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It wasn’t so long ago that Ferraris from the early to mid-2000s were cast aside and practically unloved by most collectors. Blame some of the awkward designs of the era, the glacial pace of chassis innovation, or the sticky interior buttons, but whatever the case, they’re now demanding serious money. Part of this is down to the fact that Ferrari no longer makes vehicles with manual transmissions, some of these older Ferraris feature the vaunted gated manual gearbox, and manuals are highly collectible these days.
Part of it could also be due to the fact that nearly every modern Ferrari is turbocharged or a hybrid and all Ferraris of this era are naturally aspirated. It could also be down to the fact that the buyers who grew up with this generation of Ferraris on bedroom posters are now adults and some are lucky enough to be able to afford to buy them. Either way, many of these once unloved Ferraris are going for serious coin.
This week we take a look at a few examples that drive this point home. Let’s get into the details.
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2000 Ferrari 456 — $110,000
Image Credit: Bring a Trailer The 456 followed a simple formula that Ferrari has been perfecting for decades: take a monstrous V12, cover it with long flowing lines of sheet metal, mate it to a manual gearbox, send power to the rear wheels, and create an interior that’s as comfortable as one’s living room. For the 456, Ferrari bestowed it with a 5.5-liter naturally aspirated V12 that made 436 horsepower and more than 400 lb-ft of torque, which is more than adequate for hustling across the continent.
Over a production run spanning more than a decade—1992 to 2003—Ferrari built just under 3,300 examples and that long production run is how, even into the early aughts, a car—a Ferrari no less—still had pop-up headlights. Despite design vestiges from the 90s, the 456 delivered performance that was positively modern. The sprint to 60 happened in around five seconds and Ferrari claimed its 2+2 grand tourer could achieve a top speed in excess of 186 mph.
This particular example is the 456M, the facelifted version of the 456 that debuted in 1998. Compared to the 456, the 456M had a slightly different front grill with a cleaner design, a new rear bumper, a revised front suspension geometry, larger brakes, and a few other upgrades. Finished in Rosso Fiorano, a quieter hue of the classic Ferrari Rosso Corsa, this relatively low-mileage 456M from 2000 sports a gated six-speed manual and a sumptuous Connelly tan leather interior that befits its grand touring nature. Even with a final sale price just shy of $110,000, this 456M is a steal for the classic Ferrari GT formula.
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2002 Ferrari 575M — $293,500
Image Credit: Bring a Trailer With the 575M Maranello, Ferrari borrowed a familar strategy it had employed with the 456 and 456M: once the 550 Maranello became long in the tooth, or after six years of production, it launched an updated model called the 575M Maranello. Aside from a slight bump in power—478 to 508 horsepower—bigger brakes, refreshed interior, and an optional automated manual transmission, the 575M Maranello was an incremental step ahead in Ferrari’s front-engine V12 rear-wheel drive formula, but not exactly a revolution. The interior was clad in leather, the suspension was supple, and luggage storage was more than adequate, making for an exceptionally capable cross-continental cruiser. The 575M Maranello would continue the 550’s legacy for another four years, capping off a production run that spanned a decade if you include the 550.
Sporting an unusually tame color combination, gray over gray—or Grigio Titanio over Grigio Scuro—this 2002 575M Maranello ticks all the enthusiast’s boxes thanks to its gated six-speed manual transmission. With 14k miles on the odometer, or less than 650 miles a year since new, this beautifully preserved and maintained 575M Maranello sold for $293,500, or about the price of a new Ferrari Roma.
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2003 Ferrari 360 Modena — $155,000
Image Credit: Bring a Trailer New for 1999, the 360 Modena was Ferrari’s replacement for its outgoing mid-engine V8 sports car at the time, the F355. With a refreshed design language befitting the new millennium, the 360 Modena was available either as a coupe or Spider and featured a 3.6-liter naturally aspirated V8 that developed just shy of 400 horsepower and revved to nearly 9,000 rpm. Clearly proud of such an achievement, Ferrari designed the 360’s engine lid to feature a pane of glass that allows the engine to constantly be on display. Similar to the F355’s engine, the 360 featured five valves per cylinder, but unlike the F355, the 360 does not require engine-out services to change timing belts, which is a necessary and costly service item F355 owners popularly bemoan. The 360 Modena was also offered with the choice between a gated six-speed manual or an automated manual F1 transmission, which most owners opted for.
This 360 Modena from 2003 is finished in Grigio Alloy, a sophisticated color that gives off a subtle blue undertone—it also helps show off the 360’s beautiful lines that Pininfarina penned. To the delight of many enthusiasts, this 11k-mile example features the gated six-speed manual that’s notorious for delivering a satisfying clink with each gear change. This is a clearly cared for and pampered low-mileage vehicle, and its final sale price of just under $155,000 makes for a strong case that these once unloved Ferraris fully deserve to be taken seriously.
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2007 Ferrari F430 — $436,000
Image Credit: Bring a Trailer Following the commercial success of the 360 Modena, Ferrari officially launched its replacement, the F430, in 2005. Despite sharing many components with the outgoing 360, the F430 most critically featured an entirely new engine. Now displacing 4.3 liters, the flat-plane crank V8 developed 483 horsepower and 343 lb-ft of torque, enough to propel the F430 to 60 mph in the mid-three second range and off to a top speed of nearly 200 mph. Like its predecessors, the F430 was available with either a six-speed gated manual or an automated manual transmission built by Graziano. Compared to its predecessors, however, the F430’s F1 automated manual was leagues ahead in terms of shift times and smoothness. Two years into the F430’s production, Ferrari debuted the 430 Scuderia, a lighter and more powerful variant designed to perform especially well on track.
This recently sold 2007 F430 Spider is unusual to say the least, and not only because there’s a mere 480 miles on the clock. A one-owner example, this F430 is reported to feature more than $200,000 in optional factory extras, which includes the crocodile leather inserts and accents throughout the cabin. It’s also a gated six-speed manual car, which was produced in even lower quantities than the 360. There’s clearly an appetite for the unusual, however, as this F430 Spider
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