Ferrari 550 Barchetta

 

 

Maranello, April 17, 2000

Worthy successor to the 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider

Since 1974, there has been no real successor to Ferrari’s last legendary convertible, the 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider. The waiting is over: Ferrari will present a convertible version of the 550 Maranello at the Paris Motor Show in September. The car will probably be named 550 Barchetta or 550 Roadster; the body design will be basically identical to the coupé version, except a lowered windscreen and – of course – changes to the tail / boot section. Reportedly, there will only be a small soft top, so the car will be designed for dyed-in-the-wool "open air driving" enthusiasts. If so, the designation "Barchetta" would be very adequate and thus seems very likely.

(Note: But as we all know it is a Ferrari game to keep the speculation over name high until the day of the presentation and the names first mentioned will not be used, the name Barchetta was a couple of month a go not registered by Ferrari, so keep on guessing. The name Barchetta was already in the play with the F50.)

Limited production

Production will be strictly limited to 350 examples. Like in the days of the F50, the factory will decide on which customer eventually will be "allowed" to order a car – long time friends of the marque will be preferred. Delivery of the first examples is planned for January 2001, the price in Germany will probably be about 440.000,-DM. Selected dealers had been invited to view a prototype recently.

Ferrari have not yet officially given a statement about the project, so some of the details given in this text might change.

Andreas Birner