1996 Ferrari

Ordered on the 11th September 1995 by Ferrari UK/ Maranello Concessionaires in Rosso Corsa 300/12 with crema 3992 Autolux hide and Rosso carpets. The car ,one of only 41 officially imported to the UK,was completed and invoiced on the 4th January 1996 for delivery to the UK by truck.. Invoiced to Maranello Sales Ltd by Ferrari UK on the 10th April 1996 and first registered N687 UPC, on the 4th April 1996 as Maranello sales Ltd's own demonstrator. The then list price was £138,003.75 plus delivery charges, number plates and road tax.

The car was run as Maranello Sales demonstrator for 21 months and 1,300 miles, when it was bought and registered to its first and last "owner", a PhD and former forensic scientist ,on the 16th January 1998. The new owner, a past 308 GTB QV and Testarossa owner, is an enthusiastic and active member of the Ferrari Owners Club of Great Britain. The car was used for tours with the Ferrari Owners Club to Europe including France and Spain, and Owners Club circuit days, resulting in the car having covered a respectable 2,300 miles per annum average. 


With 8,775 miles covered the owner took the car to respected Ferrari specialist and then Ferrari agents Bob Houghton. Bob carried out the annual service ,and removed the existing seats replacing them with Sparco sports seats-the original seats were covered and carefully stored. Two full harnesses were fitted (again retaining the original seat belts) and under Bob’s guidance a Tubi Style exhaust was fitted which facilitates use either with catalytic converters in place or removed and replaced by straight through pipes-again retaining the original system ,carefully stored. Finally air ducting to the brake discs was added by Bob Houghton to assist with cooling and a luggage strap added to prevent the tool case sliding around in the luggage compartment!

The car was photographed by Chris Bennett and appears in the Jeremy Clarkson book, "Clarkson on Ferrari" The car was regularly serviced and kept in an under-floor heated purpose built garage!

Servicing has been carried out as follows;

1000/1500 mile service17-04-96 Maranello Sales 
Annual service 05-01-99 Bob Houghton 8,775 miles
12,500 mile service 03-03-00 Bob Houghton 14,757 miles
Annual service 30-08-00 Evan Halshaw 18,231 miles
Annual service 15-02-02 Evans Halshaw 20,731 miles
25,000m mile service 10-04-03 Paul Hargreaves 25,028 miles*
Annual service 15-04-04 Paul Hargreaves 28,336 miles
Annual service 05-04-05 Sportsline 29,702 miles
Annual service 16-03-06 Shiltech 30,872 miles*
Annual service 25-04-08 Shiltech 35,305 miles
Annual service 29-05-09 Shiltech 37,276 miles
37,500 mile service 22-10-10 Shiltech 39,335 miles**
Annual service 10-12-10 Shiltech 39,899 miles
Annual service 20-05-13 Shiltech 41,596 miles*
Annual service 24-09-14 Shiltech 43,448 miles

*included cam belts replacement
** include cam belts replacement and new clutch

MOT's
17-04-99 10,128 miles
06-05-00 15,515 miles
05-05-01 19,174 miles
05-05-02 21,044 miles

14-04-04 28,336 miles
26-08-05 30,418 miles
25-08-06 31,657 miles
31-08-07 33,398 miles
02-07-08 36,545 miles
28-09-09 37,771 miles
27-08-10 39,852 miles
27-08-11 40,489 miles
03-09-12 41,176 miles
27-08-13 42,210 miles
04-09-14 43,222 miles
04-09-15 44,163 miles


The car is complete as new with factory original service book, handbooks ,wallet and tools. The original exhaust, catalytic converters and seats are also still with the car and it is sold with a tailored Ferrari car cover.




History: The F512 M was the replacement for the 512 TR, and was presented at the Paris Salon in the autumn of 1994. The new model was born at a time when it was decided to use an “F” (for Ferrari) prefix to the model number, which as with the 512 TR referred to the 5 litre engine capacity and number of cylinders.
The “M” suffix stood for “Modificata” (modified), a symbol used by Ferrari on the 512 S sports racing cars of the early seventies when they were upgraded to become the 512 M models, a further analogy with the company’s history.
The F512M was the most radical overhaul that the Testarossa series received during its production period, and also the one with the shortest lifespan, and lowest numbers produced. Its production period only ran into early 1996, with 501 examples produced in the chassis number range 99376 to 105516, before it gave way to its front engine successor, the 550 Maranello.


Thus it was not only the most highly developed of the series, but also the rarest. It was also the last in the mid engine flat 12 cylinder engine production car range, that had started two and a half decades earlier with the presentation by Pininfarina of the 365 GT4/BB concept, at the 1971 Turin Salon.
Once again, as with the 512 TR in relation to the Testarossa, the main external visual differences were to the nose and tail treatment, together with a change of road wheel design. Internally there were some small visual changes, like the steering wheel design, alloy knob to the gear lever, adjustable aluminium foot pedals, a more refined air conditioning system, trim details and optional sports seats.
Mechanically there were further changes to the engine, which boosted power and provided increased performance, whilst the suspension gained gas filled shock absorbers, and the braking system was upgraded to incorporate a Bosch ABS anti skid system.
The Body
As with the previous models in the series the bodies were mounted on a 2550mm wheelbase chassis, that carried factory type reference F 110 HB, and which was of virtually identical construction to that of the earlier models. All chassis numbers were in the continuous number sequence, with various world market models produced in either left or right hand drive form.
The new nose treatment bore a strong family resemblance to that of the 355 model introduced earlier in the year, and the 456 GT 2+2 model. The shape of the dummy grille bearing a chrome plated “Cavallino Rampante” reflected those of its cousins, with similar shaped side/turn indicator lights either side, below which were small circular high intensity driving lights and brake cooling inlets. Perhaps the most radical change to the frontal aspect was the deletion of the twin retractable headlight units in the leading edge of the front lid, and the provision of fixed homofocal units under glass covers to replace them. The front lid also had a pair of small NACA ducts close to the trailing edge to feed air to the revised air conditioning system. At the rear, the full width satin black louvre grille over the light units was of reduced dimensions, and new surface mounted twin circular light units were mounted either side of it. Another retro touch that was a throwback to the company’s styling history.
The 512 TR engine lid had featured the raised section and the louvres painted satin black, but on the F512M the complete lid was body colour, and the Testarossa badge disappeared from the raised section. An F512M badge graced the rear lip of the engine cover, with a Ferrari script badge on its upper rear face.


The Engine
The new alloy road wheels were quite an aerodynamically vaned interpretation of the traditional Ferrari five spoke “star” design, which featured split rims. The front ones were 8J x 18″ diameter and the rear ones 10.5J x 18″ diameter, covering ventilated and cross drilled brake discs actuated by four piston callipers, with separate front and rear hydraulic circuits, ABS and servo assistance. The curved spoke design, as fitted to the 512 TR, were available as an option, for those who found the new design to radical.
The four valves per cylinder, flat twelve, dry sump engine was a further upgrading of the version used in the 512 TR, maintaining the same cubic capacity of 4943cc, with an 82mm x 78mm bore and stroke, and factory type reference number 113 G. The Bosch Motronic 2.7 combined fuel injection/ignition engine management system remained. However, changes were effected to the crankshaft, which was lightened, and titanium alloy connecting rods were employed coupled to new pistons, that increased the compression ratio from 10:1 to 10.4:1. These changes together with a new stainless steel low back pressure exhaust system increased the power output from the claimed 428bhp of the 512 TR to 440bhp @ rpm for the F512M. The increased power once again provided improved acceleration over its predecessor, a premium being placed on this aspect of performance and the safer braking capabilities of the ABS system, as the top speed remained virtually unchanging.

Taken from Ferrari's own website



Copyright Mike Wheeler 2016

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