One of the rarest modern Ferraris is now up for sale for a cool $3.6 million. The J50, as the name implies, is one of just 10 built to commemorate Ferrari’s 50th anniversary in Japan. Though based on the 488 Spider, the J50 boasts unique styling and extra horsepower.
The J50 debuted in 2016 to mark 50 years since the first Ferrari made landfall in Japan, a privately imported 275 GTB. Needless to say, all 10 examples of the J50 were spoken for by the time the car made its official debut at the National Art Center in Tokyo. Each one was finished in the exterior and interior color choices of their respective owners.
The car was the first of the Ferrari Fuoriserie (Italian for “custom-built”), which includes limited-run cars like the F60 America. Beneath the stunning bespoke bodywork lies a 488 Spider with an almost 20-horsepower bump from its 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8, for a total of 681 horsepower. The transmission remains a seven-speed DCT.
The bodywork has unique features such as two carbon fiber air channels on the hood, a polycarbonate clear engine cover, and a rear diffuser design inspired by a jet engine afterburner. The sleek design is at once futuristic and traditional, a contrast to the curvy 488 that it’s based on. It’s said to have been inspired by 1970s and 1980s Ferrari road cars, emphasizing lowness and highlighting qualities prized by Japanese clientele — nimbleness and handling — over outright horsepower. It won Germany’s coveted Red Dot design award upon launch.
After the clients finalized their personalization options, the cars were built in Maranello, and deliveries began in 2017. The particular example is listed for sale at Tokyo’s official Ferrari dealer, is being listed as a 2019 model and is offered at $3.6 million, a slight bump over the $2.7 to $3.3 million cost, depending on customization level, when new. It’s almost like new, too, having clocked just 430 miles.
Though the black-on-black example does not do the design justice, with so few examples made, this just might be the only opportunity to buy one in the foreseeable future.
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