NEW HOME of F40 BLU! Tracked Down this Legendary Ferrari F40

It's always a special day when a car like this is involved, a Ferrari F40, and in this case not just any F40, this is F40 Blue. You join me here at the Gentleman's Garage in Texas where Lewis has kindly invited me to take a look around the collection and to be reunited with this car, a car that previously belonged to a very close friend of mine. In fact, he was responsible for painting it in this gorgeous shade, and I've actually driven it before on another continent. I've been behind the wheel of this car in the United Kingdom. Today though, we're going to take a look at it, we're going to talk about what it means to Lewis, and we're going to get it out onto the road, get back behind the wheel, and go for a drive in F40 Blue. But as you can see, the F40 is in some pretty awesome company here at the Gentleman's Garage. We have the likes of the lots of very special Ferraris, the Speciale A through to the 599 GTO, lots of Lamborghinis, the Countach for example, the iconic poster car. We've got the latest arrival, the LaFerrari sitting center stage, and behind it the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Roadster. We also have some of the newer Ferraris. Next to those, Lewis's first supercar, the Murcielago Roadster looking striking in the red, the Ford GT, and so much more. But I'll tell you what's the coolest about this, is that these are effectively all dailies. Everything is driven and used as intended, including the F40. What is it then about this one? Well, I've known about this car for a decade. In fact, when it was painted in blue, the first outing that its owner at the time, my friend Sam Moores, did with the car was when I joined him to go out for a drive. In fact, fast forward until a couple of years ago and it was when he was selling the car that I joined him as well for his last drive in this car to drive it myself in the UK. The fact that it's now out here in Texas in the United States just blows my mind to be reunited with it. But let's go and find Lewis, who's kindly invited me to come along and take this out today with him to go and experience it. Hi guys, I'm Shmee. Hello and welcome back to the channel. Welcome to the Gentleman's Garage and welcome to some fun with F40 Blue. How's it going? Hey, great to see you. You too, good to see you again. Today we're talking F40s. Yes, yes. You, sir, have a beautiful F40. I appreciate that. I like to think so too, but I do consider this one, all F40s are special. I feel like this is a little extra special. At least it is to us. It is. And this car has, obviously ignoring even my personal connection to it, the car has an amazing story, right? It's a car that, well, started its life delivered, I think, in Switzerland. It went to Japan. It had the LM style Liberty Walk kit on it for a while. That's correct. That's when my friend Sam had bought it, how it looked then, and he sent it to Zanassi to do the paintwork. And then of course, it's been through Classique, it's done everything, and now it's here with you in Texas. And here it is, yeah. So that's at least three or four continents that it's been on, which I think it's spent some time in Dubai as well. Yeah, this car has traveled. It has, it's had different iterations, right? From the factory, the Liberty Walk that was done to it. And then, thank goodness, our good friend, Sam Morris, put this back to, well, restored it back to original with his own personal touch to it. But yeah. Talk to me about F40. Was F40 for you, was it one of those cars that like one day had to happen? Was this like- Yes, 100%. So the F40, listen, everybody's got their favorite car. The Countach was on my wall for many, many years. But I would say the F40 was such a big dream. It was almost like, especially when I was younger, almost dared to not dream that big. Like the F40 was just that epic. It was that far out of reach. And so yeah, for me, it always had to be the F40 for all the reasons what the F40 is. And I could talk about this car all day long or any F40 all day long, but always had to have an F40. It was always the big dream. And then as I started getting to a point where it might financially be reachable or obtainable, which is kind of difficult because as you get more and more successful in life, these cars go up a lot and a lot and a lot. Like the goalpost keeps getting moved, right? Yeah. I mean, I know obviously, so I'd say I know what it was when this car was bought 10 years ago. Quite different. It's quite different than even just five years ago. I mean, they just jumped tremendously. I mean, there'll never be more of them, right? 1,300 or so. That's kind of it. That is it. That is it. And so yeah, so the F40 was definitely one of the ultimate life goals for me to get. And I've learned the hard way that buying cars like this, I'm sure it's not just with F40s, but it can be very difficult and be very tricky. Some people are not as straightforward when it comes to dealing with some of these cars. And I get it, you know, from some perspectives, I guess that, you know, you get a car like this, it's very in demand, it's a tight circle, it's going to be able to buy it. And people are trying to get the most out of it if they're going to part with one and all those kinds of things. And so our story, which we've actually got a video on just on the story of me trying to buy any F40, let alone this one. But listen, at the end of the day, those deals that went south are what led me to this one. And I actually want to go back and thank each one of those guys for making it, because I wouldn't have led me to this one. And I'm so proud to own this car. It's been fully restored. Zanossi did a phenomenal job. I drive this car a lot. It fires up right away. It has no problems whatsoever, literally nothing whatsoever. The car runs as good today as I imagined that it did when it was first built. The paint job that Zanossi did on it is amazing. You can still see the carbon weave in a lot of different places. And that's even with this car being fully covered in PPF. So when you get to the hood, you can see the carbon fiber here. People always love to brag about how thin the paint is on the original F40. You see the carbon fiber weave in this, that, and the other. And, you know, he did it. Zanossi replicated it again here on this car. And it's just in immaculate condition. And, you know, I can't say enough great about this car. It's a car that when you drive it, it's got a characteristic and a personality that is unique to anything else I've ever owned, I've ever driven, or even anything else that someone's ever described to me, right? This car is so unique in the way that it drives, that it handles. We all know how feather light this car is. And that certainly adds to the drama and the performance of this car and how it handles. One of the scariest parts of driving this car is when you really get up to some high speeds, 140, 150 miles an hour, the car's so light, the front end feels very floaty. And it's terrifying. I'm mad enough to admit it. So this particular one, it's an 89. So it's non-cat, non-adjust, the kind of collectible F40. I would agree. The beauty is that you always have two different types of cars, really, don't you? You have like a driver's car, the enthusiast version, i.e. the one that's got some miles on it. You can really enjoy it. You have the like zero mileage car, which is the one that like, if you break that duck, you've knocked half a million dollars off the price tag immediately, which is a nightmare. But these things, there's so much about the F40, which is so legendary, the shape of the wing, you know, just looking back here, looking through this window to the engine, 2.9 liter twin turbocharged V8, it's about 480 horsepower from you. Five-speed manual. Just everything about it is iconic. Literally iconic is the word. Even down to, you know, the thing with the F40 badge. It's only on this side, point in the right direction. So because they mirrored this, I'll put it on the other side, the arrow over the top of the F40 would be pointing in the wrong direction. There are so many things about it. And the more time you look at F40s, the more you spot like the necker ducts, accelerate the airflow through the openings on the doors, the wedge shape, the openings here. It's like, take such a cool concept because back then, supercars like this weren't the normal thing. Like Ferrari were. Almost didn't exist. Like this was the most crazy supercar that had ever existed in the entire world at that point. The fastest car in the world, 200 miles an hour in an F40. And it was so far ahead of anything else because it's literally just a shell over a drive train and like the basics. And to your point, it's all those things, right? And it is in its reality. And in driving it, you realize this is one car that I think you and I both could say unequivocally is not overhyped. It lives up to its legend. I would argue. And then some, you know, when, when, when my wife and I took delivery of this car, I had never driven an F40 before. It was my dream. The first time you drove it was when you had bought it. That's right. Driving it home. I love that. That's exactly right. And, you know, we got the deal done and you know where the market is on these kinds of cars today. So it's a lot of money and, and it was the dream coming true. And once it was all said and done, I truly had a strong sense of anxiety. I was afraid, oh my God, don't let this be one of those. Don't meet your heroes types things. And you know, as long as it's really going to live to the hype, is it going to be something that, oh, it's cool to say I own, but it's terrible to drive. And it's just going to sit in the collection, which just goes against every, anything in my collection, my wife and I got in this car, we drove off in it same day. And within five minutes, I was just like, it's even more than I dreamed it to be. And I've got no reason to overhype the car. And I mean, you know, I can hop in a, I love Ferrari over there. If I want to get the latest and the greatest or whatever from the hyper cars. But when you get in this thing, even having driven these cars every day, it's still is exhilarating. It gets the, your, your, your blood, your blood pressure up your heart rate up. I mean, it really does. And I've had so many friends and family members, my kids, my wife, buddies, things like that, that I'll get in this car. The reaction is the same every time they, as soon as you hit that accelerator, that visceral comes on and everybody does the same thing. They just start giggling and they're giddy. And so am I. You're getting giddy thinking about it. We're going to have to get it started up in a moment. Yes. Quick nosy inside. It's, it's so strange for me because of course, the last time I saw this thing was across a very big pond. Yes. The inside based around the carbon Kevlar, you've got the bright red seats against the exterior, still got the, the 2B exhaust fitted as well. So it sounds epic. It sounds epic. I can't wait for you to, you've heard it before, but hear it again, hear it again and blow in some Texas air out the back. But you know, it's got a sound, but, but my favorite part is it, when you let off, it just, it never stops cracking and popping all the way until you come to a dead stop. Just pop up. And that to me, she's just talking to me the whole way. Awesome. Well, I think we need to go grab the keys. Let's do it. Get this on out. All right, let's make it happen. That sounds cool. 2B exhaust on the twin turbo V8. Let me head around to the front. Very cool. Look at that car. Absolutely stunning. Beautiful, beautiful. Right. Let's head on out. Well, here we are. This is so cool. I'd forgotten how small it is inside though. It's like, I'm not particularly tall. My head's right up here. It's, it is. There's no doubt about that. A little bit lower, but, but when you get out of like a, the Countach, this feels super roomy, which is funny, right? But they are tiny. They are tiny. The sound is amazing. I'd actually forgotten how good this sounds. You know, and as the car gets warmer, you get more of that. It just gets better and better. Right. I mean, and for me, oh wow. A great nod to Sam Orford. Putting that exhaust on this car adds so much to the drama and the emotion of the drive. The thing is F40s are famed for this turbo feel. And just as he did that one acceleration, I'm like, you feel that when it arrives. And what they're not so I guess well known for is that when you lift off this popcorn going up behind you. Yeah. It's literally like just a, an army of sounds. And what's amazing is I'll just let this aisle down. It doesn't stop. It just keeps going, you know, to add so much to the car. But yeah, you know, when, when that, when this car comes on boost, You know, I always, I make the joke like you could weave a small sweater in the time for the turbo lag when you hit the accelerator and when it finally comes on boost, but it's ballistic when this car comes on boost and we're going to make a quick turn here and it will give us hopefully some good open road to allow us to do another one more pull. You know, it's the thing about this car, Mike, that just never gets old. It's just one of those things in this car that is just so good. Of course, for me, I always preach to people, get the tires warm before you do something crazy like this. Wow! Oh, baby. Just gets the heart racing, doesn't it? Yeah. Just, it's a jolt of adrenaline in this car. And, you know, everything else that Mike's had, I'm sure, is hilarious on camera. That's the reaction that everybody has when they get in this car and that I still get every time I get in this car. It's so good. It makes it so special. Oh, that was awesome. It makes it so special to drive. And I cannot tell you how special this is for me, knowing that buying this car, you and Sam Wars and the videos that you made with this car, it's such an influence on us deciding and choosing this was the right one. And now here you are. It's so cool. Life is really beautiful. The way the car world comes together. It's my favorite thing about making videos, like just meeting people, being here, being here with you. Oh, it's been amazing. Seeing your thoughts on this car. This has got to be one of the top full circle life car stories fully documented. Yeah, yeah. On video and YouTube and whatnot ever. I mean, here we are. It's true. And we're in this car together on at least its third continent. Yeah. Amazing. Gated manual. Something about that. It's unbelievable. For sure. When the road opens. This is silly. It's a funny kick because I get to go in a lot of modern, ridiculous cars with insane power, you know, the Niveras and Batistas, the electric stuff. But the way this delivers power is so, I want to say, unique. There's nothing really that does it the same way as this. One more time. This doesn't get old. No, that's insane. I've been after this car for a long time. An MF40, I should say. For a very long time. And when we finally acquired this one, money was transferred. I knew it was a done deal. Then my anxiety set in. I was afraid of like, oh my gosh, please don't let it be one of those don't meet your hero type of numbers. I was really worried. So had you never driven one before? I had never driven an MF40 before. And we all know where the market is on these cars now, so you have some idea of what an expense that was. And it was on a car I'd never driven before. And let's face it, it's from the 80s through the early 90s in production. And I've driven cars from that era. And they're not great. Sometimes, no. And I was so worried about that. And I'd never driven an MF40 until I took delivery of this car. And that was my biggest anxiety point about this car. I was like, please don't let it be a big letdown. And it's been overhyped. And the legend has grown beyond the reality of the car. Oh my gosh. No need to worry in this car. And this is a car that I consider every drive with it. Every drive with it. To be a unique, epic, emotional experience. In a nutshell. She is amazing, for sure. That's what you want it to be. When you make that purchase. When you've kind of dreamt about it for years and years. Decades, even. Decades. Think about it. You and I were dreaming about this car when we were little boys. There was times in my life where I probably almost felt like I don't even want to dare to dream that big. It's never actually really be a reality. It's something that's never really even going to come true. And even as an adult. I went through such a saga of trying to buy the F40. That I even begin to wonder. Now that I can afford one. It's actually surprisingly usable. You just throw a 3.5. It really is. Off you go. It's funny. Because I drive something. A supercar or I consider this a hypercar. Certainly today. Every day. The biggest thing I talk about is. They've all got great performance. They're all fast. I talk about the characteristics of the car. What makes it special. What makes it have it's own individual identity. And then I talk about how daliable some of these cars really are. And this one again is certainly one that's pleasantly surprised me. Here's the other thing. We're not on a great road. It's kind of a B road as you guys say. Here in Texas we call that back roads. It's a very compliant ride. The seats are very comfortable. They're very well padded. All things that were big surprises to my wife and I. When we first took delivery of this car. You know it's funny. I've never been to passenger seat of this car. Really? No I've never had. This is a first. You're the only other person that's ever driven this car. Thank you for the honor of being entrusted with it. You're right. It does feel a little more tight over here than it does over there. It's a slightly different position. It is. I never noticed it before. I've never been in here before. Kind of interesting. So back in it again. How does it feel? I mean we just took off. It feels so special. You know what? It's not just being back in this particular F40. The fact that I've known it for nearly a decade. The fact that it was my friend's car. It's also the fact that it's an F40. Let's not let that get lost. Don't let me understate how epic it is to jump into one of these cars. That sound. The gated shifter. It's the simplicity of everything. The steering wheel has nothing to it. The fabric over the dashboard. I remember the way it's on and off the throttle. It's quite an unusual feeling. The way you're basically almost pressing it on and off like a button. Yes. It's not quite the same as the feel of most cars I want to say. That's what I find about this car. Everything about this car is just so unique to this car. To an F40. It's so good. You don't even want to talk over it. Let the car noises do their thing. Absolutely. There was one more reason why we knew that this was the car to drive for us. Because we had enjoyed it and driven it. You look at the Countach. 1989. It only had 3200 miles on it when I bought it. We had to do quite a bit to this. It had not been used. Seals, dry rot, ball joints, etc. Suspension. All those things we had to refresh on that car. Whereas something that's being driven and used like this. They run better. They're more reliable. Everything stays looped up. You get a better experience with the car. So when you got this car, was it ready to go? Was it on the button? It was ready to go. We literally took delivery of the car on a Monday morning. Of course we went through it and inspected it. Immediately my wife and I jumped in the car. We drove it from Miami. About an hour and 20 minutes north to Palm Beach. We immediately jumped in the car. We spent the next 3 days driving this around Palm Beach. Then in Florida. Then shipped it back to Texas. That's so cool. Imagine where it's been, what it's done, what it's seen. Incredible. UK, Japan, now here in the United States. That's just the ones we know of. I say it because you just mentioned driving it in Florida. Florida is a long way from here. Yes it is. It's a completely different type of place from where we are now. I'm just fascinated often by the movement of some stuff like this. How cars go from one person to another place. How they get enjoyed. When they're no longer the car for that particular owner. They can have their next chapter. They can have their next phase. When it comes to Sam, or Sam who owned it after Sam. It's exactly that with this thing. It's something that's been treasured by different people in different environments. Different kind of lives. Oh yes. It evokes so much emotion and joy. One of the things I love about cars like this. We talk about character and personality of different cars. What I love about these cars is. You and I are like two giddy school boys going down the road in this car. And yet we're not going 150 miles an hour. We don't have to go insane speeds to just get this enormous thrill. Out of driving these cars. And I think it's one of the things that makes especially older cars so special. To get so much character and personality through the entire range of speeds. It's funny when you're driving it. Because it's a little bit awkward right. The pedals are offset to the right. Everything's a little bit kind of skewed. Just a bit. Just slightly funky and off. But none of that really matters. Because it's like the least important thing in the world. We've got a police officer there. Speaking of police officers. We'll hopefully not have him follow us down this road. He's gone the other way. There we go. So now we can boot it. Thank you officer for not chasing us. For sure. That would put unnecessary pressure on me and F40 Blue. That is just to die for. I mean. That's the thing. I'm not going Mach 10. Right. But it feels really communicative and light. It is. Like the car feels really really light. That's probably one of the biggest takeaways. Is that steering for a non-assisted car is not an effort. Right. Not at all. I will tell you the scariest part of me driving this car. He's talked about how lightweight it is. And it is very very lightweight. Which adds so much to what this car is. But. Have you ever taken one of these about 140, 150 miles an hour? Nope. But I can imagine it feels on edge. Oh my word. It. The front end gets so light. Yeah. And floaty. That might be one of the scariest experiences I've ever had. Yeah. In a car. And you know you hop in. Like you mentioned the SF90. 150, 170 miles an hour in that car. And it's just planted. You've got the utmost confidence in what the car is going to do. This thing. Because it is so light. And you start getting those speeds. Yeah. That front end gets so light. So spooky. I almost kind of find myself. The biggest thing I imagine is just trying to keep it in one lane. Yeah. At that speed. So. I can't bring myself to talk over that exhaust. I love driving older cars where. They're powerful. But not silly powerful. And you can do this inside the speed limits. And have fun. And not feel like you're going to jail. If a police officer does end up following you somewhere. And I couldn't agree more. That is one of my biggest joys. Of driving cars. Of this magnitude. This character. It's also an interesting challenge to drive. Because you have to. You have to be very precise. With your clutch pedal. The way you lift it up. The way you're engaging with it. To drive cleanly. It doesn't just happen. For sure. Well you have to work for it though right? Even a modern manual. It's just kind of. Easy. But this is like. When you get it right. And you get a nice shift. Which you're not going to do first go. Like this is. Something that takes experience. And building up to. Especially like down shifting it. To try and get that right. Yes. It's quite hard. I'm glad I did it right. The one time. I'm trying to talk about it. There's just something about the noise of this thing. It's so unique. There's no other car. That has this kind of. Soundtrack. Because even when you're only lightly on the throttle. It's already roaring. Like even gently here in second gear. 3000 RPM. It's so good. And there's that whole sound going on. And then you get to the turbos. It's like this crescendo. It just builds. A roar. You just let it roll. Let it bang. Let it pop. Keep going. It'll sing until you come to a dead stop. All the way. Full stop. And then at some point you go for. A gear down. It just keeps going. It keeps going. Oh this is absolutely heavenly. This is the most amazing sound. It's just one more characteristic. That I think makes this car so special. As you say. As you go through a corner. The steering is. Just oddly light for what it is. And to be unassisted. The way that it is. It's amazing. I never want to get out. I never want to stop driving. You don't. Just go. The whole loop. You just got driven again. What a thing. It's special. And thank you so much for the opportunity to drive this today. It was such an honor to make such an insane story. Come together the way that it has. And here we are. We return. Back. To the fortress. What a view. This is really really special. You've put together a lovely collection here. Thank you very much. And I really appreciate how all of your cars have stories. Have reasons for their existence in your collection. It shows a genuine enthusiasm in the cars. In the collection. For sure. I appreciate that. There's just so much passion on these cars. It's crazy. We were laughing about it. We could talk these cars all day long. Yeah. It's totally good. That's the beauty of it, right? The way that turbo sounds. Wow. Thank you. I gotta say thank you. My pleasure. Wow. Thank you. Luckily for me, we've got back from this drive before the heavens have opened. It is absolutely tipping down outside now. But to get behind the wheel of this again. To have driven it as one of very few cars I've actually driven on two different continents. And such a significant car to that effect as well. I mean maybe this is more of a personal thing. But of course Sam and I were talking about this purchase when he bought it. What? 10 years ago? Something like that? Before it went off to Zanassi for the painting in aqua blue. To get Ferrari Classiche. And then in 2015 to go and drive it for the first time. I'm very pleased to see that it's in good hands. That it's being enjoyed. And crucially that it's being driven. Because so many of these cars of course reside in collections where they're pretty unloved. And don't often see the road. This has done some miles. This is enjoyed. This is loved. And that's what's really really pleasing to know. That Lewis takes these cars out. Enjoys them and drives them. Because at the end of the day that's what all of us petrolheads love. Love to see. To know that it's being enjoyed. To know that it's getting out there. I have really really appreciated today. Coming back to see this again. And to be able to get behind the wheel. It's not every day you get to drive an F40. And I know for so many people it's the iconic poster car. For me as you know I'm an F50 guy. The F50 was my first poster when I was younger. But that doesn't mean I don't understand and appreciate what this is all about. For today though that is all. Do go and follow The Gentleman's Garage. Check out the channel. Also follow on social media. I'll pop the links down below. If you'd like to see more with this. And more with the other cars that are in the collection. But that's it for today. Thank you very much for watching as always guys. I appreciate your support an awful lot. And I'll see you again very soon. Cheers!