 or 959), the entire party seems slightly less spiritual hippy automotive lovers, and a bit more… regime-y?
Thirty-five years have past because the Ferrari F40 was launched, and its grip on the supercar world seems just as firm because it was after I was a young lad. Kids today are making TikToks about them and telling us why you shouldn’t trust someone who turns their F40 pink because ‘something something, last automotive Enzo signed off, something something’.
These are vital opinions and I respect them, but I also respect the indisputable fact that history books are rarely kind to those that sit quietly, toeing the party line. Whether a pink F40 is sweet is in the attention of the beholder, but whether it must be done? The reply to that, for me, is less ambiguous.
Because, yes, it should absolutely be done. The very fact we are able to have a look at a automotive and claim there’s a set of holy guidelines around it is not any more abstract than the guy sticking lady stickers on his Civic.
You’ll be able to be on each end of the spectrum together with your own opinion, but you’re still on the spectrum. Regardless of which side you side by here, one thing is for certain, which fits back to infinite gravitational pull of the subject in hand: For those who’re standing outside the front entrance to the SEMA Show and an F40 on BBS E88s pulls up, you’re going to whip your phone out to film it quicker than you possibly can process what color the automotive is.
And that’s the ability of the F40. It will possibly even make the authorities stop and stare with intrigue, a lot in order that they might even pull you over to get a more in-depth look. I bet none of them care if the automotive is red or not.
I feel the finer details really don’t matter with an F40, no matter your opinion about them. Especially within the context of SEMA, of all places. You’re inevitably going to see things far, much more ‘on the market’ than a cool guy having fun with his wrapped F40. Are they going to get your mind racing as much because the F40? Probably not.
The guy in query is Gregory Park, by the best way. The subject of F40 is so deep, that I’ve in some way managed to go an entire article without talking in regards to the mastermind who pulled all of it together. But fortunately for me, Paddy spoke in regards to the automotive intimately back in 2021 when it was white.
For SEMA 2023, Gregory’s F40 has been re-wrapped in Inozetek Liquid Metallic Aventurine hybrid vinyl. It looks like paint, self heals, and may be machine polished.
For further protection, the gorgeous green wrap has been coated in Gtechniq‘s latest HALOv2 Flexible Film Coating, which through chemical bonding provides a slick, dirt-repelling everlasting surface. The BBS wheels have also been given the Gtechniq protective treatment with C5 Wheel Armour to repel brake dust and other contaminants.
I’ve also not mentioned the entire Ferrari ‘stop and desist’ thing either. There’s just so rather more to cover. I don’t suppose you’ve got a minute?…
If you’re lucky enough to be visiting the SEMA Show this 12 months, you will discover Gregory’s F40 on the Gtechniq booth, #54205.
Michał Fidowicz
Instagram: candyshowroom
Photography by Darrien Craven
Instagram: _crvn_
This Article First Appeared At www.speedhunters.com
